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The Visit of the Magi
1After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of
King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2and asked, "Where
is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in
the east and have come to worship him."
3When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem
with him. 4When he had called together all the people's chief priests
and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be
born. 5"In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for
this is what the prophet has written:
6" 'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'"
7Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the
exact time the star had appeared. 8He sent them to Bethlehem and
said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon
as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship
him."
9After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the
star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped
over the place where the child was. 10When they saw the star, they
were overjoyed. 11On coming to the house, they saw the child with
his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they
opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and
of incense and of myrrh. 12And having been warned in a dream not
to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
Explanation: The First Star Trek (Matthew 2:1-12)
As early as the second century, Bethlehemites believed they could
identify the exact cave where, following Luke's account of the manger,
Jesus had been born (Stauffer 1960:21; Finegan 1969:20-23; for echoes
of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem in early rabbinic disputes, see Herford
1966:253-55).
A microcosm of Matthew's Gospel as a whole, this passage reminds
us that we must preach the gospel to all people because we cannot
always predict who will hear the message and who will not. Those
we least expect to honor Jesus may worship him, and those we least
expect to oppose him may seek his death. This passage confronts
Matthew's readers with a summons to personal decision by contrasting
the main characters (contrasting characters was a standard ancient
literary device; see, for example, Schuler 1982:50). The Magi worship
Jesus; Herod seeks his death; Jerusalem's religious elite-forerunners
of the opponents of Matthew's audience-take Jesus for granted. The
reader must identify with the pagan Magi rather than with Herod
or Jerusalem's religious elite, and hence are compelled to recognize
God's interest in the mission to the Gentiles. The God who sought
servants like the Roman centurion (8:5-13) from the pagan west also
sought previously pagan servants from the east (2:1; compare Is
2:6) like the Magi (see 8:11).
Matthew challenges prejudice against pagans. The first story after
Jesus' birth opens with Magi who have traveled a long distance to
offer homage to a new king born in Judea. They enter Jerusalem with
a large enough caravan to attract the city's attention (2:3); they
must have assumed that they would find the newborn king in Herod's
palace in Jerusalem.
Magi were astrologers from the royal court of the king of Persia.
Part of their job description was to make the king of Persia look
good, but here they come to promote another king. Kings would often
send congratulations to new rulers in other realms, but the king
of Persia called himself "king of kings," that is, the
highest of kings (compare, for example, Ezra 7:12; Dan 2:37). We
might not expect the Magi to worship Jesus, especially if they found
him not in the royal palace but in a cave.
More unexpectedly, these Magi are astrologers, which is why they
noticed the star to begin with. Many sources from this period report
the skill of Magi in divination, but Matthew's audience would probably
recall first the Magi of their Greek translation of the Old Testament:
Daniel's enemies, whom Daniel's narratives portray in a negative
light as selfish, incompetent and brutal pagans (Dan 2:2, 10). (Their
identity is even clearer in some later Greek versions of the Old
Testament. In this period the Magi probably would have been Zoroastrian,
but Matthew's readers would think more of Daniel's pagan accusers.)Although
the Bible forbade divination (Deut 18:9-13), which includes astrology
(Is 47:13; see also Deut 4:19), for one special event in history
the God who rules the heavens chose to reveal himself where the
pagans were looking (compare Acts 19:12, 15-20). Without condoning
astrology, Matthew's narrative challenges our prejudice against
outsiders to our faith (see also 8:5-13; 15:21-28): even the most
pagan of pagans may respond to Jesus if given the opportunity (compare
Jon 1:13-16; 3:6-10). What a resounding call for the church today
to pursue a culturally sensitive yet uncompromising commitment to
missions!
Yet even supernatural guidance like the star can take the astrologers
only so far; for more specific direction they must ask the leaders
in Jerusalem where the king is to be born (2:2). That is, their
celestial revelation was only partial; they must finally submit
to God's revelation in the Scriptures, preserved by the Jewish people
(see Meier 1980:11).
Matthew challenges prejudice that favors political power. Another
central character in this narrative is Herod (2:3, 7-8). That Herod
is dismayed by the Magi's announcement is not surprising (2:3);
in this period most Greeks, Romans and even Jews respected astrological
predictions. Further, a cosmic signal of another ruler would necessarily
indicate the end of the current ruler's reign (as in Suet. Vespasian
23; Artem. 2.36). Other rulers also proved paranoid about astrologers
(see MacMullen 1966:133; Kee 1980:71), and some had been ready to
kill their own descendants to keep the throne (Herod. Hist. 1.107-10).
But as many incidents during Herod's reign illustrate, he was more
paranoid than most other rulers (see comment on 2:16). For Herod,
little room existed for two kings in his realm: although he was
Idumean by birth (Jos. War 1.123, 313; see Deut 17:15), he considered
himself king of the Jews (compare 2:2). Here the one who reigns
as king of God's people acts just like the oppressors of old: in
Jewish tradition, both Pharaoh and his people feared when they learned
in advance of the coming of Israel's deliverer (Jos. Ant. 2.206;
Allison 1993b:146).
Herod's brutal power, played out in the following narrative, contrasts
starkly with the human defenselessness of the Child and his mother
(2:11, 19, 21). Whereas pagan Magi act like God's people (v. 11),
the king of God's people acts like a notorious pagan king of old
(v. 16; compare Ex 1:16). When we side with the politically powerful
to seek human help against common foes, we could actually find ourselves
fighting God's agendas (compare Is 30:1-5; 31:1-3). Jesus came and
served among the weakest, depending solely on God's vindication
(Mt 11:29; 12:19-21; 18:3-4; 19:14).
Matthew challenges the prejudice that respects spiritually complacent
religion. Not knowing himself where the king would be born, Herod
gathers the religious experts, the chief priests and scribes (2:4),
most of whom in this period were loyal to his agendas (compare Jos.
Ant. 15.2, 5). These experts immediately identify the place where
the Messiah will be born on the basis of Micah 5:2 (Mt 2:5-6). But
while the religious leaders know where the Messiah will be born,
they do not join the Magi in their quest. These are the religious
leaders, but they fail to act on all their Bible knowledge. Jesus
is just a baby, and they take him for granted.
Although these authorities did not desire to kill Jesus as Herod
did, their successors a generation later-when Jesus could no longer
be taken for granted-did seek his death (26:57, 59). One is tempted
to note that the line between taking Jesus for granted and wanting
him out of the way may remain very thin today as well. And we must
not forget that the sin of taking Jesus for granted is the sin not
of pagans who know little about him, but of religious folk and Bible
teachers.
Matthew reinforces these points by reminding us that it is the pagans
who worshiped Jesus. After the Magi have left Jerusalem, they come
and worship Jesus (2:9-11). A road led south to Bethlehem, which
was about six miles from Jerusalem, so the rest of the Magi's journey
probably did not take very long. That they offer Jesus both homage
and standard gifts from the East (2:11) fits Eastern practices;
for instance, royal courts there used frankincense and myrrh (though
these spices also had many other uses). The Magi's homage to Jesus
may reflect biblical language alluding to the pilgrimage and homage
of nations in Psalm 72:10 or Isaiah 60:6, or to the queen of Sheba's
visit to Solomon (1 Kings 10:1-13), or to all three texts; a late
midrash on the queen of Sheba story includes a miraculous star (Bruns
1961). If Matthew has Psalm 72 or 1 Kings 10 in mind, he expects
us to recognize Jesus as King Solomon's greatest son (compare Mt
1:6-7; 12:42).
At any rate, the threefold repetition of homage (2:2, 8, 11) reinforces
the point of the narrative: if God's people will not honor Jesus,
former pagans will (Harrington 1982:17). Throughout this Gospel,
homage to Jesus reflects some degree of recognition of his identity
(as in 8:2; 9:18; 14:33; 15:25), climaxing in the ultimate homage
of 28:9, 17, a context that declares Jesus' royal authority equivalent
to the Father's (28:18-20). But such a hint may be present even
in this Gospel's first example of homage: Matthew's audience may
have expected Persians like the Magi to have intended more than
merely human respect when they offered homage (compare Esther 3:2).
That the Magi needed a supernatural revelation to warn them not
to return by way of Jerusalem (2:12) suggests their innocent naivety)
. Even without Herod's unadmirable character (see comment on 2:16),
few kings would be ready to surrender their own rule to a nonrelative
some foreigners hailed as king! (For that matter, not only powerful
people in society but many others today seem reluctant to acknowledge
Jesus' right to direct their lives.) The Magi's innocence compared
to Herod's murderous shrewdness again reminds Matthew's readers
not to prejudge the appropriate recipients of the gospel (compare
13:3-23). Jesus is for all who will receive him, and God may provide
Jesus' servants with allies in unexpected places if we have the
wisdom to recognize them.
The Escape to Egypt
13When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in
a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his
mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod
is going to search for the child to kill him." 14So he got
up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for
Egypt, 15where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled
what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I
called my son."
16When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he
was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem
and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance
with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17Then what was said
through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
18"A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more."
Explanation: The Persecuted Child (2:13-18)
This passage provides some important lessons for Matthew's first
audience and for us today.
God Protects Jesus and His Family (2:13) Matthew here narrates God's
protection for Jesus (2:13-15) and Herod's brutal massacre of other
children (2:16-18). Although the narrative rings with inspired grief
and rage against Herod's act, God does not stop the injustice in
this narrative any more than in most of the narratives we hear played
on the evening news. Yet this narrative contains a kernel of good
news that human reporters often cannot adequately discern until
after the fact: the injustice of a world run by rebels against God
cannot thwart his ultimate purposes for justice in that world.Jesus
Is a Refugee, a Model for Suffering (2:14)
If we read 2:13-14 in the context of Matthew's Gospel, we realize
that even in his childhood the Son of Man already lacked a place
to lay his head (8:20). Disciples would face the same kind of test
(10:23; 24:16).
Jesus' miraculous escape here should not lead us to overlook the
nature of his deliverance (compare, for example, 1 Kings 17:2-6).
Jesus and his family survived, but they survived as refugees, abandoning
any livelihood Joseph may have developed in Bethlehem and undoubtedly
traveling lightly. Although travel within Egypt was easy for visitors
with means (Casson 1974:257), many Judeans had traditionally regarded
refuge in Egypt as a last resort (2 Macc 5:8-9; compare 1 Kings
11:17, 40; Jer 26:21).
Some Christians in the West act as if an easy life were their divine
right, as if to imply that suffering Christians elsewhere lack faith
or virtue. Yet from its very beginning the story of Jesus challenges
such a premise. Of the millions of refugees and other impoverished
people throughout the world (for reports, see, for example, B. Thompson
1987), some are our brothers and sisters in Christ; many others
have never yet heard how much he loves them. Reports of hundreds
of thousands of civilians being tortured or slaughtered each year
for political, ethnic or religious reasons can inoculate us against
the reality of the human pain involved, but firsthand accounts from
some of my closest African friends have brought the tragedy of this
plight home to me. Many could resonate with the story of Jesus the
refugee who identified with their suffering. Indeed, Western Christians
should not be so arrogant as to think that we could never face such
affliction ourselves; in due time Christians in all nations will
receive their share of hardship (see 24:9).
Like other episodes in Matthew's first narrative section (1:18-4:25),
the accounts of Jesus' childhood fulfill Scripture, with at least
one explicit quotation per section. But all four stories in chapter
2 also surround place names rooted in Scripture. Jesus is "forced
to wander from place to place," King of a world hostile to
him (Schweizer 1975:41, 45). The world's treatment of Jesus likewise
promises little better for his followers (10:23-25). While Christians
are right to work for change within this world, we should not be
surprised when we face hostility, false accusations or even death
for Jesus' name (10:17-39; 13:21; 16:24-27; 24:9-14; compare 1 Thess
3:3; 1 Pet 4:12-13).In Jesus the Anticipated Salvation of God's
People Has Begun (2:15)
When Matthew quotes Hosea, he knows Hosea's context. The past exodus
with which Jesus identified (Hos 11:1) was the historic sign of
the covenant anticipating a new exodus (Hos 11:11). By quoting the
beginning of the passage, Matthew evokes the passage as a whole
and shows how Jesus is the forerunner of the new exodus, the time
of ultimate salvation. Matthew uses God's pattern in history to
remind us that our call and destiny, not the ridicule of outsiders,
must define us. We are the people of the new exodus, the people
of God's kingdom.
Matthew declares (2:15) that Jesus' sojourn in Egypt fulfills Hosea's
prophecy Out of Egypt I called my son (Hos 11:1). But this second
line in Hosea's verse directly parallels the first, "When Israel
was a child, I loved him." Thus by citing Hosea 11:1 Matthew
evokes the new exodus in Jesus, who embodies Israel's purpose and
mission (Longenecker 1975:144-45). But by emphasizing that Jesus'
return from Egypt reveals his sonship, Matthew again emphasizes
that Jesus' mission is for all peoples (compare Acts 6:13; 7:33).
Matthew's quotation from Hosea also reminds us that Jesus identifies
with his people's heritage. Jesus appears as the promised one greater
than Moses (Deut 18:18; compare Mt 4:2; 17:2) and the heir of God's
call to Israel. As God protected Moses when Pharaoh killed the male
Israelite children, so God protects Jesus.
Further, Jesus goes to Egypt like Israel under the first Joseph,
and like Pharaoh, Herod slays male Israelite children (Ex 1:16-2:5;
Ps-Philo 9:1). To persecuted Christians, Herod's Pharaoh-like behavior
is significant. Infanticide and more frequently child abandonment
constituted typically pagan offenses that the Jewish people despised
(for example, Wis 12:5-6; 14:23; Ps-Philo 2:10; 4:16); only such
pagan evildoers as Antiochus IV Epiphanes had repeated Pharaoh's
murder of Israelite babies (1 Macc 1:60-61; 2 Macc 6:10; 8:4).
Part of the moral of the story is therefore how it reflects on rulers
among God's people: if a supposed "king of the Jews" can
be a new Pharaoh, one cannot necessarily count on one's own people
for allies. Matthew again challenges his readers' prejudice against
Gentiles, reminding them of their opposition from fellow Jews. In
a world still divided by racial and national ties, Christians from
all peoples must remember that no group of people is incapable of
producing evil. Herod's behavior may thus summon us to examine the
sins of our own people first (compare 7:1-5).
A Ruler's Injustice Is Denounced (2:16-17)
We lack concrete historical record for Matthew's next episode (except
a garbled account from Macrobius; Ramsay 1898:219), but it certainly
fits Herod's character (France 1979; compare Soares Prabhu 1976:227-28;
Stauffer 1960:35-41). When Herod's young brother-in-law was becoming
too popular, he had a "drowning accident" in what archaeology
shows was a rather shallow pool; later, falsely accused officials
were cudgeled to death on Herod's order (Jos. War 1.550-51). Wrongly
suspecting two of his sons of plotting against him, he had them
strangled (Jos. Ant. 16.394; War 1.550-51), and five days before
his own death the dying Herod had a more treacherous, Absalom-like
son executed (Ant. 17.187, 191; War 1.664-65). Thus many modern
writers repeat the probably apocryphal story that Augustus remarked,
"Better to be Herod's pig than his son" (Ramsay 1898:219-20).
The murder of the children of Bethlehem thus fits Herod's character;
yet it is not surprising that other early writers do not mention
this particular atrocity. Herod's reign was an era of many highly
placed political murders, and our accounts come from well-to-do
reporters focused on the royal house and national events. In such
circles the execution of perhaps twenty children in a small town
would warrant little attention-except from God (see France 1979:114-19).
Matthew does not simply report this act of injustice dispassionately;
he chooses an ancient lament from one of the most sorrowful times
of his people's history. Jeremiah 31:15 speaks of Rachel weeping
for her children, poetically describing the favored mother of Benjamin
(standing for all Judah) mourning because her descendants were led
into exile (see Montefiore 1968:2:10-11). Rachel, who wept from
her grave in Bethlehem during the captivity, was now weeping at
another, nearer crisis significant in salvation history (compare
Mt 1:12, 17).
More important, however, the context in Jeremiah 31 also implies
future hope. Rachel weeps for her children, but God comforts her,
promising the restoration of his people (Jer 31:15-17), because
Israel is "my dear son, the child in whom I delight" (Jer
31:20; compare Mt 2:15; 3:17). This time of new salvation will be
the time of a new covenant (Jer 31:31-34). The painful events of
Jesus' persecuted childhood are the anvil on which God will forge
the fulfillment of his promises to his people, just as the cross
will usher in the new covenant (Mt 26:28).
This text shows that God called his son Jesus to identify with the
suffering and exile of his people (as in 1:12, 17; compare Jer 43:5-7)
as he identified with their exodus (Mt 2:15). In his incarnation
Jesus identified not only with humanity in an abstract sense but
with the history of a people whose history is also spiritually the
history of all believers (because we have been grafted into their
history and use their Scriptures).
Yet we may also suspect that this identification speaks of a God
who feels our human pain as deeply as we do. While philosophers
and theologians must address the problem of evil intellectually,
many grieving people inside and outside our churches face it existentially.
To broken people wounded by this world's evil, Jesus' sharing our
pain offers a consolation deeper than reasoned arguments: God truly
understands and cares-and paid an awful price to begin to make things
better.
The Return to Nazareth
19After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to
Joseph in Egypt 20and said, "Get up, take the child and his
mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to
take the child's life are dead."
21So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land
of Israel. 22But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea
in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having
been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee,
23and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled
what was said through the prophets: "He will be called a Nazarene."
Matthew 2:19-23
Explanation:
Growing Up in a Small Town (2:19-23)
Whereas modern Western readers generally expect a series of neat,
concise theological statements, God chose to reveal himself in more
concrete historical forms. Matthew does not just provide abstract
statements about Jesus; he explains the character of his Lord by
the history that was sanctified by his presence.
Jesus Is Granted a Respite from Trouble (2:19-20)
Although Jesus would face more persecution in his adult years, Herod's
death granted him a time of relative respite until his public ministry.
Although Matthew mentions Herod's murder of the children, he notes
Herod's own death three times-indicating that God alone holds the
ultimate power of life and death (Patte 1987:36). Every unjust empire
in history has ultimately fallen, but God's church continues to
endure (Rev 18:1-3; 19:1-3). To oppressed Christians, whether persecuted
for their faith (Mt 10:22; 1 Pet 4:13-14) or repressed for other
unjust reasons (Mt 5:39-41; Jas 5:1-7), this reminder of the oppressors'
mortality is a reminder that all trials are temporary and our loving
Father remains in control (Mt 10:28-31; see also 1 Pet 5:10).
The angelic orders to return to the land of Israel because those
seeking the child's life were dead (2:19-21) explicitly recall Exodus
4:19-20. Jewish readers would have immediately recognized the allusion:
like Moses, Jesus had outlived his persecutor and would lead his
people to salvation (Mt 1:21; Acts 7:35).
Wisdom Protects the Family from a Potential Danger (2:21-22)
God again protects his purpose in history from human oppressors.
Joseph was wise to avoid Judea and Archelaus (compare Prov 22:3;
27:12), as a dream confirmed. Archelaus shared all his father's
negative qualities and quickly provoked the opposition of many of
the people (Suet. Tiberius 8; Jos. Ant. 17.311-17). Although he
maintained his position as ethnarch for some time, the opposition
of A.D. 6 led to his banishment to Vienna in Gaul (Strabo 16.2.46;
Jos. Ant. 17.342-44).
By God's Plan, They Settle in an Obscure Place (2:23) Jewish leaders
who opposed Matthew's community undoubtedly reviled Jesus by wondering
how a great Messiah could come from politically insignificant Nazareth
(compare Jn 1:46). Nazareth was, like many Galilean towns, "a
tiny agricultural village." Earlier estimates suggested that
it contained as many as sixteen hundred to two thousand inhabitants
(Meyers and Strange 1981:27, 56), but more recent estimates have
suggested five hundred (Stanton 1993:112). It was the sort of community
where everyone would know everyone else's business, but it was a
religiously orthodox town (see Meyers and Strange 1981:27; Finegan
1969:29). Though Nazareth existed in the shadow of the large, Hellenized
Jewish city of Sepphoris, Galilean villages and towns were not very
dependent economically on the two Hellenized cities (Goodman 1983:27,
60).But while Nazareth was humanly insignificant, Matthew emphasizes
that it was divinely significant. Jewish leaders may have been inclined
to question, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?"
(Jn 1:46 NASB), but Matthew turns their objection around by showing
divine significance in the choice of Nazareth as Jesus' hometown.
Matthew accomplishes this exercise by a wordplay, a standard and
accepted form of argumentation in both Jewish and Greco-Roman rhetoric
(Keener 1992b:54 n. 101). Although we would not use an argument
based on wordplay today (in English wordplays usually constitute
bad puns rather than arguments), Matthew's argument demonstrates
that we, like Matthew, should be prepared to answer our culture's
objections and questions regarding our Lord Jesus in culturally
relevant ways. His case for Nazareth also reminds us that God often
uses the despised things of the world to accomplish his purposes
(1 Cor 1:27).
That Matthew is making a play on the name Nazareth is easier to
recognize than the specific word with which he is playing, and scholars
divide in their opinions here. Two views are most common. Those
who believe that Matthew would not use a wordplay that worked only
in Hebrew usually hold that Matthew intended "Nazirite"
(Patte 1987:39-40; Meier 1980:16). Scholars who argue this position
typically assume that Matthew drew a typological application from
Samson in Judges 13:5 (part of the former prophets), which he attributed
for some reason to the Messiah.
But whereas Matthew's less skillful readers would have to have satisfied
themselves that the text was in their Bible somewhere, those skillful
enough to recognize that no single text said this would also recognize
Matthew's method; many might also know Hebrew. Thus other scholars
appeal to the prophets' messianic title "the branch" (Is
4:2; Jer 23:5; 33:15; Zech 3:8; 6:12); Isaiah 11:1 uses the same
term, which is more clearly messianic than "Nazirite."
