The New Testament with Commentary Matthew 2

Jesus is born—4 bc

The ‘wise men’

1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men [magi] from the East came into Jerusalem, 2 saying: “Where is he who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw his star in the East and have come to worship him.” 3 When Herod the king heard it he became agitated, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 And gathering all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.* 5 So they said to him: “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it stands written by the prophet:

6 ‘And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah,

are not at all the least among the rulers of Judah,

for out of you will come a Ruler

who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ”†

7 Then Herod, calling the wise men secretly, determined from them the time when the star appeared. 8 And directing them to Bethlehem he said, “When you get there, search carefully for the young child; and should you find him, bring back word to me, so that I also may go and worship him.”‡

The Star!

9 So having heard the king they departed, and there was the star that they had seen in the East! It went before them until it arrived and stopped above where the young Child was. 10 Now when they saw the star they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy!§ 11 And coming into the house* they saw the young Child with Mary His mother,† and falling down they worshiped Him; and opening their treasures they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense and myrrh.‡ 12 Then, having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their own country by a different road.

The flight to Egypt

13 Now when they had departed, again, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream saying: “Get up, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt and stay there until I tell you; because Herod is about to seek the young Child to destroy Him!” 14 So he got up and took the young Child and His mother by night§ and departed for Egypt. 15 And he was there until the death of Herod, so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet should be fulfilled, namely: “Out of Egypt I called my Son.”*

The massacre

16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been deceived by the wise men, became very angry, and he sent out and killed all the boys who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men.† 17 Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, namely:

18 “A voice was heard in Ramah,

lamentation, weeping and great mourning;

Rachel weeping for her children

and not wanting to be comforted,

because they are no more.”‡

The return to Natsareth

19 Now Herod having died, there, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 saying: “Get up, take the young Child and His mother and go into the land of Israel, for those§ seeking the life of the young Child have died.” 21 So he got up and took the young Child and His mother and went into the land of Israel. 22 But hearing that Archelaus was reigning over Judea instead of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned in a dream he proceeded into the region of Galilee. 23 And upon arriving he settled in a city called Natsareth [Branch-town],* so that what was spoken through the prophets should be fulfilled, that He would be called a Natsorean [Branch-man].†

* 2:4 The magi said, “King of the Jews”; Herod said, “Messiah”. Evidently he knew something about OT prophecy. † 2:6 See Micah 5:2. ‡ 2:8 Presumably Herod was a good actor, so if they hadn't been warned in a dream, they would probably have reported back. § 2:10 It reappeared after two years. They had undertaken an expensive and dangerous journey in the dark, as it were. Now God confirms that they are on the right track. They are beside themselves with joy! It guided them to the very house. * 2:11 Joseph probably used the stable (Luke 2:7) for only one night; the next day he would look for more adequate quarters. That Jesus was born at night is clear from Luke 2:8-12. The angels appeared at night (verse 8) and said “this day” (verse 11)—the shepherds were Jews, and the Jewish day began at 6:00 p.m. Since the shepherds broadcasted the message delivered by the angel, any people in the town who loved God would want to help Joseph. The Text says ‘young child’, not ‘baby’—the visit to Jerusalem (Luke 2:22-38) is now well behind them. † 2:11 They may have arrived at night. All the events recorded in verses 1-8 presumably happened the same day. It is only some ten miles from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, but it may have been already dark when they started out. The Text says that they saw Jesus and Mary; Joseph is not mentioned. Perhaps he was sleeping in another room. If the magi took off immediately, as I suppose, then the angel roused Joseph as soon as they were out the door. ‡ 2:11 Because the gifts were three, some have assumed that the magi were three, but nowhere does the Text specify the number. Now, as then, those who are wise still seek Him. The gifts were providential to meet their financial needs in Egypt and beyond, quite apart from any symbolism. § 2:14 That same night, immediately. A suspicious man like Herod doubtless sent a spy to keep an eye on the magi. When they took off in the opposite direction Herod would have been informed within a few hours. If Joseph had waited until morning it would probably have been too late. * 2:15 The time spent in Egypt was possibly only a month or two. The quote is from Hosea 11:1, which in that context refers to Israel, but Jesus was/is literally God's Son—OT prophecies often have a dual reference/application. † 2:16 Obviously it had been his intention to kill Jesus. ‡ 2:18 Ramah was a district of Bethlehem. The quote is from Jeremiah 31:15. The birth of the Savior resulted in the massacre of many infants; being the fulfillment of prophecy means it was part of the Plan. God's ways seem strange to us at times, but He is under no obligation to explain His actions. (However, based on Jeremiah 31:16 I wonder if God did not compensate the parents somehow.) § 2:20 The Text is plainly plural here, so who else besides Herod had died? That massacre would not be a nice thing to have on the record, and it may be that Herod had ordered the execution of others who were involved. * 2:23 We know from Luke that Natsareth was Joseph's home—his house and business were waiting for him (although he had been gone for quite a while). The name of the town in Hebrew is based on the consonants נצר (resh, tsadde, nun), but since Hebrew is read from right to left, for us the order is reversed = n, ts, r. This word root means ‘branch’. Greek has the equivalent for ‘ps’ and ‘ks’, but not for ‘ts’, so the transliteration used a ζ (zeta) ‘dz’, which is the voiced counterpart of ‘ts’. But when the Greek was transliterated into English it came out as ‘z’! But Hebrew has a ‘z’, ז (zayin), so in transliterating back into Hebrew people assumed the consonants נזר, replacing the correct tsadde with zayin. This technical information is necessary as background for the next footnote. † 2:23 Neither ‘Nazareth’ nor ‘Nazarene’, spelled with a zayin, is to be found in the Old Testament, but there is a prophetic reference to Messiah as the Branch, netser—Isaiah 11:1—and several to the related word, tsemach—Isaiah 4:2; Jeremiah 23:5; 33:15; Zechariah 3:8; 6:12. So Matthew is quite right—the prophets (plural, being at least three) referred to Christ as the Branch. Since Jesus was a man, He would be the ‘Branch-man’, from ‘Branch-town’. Which brings us to the word ‘Natsorean’. The familiar ‘Nazarene’ (Ναζαρηνος) [Natsarene] occurs in Mark 1:24; 14:67; 16:6 and Luke 4:34, but here in Matthew 2:23 and in fourteen other places, including Acts 22:8 where the glorified Jesus calls Himself that, the word is ‘Natsorean’ (Ναζωραιος), which is quite different. (Actually, in Acts 22:8 Jesus introduced Himself to Saul as ‘the Natsorean’, which Saul would understand as a reference to the Messiah.) To my surprise, Pilate put “the Natsorean” in the accusation above the cross—John 19:19. I have been given to understand that the Nazareth of Jesus' day had been founded some 100 years before by a Branch family who called it Branch town; they were very much aware of the prophecies about the Branch and fully expected the Messiah to be born from among them—they called themselves Branch-people (Natsoreans). Of course everyone else thought it was a big joke and tended to look down on them. “Can anything good…?”