Bethlehem, Egypt, Nazareth

Matthew 2

Immanuel – 11/5/23

Last week we began a series of five stories – five pericopes – related to Jesus’ birth. Each one of these pericopes has a threat, the threat is evaded when an angel delivers a message in a dream, and each pericope has some fulfilment of prophesy. The only exception is that there is no angelic visitor when Herod kills the children.

Matthew does not record these five stories merely to narrate the circumstances surrounding Jesus’ birth. No. Matthew is addressing a specific problem.

On the streets of Galilee and Judea, Jesus was known as Jesus of Nazareth. Throughout the gospels the question is raised numerous times: How can the Messiah come from Galilee, let alone Nazareth? The Messiah was supposed to come from Judah/Judea; and more specifically, He was supposed to come from Bethlehem. A Galilean Messiah would have been a major stumbling block for any 1st century Jew.

As commentator R.T. France writes, “Jews from Judea would certainly have discriminated against Jews from Galilee. Even an impeccably Jewish Galilean in first-century Jerusalem was not among his own people; he was as much a foreigner as an Irishman in London or a Texan in New York. His accent would immediately mark him out as “not one of us.” And all the communal prejudice of the supposedly superior culture of the capital city would stand against his claim to be heard even as a prophet, let alone as the “Messiah,” a title which, as everyone knows, belonged to Judea.”1

If we don’t understand this prejudice that existed, we miss a primary tension within Matthew’s gospel; for this is the story of Jesus of Nazareth, not Jesus of Bethlehem. None-the-less, Matthew is going to show us how the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, has indeed come from Bethlehem.

But even more than that, Matthew uses the question of Jesus’ origins to sound his greatest theme: Jesus is the Messiah to which all Scripture has pointed, He is the fulfilment of history, He is the Davidic King of all kings!

Such interweaving of themes again reminds us that Matthew was writing for a Jewish audience, presupposing a deep understanding of the Old Testament. Remember, the Bible was written for us, but it was not written to us; so, we will need to go digging to better understand how the original readers would have received Matthew’s gospel.

Purpose

1. Explore the historical context during Jesus’ first years.

2. Jesus is the fulfillment not just of prophecy, but all Scripture.

Twice I have preached from Matthew 2, specifically Matthew 2:1-12. Guess what, both times were during the Christmas season. Though it is not too far off, it’s refreshing to approach this text without the cords of Christmas.

It also means that today I will give verses 1-12 a light treatment, having done them twice before.

Read vs 1-6

Magi in Judea

In our last sermon series, we studied the life of David, Israel’s greatest king. But long before David rose to prominence he was born in Bethlehem. Bethlehem was a relatively small town about six miles south-southwest of Jerusalem. Scholars estimate that at the beginning of the first century there were no more than 1,000 people living in Bethlehem and the surrounding area (an important detail for later in the passage).

Matthew does nothing to tell us how Jesus came to be born in Bethlehem, he only states that Jesus was. Luke informs us that Mary and Joseph were from Nazareth but were forced to travel to Bethlehem because of a census. On the night they arrived in Bethlehem, Jesus was born.

But some time had transpired since that night – about two years as we will see. It was enough time for Magi, likely from Babylon, to travel to Jerusalem.

As the Magi watched the Babylonian skies, they saw something that indicated a great king had been born in the west: the king of the Jews. Magi were magicians, keepers of pagan wisdom, and – most importantly for our passage – they were astrologers. As such, they would not be welcome among the Jews. They would be seen as vile gentiles dabbling with the demonic.

So, when these Magi showed up in Jerusalem asking, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews, there is no wonder, no hopefulness, no acceptance. Likely, Jerusalem was blinded by prejudice as unclean foreigners claimed to hold special knowledge regarding their Messiah. Instead of joy, Jerusalem was upset, distressed, annoyed.

From the moment the Messiah is born, to the moment He is executed at Golgotha, Jerusalem is the center of hostility towards Jesus. Eventually, the people of Jerusalem unhesitatingly accept responsibility for the death of their Messiah. Before Pilate they would shout, “His blood be on us and on our children!” So, Pilate delivered Jesus to be crucified. (Matthew 27:24-26).

But however troubled Jerusalem was, King Herod was absolutely unnerved.

Herod the Great. Herod was also a gentile. In 40 BC the Romans appointed him King of Judea. Seeking to garner favor with the Jews, Herod vastly improved and expanded the Jewish temple. But despite his efforts, the Jews despised Herod. He was a brutal pagan tyrant unafraid to shed blood. Even in Rome, Herod had a reputation for being cruel; and if the Romans thought you were cruel, it was a special kind of barbarity.

As tyrants go, Herod was deeply insecure. Mostly (and I will elaborate on this later) Herod feared anyone who might have a claim to his throne. So, when verse 3 tells us that Herod was troubled at the new of a king of the Jews, trouble was most certainly brewing.

Though he was a pagan, notice how Herod immediately recognized that the magi were speaking about the Messiah. That’s why he summons the Jewish Sanhedrin, so he can learn where the Messiah would be born. The Scripture they quote is a mash up of Micah 5:2 and 2 Samuel 5:2.

The message is clear, the Messiah, would be born in Bethlehem. Jesus, the Shepherd King of Israel, has been born in Bethlehem. He is a son of Judah. By divine orchestration, Jesus of Nazareth has been born in Bethlehem in fulfillment of the prophetic words.

Read vs 7-12

Feigning devotion, Herod sends the magi to find the baby king. As they go the star they had followed reappears. It’s impossible to know exactly what they followed; a planetary alignment, a comet, a supernova, all have been proposed. But none of these could go before them and rest upon a specific house. Perhaps it was an angel.

Whatever it was, they become ecstatic with joy when they see it. They go into the house and bow before the child. What wonder, that these unclean, pagan wisemen are the first in Matthew’s gospel to honor Jesus as king. See no Jewish religious leaders in that house, though they had knowledge. Perhaps they couldn’t tolerate the idea of traveling with the magi.

None-the-less, Matthew wants us to see that Gentiles are the first to recognize Jesus as Messiah. It’s a hint that Jesus is not just King of the Jews, He is King of all kings.

They lay incredibly valuable treasures at the feet of the child. Whether the magi knew it or not, each gift powerfully symbolizes Jesus’ future: gold, for a king; frankincense, a priestly incense; myrrh, an oil often used for burial.

Herod’s malicious intentions are betrayed by an angel. The magi receive a warning in a dream. They somehow skirt Jerusalem and leave Judea. God orchestrates this to create a brief window of time through which the young family can escape.

Read vs 13-15

Moses and Israel

Herod’s malicious intentions are again betrayed by an angel in a dream. Joseph is to take his family and flee to Egypt and stay there until God sends word.

See how verse 14 says the little family departed at night. The indication is that Joseph woke from his dream, got his family and belongings together, and urgently took flight. There was zero hesitation to escape Bethlehem under the cover of night and immediately embark on more than a 150-mile journey.

Egypt had a significant Jewish population. Estimates have as many as one million Jews living in Alexandria at that time. It would be easy for Joseph, Mary, and Jesus to disappear into the crowd and go on living as faithful Jews.

They were also participating in a long tradition. Abraham had fled to Egypt to escape a famine, so did Jacob. When the Babylonians invaded, and the Greeks, and the Romans, more and more Jews fled to Egypt. Jesus was taking up Israel’s history, fleeing to Egypt to escape disaster.

All this was done in fulfillment of Scripture. Matthew quotes Hosea.

“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.”

-Hosea 11:1

In numerous places, God refers to the nation of Israel as His son. And this quote relates to how God brough Israel out of Egypt during the Exodus. There is nothing overtly Messianic about it. How then can Matthew apply Hosea 11:1 to Jesus?

Instead of showing us a Messianic prophecy, then how Jesus fulfilled it; Matthew is applying a different form of prophetic fulfillment, He is showing us that Jesus is the Messiah to which all Scripture has pointed – not just the prophets, all Scripture. Even all of Israel’s history has been pointing to this Christ-child.

When Jesus went to Egypt to escape disaster, he was being given Israel’s history. When God calls Him to leave Egypt, He is being given Israel’s history. We will see it again and again in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus is reliving Israel’s history. It will not happen with exact correspondence, but the associations are unmistakable.

That’s how typology works in the Bible: not exactly the same, but the associations are unmistakable. Just as the Passover Lamb is a picture of Jesus. It’s not exactly the same, but the association is unmistakable. For is not Jesus worthy of all power and wealth and wisdom and honor and glory and blessing, for He is the Lamb who was slain (Revelation 5:12)?

Israel was the type – or shadow – Jesus is the fulness. Jesus is both the fulfillment of Israel and the new Israel. And just as God called Israel out of Egypt, so will the Father call the Son out of Egypt. Scripture finds it’s fulfillment in Jesus of Nazareth.

Not only is Jesus the new Israel, He is also the new Moses.

Read vs 16-18

As I had said earlier, Bethlehem was only six miles away from Jerusalem. The magi should have returned within a day or two. It did not take long for Herod to figure out the magi were not coming back, and he flew into a rage.

(Parenthesis)

Critics will often cite the complete lack of historical evidence for the slaughter of Bethlehem’s sons, but that is because these critics do not well understand Herod’s history.

Remember, Herod had a reputation of cruelty and brutality, which grew even more bloody in his later years. He was so obsessed with defending his throne that he killed the two nobles who had ruled before him, along with many of their supporters. He then killed all the remaining members of their families. He killed his brother-in-law, mother-in-law, and eventually his wife. He killed his three oldest sons.

When he discovered a plot to assassinate him, he killed the 10 conspirators along with their entire families. Then there are the multiple accounts of Herod slaughtering prominent citizens, along with their families. And most ridiculous of all, Herod ordered that after he died, one member of every noble family be executed to ensure the nation’s mourning was authentic. Upon his death, no one was foolish enough to carry out his orders.

The accounts of Herod’s brutality are so numerous that it is no wonder the slaughter in Bethlehem was overlooked by historians of the age. Additionally, as I mentioned before, Bethlehem’s population at the time was no greater than 1,000 people. Such a population would only produce a maximum of 20 boys two and under. Undoubtedly an awful tragedy, still overshadowed by Herod’s greater atrocities; overshadowed everywhere but in the Gospel of Matthew.

(Close Parenthesis)

In the unfolding drama around the Christ-child, Herod is cast as a type of Pharaoh. Remember Pharaoh from Exodus chapter 1; he issued a command that all of Israel’s male babies be cast into the Nile.

Just as God had protected the newborn Moses from Pharaoh’s atrocity, so did God protecting Jesus from a king bent on infanticide.

Matthew then quotes Jeremiah 31:15. In Jeremiah, Rachel is a symbol of the mothers of Israel. The Babylonians gathered the Jews at Ramah to take them into exile; the mothers wept while the sons were dragged away.

But listen to the words right after Matthew’s quote ends.

Thus says the LORD: “Keep your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for there is a reward for your work, declares the LORD, and they shall come back from the land of the enemy. There is hope for your future, declares the LORD, and your children shall come back to their own country. -Jeremiah 31:16-17

Then, only a couple verses later, God promises to make a new covenant with Israel, a covenant where God promises to “forgive their iniquity, and remember…their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:34).

Every Jew would have known Jeremiah 31 as the place where God promises the new covenant. They understood Rachel was comforted by the promises of God. Bethlehem’s mothers had wept just as Israel’s mothers had wept. But God made promises of restoration, of forgiveness, of covenantal hope and joy. Jesus is the fulfilment of that promise and the hope of restoration. He will atone for the people’s sins and deliver them from condemnation.

Just as God called Moses to deliver His people from slavery, so God was calling Jesus up out of Egypt to deliver His people from bondage to their sins. The prophecies of Jeremiah find their full and ultimate fulfillment in Jesus of Nazareth! Jesus is the one who delivers a new covenant to Israel.

Read vs 19-23

Nazareth of Galilee

When Pharaoh died in Egypt, God called Moses to return to his people. When Herod died in Judea, God called Jesus to return to His people – another angelic dream.

Herod died in 4 AD. His three sons divided Herod’s kingdom and Archelaus was given Judea. Archelaus was very much like his father, cruel. But unlike his father he was politically inept. For instance, he began his reign in blood, massacring some 3,000 Passover celebrants. No wonder it was not safe for Joseph to take his family back to Judea.

Within two years, Rome deposed Archelaus and put a prefect in charge. Eventually, a prefect named Pontius Pilate would be appointed to this role.

Verse 22 implies that Joseph had yet another angelic dream. This time he was warned to stay away from Judea. So, he took his family north, into the territory of the northern kingdom of Israel. Under Roman rule it was called Galilee. They came to settle in the village of Nazareth, which we know from Luke was Joseph and Mary’s hometown.

Matthew then writes that in fulfilment of Scripture, Jesus would be called a Nazarene.

But there is a major problem with this prophecy. Nazareth or Nazarenes are not mentioned anywhere in the Old Testament. In fact, Nazareth didn’t even exist during the Old Testament period. Nothing in the Old Testament talks about the Messiah coming from a place called Nazareth.

There is much scholarly debate over what Matthew means. Without entering into that debate, I’m simply going to share what I believe is most consistent with Matthew’s method of showing how Jesus is the fulfillment of all scripture.

There were two streams of thought among the Jews about the origins of the Messiah. By far the most popular stream was that the Messiah would come from Bethlehem – as testified by the religious leader’s quotation to Herod. But there was another prophetic stream, a small minority view, that no one would know where the Messiah would come from.

It’s a prophetic stream of thought articulated once in John’s gospel. Speaking of Jesus, some people in Jerusalem said:

But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from. -John 7:27

It appears that Matthew is harkening to this prophetic stream of thought. Let me explain.

As I have said, in the Old Testament Nazareth was non-existent. In Jesus’ day, Nazareth was culturally non-existent. Nazareth was a tiny village lost in the progress and wealth of the other Galilean cities. Last week I quoted Nathaniel who said, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46) Even in Jesus’ day, Nazareth was a nowhere.

This perfectly fits a series of prophecies that reveal the Messiah would be unrecognizable, not taken seriously, humble, lowly, a sufferer. No prophetic picture captures this better than Isaiah 53.

He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. -Isaiah 53:2-3

Isaiah prophesies that when the Messiah would appear He would be despised and rejected. He would not have the expected appearance. It follows that Jesus’ origins did not fit the expectations of the day. Jesus of Nazareth is a Messiah no one wanted.

When Matthew writes, He would be called a Nazarene, it’s a pejorative statement, an insult. Like Nathanial’s statement, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

But out of Nazareth did come the Messiah, born in Bethlehem, the better Moses, the new Israel, the delivered of His people. Jesus of Nazareth is the One all Scripture and all history has been pointing towards.

At His birth only the Gentiles recognized Jesus as King of the Jews. And upon the cross, it was the Gentile Romans who called Him King of the Jews. While Jerusalem was annoyed and indifferent towards their young Messiah, and its king tried to kill him, Gentile Egypt provided refuge.

Even though He is still yet a small child, we are beginning to see that Jesus is far more than King of the Jews. As Scripture has foretold, Gentiles are already beginning to stream towards Him.

“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel and His Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by [Israel], the servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves; because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.” -Isaiah 49:6-7

1France, R.T. W. (2007). The Gospel of Matthew. Pg 6. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.