Accordingly, King Herod who did not
want anyone usurping the throne from him, not even his family inquired the
teachers of the Law about the Messiah. Where he will be born…
The teachers of the Law answered him
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 shepherd my people Israel.’[Micah 5:2,4 ]”
9 After they had heard the king,
they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of
them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the
star, they were overjoyed. 11 On 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,
frankincense and myrrh.
13 When 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.”
14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left
for Egypt, 15 where 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.”[Hosea 11:1 ]
The Massacre of the Infants. 16 When Herod realized that he
had been deceived by the magi, he became furious. He ordered the massacre of
all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under, in
accordance with the time he had ascertained from the magi. 17 Then was
fulfilled what had been said through Jeremiah the prophet:
18 “A voice was heard in Ramah,
sobbing and loud
lamentation;
Rachel weeping for her children,
and she would not
be consoled,
since they were no
more.” [
The Return from Egypt.
19 When Herod had died, behold, the
angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, “Rise,
take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who
sought the child’s life are dead.”[j] 21 He rose, took the child and his
mother, and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was
ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod,[k] he was afraid to go back
there. And because he had been warned in a dream, he departed for the region of
Galilee. 23 [l]He went and dwelt in a town called Nazareth, so that what had
been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He shall be called a
Nazorean.”
[Verse 23 is a tradition learned from the Apostles not in the Old Testament]
NOTES:
2:1–12 The future rejection of Jesus by Israel and his
acceptance by the Gentiles are reprojected into this scene of the narrative.
2:1 In the days of King Herod: Herod reigned from 37 to 4
B.C. Magi: originally a designation of the Persian priestly caste, the word
became used of those who were regarded as having more than human knowledge.
Matthew’s magi are astrologers.
2:2 We saw his star: it was a common ancient belief that a
new star appeared at the time of a ruler’s birth. Matthew also draws upon the Old
Testament story of Balaam, who had prophesied that “A star shall advance from
Jacob” (Nm 24:17), though there the star means not an astral phenomenon but the
king himself.
2:4 Herod’s consultation with the chief priests and scribes
has some similarity to a Jewish legend about the child Moses in which the
“sacred scribes” warn Pharaoh about the imminent birth of one who will deliver
Israel from Egypt and the king makes plans to destroy him.
2:11 Cf. Ps 72:10, 15; Is 60:6. These Old Testament texts
led to the interpretation of the magi as kings.
2:13–23 Biblical and nonbiblical traditions about Moses are
here applied to the child Jesus, though the dominant Old Testament type is not
Moses but Israel (Mt 2:15).
2:13 Flee to Egypt: Egypt was a traditional place of refuge
for those fleeing from danger in Palestine (see 1 Kgs 11:40; Jer 26:21), but
the main reason why the child is to be taken to Egypt is that he may relive the
Exodus experience of Israel.
2:15 The fulfillment citation is taken from Hos 11:1. Israel,
God’s son, was called out of Egypt at the time of the Exodus; Jesus, the Son of
God, will similarly be called out of that land in a new exodus. The father-son
relationship between God and the nation is set in a higher key. Here the son is
not a group adopted as “son of God,” but the child who, as conceived by the
holy Spirit, stands in unique relation to God. He is son of David and of
Abraham, of Mary and of Joseph, but, above all, of God.
2:18 Jer 31:15 portrays Rachel, wife of the patriarch Jacob,
weeping for her children taken into exile at the time of the Assyrian invasion
of the northern kingdom (722–21 B.C.). Bethlehem was traditionally identified
with Ephrath, the place near which Rachel was buried (see Gn 35:19; 48:7), and
the mourning of Rachel is here applied to her lost children of a later age.
Ramah: about six miles north of Jerusalem. The lamentation of Rachel is so
great as to be heard at a far distance.
2:20 For those who sought the child’s life are dead: Moses,
who had fled from Egypt because the Pharaoh sought to kill him (see Ex 2:15),
was told to return there, “for all the men who sought your life are dead” (Ex
4:19).
2:22 With the agreement of the emperor Augustus, Archelaus
received half of his father’s kingdom, including Judea, after Herod’s death. He
had the title “ethnarch” (i.e., “ruler of a nation”) and reigned from 4 B.C. to
A.D. 6.
2:23 Nazareth…he shall be called a Nazorean: the tradition
of Jesus’ residence in Nazareth was firmly established, and Matthew sees it as
being in accordance with the force announced plan of God. The town of Nazareth is
not mentioned in the Old Testament, and no such prophecy can be found there.
The vague expression “through the prophets” may be due to Matthew’s seeing the connection between Nazareth and certain texts in which there are words with a remote similarity to the name of that town. Some such Old Testament texts are
Is 11:1 where the Davidic king of the future is called “a bud” (nēser) that
shall blossom from the roots of Jesse, and Jgs 13:5, 7 where Samson, the future
deliverer of Israel from the Philistines, is called one who shall be
consecrated (a nāzîr) to God.
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The Gospel According to Matthew
Online Bible Study in English
The Gospel According to Matthew
Online Bible Study in English
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