The Wise Men and Foolish Men

Matthew 2:1-12

a. The wise men visit (2:1-3)

b. The Fools’ fake homage (2:4-8)

c. The wise mens’ homage (2:9-12)

1. INTRODUCTION

a. Famous activist Elaine Brown said something that I think many people believe in. “You must be willing to die for what you believe in.” There is another famous quote, “Always stand up for what you believe in, even if it means standing alone.” Winston Churchhill said something similar in a different way. "You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life."

b. The point of all of these statements tell us that wisdom is worth fighting for. We hear statements that wisdom and knowledge are the most important things in life. It’s more valuable than anything else. Well, we know that King Solomon understood this because he understood what his father had taught him in Proverbs 3:13-16.

2. BODY

a. The wise men visit (2:1-3)

i. Chapter 2 begins with no reference to how long after Jesus’s birth and the narrative introduces Herod the king and magi from the east. There is great significance here in 2:1. It says that Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea. Why is this significant? We know the city of Bethlehem. Yes, we know that Bethlehem means house of bread. But what is the significance of this statement? Well, when we consider the context of Matthew Chapter 1, it tells us the genealogy of the King of Kings.

ii. Remember 1:6? It says that Jesse was the father David the king. Well, why was it important that Jesus was born in Bethlehem? We see the significance of Bethlehem primarily because it was prophesied by the prophet Micah (5:2) that from you, the city of Bethlehem, one will go forth to be a ruler in Israel, and His days are from eternity. This is clearly talking about Jesus Christ. Many will end it there. But what else is important? Because of John 7:42. John 7:42 tells us that the Scriptures tell us that Christ will come from the descendants of David, from Bethlehem, the village where David was.

iii. This is ground breaking because when you read 1 Samuel 16, it tells us that Samuel goes to visit Jesse to pick out the king. We know from here, John 7:42 that king David grew up in Bethlehem. What other book in the Old Testament also takes place in Bethlehem? The book of Ruth. What is the purpose of the book of Ruth? It is to prepare us for the coming king. Who is that coming king? David.

iv. Again, the purpose of the book of Matthew is to lay with absolutely clarity that Jesus is not just God. He is God. Yes, He is fully man and fully God. But also, He is king. Jesus is king just as David was king. Jesus was not only from the seed of David as we saw in the genealogy, but He was even born in the city that David grew up in. So when we see that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, it’s focusing on telling us that Jesus is king. King of who? According to Matthew 2:1, He was born in Bethlehem of Judea. The qualifier here of Judea stresses that Jesus is king of Judea, more specifically king of the Jews.

v. So this king of the Jews was born in the days of Herod the king. We see Herod and immediately after, magi from the east who appear in Jerusalem.

vi. So who is Herod and who are the magi from the east? We want to deal with Herod first. Herod the great was a Roman Jewish king of the Herodian kingdom of Judea. He was considered great because he was responsible for colossal building projects throughout Judea. Among his works were the rebuilding of the Second Temple in Jerusalem and the Western wall. But Herod matters for two reasons.

1. First, in his attempt to slaughter the Messiah he is like the Pharaoh of Jewish tradition, who sought to kill the first redeemer, Moses.

2. Secondly, Herod, although he could boast no royal genealogy, was a king, and our evangelist is interested in contrasting his rule and kingdom with the rule and kingdom of Jesus the Davidic Messiah. Herod is important to help us understand the same significance in Isaiah 6:1. Just as we saw in Isaiah 6, when Uzziah was king, the real king was sitting on the throne. Like that instance, in the days of king Herod, the real king was born.

vii. Who are the magi from the east? The magi were originally the title of a Persian priestly caste who played an important role in advising the king, was applied more widely to learned men and priests who specialized in astrology and the interpretation of dreams, and in some cases magical arts. They were translated wise men in the KJV because of the translation of wise men in Daniel 2:48. Daniel 2 is king Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and he needed someone to interpret the dream. So they went looking all over to understand the dream and nobody was able to interpret it except Daniel. We see in Daniel 2:19 that he was given a vision and he understood the dream in which the king had. He goes on to explain the dream to the king and after that, he was placed in 2:48 and made him chief governor over all the wise men of Babylon, literally all the men who interpret dreams of Babylon. So simply for our context, they were the spiritual elite, learned men the best wisdom of the Gentile world.

viii. Verse 2 tells us that they saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him. The magi from the east show us that Jesus is not merely a local king, but a universal king. He is not merely over Judah, but of the whole world. The magi immediately tell us why they came on to the scene. They came to worship Him.

ix. So verse 3, Herod picks up the story. We see from the narrative that as Herod hears about Jesus who was born, who is king of the Jews, when he hears this news, he was troubled, terrified, frightened. It says here that all of Jerusalem, but we understand that not all of Jerusalem was terrified with him. Rather, it was all the leaders, the spiritual elites of Israel, the priests and the scribes, because they were not ready to worship Jesus as king like the magi from the east. Herod especially was frightened because he was the king. He was not ready to bow down to Jesus because it was his time as king.

x. The irony of this verse is revealed by the fact that these magi, who were the spiritual elite from the outside world, knew the Messiah, while the Jewish leaders rejected their Messiah. To have the “King of the Jews” recognized and honored first not by his own people but by representatives of the “many” who were later to come from east and west to take their place in the kingdom of heaven (8:11) appropriately set the scene for the ministry of the Israelite Messiah who would both be rejected by his own people (here foreshadowed by the stance of Herod and “all Jerusalem,” see on v. 3) and send out his disciples to recruit from all nations (28:19). These verses help us to understand that Jesus was not merely king over the Jews, but king overall His creation.

xi. This has a profound impact on us. The question can be, are we like Herod and all of Israel, who know of their history, but have no desire to make known the Messiah? Look at the contrast of the magi who came hundreds of miles to come worship the King whom they know nothing about, versus the Jewish elite who know because of the Old Testament prophesies yet want nothing to do with Him. These Jewish leaders are the people who would later see the Messiah grow up, and deny Him, to put Him on a cross and execute Him. Why? Because this Messiah would take away from them their greed.

xii. If we think about the pharisees and scribes, would we be the same? Do we love our greed so much that we would choose those things over the things of God? Or do we embody the attitude of the magi who were willing to sacrifice everything to see the King of the Jews?

xiii. This is the contrast between the wise men, men who were willing to give up everything to see the King versus the spiritual, religious people of the world. Religion has important lessons, but only true religion is ultimately true and offers true salvation. This is a major theme in the book of Matthew, but it should be something we consider throughout our lives. Are we living for ourselves, or are we living for Jesus? Does believing in Jesus just make our lives better, or is He truly the king over your life? This is the degree of separation from wisdom and fools.

b. The Fools’ fake homage (2:4-8)

i. So Herod takes the opportunity in verse 4, to gather all his chief priests and scribes and he inquired to ask them where the Messiah was to be born. This verse tells us that Herod didn’t see the significance of this Messiah and only inquired about him because of what the magi were introducing to him. Due to the fact that these magi came from the east looking for the Messiah, this caused Herod to gather his spiritual elite and start a hunt to find the Messiah.

ii. So when he gathered all his men, they gathered and told him in verse 5, that the Messiah is to be born in Bethlehem in Judea, for that is what was written and prophesied by Micah and they quote Micah 5:2 in verse 6. This goes to show us that these men indeed knew their Old Testament prophets and history. They knew based off the Old Testament texts that the Messiah would come from Isaiah 7:14 (1:23) and 9:6-7 unlike the wise men who did not know the Old Testament scriptures because that was not their specialty. They just saw a star which was odd, and followed it because they knew that the stars would align and a king would come.

iii. I love verses 5-6 because man, what a privilege the Jewish people are. The fact that God would choose the Jewish people and give them the oracles of God. This is a great privilege, but not even that, to us, we have the wonderful privilege to know the Scriptures just like the Jewish scribes and believe in Him. Man, this privilege is amazing that we could know the Scriptures to confirm our salvation.

iv. So verse 7, Herod now calls a meeting with the magi and wants to learn from them exactly when they saw the star appear. Herod was communicating not only with his men, but now with the magi so he can get more information. Why does this matter? Because Herod must determine the age of Jesus. Again, Herod knows nothing of this Messiah Jesus and wants to know as much information as he can gather.

v. What is important to note is that Herod is not showing his hand to either his Jewish spiritual elites or the magi. Remember, the heart of Herod from verse 3. Herod is afraid of this Jesus because he is hearing that this child is the King of the Jews. He is the one who is to take his throne from him. With this in mind, we can know that the reason Herod wants to know about this Messiah is not to serve the Messiah, but himself.

vi. So in verse 8, we hear from Herod why he wants to know more about the Messiah. Herod now knows the birthplace of the Messiah and the time of the star’s appearance, sends the magi to make a careful search regarding the child. He then tells them the reason for why he wants them to search out this child. Herod says, when you have found Him, report to me, so that he too may come and worship Him.

vii. We hear from Herod, his intention for why he wants the magi to search out the Messiah and report to him. He wants to worship the Messiah just as the magi. We know from the reading this can’t be true because of what it says in verse 3. It says that Herod and all of his leaders were threatened, they were scared. This concludes that there was no way that he would want to worship the Messiah. I mean why would a king want to worship a king that He knows nothing about and has no connection with him?

c. The wise mens’ homage (2:9-12)

i. Verse 9 begins the narrative again where they leave the presence of the king and they start their way to Bethlehem from Jerusalem. Remember 2:1, where it says that they arrived in Jerusalem so they start to embark on their journey to see this king. Then the star, which they had seen in the east, from the language seems to have disappeared, but now, it appeared again, and here, went on before them. It went until it literally, having come took its stand, it came until it stood over the place where the Child was.

ii. There is a lot of speculation did the star shine to an exact spot? How could this have happened? Some theologians have said that this was just literally language to add drama. But if that were true, verse 10 would make no sense.

iii. Verse 10 tells us that when they saw the star, the star which they had seen from the east in which they followed all the way to Jerusalem, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. The phrase in the Greek tells us that they had mega exceedingly great joy. I mean, they knew now after talking with Herod, that this King was located in Bethlehem.

iv. Think about it, if someone told you that someone lived in a small city, even if it is a small city, you’d have to search every house to find this person. Well, that’s basically the scope of information they had been given. So when they saw the star, they were exceedingly happy because this star led them to the place where the King was.

v. The reason I don’t believe this was just expression of language is because of the parallels in the Old Testament. In Exodus 13, when God was leading Israel out of Egypt through the wilderness, God led His people through the wilderness. Exodus 13:21 tells us that He led them by going before them in a pillar of cloud by day and to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light. This is the same language that is being used here in Matthew 2:10, which makes me believe that this star was leading them to Christ. It wasn’t there for dramatic effects. Just as the birth of Jesus happened through miracles, this was nothing short of a miracle as well.

vi. Verse 11, tells us that they arrived at the house where the star had stopped and they saw the child with Mary. As soon as they saw the child, they fell to the ground and worshipped Him. Then they offered their gifts to the King.

vii. The interesting truth about this verse tells us that these men knew something about the Christ. Why? Because it says that they fell to the ground, literally, fell down on their faces. This tells us that they knew He was no ordinary king. This is what caused them to worship Him. In Judaism, prostration was proper only to worship of God. But not only that, they didn’t come empty handed. We might not think much of this, but these men, by bringing gifts is the reason we celebrate and give gifts on Christmas. We give gifts because these men had brought gifts to the King. The three gifts that they gave to the Christ is also significant. Gold was given to kings, and frankincense and myrrh were expensive spices that average Jewish families had no access too. These were luxury gifts for a king, but the fact that they had prepared these gifts give us a hint of their view of Christ. Their mindset was that this Jesus, this King was beyond the worth of all their riches on earth. They wanted to give to God what was their best. It was their worship, but also the giving of their most prized possessions.

viii. Verse 12 concludes our lesson and I believe is one of those verses we can’t forget about. God appears to the wise men in a dream to not return to Herod. So the magi left for their own country by another way. These men had come a long distance by seeing a star, and now, God makes clear that their understanding of the star was correct.

ix. But also, God preserves His people. Just as God protected Israel from walking through the land of the Philistines because He knew that the people would change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt, He preserves the magi so they would not be harmed. Again, another reminder of God’s faithfulness in His provision. This will be a theme that is coming up with Herod but this verse helps us to see a glimpse of God’s faithfulness.

3. CONCLUSION