Matthew 2: The Birth of the Messiah

Introduction

Matthew’s birth narrative primarily focuses on the events that led up Christ’s birth, and then the events that followed. The details of the birth itself are surprisingly overlooked. Thankfully, Luke preserved those details in his Gospel. Both Gospel writers chose to focus on different elements of the birth story and for different reasons.

Since Matthew’s goal is to show that Jesus is the Messiah, his focus is on the elements of Christ’s birth that fulfilled Scripture. With this in mind there are three key parts of the story that Matthew highlights:

Locations (Bethlehem, Egypt, Nazareth)

The Wise Men

Herod

Location, Location, Location

Bethlehem

Chapter 2 opens with Matthew saying, “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea...” wait, what?

Luke fills us in on exactly why Mary and Joseph ended up in Bethlehem, but to the original (Jewish) readers of Matthew this would have been a little bit of a surprise.

Where is Jesus known to have come from? Nazareth!

In John tell us that when Philip told Nathanael, Nat’s (infamous) response was, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

The early church was called the “sect of the Nazarenes” in Acts 24:5 “For we have found this man a plague, one who stirs up riots among all the Jews throughout the world and is a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.”

This as almost certainly an insult. Paul is the one referred to here as a “ringleader”.

Even to this day, Christians in Israel/Palestine and in Islam are referred to as “followers of the Nazarene”.

This caused some serious problems and even confusion among the people according to John 7:40–43 “When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.” Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” So there was a division among the people over him.”

A few verses later when Nicodemus tried to defend Jesus it says in John 7:50–52 “Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.””

Both Matthew and Luke were well aware of the fact that the Scriptures clearly said that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, so they had to establish that, contrary to what people thought, Jesus was only raised in Nazareth. But he was born in Bethlehem.

Matthew knew this was no secret, and even points out how Herod had to ask the scribes if they knew the location, which of course they did. They quoted Micah 5:2 “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.”

You might notice that Matthew’s quote is a little bit different than the original verse. The meaning is clearly the same, and I think Matthew is probably reciting it from memory.

Bethlehem was the ancestral home of King David. Despite its small size, it was the birthplace of royalty.

Egypt

The second place that Matthew draw our attention to after Bethlehem is Egypt. He doesn’t give an exact location, because the exact location doesn’t really matter.

This is where we start to see that Matthew wants to show his audience (and us) that Jesus’ life parallels that of Israel. Israel itself was a “type” of Christ - or a symbol that pointed to Jesus.

When we go back to the OT we see that not long after Israel was “born”, they went to Egypt where they stayed as slaves for 400 years. This originally happened to actually save them - remember there was a famine in the land, and Joseph was able to rescue the entire family.

Matthew tells us that in the same way, not long after He was born, Jesus’ family are warned to go to Egypt for safety.

Just as the people were eventually called out of Egypt, Jesus was also. Matthew looked at these events and believed that they were fulfilling the words of Hosea 11:1 “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.”

Based on the details of Matthew’s story, the “exodus” to Egypt probably occurred when Jesus was at least a year old, maybe even two. And then they probably stayed in Egypt up to 4 years until Herod died.

Nazareth

The third place that Matthew draws our attention to is Nazareth, which in a way brings Jesus’ “origin story” full circle.

It’s almost like when Matthew first brought up Bethlehem, he knew his readers would say, “Hey, wait a second!” and Matthew responds with, “I’m getting to it!”

An interesting series of events takes place to get the family to Nazareth. The angel first tells them to return to Israel. But once they get there Joseph realizes that Herod’s son is still in charge so he (with an another angelic warning) heads north to Galilee to their original home (according to Luke) of Nazareth.

We finally discover why the Christ is called “Jesus of Nazareth” and not “Jesus of Bethlehem”. And just like in the previous two locations, Matthew finds this to be a fulfilment of Scripture, too.

Except, unlike the previous prophecies, this one is unique. Unlike the previous prophecies, there actually isn’t a verse in the Old Testament that says the Messiah would be called a Nazarene. So what is Matthew referring to here?

Some see the similarities in the word “Nazarene” and the Hebrew word “nezer” which means branch. If this is the connection Matt is trying to make, then he’s likely thinking of Isaiah 11:1 “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.”

I think our clue to understanding this passage comes from the fact that unlike the previous prophecies, Matthew doesn’t specify a specific prophet. Instead he says “to fulfil what was spoke by the prophets”. I think Matthew has a general OT theme in mind.

That theme: that the Messiah would be a nobody.

Nazareth didn’t have a great reputation. It was a small town in Galilee - a place where the citizens were known for their accents or drawls. Remember, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

To be called a Nazarene might have been similar to us calling someone a hick or a redneck.

This falls in line with the culmination of the entire birth narrative: a little family who happened to end up in Bethlehem, then quietly moved to Egypt, and now ends up in the backwoods of Galilee all show one thing: the prophets were right, the Messiah wouldn’t be bright and splashy. In fact, he would be a Nazarene - a nobody.

People, People, People

Herod

Matthew doesn’t just focus on the locations involved in Christ’s birth and upbringing, he also focuses on two people (groups). The first is Herod, and the other is the Wise Men from the East.

Herod the Great was the “Jewish” king that was ruling over Israel at the time. The Herods ruled locally, within the bounds of the Roman Empire.

They weren’t really Jewish, something I think Matthew tries to allude to when he points out how Herod didn’t know the OT Scriptures enough to even know the birthplace of the Messiah - he had to ask the scribes.

According to the OT Law, the Israelite kings were suppose to write down and memorize the entire law and prophets. This was something Herod clearly had not done.

Herod the Great was a cruel man but also highly efficient. He rebuilt the temple and Samaria, among other things. His cruelty spread his name throughout the entire empire. He was well known for killing plenty of people (including three of his own sons!)

When he was on his deathbed, he ordered that after he died, a member of every family be killed so that the entire nation would be forced to “mourn” for him. Thankfully the order was not followed!

It shouldn’t be a surprise that when the wisemen showed up, he lied to them. His interest was obviously piqued when they said that they were looking for the “King of the Jews” - and they weren’t looking for him!

Matching his character, Matthew tells us that Herod was furious when the wisemen didn’t return - and in his anger he had of the boys in Bethlehem two and under killed. This gives us a general timeline for when these events took place.

Matthew again sees these tragic events as fulfilling prophecy, specifically Jeremiah 31:15 “Thus says the Lord: “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.””

Of course these events didn’t happen specifically in Ramah, but the pain and suffering that happened to “Rachel” (the mother of Israel’s children) did in fact take place.

These events, from the pregnancy, to Herod’s scheme, to the escape to Egypt are all recounted by John from a heavenly perspective in Revelation 12:4–6 “And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.”

The Wise Men

The other group of people that Matthew highlights in this story are the wisemen. This group of men came from the east, following some kind of star that they had connected to the birth of the “king of the Jews”, and they wanted to worship Him.

These men, who were likely royalty themselves, are in contrast to Luke’s account where he chose to focus on the poor shepherds.

When you combine the two stories, I think we see a clear truth: the Gospel is for everyone, rich and poor. The somebodies and the nobodies. Everyone comes to worship at the foot of the manger.

For Matthew, I think the Magi showing up to visit the young Christ child was important for two reasons

They themselves were royalty or kings. The fact that they traveled all this way to worship another king, tells us that Jesus is pretty important.

They were gentiles. It was one thing for Jews to think Jesus with the Messiah - but for Gentiles to follow a miraculous sign such a great distance? That carried a lot of merit. Not to mention that this played into the Jewish mentality of superiority over the gentiles.

I also think that Matthew is giving his Jewish audience the first hint that this Messiah wasn’t just for the Jewish people - He’s for the Gentiles, too.

They pretty clearly didn’t care about Herod who was “officially” the king of the Jews. These men wanted the real deal.

Notice how they say they are looking for “he who has been born king of the Jews”. This is present tense, not future. Jesus wasn’t born “to become the king of the Jews”, no He was born the King.

Bethlehem is only a few miles away from Jerusalem, but to avoid suspicion, Herod didn’t bother to send any guards or officials with these men to find the child. When the Magi finally meet Jesus, he was likely just a year or two old.

They brought him some pretty great birthday gifts! Gold, frankincense and myrrh. There’s probably plenty of symbolic meanings behind these specific gifts, but I think it’s pretty simple: these were all wildly expensive gifts. Literally gifts for a king.

Matthew’s readers would’ve probably been surprised at the lavish gifts these men gave to a toddler.

But I also think there was a practical implication here, thanks to God’s divine providence. These items likely financially supported the family for much of Jesus’ early life - if not well into his young adult years. It certainly would have helped them get to and from Egypt, and might have even bankrolled Joseph’s new carpentry business!

The point is, God made sure that His Son was well taken care of. The fact that these riches came from gentiles is reminiscent of all the times in the OT when the Israelites were blessed with riches from Gentiles (especially from Egypt!)

My closing thoughts on the Magi are this: Matthew gives us very vague descriptions of nearly every aspect of this story. Their identities, when they showed up, how old Jesus was, what country they came from, the star, ect. But I think this is for good reason

Matthew wasn’t overly concerned with the particulars, he cared more about the big picture - which falls in line with OT storytelling. Example: Exodus doesn’t tell us the name of the Pharoah. Only the role that he played in the story.

Second, humans by nature tend to put too much stock into particular details, and in many cases tend to misplace their worship. As great as it would be to know the exact location that the wisemen found Jesus at - I guarantee people would be tempted to go to that exact location and worship the site, rather than Jesus himself.

Conclusion

The first two chapter of Matthew have one goal in mind: tell us about the birth of the Messiah, and how the events surrounding His birth both fulfilled OT prophecy and made clear his identity. More than anything, Jesus was not the Messiah many were expecting. In fact, he was quite the opposite. Instead of a king born in a palace, he was a child born in a manger. Nonetheless, this supposedly insignificant child, this Nazarene as it were, was both worshipped and hunted by kings.

One of my favorite Christmas songs sums it up well, “Hear the song of the angels. Glory lays in a manger. Fear not the advent of the Great I Am. Humbly he comes to the world, as a lamb.”

Merry Christmas!