Matthew 2:12-23
Notes
Transcript
12 And being warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their own country by another route.
13 After they were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Get up! Take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. For Herod is about to search for the child to kill him.”
14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night, and escaped to Egypt.
15 He stayed there until Herod’s death, so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled: Out of Egypt I called my Son.
16 Then Herod, when he realized that he had been outwitted by the wise men, flew into a rage. He gave orders to massacre all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, in keeping with the time he had learned from the wise men.
17 Then what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled:
18 A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; and she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.
19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,
20 saying, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, because those who intended to kill the child are dead.”
21 So he got up, took the child and his mother, and entered the land of Israel.
22 But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned in a dream, he withdrew to the region of Galilee.
23 Then he went and settled in a town called Nazareth to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.
Introduction
Introduction
Today, I don’t have a quote or a story for you — we’re going to have to dive right in. But you’re still free to say “holy schnikes” after we finish today.
Need / FCF: Matthew defends the Messiah coming from ignominy and living a life of tragedy instead of triumph because Jesus of Nazareth is not the triumphant king we expect.
Textual Idea: Matthew presents Jesus, the Messiah, as the fulfillment of Israel’s Scriptures and history.
Sermon Idea: Jesus of Nazareth is the savior we need, not the savior we expect.
Matthew 2:12-15: True Israel
Matthew 2:12-15: True Israel
12 And being warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their own country by another route.
13 After they were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Get up! Take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. For Herod is about to search for the child to kill him.”
14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night, and escaped to Egypt.
15 He stayed there until Herod’s death, so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled: Out of Egypt I called my Son.
We started talking about this section last week, and I argued that Matthew is employing this quotation of Hosea 11 to characterize Jesus’s Exodus as an Exodus to Egypt, in contrast to Israel’s exodus from Egypt. Egypt was Jesus’s land of safety, whereas it was Israel’s land of peril.
We talked at length about typology and how Matthew isn’t suggesting that these Scriptures are literally fulfilled — especially since this and the next two citations either have no expectation of a future fulfillment, or it would be impossible for them to be fulfilled literally since there is no actual literature to fulfill!
I’ve included this section again, though, to highlight the unity between these three citations of the Old Testament in how Matthew uses them, in contrast with the previous two citations.
This section, particularly, lays important groundwork for our seeing Jesus as the true Israel. We’ve seen his Genesis in chapter 1 and now we’re seeing his Exodus in chapter 2. I expect we’ll see parallels with Leviticus in chapter 3, Numbers in chapter 4, and Deuteronomy in chapter 5, that will cement Matthew’s presentation of Jesus as the fulfillment of Israel’s history for us.
More immediately, though, we’re going to see that Jesus didn’t just have his own Exodus. Another critical event in Israel’s history is their exile, and that’s where we’re going next.
Matthew 2:16-18: True Restoration
Matthew 2:16-18: True Restoration
16 Then Herod, when he realized that he had been outwitted by the wise men, flew into a rage. He gave orders to massacre all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, in keeping with the time he had learned from the wise men.
17 Then what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled:
18 A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; and she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.
Matthew recounts the story of Herod’s murder of innocent babies in Bethlehem not just because he’s interested in reporting the facts. Indeed, he’s the only Gospel author who reports this story — and he does so with a specifically theological agenda.
Just as Matthew tells us that Jesus had his own Exodus, Jesus’s birth and the trouble it caused for Herod brought about a fulfillment of Israel’s exile.
Matthew quotes Jeremiah 31:15 here in a way that is even more confusing than his quotation of Hosea 11. In Jeremiah 31, we hear that Rachel is weeping for her children because the nation of Israel is being taken into exile, effectively being eliminated as a nation. They will have no government or land of their own, and they will be a mockery in the history books compared to the great kingdoms of Assyria and Babylon where they will end up living.
So, we see Matthew quoting another prophecy that is pertaining to the past, with no anticipation of a future fulfillment — especially not the fulfillment that Matthew offers. But hear the rest of the passage he’s quoting:
15 This is what the Lord says: A voice was heard in Ramah, a lament with bitter weeping— Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children because they are no more.
16 This is what the Lord says: Keep your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for the reward for your work will come— this is the Lord’s declaration— and your children will return from the enemy’s land.
17 There is hope for your future— this is the Lord’s declaration— and your children will return to their own territory.
Rachel, the mother of Israel, is told to stop weeping because her children will be restored to their land, and there is still hope for them.
To say the least, I don’t think that the mothers of the Bethlehemite babies would have received this same counsel very well because those babies have not merely gone into exile, but they’re dead, and they will not be returning any time soon.
So why does Matthew tell us this story, and why does he quote this particular passage?
Perhaps the significance of Ramah gives us a clue.
1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord after Nebuzaradan, captain of the guards, released him at Ramah. When he found him, he was bound in chains with all the exiles of Jerusalem and Judah who were being exiled to Babylon.
Ramah is the very place where the exiles gathered to start their march to Babylon. It’s as if Matthew is screaming “exile!” to us because even though Israel is living in Judah, they may as well be living in Babylon. Judah, having previously been cast in terms of a new Egypt, is now cast in terms of a new Babylon, where Israel’s children are not safe, their king will not reign, and the only hope is a new exodus and yet another restoration. Incidentally, if we keep reading Jeremiah 31, that’s exactly what we see.
31 “Look, the days are coming”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
32 This one will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt—my covenant that they broke even though I am their master”—the Lord’s declaration.
33 “Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days”—the Lord’s declaration. “I will put my teaching within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
34 No longer will one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know me, from the least to the greatest of them”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “For I will forgive their iniquity and never again remember their sin.
And now we can go back a little bit, to one of the more literal citations. It’s not for nothing that the chief priests and scribes mash together Micah 5 and 2 Samuel 5 when they tell Herod where the Messiah will be born.
4 So he assembled all the chief priests and scribes of the people and asked them where the Messiah would be born.
5 “In Bethlehem of Judea,” they told him, “because this is what was written by the prophet:
6 And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah: Because out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.”
This “shepherding” of Israel is one of the central threads for Israel’s king, God’s Messiah, and would you believe me if I told you it’s also central to Jeremiah’s understanding of the new covenant? So it’s especially ironic that the chief priests and scribes use the terminology of shepherding Israel since that is exactly the opposite of what they’ve been doing. Matthew implicitly characterizes them in the same way that Jeremiah does:
1 “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” This is the Lord’s declaration.
2 “Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds who tend my people: You have scattered my flock, banished them, and have not attended to them. I am about to attend to you because of your evil acts”—this is the Lord’s declaration.
3 “I will gather the remnant of my flock from all the lands where I have banished them, and I will return them to their grazing land. They will become fruitful and numerous.
4 I will raise up shepherds over them who will tend them. They will no longer be afraid or discouraged, nor will any be missing.” This is the Lord’s declaration.
5 “Look, the days are coming”—this is the Lord’s declaration— “when I will raise up a Righteous Branch for David. He will reign wisely as king and administer justice and righteousness in the land.
Would you further believe me if I told you Ezekiel shared this opinion concerning the future restoration and what it will look like when God’s shepherd shows up on the scene?
1 The word of the Lord came to me:
2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy, and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says to the shepherds: Woe to the shepherds of Israel, who have been feeding themselves! Shouldn’t the shepherds feed their flock?
20 “ ‘Therefore, this is what the Lord God says to them: See, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.
21 Since you have pushed with flank and shoulder and butted all the weak ones with your horns until you scattered them all over,
22 I will save my flock. They will no longer be prey, and I will judge between one sheep and another.
23 I will establish over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will shepherd them. He will tend them himself and will be their shepherd.
24 I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David will be a prince among them. I, the Lord, have spoken.
Matthew invites us to consider the prophets even deeper by citing Jeremiah 31 — it’s not just that 20 or so babies were murdered by Herod, and the mothers of Israel wept bitterly. That would be quite unremarkable, unfortunately, considering Herod’s other atrocities and the other sufferings Israel has undergone prior to Jesus’s arrival.
Rather, Matthew uses this episode coupled with this scripture to tell us that in Jesus’s youth, Israel is still waiting to be returned from their exile, and it’s Jesus who’s going to bring that about return because he was born as Immanuel, God with us, the son of David who will shepherd God’s flock under God’s new covenant. And this theme of new covenant will show up over and over and over again throughout Matthew, which is why we’ve been so exhaustive this morning. If it’s been hard to follow, I understand, but don’t worry. We’ll be hearing more from Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and friends throughout the rest of this Gospel.
Speaking of considering the prophets deeper, let’s continue to our final section.
Matthew 2:19-23: True Messiah
Matthew 2:19-23: True Messiah
19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,
20 saying, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, because those who intended to kill the child are dead.”
21 So he got up, took the child and his mother, and entered the land of Israel.
22 But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned in a dream, he withdrew to the region of Galilee.
23 Then he went and settled in a town called Nazareth to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.
Matthew tells us that, yet again, Joseph receives instruction in a dream. We resume the narrative that he started in verse 15 and now we see Jesus’s return to Judea — except that it’s still not safe, so they return to their hometown of Nazareth, which sets up one of the biggest difficulties in seeing Jesus as the Messiah — that is, until we understand that Jesus being from Nazareth is exactly what multiple prophets spoke, at least according to Matthew.
A major problem with this, though, is that there are zero prophets who say that the Messiah will be called a Nazarene. Otherwise, Matthew probably would have cited them for us.
One reason zero prophets tell us the Messiah will come from Nazareth is that Nazareth didn’t even exist in the time of the prophets. Yet again, Matthew’s understanding of prophecy fulfillment is decidedly unliteral.
So what on earth is Matthew doing?
Well, first, let me tell you what he’s not doing. He’s not saying that Jesus would be a Nazirite.
Numbers 6:1-4
1 The Lord instructed Moses,
2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When a man or woman makes a special vow, a Nazirite vow, to consecrate himself to the Lord,
3 he is to abstain from wine and beer. He must not drink vinegar made from wine or from beer. He must not drink any grape juice or eat fresh grapes or raisins.
4 He is not to eat anything produced by the grapevine, from seeds to skin, during the period of his consecration.
If Jesus was a Nazirite, he was not a very good one. He drank wine on at least one occasion, not to mention his touching unclean people.
Here’s another option:
Maybe Matthew is making a cross-linguistic pun.
We’ve already been in Jeremiah today, and Jeremiah 33 is a really big deal in Israel’s restoration as a continuation of what the LORD started saying in Jeremiah 31, so let’s go there first.
14 “Look, the days are coming”— this is the Lord’s declaration— “when I will fulfill the good promise that I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
15 In those days and at that time I will cause a Righteous Branch to sprout up for David, and he will administer justice and righteousness in the land.
Specifically, we should note the language of “branch”. It shows up in another very prominent location, although this time it’s a different word in Hebrew.
1 Then a shoot will grow from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.
The Hebrew word for Branch in Isaiah 11 is “netser”, and Isaiah isn’t the only prophet who speaks of God’s Messiah as a “branch” of David by any means.
Unfortunately, though, Isaiah is the only prophet who uses that Hebrew word for branch.
I think it’s a bit of a stretch to make a cross-linguistic pun based on a word that only shows up in one prophet, then turn around and say that multiple prophets predicted that the Messiah would grow up in a town that happens to have the same consonants as the Hebrew word.
That doesn’t make Jesus any less the Branch of David! That’s just not the prophetic thread Matthew’s pulling on.
So let me tell you what I do think is happening.
Here’s how R.T. France puts it:
The Gospel of Matthew 5. A Galilean Messiah (2:19–23)
The most promising approach paradoxically takes its cue from the very non-existence of Nazareth in the OT—it is a scriptural non-entity. For someone to be “called a Nazorean,” especially in connection with a messianic claim, was therefore to invite ridicule: the name is in itself a term of dismissal if not of actual abuse.
Indeed, this is how Nazareth — and Galilee more broadly, is portrayed throughout the rest of the NT:
46 “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Nathanael asked him. “Come and see,” Philip answered.
The Gospel of Matthew 5. A Galilean Messiah (2:19–23)
If Nathanael, a native of Cana only a few miles from Nazareth, reacted like that, what must have been the response in Judea, where most people had probably never heard of Nazareth? On this understanding it is not only the word Nazōraios which conveys Matthew’s message, but also more specifically the verb “He shall be called”: this is about derogatory name-calling.
40 When some from the crowd heard these words, they said, “This truly is the Prophet.” 41 Others said, “This is the Messiah.” But some said, “Surely the Messiah doesn’t come from Galilee, does he? 42 Doesn’t the Scripture say that the Messiah comes from David’s offspring and from the town of Bethlehem, where David lived?” 43 So the crowd was divided because of him. 44 Some of them wanted to seize him, but no one laid hands on him.
45 Then the servants came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him?”
46 The servants answered, “No man ever spoke like this!”
47 Then the Pharisees responded to them, “Are you fooled too? 48 Have any of the rulers or Pharisees believed in him? 49 But this crowd, which doesn’t know the law, is accursed.”
50 Nicodemus—the one who came to him previously and who was one of them—said to them, 51 “Our law doesn’t judge a man before it hears from him and knows what he’s doing, does it?”
52 “You aren’t from Galilee too, are you?” they replied. “Investigate and you will see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”
But we need to get back to the prophets. What prophets might Matthew have had in mind? Which prophets tell us the Messiah would not be what we expect? That he would be of no account?
Well, one prophet shows up very prominently later on in Matthew by being quoted a couple of times. First, at his triumphal entry in Matthew 21 we see Zechariah 9 quoted:
9 Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout in triumph, Daughter Jerusalem! Look, your King is coming to you; he is righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Jesus also identifies himself in Zechariah’s terms pretty clearly in Matthew 26:31
31 Then Jesus said to them, “Tonight all of you will fall away because of me, for it is written:
I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.
and Zechariah’s stricken shepherd isn’t quite like Jeremiah and Ezekiel’s shepherd. In fact, in Zechariah 11, Zechariah himself is working as a foolish shepherd at God’s command, not as a good shepherd. Later on, the stricken shepherd is punished in place of an evil shepherd, even though he himself is God’s equal.
16 I am about to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are perishing, and he will not seek the lost or heal the broken. He will not sustain the healthy, but he will devour the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hooves.
17 Woe to the worthless shepherd
who deserts the flock!
May a sword strike his arm
and his right eye!
May his arm wither away
and his right eye go completely blind!”
7 Sword, awake against my shepherd, against the man who is my associate— this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies. Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; I will turn my hand against the little ones.
Indeed, Jesus’s crucifixion can well be summed up by Zechariah 12:10
10 “Then I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the house of David and the residents of Jerusalem, and they will look at me whom they pierced. They will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly for him as one weeps for a firstborn.
We have Jesus describing himself himself in terms of a rejected, cursed shepherd who suffers at God’s hand. He is Israel’s humble king who rides not on a glorious warhorse, but on a young donkey. Zechariah looms so large over Matthew 21-26 that I think we have no choice other than to see him here in Matthew 2.
But Zechariah is only one prophet. Who else might join the chorus? How about the prophet Samuel, who missed God’s first choice because he was focused on the outward appearance?
6 When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and said, “Certainly the Lord’s anointed one is here before him.” 7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or his stature because I have rejected him. Humans do not see what the Lord sees, for humans see what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart.”
Samuel goes through seven sons before getting to David, the LORD’s chosen king — but even David looks like a king, so even he is only partially a “Nazarene.”
12 So Jesse sent for him. He had beautiful eyes and a healthy, handsome appearance. Then the Lord said, “Anoint him, for he is the one.” 13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully on David from that day forward. Then Samuel set out and went to Ramah.
To his credit, David, foreshadowing Jesus, is also hunted down by the crazed king Saul, who does not want to give him power, even though David is God’s messiah, or anointed one. 1 Samuel 16 through 30 recount the tales of David’s miraculous rescues from his enemies’ attempts to put him to death and certainly set a precedent for God’s king suffering and being abused and rejected until he eventually triumphs.
Two prophets is good, but three is better. So how about one more prophet? How about Isaiah, who tells us of God’s servant Israel in an eerily similar way to Matthew telling us of God’s servant Israel?
1 Coasts and islands, listen to me; distant peoples, pay attention. The Lord called me before I was born. He named me while I was in my mother’s womb. 2 He made my words like a sharp sword; he hid me in the shadow of his hand. He made me like a sharpened arrow; he hid me in his quiver. 3 He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” 4 But I myself said: I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and futility; yet my vindication is with the Lord, and my reward is with my God.
and further on, he continues
7 This is what the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, his Holy One, says to one who is despised, to one abhorred by people, to a servant of rulers: “Kings will see, princes will stand up, and they will all bow down because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel—and he has chosen you.”
Or, perhaps the clearest place we see the Messiah as a suffering servant, Isaiah 53?
1 Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He didn’t have an impressive form or majesty that we should look at him, no appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like someone people turned away from; he was despised, and we didn’t value him.
I’m sure if we keep searching, we can find more. Zechariah and Isaiah are the clearest examples, and I included Samuel to show that even God’s prophets can have wrong expectations of God’s kings, and David himself was an unexpected, suffering messiah before he was king. Jesus, as an adopted son of David, is walking in his adopted father’s footsteps quite well.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Matthew’s readers would likely have still been grappling with Jesus as the Messiah. Yes, Jesus rose from the grave. Yes, the Holy Spirit has been poured out. Yes, so many of the OT promises were fulfilled in his ministry and the fruit is obvious among his followers. You can’t argue with those things.
Yet, they still suffer. They are still without a true homeland, living as sojourners. They are rejected and misunderstood by society on the whole, and their king promised to be with them day after day in his Great Commission, yet he has gone home to his heavenly kingdom instead of sticking around and leading his people to victory. Even though Jesus has started a new Exodus, has inaugurated a new return from exile, and even though he’s fulfilled prophecies we’re not even super confident we’re aware of, the world is still not the way it should be.
Indeed, Jesus’s followers in Jerusalem would still have been dealing with yet another madman in Herod’s family line, suffering at his hands in very similar ways to Jesus’s suffering.
And likewise, we in our own day, often have to wrestle with the disconnect between Jesus’s promises of eternal life, joy, peace, security, love, protection, and all those good things, and our actual lives, which can be filled with sickness, strained relationships, derision, rejection, and suffering of all sorts.
If Jesus truly does have authority over heaven and earth, why does it seem like heaven and earth don’t obey him very well, and why do his people languish, still awaiting their rescue? Is Jesus really who he claimed to be?
We can answer this question in multiple ways, but the two most common are as follows.
First, we can persuade ourselves into being happy by saying, “Well, I’m bound for eternal life and all this suffering is just temporary, so I really have nothing to complain about. It’s not all that bad in comparison.” And for some people, that really does work. Those who have especially strong faith — perhaps even the spiritual gift of faith — can make use of those arguments. But those arguments don’t work for everybody, and oftentimes those arguments can be very hurtful when offered as a consolation for someone else’s suffering, as if the sufferer is miserable purely because of their bad theology and wrong perspective.
Or, and I think this is what Matthew’s inviting us into here, we can persuade ourselves into trusting Jesus by saying, “Jesus is no stranger to my suffering, and while he has promised all of these good things and he really is in control, his wisdom is far beyond mine, and the way he goes about his work has been confusing and surprising from the very beginning. He really is trustworthy, so at the end of the day, I am going to cling fast to him and confess that I am not all-wise, nor are my expectations and evaluations of life always correct.” That puts us in very good company with Jesus’s earliest followers who wrestled with Jesus’s identity and the things it seems he left unfinished in his earthly ministry.
As we’ve wrestled with Matthew’s presentation of Jesus in this chapter, I’m encouraged to remember that Paul presents the message of the Old Testament in equally confusing terms:
3 For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve.
I can’t lie to you. When I’m just reading through, I have a very hard time seeing a dying, buried, and resurrected-on-the-third-day Messiah as the most important thing in the Old Testament, as its central message.
Yet, Jesus managed to fulfill God’s promises to Israel and serve as savior of the world in highly unexpected ways that are somehow still fully in accordance with Scripture. It stands to reason that he will fulfill all of his remaining promises to us and serve as our God and king forever in equally unexpected ways, and it is our job to follow him, obey him, and teach others to do the same, even when our lives don’t make a whole lot of sense. To his earliest followers, Jesus didn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense, either, so we’re in good company.