One Girl in Christianity

Chapter Summary

Wise Men from the east follow the star to Jerusalem.  In search of the promised Messiah, they enter King Herod's court demanding to know where the baby is so that they can worship him.  Herod doesn't know and sends them on their way.  "Find the baby and then let me know, so that I can come worship, too!" he lies.  Herod--who was lawfully made the "King of the Jews" by the Romans--is disturbed by the idea that the prophecies might in fact be fulfilled.  He summons religious scholars to tell him where the Messiah will supposedly be born.  "Bethlehem," he learns.  So he has all the children two years old and under in Bethlehem and the surrounding coasts slaughtered.

That's the kind of world the Baby Jesus was born into :(

The Baby Jesus is spared because Joseph is warned by an angel to flee with his family to Egypt.  An angel later reveals to Joseph that it is safe to return.  The family then settles in Nazareth.

Favorite Verse

Of the wise men:

"When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy."  (2:10)

The spirit of Christmas!  :)

The Power of The Wise Men

Matthew Chapter 2 is the only place in the New Testament where the Wise Men are mentioned.  If they're your favorite "characters" in the Christmas story, then this is your chapter.

"1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,

2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him." (2:1-2)

Growing up, my Dad always liked to point out that the Wise Men must have been insanely powerful to walk into Herod's court and make such demands.  After all, Herod was the lawful, reigning King of the Jews.  Yes, he swore allegiance to the Roman Empire, but in his own realm, he was King, and a bloody, despotic one at that.

In spite of that, the Wise Men presumed to ask Herod, in his own court: 

"Where's the real King of Jews?"

Herod was so convinced by their testimony that he murdered some of his own population in the attempt to kill off the baby Messiah.

The Bible itself is silent on the exact identities of the Wise Men, though scholars have taken plenty of guesses.  Matthew only tells us that they came "from the east."  It's a topic I'll research for fun in the future.

Who was Herod?

While this information is of little "spiritual" value, it's fun trivia all the same.

In short, he was a client Roman "King" of the Jewish state of Judea.

It turns out that Herod (73 BC - 4 BC) was born of a local ethnic population that converted to Judaism.  He was a practicing Jew (well, not really, but in name).  However, the Jews he ruled over resented him because they thought he was racially impure due to having an Arabic mother.  (It was thought that to be fully Jewish, one's mother had to be Jewish).

Herod's political success was jump started by his father, who gained favor with Julius Caesar.  (His father backed Caesar up during a civil war).  Herod's father was able to secure the "governorship" of Galilee for his son.

Then, Caesar was murdered.  His murderers, Brutus and Cassius, fled and started demanding tribute money from Roman provinces to help them defeat Marc Antony and Octavian (Caesar's grand-nephew and adopted son).  Herod's father made the mistake of donating money to their--ultimately fallen--cause.

Marc Antony and Octavian defeated Brutus and Cassius in battle and Herod's father was poisoned due to his involvement.  Herod, who wanted to remain in power, tried to convince Marc Antony and Octavian that his father donated money to Brutus and Cassius only because he was forced to.

Antony and Octavian believed Herod and awarded him with an even higher title in the Kingdom of Judea.

Next, there was civil war in Judea.  It was Rome v. an anti-Roman faction backed by the Parthians.  Herod fled to Rome and begged for help.  Marc Antony kicked the Parthians out and Herod was made King of Judea.

Herod is remembered for being 1) extremely brutal and 2) his construction projects, one of the most famous being the Second Temple in Jerusalem.

The First Temple had been destroyed by the Babylonians approximately five hundred years before Herod's time.  Herod built a new temple on the site.  It was destroyed by the Romans when the suppressed the revolting Judeans in 70AD.  

The famous Arch of Titus in Rome shows Roman troops carrying away a menorah and other Jewish treasures from the looted/destroyed Second Temple.

The Arch of Titus in the Roman Forum 

Closeup of the Arch.  Can you see the menorah?

Oh and . . . 

For a while, the Roman Republic was split between Octavian in the West and Marc Antony and Cleopatra in the East.  Herod supported Antony and sent him and his queen gifts, which proved to be problematic when Antony was defeated by Octavian in battle.  (Ultimately, Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide).

Tricky Herod successfully shifted allegiance to Octavian.

A few years later (27 BC), Octavian was renamed "Augustus" by the Senate (translates to "the illustrious one").

Augustus--also known as Caesar Augustus--became the first Roman Emperor (reigned from 27 BC - 14 AD). His reign initiated the Pax Romana.

Wow!

Jesus as a Fulfillment of Jewish Prophecy

While reading, I was struck by how many times Matthew said, "for thus it is written by the prophet," etc.  Winning over Jewish readers does seem to have been Matthew's primary aim.  

In Matthew 2 alone, I counted four instances where Matthew claimed that something in Jesus's life fulfilled Old Testament prophecy:

Jesus the Nazarene

The prophecy of Jesus being a Nazarene is less concrete per Old Testament writings.  The word "Nazarene" isn't actually used, and yet Matthew states of Joseph:

"And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called Nazarene." (2:23)

The theory that made the most sense to me is that a number of prophecies exist which say that the Messiah would be poor and humble.  In Jesus's time, the Nazarenes were looked down upon; they were like the "ghetto" population of the time, the people on the wrong side of the tracks.  By being a Nazarene, Jesus fulfilled OT prophecies that predicted that the Messiah would come from humble, even despicable circumstances.  

"2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not." (Isaiah 53: 2-3)

The Importance of Obedience

Every "good" thing that happens in this chapter happens as the result of people following divine promptings.

The Wise Men, for example followed the star all the way to the baby Jesus. And then they were warned in a dream to not return to Herod and report the baby's  whereabouts.

Joseph was warned in a dream by an angel to escape to Egypt with Jesus and Mary.  And when the danger had passed, he was told again by an angel in a dream to gather his family and return.  In doing so, he saved the baby Jesus's life and also fulfilled Old Testament prophecies.

Goodness is Vulnerable, but God Finds a Way

It is awesome to comprehend the idea that Jesus entered the world just like any other human being: as a baby.  And that, as such, he was completely at the mercy of the world around him.  

The lesson I took from this is that sacred things are vulnerable.  Even the most precious things in life can be destroyed if we don't take care of them.

But no matter how the odds may be stacked agains us--even if it's Herod with all of his armies--a way is found.  The Lord protected Joseph and his family by providing them with divine guidance and an escape plan.

The Role of Parents

Matthew 2 shows the importance of family relationships.  The baby Jesus was powerless to protect Himself.  He never could have gotten Himself all the way to Egypt and back without his loving parents.  That's what parents do.  We all come into the world completely vulnerable as babies and flat out wouldn't survive without them caring for us.

Thanks Mom and Dad!

Sources

http://www.blueletterbible.org/study/harmony/index.cfm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herod_the_Great

http://www.livius.org/he-hg/herodians/herod_the_great01.html

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080611124424AAqN8Cb