[Matthew 2:1-2]
A little background information will help make this scene make more sense, specifically about King Herod. The main thing you need to know is that King Herod was freaking insane. Among some of his accomplishments (courtesy of Wikipedia):
- Wanted to marry a teenager, but couldn't because of his wife and three kids. So he banishes said wife and kids
- Was suspicious of new wife's brother, so had him drowned while he was a party
- Later thought the new wife and his kids were plotting to take over his throne, so he executed them
- Since everyone hated him, he realized no one would cry when he died. So he ordered that, when he died, a bunch of popular officials should also be killed so there would be some crying
Most of his insanity came from his paranoia about his throne and I imagine the ego problems that resulted from his being about 4'2". So, to get a clear picture of Herod, just imagine this guy:
Think he's compensating for something?
In his favor though: he funded the Olympics and built a bunch of cool massive buildings. So there's that.
Anyway, you can imagine that this guy didn't take it too kindly when some creepy guys from other countries come up to him asking about "The King of the Jews" and not referring to Herod himself.
[2:3]
The rest of Jerusalem wasn't actually troubled that there might be a new king, they were just troubled because they weren't sure who was going to be executed next.
[2:4-8]
Psychotic paranoid king casually wanting to know where this new king is so he can go worship him too? Seems legit.
[2:9-11]
There's different opinions about the "Star of Bethlehem." Using fancy astronomy tools, we can see how the night sky looked around the time Jesus was born, and there was indeed a convergence of planets that may have been what the Wise Men were following. It's a little tough to attribute it directly to that, since it seems like it led them west to Herod, then back East to Jesus, though it could just be funny writing or translation giving this impression. It could also have been an angel or just some supernatural warning light, or it may have been Navi. Who knows?
A lot of people don't like reading this part too carefully because it kinda messes with our manger scenes and our Christmas plays. Following this chronologically, it seems pretty obvious that Jesus' birth happened quite a while before the wise men got to Him. All of our plays, Christmas cards, and horrible movies show the wise men getting there shortly after the birth of Jesus at the manger, but it's not really possible to get that from reading the text. I know that most people know at this point that were probably not three wise men, but I see why we stick to that imagery. I don't know why we insist on having them show up the second after Jesus is born. And why Jesus is born several months old already. And why He's perfectly clean. And why He didn't have an umbilical cord. And why it took about 30 seconds. And why Mary is incapable of emotion. And why angels look like Keith Green.
God, I hated that movie.
Anyway, it's interesting that the wise men brought Myrrh as one of their gifts. They were outsiders, and the details of Jesus' death and resurrection were difficult to glean from the Old Testament prophecies alone (At least, it seemed to take the disciples by surprise.) It probably seemed like a pretty morbid gift to give a young child, but it was super fitting along with their other three gifts to go along with what Jesus would end up doing. It's funny how these outsiders seemed to understand exactly who Jesus was and what He was called to do, when no one else in Israel seemed to get it.
Regardless, God used pagans to highlight what He was planning on doing through this birth. We tend to think we're so special and that God will use us for so much, but if we don't step it up and do what we're supposed to, God's not afraid to work through people we consider beneath us just to remind us that He is, in fact, God, and can do whatever He feels like by whatever means He feels like.
[2:12]
For all their insight, they had to have a divine warning to not go back to Herod. You'd think THAT would be the obvious part of this whole situations.
[2:13-15]
Also wise: an angel advises Joseph and Mary to get out of town and wait until Herod's dead, since Herod will likely do some nutty things to try to off this kid.
Matthew points out that this also fulfills a prophecy about Jesus being called out of Egypt.
[2:16-18]
Since the wise men didn't come back, Herod assumed that they, and likely the kid's parents, figured out what he was intending on doing (He was surprised, as his reign so far has been famous for subtlety.) So, instead of making all the effort to find which kid is the right one, he decides to just kill all the children born between the first sighting of the star and now. Not terribly surprising gien Herod's previous record.
In Anne Rice's "Christ the Lord" novel (which I will totally finish someday, I promise) there's a scene where Jesus has something of an existential meltdown when He realizes that all those kids died on a search for Him. I like that scene, because it touches on how mentally difficult it must have been for Jesus to go through with the plan for His life. I'm sure no one at the time really blamed Jesus, since Herod probably would have done the same thing once he saw that people put "Baby's laughter" above him on a poll about things they like, but still. I don't really have a point with this, it's just interesting to think about the human implications for Jesus growing up.
Oh, and this fulfilled another prophecy.
[2:19-23]
Later on, after Herod was finally dead (They didn't actually go through with his order to kill all the other officials when he died. Because he was dead, and he wasn't there to enforce it,) they're told to go back. While they're heading back, they get warned in a dream to "actually, don't go ALL the way back, because Herod's son is in charge and only slightly less psychotic than Herod was. So, instead, go to Galilee." I'm sure Joseph was like "Well, why didn't you say that in first place? What? Galilee sucks! The only place with a vacancy is stinking Nazareth! Argh!" but all of this worked towards another one of the prophecies, that Jesus would be called a Nazarene. So even though it felt like their trip got botched, it needed to happen.
There are many times it feels like God called you to something that absolutely fell flat on its face. When that happens, it's easy to think either you misunderstood God and weren't supposed to do that, or that you royally screwed up and now God's plan is ruined. It's very possible in those times that the calling was just to get you to where you are now, and the success or failure of the call was irrelevant to what would come afterwards.
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