1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men*n1 from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose*n1 and have come to worship him.” 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:
6 “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a rulerwho will shepherd my people Israel.’”
7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” 9 After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11 And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. 12 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.
13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” 14 And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt 15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:
18 “A voice was heard in Ramah,
weeping and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”
19 But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20 saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's life are dead.” 21 And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. 23 And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled: “He shall be called a Nazarene.”
I've always found it interesting to speculate about the purpose of the gifts of the magi. I found an interesting article here that gives a few suggestions. I found the reference in that article to Isa 60:6 particularly interesting: "A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall bring good news, the praises of the Lord." Why had I never noticed this before?
This brings me to the other thing that I noticed in this passage. It seems like Matthew has been setting the stage for Jesus by pointing out the multiple ways in which he fulfilled the prophecies about the messiah. In this chapter I can count five fulfilled prophecies. Does anyone spot any more?
Whenever I read the passage about the slaying of the boys my heart aches for those mothers. I can't help but wonder why God didn't want to warn their fathers in dreams as well. He certainly could have given Jeremiah a different prophecy. I suppose though Jesus was following the pattern that Moses had left. Moses had narrowly missed being killed as a baby then grew up to lead his people out of bondage. Jesus, likewise, followed this example. It still makes me sad to think about the suffering of those mothers and babies.
What other thoughts did you have?
I think Isaiah 60 is speaking of the second coming of Christ. If you notice it only says gold and frankincense, not myrrh which is used for annointing the dead or embalming. I would conjecture that myrrh was at his first coming to forshadow his death but is not necessary as a gift for his second coming.
ReplyDeleteInteresting the parellel between Moses and Jesus....I never thought of that.
I know that this is a rabbit trail but no one says we can't go down the odd one...
DeleteI can't help but read Isa 60 as a prophecy of the creation of the church. I've been coming to see many of the OT prophecies as being about the church. Maybe I'm wrong about this one though. It certainly doesn't seem like a point to argue much about. What's your reason to think that it's referring to the second coming?
Just so that my feeling aren't misunderstood here, I just want to add that I don't feel any contention about this. OT prophecy is fascinating to me and I would really like to understand it better. You may be right about this passage and I'd like to understand it correctly.
Do you think that we're getting into topics out of our scope? This isn't typical women stuff but is that a problem? I genuinely want to understand what my boundaries should be. I feel confused about that sometimes.
Sorry I didn't mean to start a rabbit trail or be contentious.
DeleteTo answer your first question, I think Isaiah 60 is referring to the second coming because it seems to me a picture of the new Jerusalem. For example, verses 18-19 haven't been fulfilled "No longer shall violence be heard of in your land, or plunder and ruin within your boundaries. You shall call your walls 'salvation' and your gates 'praise'. No longer shall the sun be your light by day, nor the brightness of the moon shine upon you at night; The Lord shall be your light forever, your God shall be your glory. "
One could say that this is figurative in relation to the creation of the church but I see it as being literal.
As for being out of our scope or a women's topic, I think we are equal heirs to the kingdom and as long as we aren't trying to teach men we should be able to discuss scriptures. If we have questions we can always refer back to our husbands and if they feel we are out of line we can delete our comments. Just my thoughts.
I think you are leading in the Spirit of Titus 2 Rose..."teaching what is good".
Yeah, interesting to make a connection betwen Yeshua's life & Moshe's (Moses's). Rose, I think the following quote will help your understanding about prophecies:"Celsus imagines that an event, predicted through foreknowledge, comes to pass because it was predicted; but we do not grant this, maintaining that he who foretold it was not the cause of its happening, because he foretold it would happen; but the future event itself, which would have taken place though not predicted, afforded the occasion to him, who was endowed with foreknowledge, of foretelling its occurrence. Now, certainly this result is present to the foreknowledge of him who predicts an event, when it is possible that it may or may not happen,..." It was not God's will, and He did not pre-ordain the slaying of those children. That was simply a result of the free will He gives to human-kind in order not to have a bunch of robots on earth. God knows what is in men's hearts & what they will do beforehand; so He can forewarn those whom He will forewarn. It was necessary for him to forewarn Joseph, so the Messiah would fulfill His will. I believe even Yeshua being God in the flesh had freewill and that is the beauty of His priesthood. He has compassion on us being able himself to personally feel our infirmities. He had to struggle & pray, Not my will but Thine be done. He even asked (Luke 22:42 KJV) "Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." Because He, like us, would like to escape the pain & humiliation that the cross brings into our lives. But some things are necessary for the salvation of others. The Messiah teaches His followers to lay down their lives; the just for the unjust(1 Peter 3:18 KJV) "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:"
ReplyDeleteSomethings are God's will, but humankind has the power to fulfill it or refuse to fulfill it. Prophecies & foreknowledge does not always equal or reveal God's will. It can simply be events God knows will come to pass due to the choices of humankind. If you want to see the rest of Origen's quote concerning Celsus go to:
http://www.earlychristianlife.com/2016/06/quotes-from-origen.html?m=1
And type in your "find on page" bar, "Celsus", the quote is at the 9th time it says Celsus on the page. Here is an example of another prophecy that was not God's will:(John 13:18 KJV) "I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me." Yeshua was quoting from, (Psalms 41:9 KJV) "Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me." For me this opens doors to interesting thoughts and realizations. Judah's betrayed Christ because because of his own choosing. He would have never betrayed Christ if Christ controlled him like a robot. It was not God's will for him to betray him, God simply foreknew it would happen. There is so much more I could say about this....but hopefully this is enough for now. The "scripture needed to be fullied" not because it was God's will but His foreknowledge.
Interesting, I think that I understood the point that you are making when I wrote my original comments. What I was trying to express was a just a feeling of grief over how God allowed those babies to die. It's the same today when he allows any evil to pass. It doesn't make it his will, but from my lowly perspective it's hard to always understand his reasoning. His lack of intervention in preventing evil doesn't make him any less of a loving God but I still grieve to see it happen.
DeleteYes, I understand how you feel. It is dreadful how wicked humans can be when they disobey God's loving instruction. On the other hand how divine they can be when they yield to His self denying, loving nature.
ReplyDelete