The Magi, the Jews, and the Signs of the Times -- a study of Matthew 2:1-12
- mww
- 13 minutes ago
- 15 min read
The Jewish leaders really had to ignore a lot of signs.
Bible Study Ideas and Commentary for Matthew 2
This week is our Christmas lesson, and it focuses on the visit of the magi. We can learn a lot by comparing and combining the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, but the main point Matthew wants us to take is that foreigners travelled for months in response to God's signs, but the Jewish leaders couldn't be bothered to walk down the road to see for themselves.
Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star at its rising and have come to worship him. (2:2)
When We Last Studied This Passage
My previous post on this passage is one of my favorites, and I'm really tempted to just point you to it for large chunks of this week's lesson. Here's what I covered:
a lot about Herod the Great
Bethlehem
the Magi
harmony of the Nativity stories
astrology and the Star of Bethlehem
I summarized a lot of information in that post, and you might find it useful this year.
When we studied Matthew back in 2015, Lifeway also scheduled a lesson on chapter 1 (a lesson we didn't repeat this year). Some of those topics might help you understand this week's context a bit better:
the Hypostatic Union of God and man
supernatural conception
Names of Christ in the Gospels
typology
why the Virgin Birth matters
what's wrong with the "Immaculate Conception"
betrothal and divorce
If any of those topics seem interesting to you, please skim those posts!
Getting Started: Things to Think About
It's Christmas!
This is our lesson right before Christmas, so there are some obvious Christmas tie-ins. The Nativity figurines are always a good choice for a discussion, and so is your church's Christmas-themed activities. For FBC, it's our Drive-Through Nativity --
Tell stories about the good that has come from those events. But make sure to leave time to talk about this week's Bible passage!
If you've already talked about those things, here are some more ideas:
Right in Front of Your Nose . . .
This is still a popular trope in literature and video -- someone looking intently for something only to realize "it was right there all along". Has that ever happened to you?
I have plenty of silly examples that come to mind, often involving finding my keys in my pocket, or finding my pencil behind my ear, or (worst all all) finding my glasses on my face. I've "found" important items on the kitchen counter or on a garage shelf or on the dash of my car. More to the point this week, I've "found" people who had skills or knowledge I really needed already in the congregation, and I had never asked the question. What's your "right there all along" story?
Piggybacking on what we said last week -- that in Jesus, the kingdom of God was quite literally right there in front of the people, and all they had to do was "reach out and touch it" -- the Jews had been waiting for centuries for their Messiah, and He was born just a few miles away from the very heart of Judaism.
. . . But You Never Bothered to Look
The flip side to that idea is the condemnation that the Jewish leaders never bothered to go down the street to Bethlehem to find out anything for themselves.
Have you ever missed something because you never put in the effort to find it?
It's Christmas, so I'd recommend staying away from the obvious and heavy news illustrations -- like the red flags related to Rob Reiner's son, or even the warnings and suggestions put out by the employees of the Louvre. You can find a way to blame just about any recent tragedy on somebody's laziness or arrogance (if unfairly).
Instead, keep it to some low-stakes regrets. "I had a chance to go see so-and-so before they became famous and just chose not to." "I could have invested in Google but didn't read the prospectus." "I could have bought a tile for my keys but just kept putting it off."
[Corollary: Investment Opportunities Missed
That second idea makes me think about a lot of "worst business decisions ever" -- like Blockbuster failing to buy Nexflix, Excite failing to buy Google, or Kodak failing to get into digital photography -- because the decisionmakers we either really arrogant or didn't think it was worth the effort. The Jewish leaders look really bad in Matthew's Gospel.]
I get mad at myself when I think about the things I missed (or mistakes I made) because I just didn't put in a little elbow grease. I have absolutely no words for the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem who heard the words of the magi and just didn't care enough to check for themselves (or didn't think it was worth their time).
Where We Are in Matthew
In honor of Christmas, Lifeway has us going back from chapter 4 to chapter 2, so let me re-summarize what I've said about this Gospel, namely that Matthew wrote to a Jewish audience who had a lot of questions about Old Testament prophecy and the Messiah. Matthew addresses the biggest in rapid-fire order in the opening chapters.
The Genealogy of Jesus (1:1-17) -- Jesus is of the line of David / Judah
The Birth of Jesus (1:18-25) -- Jesus was born of a virgin
The Visit of the Magi (2:1-12) -- Jesus was born in Bethlehem, recognized by Gentiles
The Escape to Egypt (2:13-18) -- Jesus experienced exile in Egypt
The Return to Nazareth (2:19-23) -- Jesus lived in Galilee
Now let's hit a couple of important sub-topics:
Comparing the Genealogies of Luke and Matthew
These passages are so different that most skeptics seize on them to discredit the Gospel authors. I'm going to ignore the proposals made by scholars who think there is error in the Gospels. And I'm not going into much detail; it's Christmas, and y'all don't really care about this right now.
A common solution is to say that Matthew traces the lineage through Joseph and Luke through Mary (i.e., Matthew explains the legal line through Joseph and Luke the biological line through Mary). People I respect a great deal believe that, so I won't say they're wrong. But they don't have a solid reason for why Luke says it's the line of Joseph.
I think the easiest solution is a levirate marriage in the second or third generation or an adoption -- e.g., either Jacob or Heli died without a male heir, and Joseph was either adopted or recognized as the legal heir. Even at that stage of Judaism, the legal heir could be traced with the same exactitude as the biological heir. In other words, both Matthew and Luke trace Jesus' lineage through Joseph -- Matthew through Joseph's legal family line and Luke through his biological line.
Herod the Great
This is one of my favorite historical topics, and I give you all the details in my previous post on this passage. Herod the Great, son of the Roman powerbroker in Judea, happened to be "friends" with the man who would become Augustus Caesar, and that ultimately led to him being named "King of the Jews". Augustus didn't particularly like Herod, but he knew that Herod was a ruthless schemer, and that's exactly what the rebellious, backwater Jews "needed". Herod was a genius and a paranoid megalomaniac. This timeline (that I've not found the source of) clearly points out all of the members of his family that Herod had executed out of paranoia. It's no wonder that this man was willing to execute infants in Bethlehem.
Anyway, the importance of this information is that everyone in Jerusalem knew how unstable Herod was. When he was troubled, everyone was troubled. (Think "the Queen of Hearts" in Alice in Wonderland.)
The Magi
Let me just be the fuddy duddy. We don't know these guys' names. We don't know where they were from. We don't know how many of them there were. We don't know what rank in society they were.
Sorry.
We know they came from the east, that they presented three types of gifts, that their gifts were valuable, and that Matthew called them "magi". That's it. That's all we know.
This particular term, from which we get our word "magic", was used to identify a sect of priests in the Zoroastrian religion from Persia. Related: Babylon, within the bounds of various Persian kingdoms, was the center of astrology in the ancient world.
So here's what we can say. If these magi were associated with Zoroastrianism, then they were ethical monotheists who believed there was a struggle between a good god (Ahura Mazda) and an evil world. If these magi were astrologers, then they looked for answers to this cosmic struggle in the stars. Both of those "ifs" seem reasonable because that seems to be how God got their attention and brought them to Bethlehem.
Why did God do this? According to Matthew, it was twofold:
to foreshadow the dichotomy between the Jews and the Gentiles: Jewish leaders who could not read the signs of the times, and Gentiles who were sensitive to God's work and willing to listen (the Messiah's worldwide mission);
to help Joseph, a poor man who didn't have enough money to rent/buy accommodations for a pregnant woman or make a full sacrificial offering, afford a journey to Egypt.
And all of this leads to one final question.
This Week's Big Idea: Why Doesn't Luke Say Anything about the Magi, or the Flight to Egypt?
I have probably spent more time around Bible skeptics than you have. You may not care about this at all. But in the world of skeptics, the differences between Matthew's and Luke's nativity stories are fodder for foolishness. Usually, it goes something like, "Luke's would have been more accurate, seeing as how Mary was his primary source, so Matthew must have made up these stories to prove his own points."
There are three common complaints about Matthew's story being too "perfect":
The Messiah had to be born in Bethlehem, so Matthew needed to tell a story that put Him there.
There's a Jewish tradition (that might date to the first century) that the reason Pharaoh had ordered the Jewish boys to be executed was that his astrologers had warned him of a "Jewish deliverer" about to be born, and Matthew tapped into it to show parallels between Jesus and Moses.
Finally, there's a legend from mid-first century (which is when Matthew wrote) that Augustus Caesar's birth was heralded by a special astrological sign, and Matthew just hijacked it for his own purposes of trying to show Jesus as a great king.
Right.
Or, Matthew reported what actually happened. I go with that option.
The Roman census is an amazing and absolutely understandable way of putting Jesus' birth in Bethlehem, even though He was otherwise associated with Galilee. Herod was a known murderer who was itching for someone to tell him about potential rivals to power, so that story only makes sense. And until Islam took over (far in the future from this event), there would have been plenty of potential "magi" in Persia to fit this bill -- and again, Matthew had a theological purpose for including this event: to show that Jesus was rejected by Jewish authority but accepted by Gentiles. Here's D. A. Carson: "The Magi will be like the men of Nineveh who will rise up in judgment and condemn those who, despite their privilege of much greater light, did not receive the Promised Messiah and bow to His reign." And the flight into Egypt showed God's supernatural care for His Son (just like God cared for Israel) and also how Jesus "recapitulated" the experience of Israel.
So, establishing that Matthew reported things that happened, why didn't Luke report these things?
Boy, I wish there were an easy answer for all of this. Let's compare Matthew's and Luke's nativity accounts:
Matthew
The genealogy of Jesus
The angel's appearance to Joseph
One line about Jesus being born in Bethlehem
The wise men's appearance in Bethlehem
The escape to Egypt
The return to Nazareth
John the Baptist prepares the way
Luke
Gabriel appears to Elizabeth and Zechariah about John
Gabriel appears to Mary about Jesus
Mary stays with Elizabeth until John in born
A bit about John
The census and Joseph taking Mary to Bethlehem
"No room in the inn"
The shepherds visit the newborn baby
Jesus is presented in the temple; Simeon and Anna
12-yr-old Jesus in the temple
John the Baptist prepares the way
Is there anything contradictory in those accounts? Most certainly not. Just very (extremely) different details included.
Here's how I've heard it explained, and I agree. Luke, in doing his careful research for his Gospel, spent time with Mary and got all of her story. Indeed, everything in Luke's Gospel seems like something that would have stood out to a young, pregnant woman.
Matthew, being an apostle and an author to Jews, wasn't worried about those things -- he had his theological priorities (focusing on prophecy fulfillment and how the Jews rejected their Messiah) and focused solely on those.
Yes, the visit of the magi and the flight into Egypt seem like something Mary would have remembered clearly! But they didn't fit Luke's narrative, and he had to be as succinct as possible. Perhaps he had heard that Matthew was going to include those things, and he let it go at that. I don't know; any answer is speculative at this point.
But the important thing is that Luke's account and Matthew's mesh together just fine. The Bible is fully trustworthy.
Part 1: Wise Men Still Seek Him (Matthew 2:1-3)
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, wise men ["magi"] from the east arrived in Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star at its rising and have come to worship him." 3 When King Herod heard this, he was deeply disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.
I've already mentioned Herod and the magi above.
Bethlehem was only a few miles from Jerusalem. You've heard pastor David mention that Bethlehem is where the candidates for the Passover lambs were raised and cared for. Most importantly, it was the home of king David and the prophesied home of the Messiah.
"Saw His star" could mean anything. We don't know if this is something God showed only to them, or if anybody (who was looking for it) could see it. But y'all, if we believe that God can raise Jesus from the dead, I would hope that we don't have a problem with God using some sort of a "sign" to direct people toward Jerusalem. Anyway, their first stop is Jerusalem, which should only make sense. Where else would one look for a king in the region? They wouldn't have known about the palace intrigue or how they probably put themselves in danger by announcing themselves and their intentions to King Herod.
And again, Matthew's point is that these "foreigners" were sensitive to God -- even though He wasn't the god of their religion! -- while the Jews were clueless. They were much more worried about self-preservation than anything else.
I have two ideas for discussion here:
Though the world is still favorable of Christmas, they're getting more belligerent about the Christ part of Christmas. Are you feeling pressure to tone down the Jesus part of your Christmas celebration? And if so, are you going along with it? The Jews in Jerusalem faced pressure from Herod as well as those other Jews who didn't want to upset the culture, and so nobody made any attempt to "discover Jesus".
Do you still "seek Jesus"? Has Christmas become so familiar to you that it's just another holiday? A lot of Christmas devotions seem focused on the idea of "finding joy in Christmas" which suggests that a lot of people have lost it. Let's take inspiration from these wise men and seek after Jesus.
Part 2: Bethlehem (Matthew 2:4-8)
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.” 7 Then Herod secretly summoned the wise men and asked them the exact time the star appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. When you find him, report back to me so that I too can go and worship him.”
Matthew has very cleverly described Herod's paranoid megalomania -- first with the comment about being disturbed, and then this comment about "all the chief priests and scribes". So, we give Herod credit for knowing who to ask, and then we shake our heads at his extremes. Why ask one scribe when you can call an emergency meeting of every single scribe in the city? In my head, I have the image of these guys being woken up at three in the morning.
Of course, Herod needed only ask one scribe -- any of them could have told him about the prophecy of Bethlehem. For our purposes, though, we want to focus on that entire prophecy, at the least Micah 5:1-9.
In that chapter, the Jews have been oppressed by a foreign power (in this case, Herod represents that power) and scattered among the nations. And then a strong (and ancient) ruler will rule them and shepherd them and triumph over the people's enemies.
Herod would have flipped out about that context, knowing that he would have been a direct target of this new ruler. And that easily explains his order to have all of the boys killed. [Note: because Herod orders boys two years and under killed, that strongly suggests that the wise men had arrived 12-18 months after the appearance of the star. If the star appeared when Jesus was born and if they were as far away as Babylon (or likely farther), it could have taken them months to gather supplies and months to travel. It was a four-month journey from Babylon to Jerusalem by caravan, so a year is a reasonable guess as to how old Jesus was when they arrived.]
The wider context of that prophecy also gives us Matthew's theological emphases that the Messiah wasn't just a conquering king but also a selfless shepherd.
And yes, Herod's secret communication is so sus that I imagine him saying this while giving the wise men the side eye and twisting his moustache. (Like my youthful lingo there?)
For this topic, I do like Lifeway's "spiritual charades" idea:
At this time of year, are you going through the motions of honoring Jesus? Or is your heart really in it? Like David said in his sermon last week, God knows your heart.
Part 3: Wise Men Still Worship Him (Matthew 2:9-12)
9 After hearing the king, they went on their way. And there it was—the star they had seen at its rising. It led them until it came and stopped above the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overwhelmed with joy. 11 Entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and falling to their knees, they worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 And being warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their own country by another route.
Not to continue to be a fuddy duddy, but I really don't like the various "star of Bethlehem" theories and models. If that model is shown to be off by the tiniest amount, then the entire theory is completely debunked. So, it's fine to look for some sort of heavenly sign in the historical records, but truthfully we don't need to know what this sign was. God used a sign that these particular men would have been sensitive to, and they followed it.
Aside: that's just like today. God "speaks in languages people can understand" so to speak -- the truth about Jesus is for everybody, regardless of education, language, cultural background, religious background, or location. There's a way to share the truth about Jesus with everyone in the world in such a way that they can understand.
Combine this with Luke's gospel -- God sent a message to
shepherds (outcasts in Jewish society) and
magi (foreigners who weren't even Jews).
If there's a clearer illustration about who the gospel is for, I'm not sure what it is.
The song "We Three Kings" gives us plenty of symbolism for these gifts:
gold for a king,
frankincense for priestly incense,
myrrh for a funeral.
That is reasonably accurate, but there doesn't have to be additional symbolism here! These are simply very valuable things in that culture -- the magi gave Jesus gifts that meant something to them.
[When and Where Did This Happen?
Strange question, I know -- according to Matthew, this event takes place in Bethlehem about a year about Jesus' birth. But Luke says that after they presented Jesus in the temple, they returned to Galilee. How can both things be true? This goes back to my "harmony" section above. Luke just says that they returned to Nazareth. As modern Americans, we read that as "immediately", when in fact a whole lot of things happened before they returned to Nazareth.
This gap also explains another black eye for the Jewish leaders -- the shepherds had told "everybody" about what they had seen and heard, and so did Simeon and Anna. News of this must have reached those leaders. Shepherds they could ignore, and probably Anna too. But time must have helped them "forget" rather than put two-and-two together.]
Matthew gives us every reason to like these magi -- not only did they give Jesus valuable gifts, but they also did not play Herod's stooges. How upset he must have been when his spies told him they had escaped him! And God's angel acted quickly enough to keep Jesus in front of the danger.
But there's one final question: what was Joseph doing in Bethlehem for a year? When the shepherds visit the baby, Jesus is in a stable. When the magi visit the baby, Jesus is in a house. Joseph has clearly decided to stay put for a while. He apparently used his skills as a carpenter to make enough of a living to rent a house of some kind. The best explanation I've heard for this is the same reason Mary "escaped" to Elizabeth's house -- too much scandal from a "virgin birth". If Joseph needed an angel to convince him of it, how would any of their friends and family believe it? Joseph stayed in Bethlehem to protect Mary and Jesus from gossip. A year or two later, he felt it okay to finally return to Nazareth. Maybe by then they had another child? Eventually the scandal would have blown over. Lesson: Joseph was a righteous man who wanted to do right by Mary and Jesus and did whatever he could to protect and care for them.
[Dark speculation: Why didn't Joseph warn the other families of infants? First, how do we know he didn't? But second, why would we assume that Joseph knew all of the families in Bethlehem? He was an outsider keeping his head down, after all.]
For us today:
Worship and gift-giving -- are we mostly focused on receiving gifts, or maybe giving gifts to our close family and friends? What emphasis do we place on giving a gift to Jesus? For that matter, what's a gift you could give to Jesus this Christmas?
And likewise, what about the worship? Is your heart focused on Jesus this Christmas, or on something else?
Even though Matthew included this story for good theological purposes, the wise men give us some wonderful illustrations for where our heart should be at Christmastime.
Merry Christmas!
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