While the Christmas season may be over for 2019, I still am enamored by the nativity accounts in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Shortly after the birth of Jesus, Magi from the East came to visit him, bearing gifts. From there, Joseph took Jesus and Mary and headed to Egypt.

King Herod was interested in finding the baby Jesus, not because he wanted to worship him, as he implied to the Magi, but because he viewed him as a threat to his throne. So he arranged for the Magi to return to him, relating the details of their discovery of Jesus, so he could eliminate him. However, God had other plans, and as we look at this section of Matthew 2, we can see that his plans were in place from the very beginning.

God sends an angel to Joseph in a dream, telling him to flee to Egypt, in verse 13. This was a command to depart right away, and verse 14 indicates that it probably took place on that same night that the Magi arrived. This was according to God’s plan all along, and Matthew indicates this clearly by one of a long list of prophecies that surrounded the birth of the Savior. In this case, the Old Testament passage quoted is from Hosea 11:1:

When Israel was a youth I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son.

A trip to Egypt would not have been a difficult thing to do. Traveling one hundred miles directly from Bethlehem would put Joseph well past the border, and two hundred miles would put him at the Nile River. In Egypt, there the family would find friends, probably relatives, because there were an estimated one million Jews in the Nile valley at that point in history. Early tradition states that this small family came to the cities of On or Heliopolis. And of course, the trip was easily financed, with the gifts that the Magi had recently delivered to them.

The second chapter of Matthew chapter two began by introducing the magi into the storyline. As they journey toward the Messiah, they seek help from Herod, who would rather eliminate any opposition to his power.

The visit of the magi gave Herod the information he needed. He now knew where the Messiah was to be born, confirmed by the chief priests and scribes. Now, he decides to interrogate the magi further, to determine just when the star appeared. The purpose of this question was to find the age of Jesus, to narrow down his search. He was clever and crafty, but he sought Christ with wrong motives. His ingenuity was impressive, using the resources at his disposal, both the magi and the religious leaders, to discover the exact timing of the birth of Jesus.

From here, his deceit only gets worse. Herod sent them to Bethlehem. His goal was to use the magi to even further narrow his search for the child. His purpose was to find and kill the baby King, not worship Him! According to Jewish history, Herod had Aristobulus, the high priest, drowned by his companions while bathing. His political aspirations knew no bounds, using even religion to gain his own desires.

The magi continued on, probably suspecting the true nature of Herod. This would be confirmed to them by God later. For now, they continued to follow the star. In verse 9, Matthew states that it “stood over the place where the Child was.” For a star or planet to stand over any place or person, it must be in the zenith and have an altitude of ninety degrees. Even then, the distance is so great that it would be difficult to see it point to one specific location, even if it were a bright conjunction of planets. God can, and has, used naturally occurring events to make himself known, but this is probably a completely supernatural event, for the sole purpose of special revelation. Guided by such a star, the magi found Bethlehem by night and rejoiced.

The second chapter of Matthew is a continuation of the birth narrative of Jesus Christ, and the first few verses focus on the place of his birth, foretold in the Old Testament, and confirmed by the magi.

While the beginning of Matthew contains several significant details concerning the birth of Jesus, it is not exhaustive. As you read this, you should also read Luke 2, which adds more to the story, details not given by Matthew, and the one recorded incident in Jesus’ life between his birth and his baptism – the visit to Jerusalem at the age of twelve.

But here in Matthew 2, we see that the Kingdom is not yet ready for the King, and the only celebration of his birth, outside of his immediate family, comes from foreign magi, who travel for months to visit and pay him honor. The birth of Jesus was predicted in the Old Testament, but few people in the nation of Israel noticed. As you read this chapter, take note of the phrases “It has been written (or spoken) by the prophet” and “that it might be fulfilled.” These point to the many different passages that predict the coming of the Messiah in the Old Testament… passages that most missed when they came to pass.

The second chapter of Matthew begins with the place of Jesus’ birth. This is one of those details that were given long before, in this case from the prophet Micah, in 5:2. Bethlehem was the home of Boaz and Ruth, of Jesse and King David. It is five miles southwest of Jerusalem. Even though the current home of Joseph and Mary was Nazareth, the prophecy clearly stated that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem. God coordinated the details of this event by using the Roman Emperor to conduct a census. This caused Mary and Joseph to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem, “to register for the census, each to his own city” (Luke 2:3).

Bethlehem is one of the oldest places in the land of Judea, with a rich and full history. It had been in existence at least 1500 years before the birth of Christ, and was home to many significant events and people, including King David. The tag, “of Judea” was added to distinguish it from another location named Bethlehem found in the territory of Zebulon, according to Joshua 19:15. The name Bethlehem means “house of bread.”

One of the very first things that Matthew does in his account of the life of Jesus is to trace his heritage back to Abraham, through a listing of the line, or genealogy, of Jesus. And while many simply skim these verses, or skip them all together, there are some critical elements here that can help us understand the gospel of Matthew much more clearly.

Two of the four Gospels contain genealogies, Luke and Matthew. Luke 3:23-38 was written for Gentiles, and goes all the way back to Adam. Matthew is writing to a Jewish audience, and Jewish history begins with Abraham. Some see this as contradictory, but it is not; the two lists were written for completely different purposes and completely different audiences. And typically, genealogies are focused on the first name of the list. Matthew reverses that trend and makes the focus the last name, the name of Jesus Christ.

He begins with Abraham. God had promised Abraham that through his seed all the world would be blessed in Genesis 22:18: “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

So Matthew begins with Abraham and traces the lineage of Jesus down through the ages, naming some of the greatest of the ancestors of Jesus, Abraham and David. Both of these important people had received promises from God that the Messiah would be their descendant. This may or may not be a complete listing of the lineage of Jesus. Some generations may have been skipped or condensed in order to fit a pattern, or to summarize a series of generations. Either way, Matthew gives forty-two generations in three groups of fourteen each. They cover 2000 years: the first group covers 1000 years; the second covers 400 years; and the third group covers 600 years of time.

Matthew seems to count David twice, first as a patriarch, and second as one of the kings. It could be argued that David could fit into either category, and Matthew inserts him into both, as sort of a bridge between the two, and as recognition of David’s critical importance as part of Israel’s history.