It is not enough to note Jesus fulfilled Messianic prophecies. Jesus corrected the legacy of mistakes His Nation had made throughout her history. In fulfilling those prophecies, He fulfilled the calling of what Israel was meant to be. He thus became Israel, and displaced her in His Person. All that was promised to and through Israel is now in His hand, to grant to and through His Bride.
Matthew does not relate how Joseph and Mary came to be in the small town of Bethlehem, nor mentions Mary had been living in Nazareth when all this began. As is common with Hebrew writers, he simply assumes the common knowledge about Jesus' life and mentions things in passing, staying with the central thread of the narrative. He isn't telling an unknown story, but giving the importance of a story generally known to his audience.
The Magi were part of an ancient class of priestly nobility, going back well before the Medo-Persian Empire. However, we know Persia would have protected their craft in the spirit of Zoroastrianism, their primary religion. Darius united the Medes and Persians under the chief God, Ahura Mazda, of which a primary teaching is all other gods were his allies and friends. We see the Persian solicitude regarding the gods of subordinate nations as a natural result of this, calling on these nations to petition their gods on behalf of the emperor. Succeeding conquerors had valued the grand and ancient legacy of Magi scholarship, and there's no reason to suppose the Mesopotamian religion scholars would have ever been harmed. They would surely have garnered a copy of the Old Testament books up through the writings of Daniel, who was one of their class. They would surely have known of the Messiah, and perhaps some of the false Messianic Expectations which arose during the Restoration Period.
Rome most certainly knew of the Messiah, particularly the parody popular with a corrupt Jewish religion of Jesus' day. The emphasis on a ruler in the mold of King David rising to drive out all Gentile conquerors, in light of Jewish racist contempt for foreigners, was exactly the sort of sensitive subject Roman bureaucrats would track. It was Rome who granted the Edomite Herod the Great a throne over Judea, and as an ostensible convert to Judaism, he too would know something about it. He was a perfect fit to stamp out messianic uprisings. Indeed, a saying from his time noted it was safer to be his hog than his son. Jews would not want to be anywhere near the slaughter of a pig, but Herod executed five of his sons, largely under suspicion they were considering usurping his throne. Such a petty and suspicious brute was a perfect choice in Roman eyes. He called the Magi for a secret conference to find out the date the Messiah's star had appeared, and slyly explained they should continue seeking Him, and report back so Herod could also worship Him.
The Magi entourage would have been huge, doing well to reach Jerusalem within a few months of leaving their academy. Announcing the Messiah had already been born, Herod and his court were quite disturbed. As a man barely tolerated by the Judean priests and nobles, a legitimate heir of David was the last thing he needed. Being such a poor Jewish practitioner, he had to ask the scholars where it was prophesied the Messiah would be born. Bethlehem (AKA Ephrathah) was not that large. While it was the home of David's family, the move to Jerusalem as his new capital kept the old family town small and quiet.
Given the great Galilean showplace city of Sepphoris near Nazareth had been destroyed by Herod, in response to an uprising about the time Jesus was born, the tiny hilltop village of Nazareth just a few miles away would have experienced a decline in the building trades. Once the trip to Bethlehem was made, there was little reason to go back home. It would be a major mistake to assume Jesus' birth in the stable was because of poverty. The city was simply vastly overbooked at the time Mary came due, and they were lucky to find any shelter at any price. Once that crowd left, there were plenty of relatives in Bethlehem to get them established there. Joseph was plying his trade there as a builder and could easily afford some kind of home, which is where the Magi found them. Whatever heavenly sign they had taken as marking the birth of the Messiah met them on the way south from Jerusalem, and indicated to them which house held Him.
They could have brought some of the most amazing array of things, but chose three symbolic gifts. It is well known gold is presented to kings, both by right of taxation and tribute authority, but also as presents to gain a ruler's favor. It was the standard royal gift. Frankincense is the resin of rare desert plants. Mixed with other ingredients, it would have been burned as incense in worship of deities. The gummy liquid myrrh was used almost exclusively for burial, as if to say they knew He was born to die, but would also signal many deaths for His sake.
Thus, when the Magi slipped out the back door of Herod's jurisdiction, it took awhile for the report to reach him. Based on his known behavior, it's safe to say choosing all males up to age two was overkill, just to make sure. It's best to picture Jesus hardly a year old at the time. Given the population of Bethlehem as a small "county seat," that would indicate 20-30 baby boys murdered. That Herod did such things so often helps to explain why the massacre never made the public records. Joseph had been warned during a dream the night the Magi left, and took it seriously enough to pack up and go before dawn that same day. With the recent gifts for their son, the couple could easily afford to set up shop in the large Jewish community anchored in Alexandria, Egypt. One could reasonably picture Joseph using his Jewish family connections and the Magi's gifts to start a business there, doing quite well until the angel called him back to Judea.
Matthew connects that calling to a quote from Hosea 11:1. By the way, the name "Hosea" is an alternate English spelling of Joshua, the Hebrew form of Jesus' name. The reference recalls the Lord's scolding Israel via Hosea's prophecy for spiritual adultery. Their very identity as a nation was rooted in the Exodus, where they weren't just led from Egypt, but miraculously delivered in ways which brought Pharaoh to his knees. With all this, they constantly strayed. Then they were given the whole land of Canaan with similar miracles, and still strayed. They utterly failed their purpose to be a nation of priests to bring the Lord's Word to the world. When Jesus came out of Egypt, He fulfilled everything Israel failed, by becoming that faithful Light of Truth to the nations.
In noting the massacre of Bethlehem's boys is connected to Jeremiah 31:15, we see a typically poetic Hebrew reference-in-depth. Rachel was the lovelier of two sisters married to Jacob, and his carnal favoritism was painfully obvious to all. As the whole family caravan was returning to Bethlehem whence Jacob had fled two decades before, Rachel came due, presumably in the vicinity of Ramah, a small village just a few miles north of Jerusalem, and a day's travel from Bethlehem. Her life had been quite sorrowful already, and she died in childbirth, naming the boy Ben-oni -- "Son of My Sorrow" (which Jacob changed to Ben-jamin -- "Son of My Right Hand;" Genesis 35:16-20). Thus, while it's uncertain, we could believe she was buried there in Ramah (Genesis 48:7). It was thus in sight of her tomb much later when Babylon marshalled her Judean captives at Ramah, on the way north to crossing of the Euphrates. Jeremiah portrayed Rachel as weeping to see the captives taken away from the land, her own sons. Note Ramah was in the portion given to Benjamin, the son born there. On the northern boundary of that was Ephraim, one of the two sons born to Joseph, her other son. The latter had already gone, and the younger was taken later. Jacob passed through great sorrow when Joseph disappeared, and dreaded the loss of Benjamin when his sons returned to Egypt for more food during the famine (Genesis 43). So we see Rachel weeping the loss of her sons again, where Herod had them killed in the village to which she never quite arrived as her new home.
Of course, in Jeremiah's prophecy, Rachel is comforted by the promise the Exiles would return. While Jesus' time had not yet come when the infants were slaughtered in Bethlehem, it would be even more senseless and brutal thirty years later. Yet, in His very death, all humanity finds comfort.
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By Ed Hurst
22 July 2007
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