Introduction to Chapter 2 of the Gospel of Matthew

 

The announcement of the birth of this newborn king of the Jews greatly troubles not only King Herod but all Jerusalem (Matthew 2:1-3), yet the Gentile magi are overjoyed to find him and offer him their homage and their gifts (Matthew 2:10-11). Thus his ultimate rejection by the mass of his own people and his acceptance by the Gentile nations is foreshadowed. He must be taken to Egypt to escape the murderous plan of Herod. By his sojourn there and his subsequent return after the king's death he relives the Exodus experience of Israel. The words of the Lord spoken through the prophet Hosea, "Out of Egypt I called my son," are fulfilled in him (Matthew 2:15); if Israel was God's son, Jesus is so in a way far surpassing the dignity of that nation, as his marvelous birth and the unfolding of his story show (see Matthew 3:17; 4:1-11; 11:27; 14:33; 16:16; 27:54). Back in the land of Israel, he must be taken to Nazareth in Galilee because of the danger to his life in Judea, where Herod's son Archelaus is now ruling (Matthew 2:22-23). The sufferings of Jesus in the infancy narrative anticipate those of his passion, and if his life is spared in spite of the dangers, it is because his destiny is finally to give it on the cross as "a ransom for many" (20, 28). Thus the word of the angel will be fulfilled, ". . . he will save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21; cf Matthew 26:28).

 

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Jesus was born in the town of Bethelehem in Judea, during the time when Herod was king. Soon afterward, some men who studied the stards came from the East to Jerusalem.

 

and asked, "where is the baby born to be the king of the Jews? We saw his star when it came up in the east, and we have come to worship him."

 

When King Herod heard about this, he was very upset, and so was everyone else in Jerusalem.

 

He called together all the chief priests and teachers of the Law and asked them, "Where will the Messiah be born?"

 

"In the town of Bethelehem in Judea," they answered. "For this is what the prophet wrote:

'Bethelehem in the land of Judah, you are by no means the least of the leading cities of Judah: fpr from you will come a leader who wil  guide my people Israel.'"

 

So Herod called the visiters from the East to a secret meeting and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared.

 

Then he send them to Bethelehem with these instructions" "Go and make a careful search for the child; and when you find him, letme know, so that I too may go and worship him."

 

And so they left, and on their way they saw the same star they had seen in the East. When they saw it,

how happy they were, what joy was theirs! It went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. They went into the house, and when they saw the child with his mother Mary, they knelt down and worshiped him. They brought out their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, and presented them to him.

 

They returned to their country by another road, since God had warned them in a dream not to go back to Herd.