The Magi Worship the Christ and Defy Herod

 

This continues a new study of the Gospel according to Matthew, a collaborative effort of Mary Barmore and Alice C. Linsley. 

Looking back on her year of sickness, Mary realizes that God used that time to bring her to faith in Jesus Christ. In her sick bed she read the New Testament and at some point, she claimed Jesus as her Savior. From then onward, her life took a different direction. Read Mary's testimony. 

While sick, Mary took notes on each of the New Testament books. We will use Mary's notes for this study of Matthew. Alice will add some notes of historical and anthropological relevance.

Before you begin, read Matthew, Chapter 2. After you read the chapter, answer the questions. Check your answers by scrolling to the bottom of the page.

Matthew, Chapter 2

1. Where in Judea was Jesus born?

2. Who sought the Child "born king of the Jews"?

3. By what sign did the travelers hope to find the Child?

4. What was Herod's reaction to hearing the news?

5. Who did Herod consult and what was he told?

6. What gifts were given to the Christ Child by the Magi?

7. Where did Joseph take Mary and the Child to escape Herod's wrath?

8. After Herod died, where was Joseph to take Mary and the Child?

9. Why did Joseph go to Nazareth instead of to Judah?

10. What is meant by the term "Nazarene"?

Introduction

Chapter 2 speak so Jesus' birth during the time of Herod the Great. Herod attempted to use the Wise Men to hunt for the baby Jesus in order to eliminate him. However, after worshipping the Christ, the Magi were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, and they returned to their home country by another route. As we learned last week, the Hebrew ruler-priest caste was dispersed widely before the time of Abraham (c. 12000 BC). Though the Magi are usually presented as Gentiles, they may have been descendants of Hebrew people living in Persia. 

Joseph was warned by an angel in a dream to flee to Egypt. This is the third message in Matthew's Gospel conveyed by a dream. A fourth dream is mentioned in verse 22. For Matthew's original audience, numinous dreams were believed to be God's way of communicating with humanity.

When Herod realized that he had been tricked he ordered the massacre of all the male children two years and younger. These are considered the first martyrs of the Church Age, and their story is commemorated on the Feast of the Holy Innocents on December 28.

After Herod the Great died, Joseph received another message in a dream in which the Lord told him to return with Mary and Jesus to the land of Israel. He planned to do so, but was fearful of Herod's successor, Archelaus. In another dream, he was told to go to the region of Galilee, and he settled in Nazareth.

General Timeline

3/2 BC - Jupiter, the King Planet, and Regulus, the King Star, met in the constellation of Leo

37 BC - 4 BC - Herod the Great reigned over Judea

4 BC - 6 AD - reign of Herod Archelaus, son of Herod the Great

4 BC - 39 AD - reign of Herod Antipas (Tetrarch) in Galilee, another son of Herod the Great. He ordered the execution of John the Baptist. He questioned Jesus, although Jesus refused to respond to him (Lk 23:9).

Answers

1. Jesus was born in the Hebrew settlement of Bethlehem. It was home to a clan of Zahorites or Nazarenes. He was born during the reign of Herod the Great.

2. Wise men from the east sought the Christ to worship him. They were familiar with the early Hebrew expectations concerning a Messiah.

3. The Magi followed a sign in the heavens that they recognized as a Messianic sign. The Magi were sidereal astronomers who probably lived in Persia (Iran). They were heirs of the same astronomical knowledge as Abraham's Nilotic ancestors. 

Sidereal astronomy is real science based on observation of the arrangement and movement of the fixed stars and planets. This science originated among Abraham's Nilotic ancestors who had recorded information about the fixed stars and clock-like motion of the planets for thousands of years.

By 4245 BC, the priests of the Upper Nile had established a calendar based on the appearance of the star Sirius. Apparently, they had been tracking this star for thousands of years and connecting it to seasonal changes affecting the Nile Valley. 

In 241 BC, the priest Manetho reported that priests of the Nile Valley had been “star-gazing” as early as 40,000 years ago. Plato claimed that the Africans had been tracking the heavens for 10,000 years.

Using Starry Night, a software program that can track celestial events at any time in history, Rick Larson discovered that Jupiter, the King Planet, did a double retrograde in the constellation of Leo in the year 3 BC at the beginning of the Jewish New Year. The King Planet had an encounter with Regulus, the King Star, producing the appearance of a single extraordinarily bright star that would have been visible from 3 BC to 2 BC.

Larson explains, "In 3/2 BC, Jupiter's retrograde wandering would have called for our magus' full attention. After Jupiter and Regulus had their kingly encounter, Jupiter continued on its path through the star field. But then it entered retrograde. It 'changed its mind' and headed back to Regulus for a second conjunction. After this second pass it reversed course again for yet a third rendezvous with Regulus, a triple conjunction. A triple pass like this is more rare. Over a period of months, our watching magus would have seen the Planet of Kings dance out a halo above the Star of Kings. A coronation."

Larson believes that the Annunciation took place in 3 BC and that the bright light in the heavens first appeared around that time. 

The Magi recognized the sign of a triple coronation of two royal celestial bodies in the constellation of the Lion, the totem of Judah. The Messiah is called "The Lion of Judah" because he is a descendant of Judah. In Genesis 49:9, Jacob refers to his son Judah as Gur Aryeh גּוּר אַרְיֵה יְהוּדָה, a "young lion". Jesus also is related to Shobal whose animal totem was the lion, fierce in its youthful strength. Shobal was one of the Horite Hebrew chiefs named in the Genesis 36 ruler list.

The Wise Men knew the Star of Bethlehem was connected to the early Hebrew expectation concerning a Woman of their people who would bring forth the Son of God (Gen. 3:15). Numbers 24:17 declares, "A star shall come forth out of Jacob, a scepter shall rise out of Israel". By faith, the Wise Men followed the heavenly sign that led them to Jesus.

4. On hearing about the birth of the Messiah, Herod was enraged. He felt threatened by the birth of the "king of the Jews" because Herod was Idumean and the people of Israel had a history of bad relations with the Idumeans. 

5. Herod consulted the chief priests and the scribes who told him that the Messiah's birthplace was to be Bethlehem, as foretold in Micah 5:2.  

"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah,

out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times.”

6. The Magi presented the Christ with gold, frankincense, and myrrh. These offerings speak of Jesus' royalty (gold), his divinity and his priesthood (frankincense), and foreshadow his death and burial (myrrh). These gifts were typically reserved for royalty in the ancient Near East.

7. Joseph took Mary and Jesus to Egypt to escape Herod's wrath. As refugees, it was natural for Joseph and Mary to go to Egypt because there were Jewish people living there, and some of their ancestors came from the Lower Nile Valley. 

8. Joseph heard from an angel in a dream that Herod the Great was dead. The angel told Joseph to take Mary and the Child back to Israel.

9. When Joseph heard that Herod's son Archelaus governed Judea, he went instead to the region of Galilee and settled in Nazareth among his kinsmen. Matthew explains that this is why Jesus is called a "Nazarene". 

10. The word "Nazarene" or "Nazorean" has no Old Testament source. The term is likely from the much older Akkadian language. Na-Zor means "one belonging to the Zorites". In 1 Chronicles 2:54, Salma, a "father of Bethlehem (1 Chron. 2:54) is called a Zorite - צרעי (Zorites). The term Nazarene speaks of one born in Bethlehem, which was home to some Zorites. 1 Chronicles 4:2 notes that there were multiple Zorite clans: "Reaiah the son of Shobal fathered Jahath, and Jahath fathered Ahumai and Lahad. These were the clans of the Zorathites [Zorites]." Note that the lion, represented by the constellation of Leo, is the animal totem of the Horite Hebrew clan of Shobal.

Some key events of Christ's life are punctuated by celestial or cosmic events such as the Star of Bethlehem, the existence of which has been verified by modern science. The darkness at Jesus' crucifixion is also a celestial sign. All four Gospels indicate that the Crucifixion took place on the “Day of Preparation” for the Sabbath, that is, on a Friday. According to the Jewish calendar in use in the first century AD, that Friday was the 14th of Nisan. Astronomical calculations note only two years between 26 to 36 AD in which Nisan 14, the first day of Passover, fell on a Friday. One was the year 33 AD. Jesus began his ministry at about age 30 (Lk. 3:23) and he died at age 33. So, the darkness on Good Friday probably fell on Nisan 14 in the year 33 AD.

Next week, the reader will find notes on Matthew, Chapter 3. Please share this with your friends and join us next week for more deep digging.

Related reading:

Why the Name Jesus?

Matthew Chapter 1: A Closer Look

Matthew Chapter 2: The Magi Worship the Christ and Defy Herod

Matthew Chapter 3: Jesus and John Fulfill All Righteousness

Matthew Chapter 4: Jesus Exposes the Devil's Tactics

Matthew Chapter 5: Jesus Teaches with Superior Authority

Matthew Chapter 6: True Kingdom Seekers

Matthew Chapter 7: Entering by the Narrow Gate

Matthew Chapter 8: The Uniqueness of Jesus

Matthew Chapter 9: Christ the Compassionate Lord

Matthew Chapter 10: The Apostles' High Calling

Matthew Chapter 11: The Messiah Brings Relief

Matthew Chapter 12: Greater Glory Resides in Jesus