Life of Messiah 16 - Matthew 2:13-23 The Flight to Egypt

[00:00:06] Theology and Apologetics with Thomas Fretwell

[00:00:07] You are listening to Theology and Apologetics with Thomas Fretwell, bringing Theology to life.

[00:00:13] We are in Matthew chapter 2, please.

[00:00:16] This is our 17th study in the Life of Messiah series.

[00:00:20] We're only just in the infancy narrative so we're going to finish the typical Christmas story today that we've been looking at.

[00:00:27] I'll do a quick recap because we left on a cliffhanger at the end of last week looking at Herod

[00:00:33] and we'll be talking about him again today.

[00:00:36] Matthew chapter 2, if you remember it's the story of the Magi, commonly known as the Wise Men.

[00:00:41] Their visit to Herod.

[00:00:43] We looked at the beginning of this, who these Wise Men were, these Magi.

[00:00:48] Remember I argued that these are high-ranking dignitaries from the Parthian Empire

[00:00:53] that neighboured the Roman territory at this time.

[00:00:56] They were originally a hereditary Persian priesthood that got taken over by the Babylonians

[00:01:02] when they were taken over by Babylon.

[00:01:04] Originally they were a pagan priesthood, very into astrology, dark arts, many of those things.

[00:01:09] However we see them in this story seeking the king of the Jews to worship the Jewish Messiah

[00:01:15] and that's an unusual fact and my conjecture was that most likely

[00:01:19] that was because of the influence of Daniel the prophet.

[00:01:22] You remember in the story of Daniel, he in fact saves the life of all the Wise Men of Babylon

[00:01:28] by interpreting Nebuchadnezzar's dream and he puts Daniel in charge of the Wise Men of Babylon.

[00:01:35] So it is most likely that Daniel taught some of these people about the prophecies of the Jewish Messiah

[00:01:40] and then these hundreds of years later we still see that there is a group of them

[00:01:45] who are waiting the coming Messiah and these are the ones that come to Bethlehem seeking him out.

[00:01:50] We talked about the fact that it's very unlikely there were just three old men on camels.

[00:01:55] Like I said these were foreign dignitaries from a hostile emperor.

[00:02:01] They crossed into enemy territory unannounced without warning.

[00:02:04] They most likely had security, entourage servants and all sorts with them.

[00:02:09] They marched straight up to the royal palace to King Herod,

[00:02:13] the one who was ruling as king of the Jews and they said to him,

[00:02:17] where is the real king of the Jews? We want to worship him.

[00:02:21] And we talked a lot about Herod, the type of person he was.

[00:02:25] We'll talk a lot more about Herod again today and you can imagine Herod was not particularly impressed by that.

[00:02:31] And then the high point though of last week was really that the scene where these Wise Men are shown

[00:02:36] the house where the Messiah is and they come into the house.

[00:02:41] It says they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy when they discovered Jesus

[00:02:45] and when they lay their eyes upon him they throw themselves to the ground and they worship him.

[00:02:51] It's a wonderful, wonderful scene.

[00:02:53] If you can imagine it just a small Jewish house, Mary and Joseph in there

[00:02:57] and this entourage from the Parthian Empire wandering to their house

[00:03:01] and throw themselves to the floor when they lay eyes on this child here.

[00:03:06] It's quite amazing really.

[00:03:07] And then remember last time the Magi warned in a dream not to go back to Herod.

[00:03:12] Herod had said to them, make sure you tell me when you find this child

[00:03:16] so I too may come and worship him.

[00:03:18] And of course Herod had no intention of worshiping him.

[00:03:21] Herod was looking to kill the baby as a rival to the throne.

[00:03:25] So we'll pick up in verse 13, so Matthew chapter 2 verse 13.

[00:03:29] We'll pick up the narrative again.

[00:03:31] It says, when they had gone an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream.

[00:03:37] Get up he said take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt.

[00:03:40] Stay there until I tell you for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.

[00:03:46] So now we see another divine messenger again appearing to Joseph.

[00:03:51] He warns him to take his family down to Egypt

[00:03:53] because Herod is going to search for the child and kill him.

[00:03:57] Now that's no small statement in fact there.

[00:04:01] It's such a big thing that God considered it necessary to send an angelic messenger

[00:04:06] and that actually tells us a lot about Herod.

[00:04:09] For this young man Joseph, they were young at the time, probably not even 20 both of them

[00:04:14] at this time Mary and Joseph with this child Jesus.

[00:04:17] When you hear that Herod is searching to kill for your child

[00:04:20] and you live under Herod's jurisdiction that is a serious thing.

[00:04:24] Let me share with you a bit more about Herod.

[00:04:26] We've heard bits on and off covered some of this last week.

[00:04:29] We covered some of this in the introduction.

[00:04:31] Let me give you a few more things just so we can fully appreciate

[00:04:35] because I think sometimes we romanticize this Christmas story.

[00:04:38] It's all lovely to travel, journey of the wise men into a far country

[00:04:42] and they find their house and it's all wonderful

[00:04:44] but the scene going on behind it is one of terror really that is happening here

[00:04:48] and it is mainly to do with Herod.

[00:04:51] People who have analyzed the life of Herod

[00:04:54] and this has been done quite interestingly many times

[00:04:56] in both secular conferences and biblical ones

[00:04:59] but they recognize that he goes through a cycle.

[00:05:03] He's very paranoid as we said

[00:05:05] and his paranoia builds up at the threat of losing his power

[00:05:09] until he starts accusing people of insurrection

[00:05:13] and then he would kill all the people that were involved

[00:05:16] or he assumed were involved

[00:05:18] and then after doing that he'd seem to go into a bout of depression

[00:05:21] and he would hide himself away

[00:05:23] until he was kind of done in that depression

[00:05:26] and then he'd come out of depression and he'd build, build, build.

[00:05:29] That's his way of bringing him out of depression.

[00:05:32] He would put his energy into building projects

[00:05:34] which is why he was one of the most prolific builders of this period of time.

[00:05:38] Everything from the temple to palaces to dungeons.

[00:05:41] We've talked and shown you pictures about them a lot

[00:05:44] but that was Herod.

[00:05:45] He was given the title King of the Jews in 40 BC by the Roman Senate

[00:05:50] as an award basically for his faithful service

[00:05:54] and he was given an army too

[00:05:55] and with that army he took control of Jerusalem and all of that area.

[00:06:00] The first thing he did upon coming to power

[00:06:02] was to eliminate all of the Hasmonean predecessors.

[00:06:06] If you remember the Hasmoneans, the descendants of the Maccabees

[00:06:09] they were the ones who were ruling and controlling the priesthood at that time.

[00:06:12] He firstly rounded up 50 of their top leaders

[00:06:15] and had them all executed.

[00:06:16] That was really one of his first things in power.

[00:06:19] Then he continued his purge.

[00:06:20] He had to kill his brother-in-law, Aristoblus,

[00:06:23] who was the high priest at the time.

[00:06:26] I think I shared that story with you.

[00:06:28] He saw his brother-in-law playing in the river

[00:06:31] and he sent some of his men down there to play with him

[00:06:35] and he got accidentally drowned while they were wrestling and fighting in the water.

[00:06:39] That's how he killed his brother-in-law.

[00:06:42] Then he also killed his Hasmonean mother-in-law, Alexandra.

[00:06:45] She was maybe plotting something probably not

[00:06:48] but he had her killed

[00:06:50] and we talked about, remember,

[00:06:52] his favourite wife was called Miriam

[00:06:54] and apparently he loved her to death, it says, in the ancient writings

[00:06:59] and quite literally because he had to kill her too.

[00:07:01] In 20 BC, Herod reduced people's taxes over his jurisdiction

[00:07:06] trying to gain favour really, men's and fencers.

[00:07:09] However at the same time he also set up a very elaborate internal spy network.

[00:07:15] He placed his people under cover in all positions of power

[00:07:19] in every institution he could

[00:07:20] and anyone that was suspected of insurrection

[00:07:23] was secretly taken away.

[00:07:27] Most of them taken to a fortress in the Judean desert, never heard from again.

[00:07:31] He also had his three sons killed

[00:07:34] when they were accused of insurrection.

[00:07:38] So this is the type of man Herod was.

[00:07:40] During the last four years of his life

[00:07:43] apparently it said that his paranoia peaked

[00:07:45] and he literally became crazy.

[00:07:47] This is so 8-4 BC, so this is the period that Jesus was born

[00:07:51] and all this is going on.

[00:07:53] On one occasion in 7 BC

[00:07:54] he had 300 of his top military leaders executed at the same time

[00:07:59] as a display because again he thought they were plotting to overthrow him.

[00:08:03] So you see, when these high ranking officials from another empire

[00:08:08] wander into his palace

[00:08:10] and ask for the king of the Jews

[00:08:13] knowing full well that he claims that title

[00:08:15] and he's killed a lot of people to have that title

[00:08:18] Herod is mad at this point.

[00:08:21] You could imagine, he's killed for much less

[00:08:23] on a whisper of someone taking his throne

[00:08:25] let alone people from a foreign empire

[00:08:27] coming and asking to worship the king.

[00:08:30] This is Herod.

[00:08:31] Five days before Herod's death

[00:08:33] which we'll talk about a little bit later

[00:08:35] he had his third son killed

[00:08:36] he also took the two top leading rabbis

[00:08:39] remember I told you that he put an eagle

[00:08:41] a Roman eagle above the temple after he rebuilt it

[00:08:45] two rabbis pulled that eagle down

[00:08:47] because it was idolatrous

[00:08:48] he had them burnt alive in the centre of Jerusalem

[00:08:52] at that time

[00:08:53] this is Herod

[00:08:55] and as a final glimpse into his character

[00:08:57] as he was approaching death

[00:08:59] he realised that no one would mourn for him

[00:09:01] people would probably cheer that he was dead

[00:09:03] but he was determined that this city will mourn when he dies

[00:09:06] even if it's not for him

[00:09:08] so he sent letter to all of the important Jews

[00:09:11] the notable Jews throughout the kingdom

[00:09:14] and he said on punishment of death

[00:09:16] you must come to the hippodrome in Jericho

[00:09:19] and when they arrived he barricaded them in

[00:09:21] and he had given his soldiers orders

[00:09:23] that upon his death they are all to be slaughtered

[00:09:26] and then the city will mourn rather

[00:09:29] you see, that's the type of man that we're dealing with here

[00:09:31] now thankfully when he did die

[00:09:32] his sister took over

[00:09:33] and actually had all those people released

[00:09:35] they didn't get killed

[00:09:36] but Herod would have done that I'm sure

[00:09:40] now ironically it's interesting that Herod died

[00:09:42] on the Feast of Purim

[00:09:44] if you know the Feast of Purim

[00:09:45] remember we studied that

[00:09:46] this is when Haman, that evil man who tried to kill the Jews

[00:09:50] so his death did become associated with celebrating

[00:09:54] an evil person who had been removed from this earth

[00:09:57] that's Herod

[00:09:58] let's go back to Matthew 2 verse 14

[00:10:00] so he got up

[00:10:02] this is Joseph

[00:10:03] took the child and his mother during the night

[00:10:05] and left for Egypt

[00:10:06] where he stayed until the death of Herod

[00:10:08] and so was fulfilled

[00:10:10] what the Lord said through the prophet

[00:10:12] out of Egypt

[00:10:13] I called my son

[00:10:16] so again we see Joseph immediately respond with obedience

[00:10:19] we've seen this many times from every character

[00:10:22] in this introduction to Jesus' life

[00:10:24] remember Elizabeth and Mary and Joseph and Zacharias

[00:10:27] all of them just obedient to the divine revelation of the Lord

[00:10:31] he here is again and he takes

[00:10:34] he goes down to Egypt

[00:10:36] basically for refuge fleeing from Herod's search to kill him

[00:10:41] and it says

[00:10:42] there's a few passages from the Old Testament

[00:10:44] that I want to look at in this text

[00:10:46] because they're unusual the way they're included

[00:10:48] we don't often talk about them really much

[00:10:50] when we do our Christmas studies

[00:10:51] it says now this event here is said to fulfill

[00:10:55] what the Lord said through the prophet

[00:10:57] out of Egypt

[00:10:58] I called my son

[00:10:59] that's an interesting quotation

[00:11:01] it comes from Hosea chapter 11 verse 1

[00:11:03] and in the context of Hosea

[00:11:06] it is not a prophecy at all

[00:11:08] it's basically a description

[00:11:09] of a literal historical event

[00:11:13] Hosea 11 verse 1 simply says

[00:11:14] when Israel was a child

[00:11:16] I loved him

[00:11:17] and out of Egypt

[00:11:18] I called my son

[00:11:19] so the background to this

[00:11:21] let me just try and give you the background to this

[00:11:23] is from Exodus

[00:11:25] the book of Exodus chapter 4

[00:11:26] is referring to the Exodus event

[00:11:28] this is where in Exodus 4 verse 22

[00:11:30] it says then say to Pharaoh

[00:11:32] this is what the Lord says

[00:11:35] Israel is my firstborn son

[00:11:37] and I told you let my son go

[00:11:39] so that he may worship me

[00:11:41] but you refuse to let him go

[00:11:43] so I will kill your firstborn son

[00:11:44] so it's referring back to this original Exodus narrative

[00:11:46] Israel as a nation

[00:11:48] is pictured as the son of God here

[00:11:50] and they were brought out of Egypt

[00:11:52] via the Exodus, you know the story

[00:11:54] and that event is pictured by Hosea

[00:11:57] as God bringing his son

[00:11:59] national son out of the land of Egypt

[00:12:03] that is all that Hosea means

[00:12:04] when he makes that common there

[00:12:06] so it's not necessarily like a prophecy

[00:12:08] like we would think of it

[00:12:09] like a prediction and a fulfillment

[00:12:11] but that's not the only type

[00:12:13] the only way that the Jewish people used

[00:12:15] the word of God to make fulfillments

[00:12:17] in that respect

[00:12:18] there was another few ways

[00:12:19] that we'll see in this chapter

[00:12:20] actually has many of them

[00:12:21] but this is what we call a prophetic foreshadowing

[00:12:24] some people call this typology

[00:12:26] where you use an event and it pictures

[00:12:28] and gives you information about another event

[00:12:31] and hopefully this is quite clear

[00:12:33] because basically what is being fulfilled

[00:12:35] in Matthew chapter 2 here

[00:12:37] it's not Israel the national son

[00:12:39] it's the greater son of God

[00:12:41] the individual son of God now

[00:12:43] the Messiah himself

[00:12:44] who is also being brought out of Egypt

[00:12:46] so God was in some ways once again

[00:12:49] bringing his son out of Egypt

[00:12:51] like a type anti-type thing

[00:12:53] that we have going on here

[00:12:54] but it teaches us

[00:12:55] the type teaches us about the future

[00:12:59] gives us information to it

[00:13:00] God bringing his son out of Egypt

[00:13:02] leads into the picture of what is going on in Bethlehem

[00:13:06] now think about this

[00:13:07] coming out of Egypt is one thing

[00:13:08] geographically it's not amazingly far

[00:13:10] from Israel to Egypt

[00:13:12] but think of the greater journey

[00:13:13] that the Messianic son took before that

[00:13:17] think of his first location

[00:13:18] we learn in the scriptures

[00:13:19] obviously the son, the eternal son of God

[00:13:21] existed co-eternally with the Father

[00:13:24] as part of the Godhead

[00:13:25] with the glory of the Lord

[00:13:27] he was the highest that you could ever be

[00:13:29] and he literally became the lowest

[00:13:31] this is what we have we call it the incarnation

[00:13:34] this is what the whole Christmas story is about

[00:13:36] if I could say that

[00:13:37] he laid aside the use of his divine powers

[00:13:40] voluntarily to live as a human

[00:13:42] to live in humility as a man

[00:13:45] this is the one who the shepherds came to worship

[00:13:48] this is the one who Herod sought to kill

[00:13:50] now think also of that direction

[00:13:52] how far his journey was

[00:13:55] from the throne of glory down to that stable

[00:13:58] that cave where he was born as a man

[00:14:01] and as a helpless baby

[00:14:02] now think of what that's done for us

[00:14:05] you think because Jesus took that journey

[00:14:07] the one all the way down

[00:14:09] he guarantees that we have the one going the other way

[00:14:11] you see we started at the bottom

[00:14:13] fallen people, sinners, separated from God

[00:14:16] estranged from the covenants of promise

[00:14:17] but because of the journey he took

[00:14:19] that one from the throne room of glory

[00:14:21] ultimately to the cross

[00:14:23] and then back up to the throne room of glory

[00:14:26] because of that he made a way that we may also

[00:14:29] come from the bottom

[00:14:30] and end up glorified and exalted in the kingdom

[00:14:33] it's a wonderful kind of journey that we take there

[00:14:36] because of what he did

[00:14:37] and that is real motivation

[00:14:39] when things get tough in this world

[00:14:41] sometimes the journey can be pretty tough down here

[00:14:44] but ultimately the destination is assured for us

[00:14:47] how do we know because Christ has already gone ahead

[00:14:50] and remember he's ahead with the body

[00:14:52] so we know that we will follow at some point

[00:14:55] verse 16 says when Herod realised

[00:14:58] that he had been outwitted by the Magi

[00:15:00] he was furious

[00:15:02] and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem

[00:15:05] and its vicinity who were two years old and under

[00:15:08] in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi

[00:15:11] then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled

[00:15:15] a voice is heard in Ramah

[00:15:17] weeping and great mourning

[00:15:18] Rachel weeping for her children

[00:15:20] and refusing to be comforted because they are no more

[00:15:24] now Herod soon twigged

[00:15:26] remember he'd said to the Magi

[00:15:27] when you find him come back and tell me

[00:15:28] now he'd obviously after a while

[00:15:30] it's pretty obvious the Magi are not coming back

[00:15:32] he'd probably heard now that this great group of Persians

[00:15:35] had left and they were gone

[00:15:37] and he realised that he'd not been obeyed

[00:15:39] and for a man like Herod he wasn't happy about that

[00:15:41] he was furious he says

[00:15:42] it might say enraged in your Bible

[00:15:45] it means that the word is a very strong word

[00:15:47] has the idea of going out of control with rage

[00:15:49] now a person with the disposition of Herod

[00:15:52] in these last four years of his life

[00:15:54] increasingly paranoid

[00:15:55] and a man who controlled a lot of power

[00:15:58] he had a whole army at his disposal

[00:16:00] when a man like that goes into a fit of rage

[00:16:03] it's extremely troublesome for anyone around him

[00:16:06] and for the whole of the city, Jerusalem

[00:16:08] the whole anyone who lives under his

[00:16:10] area of jurisdiction basically

[00:16:12] was not a good thing when he flew off into a rage

[00:16:15] last week we

[00:16:17] ended by wondering what Herod's response

[00:16:19] would be to the visit of the Magi

[00:16:21] and here we see it

[00:16:22] he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem

[00:16:26] and its vicinity who were two years old and under

[00:16:28] in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi

[00:16:32] so Herod again does not take

[00:16:34] challenge to his throne lightly

[00:16:37] and he doesn't want to take any chances

[00:16:39] he works out from what the Magi said

[00:16:41] when the star first appeared and when he got there

[00:16:43] and he says it must be roughly two years

[00:16:46] he says so to be safe he says

[00:16:47] kill anyone up to two years old in these areas

[00:16:50] he asked his scribes where

[00:16:52] they agreed it was from Bethlehem

[00:16:54] the Magi hadn't returned

[00:16:56] Herod needs to put a stop to this

[00:16:57] he orders the death of all those children

[00:17:00] now many people

[00:17:02] particularly kind of skeptical minds

[00:17:04] have stated that we have no record

[00:17:06] of this event therefore it must be

[00:17:09] mythological

[00:17:10] it never happened

[00:17:11] and the way that this really happens is that people come

[00:17:13] again to the Bible with what we call a

[00:17:17] hyperscepticism which is

[00:17:18] really not how you operate

[00:17:19] when you're looking at historical data

[00:17:21] but what they do is they come to the Bible

[00:17:23] they read an event like this and they say

[00:17:25] because it's in the Bible

[00:17:26] it actually must not be true

[00:17:28] unless it's corroborated by some other

[00:17:30] series of history

[00:17:32] and that you don't use that standard

[00:17:34] trying to corroborate any other events in history

[00:17:36] but just for the Bible that's what they do

[00:17:39] however having looked at the life

[00:17:41] of Herod we could see that this sort

[00:17:42] of thing is was kind of

[00:17:44] literally right up his street he did this

[00:17:46] many many times and in fact

[00:17:48] we do actually have one historical reference

[00:17:50] that does seem to hint at this event

[00:17:52] written by a man named Macrobius

[00:17:54] who was one of the last

[00:17:56] pagan Roman historians

[00:17:58] writing about 400 Ed

[00:17:59] in his book, Saturnalia he wrote

[00:18:01] when it was heard that as part of

[00:18:04] the slaughter of the boys up to two years old

[00:18:06] Herod king of the Jews had ordered

[00:18:08] his own son to be killed

[00:18:09] the emperor Augustus remarked

[00:18:11] it's better to be Herod's pig than his son

[00:18:13] I've shared that quote with you before

[00:18:15] this is where it comes from but expanded

[00:18:17] you do get mention here

[00:18:18] of him murdering his son in the last few days of his life

[00:18:21] but also of this event murdering

[00:18:23] at the boys and that's most

[00:18:25] likely referring to this event that we're reading

[00:18:27] to in the scripture so you do have a

[00:18:29] corroborating historical source which again

[00:18:31] is actually pretty good but what most

[00:18:33] people really want to know because that

[00:18:35] was written 400 AD is why do people

[00:18:37] like Josephus I've quoted him a lot

[00:18:39] when he was a Jewish historian

[00:18:41] living at the time why does he not mention

[00:18:43] this in any of his writings

[00:18:46] and there's a few reasons

[00:18:47] we could speculate without

[00:18:49] being callous but it just

[00:18:51] might not really be worthy of mention

[00:18:53] if I could say it like that Herod had

[00:18:55] committed many more grotesque

[00:18:57] killings than this and

[00:18:59] they are recorded in the history books

[00:19:01] but I'm sure many of the things that Herod did

[00:19:03] were not recorded many of the killings

[00:19:05] he probably only have a small percentage of them

[00:19:07] recorded and the ones that are recorded

[00:19:09] you'll notice are usually when it's

[00:19:11] someone important leading rabbis

[00:19:13] Roman soldiers things like that

[00:19:15] but Bethlehem was a peasant village

[00:19:18] at the time it was an insignificant town

[00:19:20] but that Herod wouldn't have ever really been there

[00:19:23] I'm sure it was a very

[00:19:24] small agricultural village

[00:19:26] the death of

[00:19:28] some peasant children

[00:19:30] Jewish children under his reign

[00:19:32] most likely didn't bother him

[00:19:34] in the slightest and it wasn't really

[00:19:36] anything that would have

[00:19:38] raised too many eyebrows in the Roman world

[00:19:40] as we see often it is the poor

[00:19:42] under these sort of rulers who suffer

[00:19:44] unnoticed it's also

[00:19:46] if you remember I said the estimated population

[00:19:48] of Bethlehem at this time was 2 to 300 people

[00:19:51] so if you talk about how many

[00:19:52] babies were there actually under 2 years old

[00:19:55] it could be as few as 10

[00:19:56] it could be as many as 50 if you count some of the surrounding

[00:19:58] districts so for Herod

[00:20:00] to kill that many people again remember I saw

[00:20:02] he executed 300 of his own troops

[00:20:04] in the centre of the square

[00:20:06] 50 babies that no one knows

[00:20:08] in a poor area of his jurisdiction

[00:20:10] that he probably doesn't care about

[00:20:11] probably wasn't worthy of mention for many people

[00:20:14] also remember in the

[00:20:15] Roman Greco mindset

[00:20:17] the killing of infants

[00:20:19] was actually again

[00:20:21] commonplace like extremely

[00:20:23] commonplace it was within their rights

[00:20:25] we call this infanticide the Romans

[00:20:27] did it a lot there were no

[00:20:29] such thing as children's rights back then in that world

[00:20:32] and also remember

[00:20:33] Josephus yes he was a Jewish

[00:20:35] historian but he was

[00:20:37] commissioned by the Romans

[00:20:39] to write his history which is

[00:20:41] why there's always a kind of pro Greco-Roman

[00:20:44] flavour in a lot of his writings and some of that

[00:20:46] but that's all of those reasons

[00:20:47] give us enough historical idea to kind

[00:20:49] of be like that maybe why this event

[00:20:51] is not mentioned by Josephus but we do have

[00:20:54] the later event and regardless of all

[00:20:56] that I think I've tried to

[00:20:57] establish many times that the Bible is itself

[00:21:00] a very reliable historical source

[00:21:02] and therefore we do have the best

[00:21:03] recorded event we have Matthew chapter 2

[00:21:06] which is the very first probably the

[00:21:07] earliest writing we have on this period

[00:21:09] so we can't rule that out

[00:21:11] now let's get back in

[00:21:12] verse 17 it says then what was said

[00:21:14] through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled

[00:21:16] a voice is heard in Ramah

[00:21:19] weeping and great morning Rachel weeping

[00:21:21] for her children refusing to be

[00:21:22] comforted because they are no more

[00:21:24] now you don't hear that at Christmas time do you

[00:21:27] verse 18 is never really

[00:21:29] quoted when we're teaching about

[00:21:31] this sort of event here

[00:21:33] the visit of the Magi the wise

[00:21:35] men that's always up there that's that's

[00:21:36] a fun part verse 17 and 18

[00:21:39] are never really spoken of I want to

[00:21:41] dig into it a little bit to try and explain

[00:21:42] this to you because it is an unusual

[00:21:44] quotation again here Matthew quotes

[00:21:47] verse 18 there is from

[00:21:49] Jeremiah 31 15

[00:21:51] it's an exact quote from Jeremiah

[00:21:53] 31 if you go back and read

[00:21:55] in Jeremiah 31 you'll

[00:21:57] realize that it is speaking of the

[00:21:59] Babylonian captivity

[00:22:01] that's the time that Judah was

[00:22:03] taken captive by the Babylonians

[00:22:05] the idea was that

[00:22:07] when that happened you can read about this

[00:22:08] this is how Daniel got taken into captivity

[00:22:11] the Babylonians would gather

[00:22:13] all of the young Jewish men

[00:22:14] at this time they would line them up

[00:22:16] probably chain them like they used to

[00:22:18] and then they would march them off

[00:22:19] out of the city into captivity to Babylon

[00:22:23] and on route they would

[00:22:24] the journey that they took back to Babylon

[00:22:26] they would go past this small town called Ramah

[00:22:29] and the idea was

[00:22:30] as you could imagine

[00:22:32] all of the women and children who are left

[00:22:35] there just in the land

[00:22:37] as the sons are being marched away

[00:22:39] the mothers weep

[00:22:40] their sons are being taken away

[00:22:42] they know they're never going to see their children again

[00:22:44] so that's the idea that we have

[00:22:47] from Jeremiah

[00:22:48] and why is that being quoted here

[00:22:50] and this is what the next verse explains

[00:22:51] it then says Rachel weeping for her children

[00:22:54] and this is again you have to know the history

[00:22:56] to understand why this is being quoted

[00:22:58] Rachel this is the matriarch

[00:23:00] of Israel she was the wife of Jacob

[00:23:02] and in Jewish tradition

[00:23:04] still today she is considered the mother

[00:23:06] of Israel thus Rachel

[00:23:08] really is a symbol of Jewish motherhood

[00:23:11] that's the idea that we have here

[00:23:13] so again you can see

[00:23:15] as we're talking about Jewish mothers

[00:23:18] historically

[00:23:18] the Babylonian captivity watching their sons

[00:23:21] being let away never to be seen again

[00:23:23] and they were weeping for their lost sons

[00:23:25] and now he says Rachel is weeping

[00:23:27] but this is in Matthew chapter 2

[00:23:29] referring to this event in Bethlehem

[00:23:31] it says Rachel is weeping

[00:23:33] remember Rachel symbolic of Jewish motherhood

[00:23:36] also

[00:23:37] Rachel was buried where do you think Rachel was buried

[00:23:39] in Bethlehem

[00:23:41] that's where she was buried so there's that historical connection there again too

[00:23:44] so the idea

[00:23:45] that is being expressed here

[00:23:47] is just as the Jewish mothers in Ramah

[00:23:49] stood there and watched their sons

[00:23:51] being taken away never to be seen again

[00:23:53] they wept now the mothers in Bethlehem

[00:23:55] the mothers in Rachel

[00:23:57] are going to be weeping as they lose

[00:23:59] their sons in Bethlehem

[00:24:00] and they'll never see them again

[00:24:02] that's the idea that we have from this text

[00:24:04] and that again is

[00:24:06] the Bible says this is a fulfillment

[00:24:08] but it wasn't actually a prophecy so this is what we call

[00:24:10] like an application

[00:24:12] it takes a point of historical similarity

[00:24:14] and it uses it to teach about a future event

[00:24:17] we do this a lot

[00:24:18] we learn the lessons from history, we use expressions like that

[00:24:20] that's the kind of thing that is going on here

[00:24:23] so it's another way in which the Jewish people

[00:24:25] used the Old Testament text

[00:24:26] and it's a very good way

[00:24:28] it makes you understand the history of the context

[00:24:30] but to us we have to dig in

[00:24:32] to them speaking about Rachel

[00:24:34] is to do with Jewish mothers weeping

[00:24:36] they would have understood that

[00:24:37] Verse 19, it says

[00:24:52] so here we see the death

[00:24:54] of Herod announced and it happened in Purim

[00:24:56] but this is the death of Herod

[00:24:58] this man who claimed the title

[00:25:00] King of the Jews which he had no right

[00:25:02] to claim really we know it is a

[00:25:04] title that belongs to one person and one person alone

[00:25:07] and that's really we've studied Revelation

[00:25:09] that's what that whole book is about

[00:25:11] but under this era

[00:25:12] it was given to Herod

[00:25:13] but he dies a horrible death

[00:25:16] and most people say

[00:25:17] it was because of the horrible things he did

[00:25:19] this was God's just judgment on him

[00:25:50] we have quite a few accounts of his death

[00:25:51] he suffered also from a similar

[00:25:56] trouble in his abdomen

[00:25:57] and nay more his privy member

[00:26:00] was putrefied and produced worms

[00:26:03] he found

[00:26:04] also excessive difficulty in breathing

[00:26:06] and it was particularly disagreeable

[00:26:08] because of the offensive odor

[00:26:10] and the rapidity of the respiration

[00:26:12] there's more in-depth descriptions

[00:26:14] but that's Josephus's one

[00:26:15] Eusebius the church historian

[00:26:17] simply says

[00:26:18] such was the end of Herod

[00:26:20] who suffered a just

[00:26:22] punishment for his slaughter of the children of Bethlehem

[00:26:25] which was the result of a plot

[00:26:26] against our saviour

[00:26:29] so that was Herod

[00:26:31] he met a pretty gruesome

[00:26:32] end there

[00:26:33] there's actually quite a lot of people like I said

[00:26:35] who studied Herod's life and they come up with trying to think of all the different

[00:26:39] they've had doctors in

[00:26:40] these whole panels trying to think of what this actually was

[00:26:42] and they come up with

[00:26:44] there's two things like a very rare kidney disease

[00:26:46] as well as some sort of infection

[00:26:48] that was common in that area

[00:26:49] combined and that I go through all the symptoms

[00:26:51] it's quite interesting to read some of the medical journals on it

[00:26:54] but whatever the case

[00:26:56] didn't sound particularly pleasant

[00:26:58] but here we go, that's Herod

[00:26:59] so after this another

[00:27:01] angelic messenger to Joseph now comes

[00:27:03] and says you can leave Egypt now

[00:27:05] Herod is dead

[00:27:06] it's verse 21 it says

[00:27:08] took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel

[00:27:12] but when he heard

[00:27:13] that Archelaus was reigning in Judah

[00:27:15] in place of his father Herod

[00:27:17] he was afraid to go there

[00:27:18] having been warned in a dream

[00:27:20] he withdrew to the district of Galilee

[00:27:22] and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth

[00:27:25] so was fulfilled what was said through the prophets

[00:27:28] that he would be cooled

[00:27:29] and Nazarene

[00:27:30] Joseph again now obedient

[00:27:32] and he heads to Israel

[00:27:34] so here we have that exodus, that kind of like the second exodus part

[00:27:38] now we have the son of God

[00:27:40] once again coming out of Egypt

[00:27:42] into the land of Israel

[00:27:44] exactly what happened with Israel the nation

[00:27:47] the son of God

[00:27:48] corporate came out of Israel

[00:27:50] into the promised land

[00:27:51] it's the same thing we have going on here

[00:27:52] but this is it

[00:27:54] now he hears in a divine warning that Archelaus

[00:27:57] this is Herod's son

[00:27:58] the Herod dynasty is not done

[00:28:00] as you read into the book of Acts

[00:28:02] we'll see some of Herod's family

[00:28:05] again still at this idea

[00:28:07] of killing and persecuting

[00:28:09] and doing what the Herods did

[00:28:10] but so we're not over with the Herods yet

[00:28:12] we'll get into that a little bit more

[00:28:14] but this one

[00:28:16] is pretty bad

[00:28:18] Archelaus was considered actually to be even less stable

[00:28:20] than Herod

[00:28:22] so because of this rather than going back to

[00:28:24] Bethlehem, Mary and Joseph and Jesus

[00:28:26] head up to the district of Galilee

[00:28:28] and they settled back in their original hometown

[00:28:30] which was Nazareth

[00:28:33] and then look at the end of verse 23

[00:28:34] it says so was fulfilled

[00:28:36] what was said through the prophets

[00:28:38] that he would be called a Nazarene

[00:28:41] this is our third unusual

[00:28:42] sort of quotation

[00:28:43] we saw Hosea out of Egypt

[00:28:45] and we've seen the Jeremiah one

[00:28:47] which is historical and now we have this one here

[00:28:49] which is called he will be called a Nazarene

[00:28:53] so was fulfilled

[00:28:54] now again let's look at this

[00:28:56] because many have actually claimed

[00:28:57] again the skeptics have claimed that this is a mistake

[00:29:00] Matthew makes a mistake here

[00:29:01] and thus if there's a mistake in the Bible

[00:29:04] there must be lots more mistakes in the Bible

[00:29:05] and you know how that story often goes

[00:29:08] now again

[00:29:09] it's an issue that we have to kind of

[00:29:11] take a step back and look out carefully

[00:29:13] only when you're looking, you're hunting for

[00:29:15] mistakes with maybe a kind of hyper modernist

[00:29:18] understanding of inspiration

[00:29:19] and ancient writings will you consider this a mistake

[00:29:22] when you understand the history

[00:29:24] and what is being done here

[00:29:25] it's barely even worth thinking about

[00:29:27] this is what we call a summation

[00:29:29] this is a type of way Jewish people

[00:29:31] it's a rhetorical technique

[00:29:33] where the idea of the prophets is summed up

[00:29:35] without actually quoting them

[00:29:37] I do this all the time in my sermons

[00:29:39] I may say something like the teaching about

[00:29:41] the kingdom when I'm talking about

[00:29:42] the birth pangs before the kingdom

[00:29:44] I'll sum it up by just saying a summation

[00:29:46] of what the Bible teaches

[00:29:48] without actually having to quote every reference

[00:29:50] I do it all, anyone who speaks does things

[00:29:53] like that, particularly when you didn't have

[00:29:54] not everyone had text and all these different things

[00:29:57] it's called a summation

[00:29:58] and you can know this as a summation

[00:30:00] by the use of the plural prophets

[00:30:02] you notice when it says there

[00:30:04] this is to fulfill what the prophets said

[00:30:07] that's how you know it wasn't just referring

[00:30:08] to one text prophecy fulfillment

[00:30:10] it's referring to the general theme

[00:30:13] of all of the prophets

[00:30:14] what they were teaching and then he says

[00:30:16] he will be a Nazarene

[00:30:18] but again there's nothing, you won't find

[00:30:20] a prophet that says he will be

[00:30:23] a Nazarene and this is where people get confused

[00:30:25] it's because they don't understand the Jewish background

[00:30:27] to this statement

[00:30:28] you have to have a little local knowledge

[00:30:30] the term Nazarene

[00:30:31] was associated with very negative things

[00:30:34] people from Nazareth

[00:30:36] were despised and rejected

[00:30:38] in Jewish culture at large

[00:30:40] you remember we even see this surface

[00:30:42] in the gospels when they say I found the Messiah

[00:30:44] from Nazareth and Nathaniel says

[00:30:46] can any good thing come out of Nazareth

[00:30:48] you remember that, that's just showing you

[00:30:49] the kind of understanding of what it was

[00:30:51] to be a Nazarene, that's how this term is used

[00:30:54] so what Matthew is basically saying

[00:30:56] in his summation of the message of the prophets

[00:30:58] and the fact that he's coming from

[00:31:00] he is a Nazarene, he's basically saying

[00:31:02] the Messiah is going

[00:31:04] the prophets teach that the Messiah is going to be despised

[00:31:06] and rejected

[00:31:08] he's the stone that was rejected

[00:31:09] as Isaiah says he's the one who was despised

[00:31:12] of men rejected

[00:31:13] the prophets plural definitely do teach

[00:31:16] that the Messiah was to be despised

[00:31:18] and rejected

[00:31:19] and that is what is meant by the term Nazarene

[00:31:22] that's why we have them in Nazareth then

[00:31:24] you can see the kind of understanding

[00:31:26] of how that text so when you understand

[00:31:28] that it's not really even an issue

[00:31:30] it's very clear why that is happening

[00:31:33] now that brings us to the end

[00:31:34] of the chapter and the text

[00:31:36] around the birth of Christ

[00:31:38] let's just stand back on

[00:31:40] Matthew chapter 2 for a moment

[00:31:42] and look at this I find it fascinating

[00:31:44] this is really the chapter that we have

[00:31:47] these early chapters that speak

[00:31:48] of the arrival of Jesus into this world

[00:31:51] and when you look at all these different

[00:31:53] characters that we've gone through we can see

[00:31:55] three different responses

[00:31:57] to the arrival of Jesus in the world

[00:31:59] and this was 2000 years ago

[00:32:01] but those three responses are

[00:32:03] really the exact same responses that Jesus

[00:32:05] will get in the world today from different people

[00:32:07] first you have the shepherds

[00:32:09] in the field and you have the Magi

[00:32:11] they were waiting for the Lord

[00:32:13] they sought the Lord

[00:32:14] they listened to the revelation

[00:32:16] and they allowed the search for him

[00:32:19] to impact their lives

[00:32:20] they left their sheep

[00:32:22] the Magi left their hometown

[00:32:23] they waited for him, they laid things aside for him

[00:32:26] and upon meeting him

[00:32:27] they threw themselves to the ground in worship

[00:32:29] and adoration praising the living God

[00:32:32] they acknowledged him as king

[00:32:34] they acknowledged him as Lord

[00:32:35] they acknowledged him as the Messiah

[00:32:37] that's our first response

[00:32:38] and then remember there were the religious leaders

[00:32:41] the scribes that Herod asked

[00:32:43] where is the Messiah and they quoted the Scripture

[00:32:45] from the correct Scripture

[00:32:47] these were the ones whose power

[00:32:49] and position was of primary importance to them

[00:32:51] they had access to the Scriptures

[00:32:54] they even had it memorised

[00:32:55] and they actually quoted the correct Scripture

[00:32:57] but the Messiah they wanted

[00:32:59] was a political Messiah

[00:33:00] they wanted the Messiah to meet

[00:33:03] their expectations of what he should do

[00:33:05] they wanted the Messiah

[00:33:07] to vindicate their behaviour

[00:33:08] and position and to destroy

[00:33:10] their enemies

[00:33:12] and thus the news of a child born in Bethlehem

[00:33:15] to a lowly family

[00:33:17] was pretty indifferent to them

[00:33:19] they had no feelings either way

[00:33:22] you remember they didn't

[00:33:23] actually ask the Magi

[00:33:24] let me know if you find him

[00:33:26] which you think a group of scribes may have been interested in that

[00:33:29] they didn't even ask

[00:33:30] it was Herod who said let me know if you find him

[00:33:32] the scribes are

[00:33:34] their silence is loud here at this point

[00:33:38] they have no interest

[00:33:39] they are indifferent to the Messiah

[00:33:42] and then there was Herod

[00:33:44] his response

[00:33:45] he was disturbed

[00:33:47] he was angered by the arrival

[00:33:49] of Jesus

[00:33:50] he was thrown into a fit of rage

[00:33:53] he wanted to be the king

[00:33:55] he was the most powerful

[00:33:56] he was the top dog it was his world at this time

[00:33:59] he saw the arrival

[00:34:01] of Jesus as a challenge to his autonomy

[00:34:03] to his authority and to his throne

[00:34:06] and ultimately a rebuke

[00:34:07] to his entire life I would say

[00:34:09] it caused him in fact to sin more

[00:34:11] didn't it?

[00:34:12] if you think about this

[00:34:13] he lied to the Magi

[00:34:15] tried to wipe out any trace of Jesus

[00:34:19] and I find it fascinating

[00:34:20] when you look at these three responses

[00:34:23] you could probably do Biblical Anthropology

[00:34:26] the study of human nature here

[00:34:27] looking at the way that Jesus has

[00:34:30] received in the world

[00:34:31] when Jesus is presented to the world

[00:34:33] there are those that will seek him

[00:34:35] will find him and will worship him

[00:34:38] then there are those that could not

[00:34:39] really care less

[00:34:41] he doesn't fit their pattern of what they want

[00:34:43] and they are unwilling to relinquish

[00:34:45] any of their power or position

[00:34:47] to Jesus and they don't care

[00:34:49] and then there are those

[00:34:50] who are extremely angered by the presence

[00:34:53] of Jesus and they will do everything

[00:34:55] they can to remove Jesus

[00:34:57] from this world from

[00:34:59] any area that they rule over

[00:35:02] is that not exactly what happens

[00:35:04] with Jesus today in the world

[00:35:06] and I find that fascinating that

[00:35:07] even at his birth

[00:35:08] we have those three responses

[00:35:10] and in every generation since

[00:35:11] we have those same three responses

[00:35:14] now the question for you today

[00:35:16] is if you do not know the Lord

[00:35:17] which one of those responses would

[00:35:20] explain your life

[00:35:21] that is what we must ask ourselves

[00:35:23] and for those of us that do know him

[00:35:25] do we actually live

[00:35:27] like those Magi, like those shepherds

[00:35:29] do we actually live in worship

[00:35:31] and adoration of him

[00:35:33] as the King of Kings

[00:35:34] and are we willing to follow him

[00:35:35] all the way to glory? Amen