OUR FATHER WHO CALLED HIS SON OUT OF EGYPT
The book of Matthew chapter 2 continues with the events surrounding the early life of the Lord Jesus.
From prophetic writting of the Prophet Micah out of Micah chapter 5 verse 2, we read:
“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.”
From this scripture, it was generally known that Bethlehem would be the city from where the Messiah would emerge and so the town was always on the watch list for the appearance of any notable person but what was not clear was when this would happen and in what manner the Messiah would be revealed and so when Joseph and Mary entered Bethlehem during an ongoing census, their movements went unnoticed and Jesus was born in Bethlehem exactly where it was foretold but this world-changing event was not picked up by those who were watching for it. The other gospels record that some shepherds in the hills surrounding Bethlehem saw angels in the heavens singing in celebration of the birth of Jesus and they went into town to see for themselves the new child but other than this covert welcome to the world involving shepherds who occupied the lowest strata of society, the arrival of Jesus slipped under the radar.
Well, maybe not completely under the radar. In the east, some Babylonian priests ( or Magi ) who seem to have had contact with the writings of the Prophet Daniel ( who lived in the city of Babylon during the time of the Babylonian captivity), picked up a signal in the spiritual realm that indicated that a highly significant person had arisen in the west and so they embarked on a journey to pay homage to the long awaited King of the Jews.
To their surprise, when they arrived in Jerusalem asking to be shown the Messiah of Israel so that they could worship him, no one, including King Herod and the religious scholars, had any idea that this had happened.
The king and the religious establishment of Jerusalem were deeply troubled that the birth of the Messiah may have happened under their watch without their knowledge.
Having ascertained that the home town of the Messiah was to be Bethlehem, King Herod secretly met with the Magi and told them to report back to him if they found the promised King in Bethlehem.
1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”
3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
5 So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:
6 ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
Are not the least among the rulers of Judah;
For out of you shall come a Ruler
Who will shepherd My people Israel.’ ”
7 Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.”
9 When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. 11 And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
After their audience with king Herod, the Magi left Jerusalem and traveled south towards Bethleham and the star that guided them from Babylon continued leading them and took them to the specific address where Jesus, about two years old by now, lived with his parents. Matthew describes them as being exeedingly joyful when they star they came to the house and found Mary and Jesus inside.
They fell down and worshipped him and they famously presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and Myrrh. These gifts indicate that the prophetic information they were following was detailed and the young Child's status as King, Priest and Saviour of the world was represented in those gifts.
King Herod, discovering that the wise men had outwitted him, became angry and decided to eliminate the possibility of a king rising to challenge him by killing all the boys in Bethlehem who were under two years old.
13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.”
14 When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, 15 and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”
16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men.
18 “A voice was heard in Ramah,
Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children,
Refusing to be comforted,
Because they are no more.”
While Herod was alive, Jesus' family stayed as refugees in Egypt but after Herod died, an angel brought a dream to Joseph with instructions to return home and so the child Jesus came back to Israel. This was prophecied in the book of Hosea chapter 11 verse 1 which say, "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son."
Because the new ruler of Judea was Herod's son, Archelaus, Joseph was concerned about living in his jurisdiction and so, by guidance of a dream, he avoided settling in Judea and instead, settled in the northern region of Galilee in the town of Nazareth and so Jesus was a Nazarene (and often referred to as Jesus of Nazareth )
22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea instead of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned by God in a dream, he turned aside into the region of Galilee. 23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, “He shall be called a Nazarene.”
The name "Nazareth", has two connotations that could be associated with the utterances of the prophets (plural) which Matthew references.
The first is that word Nazareth shares the root consonants of the word "branch" and the term "branch" or "shoot" is used by phrophets to reference the expected Messiah e.g. Isaiah chapter 11 verse 1 which reads: “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.”
The other connotation was that it was something despised and looked down upon. The culture at the time of Jesus looked down upon the city of Nazareth and an example of this is marked when, in John chapter 1 verse 46, Nathanael when told that Jesus came from Nazareth, asks, “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?”.
In the old testament, examples such as Isaiah chapter 53 verse 3, indicate that the coming Messiah would be despised and looked down upon.
“He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem”
Amen
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