Matthew 2

Study Guide 81: Matthew 1-2 THE BIRTH OF JESUS Overview Matthew was concerned that his readers acknowledge Jesus as the promised Messiah of Israel. Several features of the first two chapters demonstrate his theme. The genealogy we find in Matthew 1:1-25 traces Jesus’ human ancestry back to Abraham, through David, whose offspring was promised an eternal throne. Matthew referred to acknowledged messianic passages to show that the details of Jesus’ birth were in full harmony with the Old Testament. Matthew also emphasized the fear of King Herod, who knew that the promised Deliverer of the Jews was destined to be King. The people of Jesus’ time expected the coming Deliverer to be a mighty Ruler — and Herod feared the Infant might grow up to threaten his own throne. How little Herod understood of Jesus’ kingdom — and of Jesus’ purpose on earth. And how clearly we come to understand it as we trace Matthew’ s revelation of Jesus as truly a King, but a King who came to suffer and to serve. MAGI. These Persians were members of a scholarly class that had existed from the time of Daniel. They accurately interpreted the appearance of the star that marked Jesus’ birth, and came to honor Him. GENEALOGIES. Hebrew genealogies often skip generations. The record in Matthew 1:1-25 includes representative persons who serve to demonstrate Jesus’ claim to the Davidic throne.

Commentary Genealogy of a Man: Matthew 1:1-17Genealogy is the first emphasis in the Gospel of Matthew. When we think of Jesus, we must realize that we are dealing with a Man. The Person who came from heaven (John 1:1-2) was also fully human, and it is His heritage as a human being that Matthew wants us to first understand. Sometimes we hesitate here. Somehow being human doesn’ t seem all that special. We picture humankind as sinful, and recall the vast distortions that sin has swept into our individual and societal experience. We even find ourselves ashamed of our humanity at times. How far this attitude is from Scripture! At Creation, God made two striking affirmations. One, “ Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness” (Genesis 1:26, KJV), tells us that our identity is not rooted in this world but in eternity. We bear the image-likeness of God: human nature can only be understood by reference to God, not to some supposed animal predecessor. Only man, of all creation, shares something of the likeness of God as a true Person. The second affirmation, “ Let them have dominion” (Genesis 1:26, KJV), affirms that human beings were created to rule! We were born to be kings. Even the entry of sin, while it has warped our capacity to rule wisely over creation, and even to rule our own passions, has not changed this destiny. The Psalmist David caught a glimpse of our destiny and expressed his wonder in Psalms 8:1-9: When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place, what is man that You are mindful of him, the son of man that You care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of Your hands; You put everything under his feet. Psalms 8:3-6God created human beings — for dominion. Probably the strongest emphasis on this truth in the New Testament is found in Hebrews 2:1-18. There the writer quotes Psalms 8:1-9, and notes “ in putting everything under him [man], God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because He suffered death” (Hebrews 2:8-9). We may not be able to see the glory of that destiny to which God calls us. But we see Jesus glorified — and we realize that the pathway we too must take to dominion is marked by servanthood and suffering. In Jesus we see our destiny realized. Jesus, the Man of Galilee, fulfilled the destiny of humanity by becoming King, and in doing so was “ bringing many sons to glory” (Hebrews 2:10). Jesus in His death and resurrection was bringing you and me to the place where we could experience our destiny — where we can know the dominion God has always intended human beings to know. Jesus is King of kings. And we are the kings over whom, and with whom, He reigns. Just what the nature of that reign is, of His and of ours, is something we learn about in the Gospel of Matthew. Old Testament expectations. God’ s Old Testament people had dimly realized that dominion was their destiny. But they tended to think of dominion in a national sense, as that prophesied time when the nation Israel, under the promised Jewish Messiah, would be exalted over all the nations on earth. Their sense of destiny was accurate. God did make such promises. But their sense of destiny was limited. God intended far more through the ministry of the Messiah than Israel expected. So it was very important that Matthew, who wrote primarily to the Jews, establish the right of Jesus to the throne promised the Messiah. (This word, Messiah, refers to the Hebrew practice of anointing kings and others to office with oil. Messiah means “ anointed one.” ) Two genealogical elements were critical if Matthew was to demonstrate Jesus’ right to reign. The first was a relationship with Abraham (Matthew 1:1). It was from Abraham that Israel’ s awareness of her destiny sprang. God called this man from Ur of the Chaldees, and sent him to Palestine. There God gave Abraham great and special promises. These included the promise of possession of the land of Palestine forever, a great people to live in it, a special relationship with God for Abraham’ s descendants, and ultimately a descendant (seed) through whom all the peoples of the earth would be blessed (see Genesis 12:1-20; Genesis 15:1-21; and Genesis 17:1-27). These promises were given in the form of a covenant (a contract, or oath). They would be fulfilled through one Man, who must come from Abraham’ s line. The genealogy in Matthew proves that Jesus comes from the covenant line. The second significant genealogical element is the relationship to David. Later in Israel’ s history God promised to David that the Messiah would come through his family line. The ultimate King would be born from the family of David, Israel’ s greatest king. In tracing the genealogy of Jesus from Abraham and from David, Matthew was demonstrating Jesus’ right to rule. Jesus’ genealogy not only established Him as a true Man, but also was the foundation of His claim to the throne of Israel as the promised Seed of David. In this genealogical record, the focus of Matthew’ s Gospel becomes even more clear. We are invited to look into this great book, to see Jesus as King. Through Matthew’ s portrait of our Lord, you and I will learn what dominion involves — and how to realize in Jesus the destiny God holds out to humankind. LINK TO LIFE: YOUTH / ADULT Set your group the challenge of explaining the difference between the genealogical list in Matthew and the one in Luke. Print the names side by side. Your group may note that the line differs from David on, though both go back to David. Why? Jeremiah records a decisive rejection of Jehoiachin (Matthew 1:11): “ No man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David and ruling anymore in Judah” (Jeremiah 22:30). What scholars believe is that Matthew gave us the genealogy of Joseph “ the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ” (Matthew 1:16). Luke gave us the genealogy of Mary. As Jesus was without human father, His claim to the throne of David was established through His mother, who came from a different branch of the Davidic line which had not been rejected by God!

The King? Matthew 1:18-25One problem that Matthew faced in structuring his Gospel for the Hebrew reader was to show that Jesus really was the expected Messiah. Jesus did not seem to be the King the Jews pictured. He did not set out to crush the Roman Empire. He did not act to set up the expected earthly kingdom. He did not behave as the Jews thought their King should behave. Theologically, then, Matthew had to answer several critical questions which the Jewish skeptic would naturally ask. Such questions as: “ Is Jesus really the Messiah? Then why didn’ t He fulfill the prophecies about the kingdom? What has happened to the promised earthly kingdom of Israel? And, if the kingdom is not for now, what then is God’ s present purpose?” Each of these questions is answered in Matthew. And Matthew, very much aware of his readers’ concerns, immediately tackled the first of these four critical questions. One of Matthew’ s approaches to reaching Hebrew readers was to use extensive quotes from the Old Testament. In his 53 direct quotes and many allusions, Matthew draws from no less than 25 of the 39 Old Testament books! Clearly, Matthew was determined to bridge the gap between the Old and the New. It’ s very significant to look at the contexts of the quotations used by Matthew in these first two chapters. When we return to them, we see that Matthew insisted his readers view Jesus as the expected King. Matthew 2:6 quotes from Micah’ s prophecy that the coming Ruler will be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). In context that Old Testament prophecy speaks of the Messiah, whose origins lie hidden in eternity. He is to rule in Israel in the name of Yahweh, and to be great to the ends of the earth. It is through this Person that Israel is to find peace. Matthew 2:2 alludes to Jeremiah 23:5. The promised Messiah of the Jews was to be God and man. He is called in this context “ The Lord Our Righteousness” (Jeremiah 23:6), and was to be born of David’ s line. The prophet said that He will reign over a regathered people, who had been scattered over the world. This person is to reign as King, and in His days Judah and Israel will dwell safely. Matthew 2:23 looks back to Hosea 11:1, and its prophecy that the Messiah will be called a Nazarene. The context emphasized Messiah’ s descent from David’ s line. It said that He will judge and rule with divine wisdom. His rule will bring destruction to the wicked. Gentiles as well as Jews will rally to Him, and in His day the earth will be filled with a knowledge of the Lord. Even the realm of nature is to know unheard of peace. There are no less than 16 references to the Old Testament in these first two chapters of Matthew. It is clear that Matthew drew from prophecies which affirmed that the Jesus he described was indeed the Messiah Israel had been expecting. Jesus, the Man who lived so quietly, who raised no army, who taught and healed, and who was dragged unprotestingly to an agonizing death, truly is the expected King of glory. Later the Jewish rabbis would try to explain the jolting contrast between the suffering Saviour and the expected King by postulating two Messiahs: one, Messiah ben David who was yet to come, and who would rule; and two, Messiah ben Joseph, who had perhaps fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies associated with messianic suffering. Yet who would have imagined before Jesus was born and lived His unique life that the pathway to glory led through suffering and self-emptying? Who would have dreamed that the concept of royalty and dominion contains an ingredient of brokenness? Certainly the Jews of Jesus’ day, looking for the coming glory, did not see the majesty of suffering. And all too often, you and I miss this dimension as well! Matthew did not miss it. Matthew made it plain that the Jesus about whom he spoke to us is the King of glory. And with this fact firmly established, Matthew went on to describe a King who served; a King whose majesty is enhanced by suffering. A King who shows us how to experience the dominion for which God has destined us — through a servanthood like His own. LINK TO LIFE: YOUTH / ADULT Have your group members imagine themselves a rabbinical committee in Jesus’ lifetime. Examine some of the passages to which Matthew referred in marshaling evidence that Jesus is the promised Messiah. Look at the specific verses and their context as well. What points would you list in favor of accepting Jesus as the Messiah? What points would you list against so acknowledging Him? Discuss: “ Why would it have been hard for people of Jesus’ time to immediately recognize Him as the Messiah? What would the evidence of Jesus’ life and ministry have added to help you make this decision? Looking back, can you reconcile the apparent conflict in evidence? How?” Again, point out that in your studies of Matthew, the Gospel writer’ s answers become more and more clear. But in referring to the Old Testament, Matthew wanted to be sure everyone understood that Jesus of Nazareth has come in fulfillment of the ancient prophecies. LINK TO LIFE: CHILDREN Junior-age boys and girls can sense both the unexpectedness of Jesus coming to be our Saviour, and the fact that God’ s inspired words come true in every detail. Tell your class that a very special visitor is coming. Describe him or her as very important, very powerful, very rich. Tell the children you are going to draw a picture of this person too. Have them draw a picture of what they think this powerful, rich, and important person will look like. As they draw their pictures you draw a picture too — of a small, quiet, woman (perhaps the Queen of England). Did their pictures look like yours? Talk about how easy it is when we know some things about a person, but not everything about him or her, to imagine he or she will be different than we expect. The people of Jesus’ day did not expect their promised King to be like Jesus. He used His power to heal rather than make war. He helped people, instead of making them obey Him. But everything the Bible says about Jesus is true, and will come true. Work with your curriculum to help the Juniors find Bible verses that told about Jesus long before He was born.

Two Models: Matthew 2:1-23It’ s striking. Matthew no sooner introduced us to Jesus, Son of Abraham, Son of David, Israel’ s destined King, than he introduced us to another ruler. “ After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of Herod the King” (Matthew 2:1). No two men could ever stand in starker contrast. Herod. Herod the Great was the founder of a dynasty that played a key role in Gospel history. We meet four generations of Herods in the New Testament. It is the founder, who ruled from 474 b.c., who was then aged and nearing the end of his life, whom we meet in Matthew 2:1-23. Herod’ s father had attached himself to Julius Caesar’ s party, been made a Roman citizen, and appointed procurator (ruler) of Judea. Herod and his brothers were given government roles, but a decade of battling followed before Herod was proclaimed king of Judea by Rome, and was able to enforce his rule. As king, Herod was both brutal and decisive, punishing or executing his enemies, and rewarding his friends. Rivals were murdered. When the decisive battle for the Roman Empire was fought between Anthony and Octavian (later to become “ Augustus” ), Herod gained the victor’ s friendship and was given control of additional lands. While Herod’ s power was growing, his control over himself and his family was slipping. Herod had married 10 wives and had a number of sons. While these sons schemed to gain the throne, his wives hatched plots and counterplots. Herod became more and more suspicious and paranoid, even torturing his sons’ friends to discover any plots against his own life. Herod’ s own character as a plotter who never hesitated to resort to murder was being reproduced in his family, and this led to the aging tyrant’ s own sense of terror and fear. Herod finally had the two sons of his favorite wife, Mariamne, executed by strangulation in the very city where he had married their mother 30 years earlier. Antipater, Herod’ s oldest son and designated heir, tried to poison his father and was put in chains. When nearly 70 years old, Herod was stricken with an incurable disease. It was at this time, shortly before his death, that Herod heard of wise men who were seeking to worship the newborn King of the Jews. Herod summoned the wise men and made them promise to report the whereabouts of the child so he could “ go and worship Him” (Matthew 2:8). The dying man still struggled to grasp the power that had brought him and his family only suspicion, hatred, and death! God warned the wise men to return home another way. And God warned Joseph to flee with the Christ Child to Egypt. Herod, realizing that the wise men had returned to the East without reporting to him, had all the male children of Bethlehem two years old and under killed! It was then only a few days before Herod’ s own death. Five days before he expired, Herod had his son Antipater executed. Then he called all the leading Jews of his territory to his palace. When they came, he imprisoned them, giving orders that they were all to be killed the moment he died. He wanted to ensure that there would be national mourning at his death, rather than rejoicing! Herod’ s dream of power and glory had turned into a nightmare. The desperate king struggled to the last to maintain control over his kingdom, long after he had lost control over himself. And so he died. Jesus. As the hateful old man was living his last days in the splendor of a marble palace, a Child was born in a stable. There, surrounded by the warmth of the animals which shared His birthplace, Jesus entered our world and became a part of a family so poor that Mary had to offer two doves rather than the prescribed lamb as the sacrifice for her purification. The Child would grow up in a small town far from the seat of power. He would become a carpenter, to live and labor in obscurity for 30 years. Finally, as a young Man, the Carpenter from Nazareth would stand on a riverbank to be recognized by John the Baptist as the Lamb of God, destined to take away the sin of the world. For three years Jesus would walk the roads of Pales tine, teaching and healing. He would raise no army. He would seek no earthly glory. He would ultimately humble Himself and accept death at the hands of selfish men who saw Him as a threat to their place and their power. And yet, through it all He would be a King. A Servant King. A King in whom you and I find, not only our redemption, but a pathway to the unique dominion over ourselves and our circumstances to which God has destined humankind. LINK TO LIFE: CHILDREN While Herod refused to worship Jesus, many welcomed Him and came to offer the Babe their love, their worship, and their gifts. Let your class members imagine that they were following the wise men, looking for the newborn Saviour. Give each a Christmas card. On the outside back ask each to draw a picture of a gift he or she would have wanted to give to Jesus. On the inside, have each write to Jesus how he or she feels about Him. How good it is this Christmas season to offer Jesus our love and our worship. And to express our thanks with tangible gifts.

The Choice In contrasting Herod and Jesus, Matthew implicitly presented his Jewish readers and us with a distinctive choice. We can see dominion in terms of outward power and splendor, as Herod did, or we can look beyond the external to distinguish the inner core of greatness. There was nothing wrong with the picture the Jews had of the messianic kingdom. Later Matthew reported Jesus’ own affirmation that an outward expression of the kingdom was still to come. Even after the Resurrection, the disciples could not shake their longing for the days of the coming glory. “ Are You at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” they asked. Gently Jesus responded, “ It is not for you to know the times or dates” (Acts 1:6-7). That kingdom will come, in God’ s own time. But until then Jesus remains King. And dominion is ours — if we choose it in Him. If we can only shake the Herod dream, and see in Jesus’ humility the key to greatness and true glory, you and I can find a distinctive freedom that the world around us, stumbling over the external, can never understand. It is a journey toward just this kind of inner freedom and power that we take as we trace the Messiah’ s steps with Matthew, the writer of this Gospel. Jesus is King of kings. In Him, we grasp our title deed to rule.

Teaching Guide Prepare What do you expect from your relationship with Jesus? How often do you suppose Christians are as surprised about what faith brings into their lives as the Jewish people were surprised that their Messiah chose a path of suffering and servanthood?

Explore

1. Launch with a review of the genealogy in Matthew 1:1-25. Compare it with the genealogy in Luke, and explain their differences. Tell how the Jewish people used genealogies to establish family line and rights to position. If Jesus were the Messiah, He must come from David’ s line — and does!
2. Divide your group into teams, to serve as members of a rabbinical court of Jesus’ day. Their task is to examine the prophecies which Matthew referred to as evidence that Jesus is the Messiah. They should follow the procedure outlined in “ link-to-life” above. For part of this activity you will draw on your group members’ general knowledge of the life of Jesus. If your group is made up of new Christians, or those unfamiliar with the Bible, you may need to draw additional evidence that Jesus is the Messiah from His miracles, teaching, death, and resurrection, to present to them. While we can understand the reasons why so many in Jesus’ time failed to recognize the Messiah in the quiet Carpenter, there is no excuse for their failure to respond to this Person who was so clearly attested by miracles and word as sent by God.

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1. Discuss: “ Jesus’ first coming did literally fulfill prophecy. But the people of His day did not realize it until later, because they had developed false expectations. How likely are we to be similarly mistaken about features of His second coming? Can we be sure that when Jesus returns He will do exactly what modern writers on prophecy say He will do? Why, or why not?”
2. Jesus is contrasted with Herod in Matthew 2:1-23. Each seems to have a very different view of what is involved in “ dominion” — e.g., in power, authority, rule. Have your group work together to brainstorm differences between Herod’ s and Jesus’ views of dominion. For instance, Herod saw it as power over others. He saw it as something to be maintained by fear and murder. He saw it as outward glory. What does the life of Jesus suggest about Christ’ s view? After developing as many contrasts as possible and listing them, see if your group can come up with a common definition of “ dominion” .

Apply Ask each group member to identify one area in his or her life in which he is satisfied that his attitude is more like Jesus’ than like Herod’ s. Pray quietly, as each asks the Lord to help him or her experience dominion over his or her own passions rather than over others.