Scripture:
Matthew 2:13-23
Reflection:
In my last post, King Herod attempted to trick the three wise men into revealing Baby Jesus’s exact location. But after having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road. This left us on a bit of a cliff hanger. What was Herod’s intentions in trying to locate the newborn king of the Jews?
The Messiah
On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.
There was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was waiting for the restoration of Israel. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would see the Messiah before he died. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts.
When Joseph and Mary brought in the child Jesus, Simeon took the baby in his arms and praised God, saying:
“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.”
Then he blessed them saying, “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.”
There was also a very old prophetess, Anna. She had lived with her husband only seven years and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.
(Ref: Luke 2:21-38)
The Nation
The earliest known reference to “Israel” as tribal confederacy is about 1208 BC. According to the Hebrew Bible, a “United Monarchy” existed as early as the 11th century BC, under the reigns of Saul, David, and Solomon. (Source: wikipedia.org)
Around 931 BC it split into the Kingdom of Israel (Samaria), in the north, and the Kingdom of Judah ─ containing Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple─ in the south. (Source: history.com)
In 721 BC the Kingdom of Israel was destroyed when it was conquered by the Assyrian Empire. Ten tribes were taken into captivity and settled in Assyria. Then a large mixed population of Assyrians and Babylonians were brought into Samaria and northern Israel to live. These people spoke a different language than the Jews who had inhabited the land first, they had their own customs and worshipped their own Gods. They were despised by the Jews of the South.
Violence & Oppression
Israel became the center for battlegrounds in repeated attempts to overthrow foreign occupation. People were regularly persecuted, plagued with violence and cruelty.
The conditions and feelings are best summed up by the prophet Isaiah:
5 Why should you be beaten anymore?
Why do you persist in rebellion?
Your whole head is injured,
your whole heart afflicted.
6 From the sole of your foot to the top of your head
there is no soundness—
only wounds and welts
and open sores,
not cleansed or bandaged
or soothed with olive oil.
7 Your country is desolate,
your cities burned with fire;
your fields are being stripped by foreigners
right before you,
laid waste as when overthrown by strangers.
Prophesies & Expectations
700 years before Jesus was born, Isaiah prophesied the Messiah would:
- Be born of a virgin
- Be named Immanuel
- Be of King David’s line
- Live in Galilee
- Be persecuted, spit upon and killed
- Preach the gospel to both the hard and the meek
There are key prophetic passages in Isaiah that have references to their fulfillment in the New Testament, such as Isaiah 2:3, “He will teach us His ways so that we may walk in His paths.” Which is exactly why we still gather in Jesus’s name and study His teachings today.
The Messiah was expected to remove foreign occupying forces and restore Israel to its former glory. Israelis like Simeon and the prophetess Anna were awaiting their Savior long before Jesus’s birth.
The Rivalry
Stories like Simeon and Anna’s encounters with Baby Jesus in the temple and their testimonies put even more fear and jealousy into the heart of the Israel’s reigning king, Herod.
16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.
Thankfully, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”
Even though hundreds of years had passed since the kingdom of Israel had been destroyed by foreign conquerors, racial hostility and hatred were intense in the days of Christ.
Connections
Matthew wrote primarily for Jewish readers and tried to lesson some of that hatred by making as many connections between the nation of Israel and the Messiah as he could:
- When Joseph and Mary took Baby Jesus to Egypt to avoid being killed by Herod, Matthew wrote it fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.” (Hosea 11:1)
- In the killing of the infants in Jerusalem, Matthew made another connection. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah (31:15) was fulfilled:
18 “A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more.”
- When Joseph withdrew to Nazareth in the northern region of Galilee to avoid Herod’s son, Matthew attributed it to fulfilling what was said through the prophets, he would be called a Nazarene.
Conclusion
In spite of the state of the nation and plots against him, the child grew and became strong; He was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him. (Luke 2:40)
For the child who was born king of the Jews, much to the chagrin of Herod, is truly king of us all.
Now you know the rest of the story of the messiah, the nation and the rivalry.
