This is my lesson that I worked all week on. I now have a fairly extensive understanding of the life of Herod, but I only cover extreemly small bits and pieces here of his life: just enough to get an idea of what kind of an idiot he was. Anyway, for those of you who want to know what I've been doing lately, here it is!
Matthew 2
The Visit of the Magi
1After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, a. Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him." a.
b. 3When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. b. c. 4When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. c. d. 5"In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written:
6" 'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.' " d.
e.7Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him." e.
9After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. f. 11On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, f. and they bowed down and worshiped him. g. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. g. h. 12And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route. h.
The Escape to Egypt
i. 13When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he 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." i. j. 14So he got up, took the child and his mother j. during the night and left for Egypt, 15where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: k. "Out of Egypt I called my son." k.
l.16When 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. l. m. 17Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah 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." m.
The Return to Nazareth
19After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20and said, n. "Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead." n.
21So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. o. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: "He will be called a Nazarene." o.
a. Magi were astrologers probably from Arabia, Persia, or Mesopotamia (This seems to indicate the passage: Numbers 24:17—17
"Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him." This is significant because the Magi were Gentile in origin, yet they recognized that he was the King of the Jews.
The Roman historians, SUETONIUS and TACITUS, bear witness to an expectation, prevalent in the East, that out of Judea should arise a sovereign of the world.
People most often attribute the star that was seen to a meteor. Astrologers were prominent in that time and it seemed that when there came a new ruler an astrological sign would occur. In this case, the astrologers almost definitely had access to some scriptural prediction of this event.
These Magi were probably quite shocked to see that nobody knew about him.
The humble setting for our Lord tells us a great deal about him. He’s not interested in what most kings are interested in.
b. Another being heralded as the King of the Jews (Herod considered himself to hold this title) was a direct threat to his rule. Herod was as paranoid as Saddam Hussein, which explains why all of Jerusalem was “disturbed” with him. They feared him to lash out in some way.
Herod was born to Antipater (or Antipas) and his wife Cypros
Antipater was a devout follower of the Jewish religion and supposedly a decendant of Esau. Cypros was just an Arabic woman.
When Caesar defeated Pompey, General Antipater aided Caesar in Alexandria, and was made chief minister of Judea. Antipater made his son, Herod governor of Galilee. Because Antipater was pro-Roman it led to an increasing unpopularity among the Jews, and he was ultimately poisoned and died. Herod had the tax collector supposedly responsible for his father’s death killed.
At the time of 40 BC Palestine was invaded and Herod fled from Jerusalem to Rome, where he was titled king of Judea.
(In 40 BC Antigonos and the Parthians invade Palestine, and Herod flees Jerusalem, for the first time to Rome. There he is titled king of Judaea by Mark Antony. )
Jerusalem was won back in 37 BC after two year war
In 36 BC Herod mades his 17 year old brother-in-law Aristobulus III of Judea High priest out of pressure from his wife Mariamme.
Herod feared the Jews would appoint Aristobulus as the new “king of jews” and a year later he drowned mysteriously at a party. It was speculated that Herod was probably behind it, but no evidence could be gathered to prove it.
Herod became quite the paranoid and began to kill many people. Though there were multiple assassination attempts on him he had a great number of people that he only assumed wanted him dead killed.
Herod rebuilt the Jewish temple between 20 BC to 10 BC (attempting to win the love of the Jewish people)
Herod had his wife, Mariamne executed because he thought she was commiting adultery on him.
Writings state that Mariamne was calm and serene at her execution at the age of 25 years having birthed 5 children to her husband in 7 years. The accusations were never fully verifiable, but false witnesses, fearing for their own lives came forward, including her sister and mother. They thought this action could gain the favor of Herod.
Right after the death of Mariamne, her mother Alexandra, made bid for power, declared herself Queen stating that Herod was mentally unfit. Josephus (a historian of the time) wrote that this was Alexandra's strategic mistake and Herod executed her without trial.
In 7 BC Herod had Alexandros and Aristobulos, his two sons executed for treason because he feared they wanted to kill him.
In 4 BC Herod killed his son Antipater for the same reason
Herod died a short while later from some sort of illness
Herod desired the approval of the Jews, but never achieved it because he subscribed to many religions and though he rebuilt the Jewish temple, he aslo built many other temples to other gods. This was a despised short coming that Herod had (Jewish approval) and that is why he so feared the birth of Christ.
Isn’t it interesting that the Jews seemed to give Christ the same dissatisfaction and rejection that they gave to a tyranical leader such as Herod.
c. These men were the high priest and those before him and scribes
d. Micah 5:2—2But you, Bethlehem Ephratah, you are little to be among the clans of Judah; [yet] out of you shall One come forth for Me Who is to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth have been from of old, from ancient days (eternity). {AMPLIFIED}
e. Herod desired to know the exact time the star appeared probably because he pre-meditated the slaughter of the children. It is obvious that Herod was a great politician and deceiver because the Magi obviously seemed to have believed him when he said he wanted to worship him also. Herod also seemed to think his ploy effective since he did not send an escort. The character of Herod shows through here clearly.
f. It is apparent that some time has passed because now they were in a house
g. Frankincense is a glittering, odorous gum obtained by making incisions in the bark of several trees. Myrrh comes from a tree found in Arabia and a few other places; it was a much-valued spice and perfume used in embalming. It is noteworthy that the myrrh was brought, it almost seems to foreshadow the eventual death of Jesus Christ.
h. Herod hardly counted on divine intervention to halt his plans. The Magi, though Gentiles, were spoken to by God. This demonstrates the plan God has for both Jew and Gentile since both were involved with his birth.
i. God was taking divine action to preserve the Messiah. His birth wasn’t the only supernatural event, but his preservation was only possible because of God’s supernatural involvement.
j. It’s important to point out that the order “the child and his mother” is not the usual order, thus demonstrating that the child was of the greatest importance.
k. Hosea 11:1—1 "When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.” Jesus is commonly symbolically likened to Israel, an example would be his forty days of fasting and temptation compared to 40 years of wandering in the wilderness.
l. Herod becoming furious was a bad thing. As was said, he resembles a Saddam Hussein and would do irrational things to preserve his power. This was probably one of the worst atrocities committed by the man, and the least remembered. The only place it is ever spoken of is here in Matthew. This is probably because it would have only been about ten to fifteen children and possibly carried out in secret.
m. This is Jeremiah 31:15. Why does Matthew refer to this OT passage? First Jeremiah 31:15 occurs in a setting of hope. Despite the tears, God says, the exiles will return; and now Matthew likewise suggests that, despite the tears of the Bethlehem mothers, there is hope because Messiah has escaped Herod and will ultimately save the world.
n. This is the fifth dream in Matthew. The completely evident direction of God is amazing and comforting. He went to great lengths to bring his son to the cross.
o. This is a general prophecy not found anywhere specifically in the OT. But it can be understood to mean that Jesus would be in a place of humble resentment, which is a true OT theme. (e.g. Psalm 22:6-8, 13; 69:8, 20-21; Isaiah 11:1; 49:7’ 53:2-3, 8; Daniel 9:26)
Conclusion An amazing account of the entrance of our Lord and Savior. It was God directed and indicative of his character. It was demonstrative of the Gentile acceptance, and presented the humble beginnings of Jesus. We should count our blessings that God loved us enough to go through such living conditions. We also need to realize that God easily thwarts the contradicting plans of men.
No comments:
Post a Comment