Matthew 2

  2:1-12.  Magi from the East.

     See Dan.2:21, 27-28, 48.  Dan.2:48 says Daniel was made “chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.”  It is easy to suppose that this may explain this visit of the Magi, its timing as predicted by a star chart perhaps, and the fact that they came to “worship Him” (vv.2 & 11).

     Daniel may have been the source of all this, as Dan.9 seems to show he knew when the King would come.  Note the expectation of people like Simeon and Anna (Lk.2).

     2:7 margin reads, “Lit., the time of the appearing star”, as though it appeared regularly in its circuit from time to time.  Perhaps it was a planet in a certain predicted position, first appearing in the east, then appearing again in the west as planets do, to set over the house (not stable) where the child was (v. 9).  There is nothing to indicate a miraculous star appearance.  The supernatural event was that they were watching for it, and knew its meaning.

               2:13-18  Flight to Egypt.     

      2:13.  Lk.2:21-22 proves that they were still in Judea 40 days after Jesus’ birth, and v.16 indicates that the magi may not have visited until two years had gone by.  V.15.  Jesus’ exact birth date is unknown, but 5 B.C. is a likely year.  Herod died in 4 B.C.

     The O.T. quote, Hos. 11:1 (cf. Nu. 24:8;  Ex. 4:22-23) shows that the body of O.T. believers is (with us) the mystical Body of Christ, and that their coming out of Egypt is a type of Christ called out of the grave.

2:13-14. See Joshua 15:4 for Judah’s border at “the brook of Egypt.”

     2:16.  Satan’s wrath poured out.  (Cf. Rev. 12:1-6). 

     2:17-18.  Jer. 31:15 is one of the most powerful poetic laments of the great prophet.  Rachel’s tomb was in Ramah.  She was buried there after labor with Benjamin (Gen. 35:16-20).  When Jeremiah writes, her son Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh) has gone into captivity.  And now Ramah is being used as a collection point for the deportation of even her poor little Benjamin (who was associated with Judah), and is being taken away to Babylon.  Her children were no more.  No doubt the deportees could hear plenty of weeping around her tomb when Jeremiah wrote.

     2:22-23.  I don’t think Matthew would have approved of the modern use of quotation marks in v.23.  This quote is not found in the O.T.  Matthew probably means the general agreement of the prophets that Christ would be despised and rejected.  It was like calling Him a Gentile.  See Is. 9:1-2, and cf., Jn. 1:46; 7:41, 52; 19:19.