Matthew 2: 1 – 12
The Wise Guys
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. 12 Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.
If you ever channel surfed on your TV with your remote you may have come across a program that begins with a warning. For example, I love to watch the history channel. On one such program called the ‘World At War’ I am able to see a time progression of Hitler’s rise to power to his demise. Sadly toward the end of the series the program shows the grim pictures of concentration camps. Thus, the program will have a announcement that viewers should be warned of the graphic contents of the program which are pretty horrible.
Today, I am going to give you an announcement also before beginning this study. You views of Christmas pasts might be shaken when you get a clearer version of what the bible says in regards to our Lord’s birth as compared to how we have been taught.
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,
When you visit some homes during the holiday season you might see some ‘mangers’. Well, they are called ‘mangers’ but they are a little more than the name. You see Joseph and Mary could not find any room to stay so the innkeeper offered them a spot where the animals were at.
Luke 2:1-7, “2 And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. 3 So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. 4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. 6 So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. 7 And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”
You see they probably stayed on the side of the inn in an enclosed stall. They didn’t have this pretty well heated and decorated wooden structure. The ‘manger’ which we see as this cute wooden crate with nice straw wasn’t exactly the way Joseph and Mary saw it. In fact if you travel to Israel you can actually see ‘mangers’ They were and are carved out stone fixtures that the animals drank water from.
Now as we review Matthew’s version we read about the Wise Men. We will see that Herod had thought them to be ‘Wise Guys’ because we will find out that they tricked him.
Now around our Christmas mangers you see the shepherd’s kneeling before the manger where Joseph and Mary are looking at the baby Jesus also. And you will also see the three wise men with the other statues. This isn’t accurate. You see that the ‘Wise Men’ did not show up until later. In fact it was probably about 2 years after our Lord Jesus was born when they came to see the baby born king of the Jews.
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.
So, first of all who are the ‘Wise Men’?
After Jesus was born, Wise Men came to look for Him, probably from an area which is now in either Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia or the Yemen. Although they are often called the 'Three Kings', the Bible does not say how many there were, or that they were kings. One theory is that they might have been Kings of the Yemen, as during this time the Kings of Yemen were Jews. Three is only a guess because they brought with them three gifts: but however many there were of them, they probably would have had many more servants with them.
Now it says that Herod was ‘troubled’. We know from history that this guy was an evil man who was always troubled but on this occasion even more so. Why would that be? Well can you imagine how word had reached him that a small army had just entered his land and was heading for his palace. How was he to know that this was a peaceful group. Besides servants, there were also probably an armed escort accompanying this caravan.
The Wise Men were definitely men of learning. The word Magi comes from the Greek word 'magos' (where the English word 'magic' comes from). Magos itself comes from the old Persian word 'Magupati'. This was the title given to priests in a sect of the ancient persian religions such as Zoroastrianism. Today we'd called them astrologers. Back then astronomy and astrology were part of the same overall studies (and 'science') and went hand in hand with each other. The magi would have followed the patterns of the stars religiously. They would have also probably been very rich and held high esteem in their own society and by people who weren't from their country or religion.
They had seen an unusual new star in the sky, and knew that it told of the birth of a special king. No one really knows what the new star is the sky was, and there are many theories including comets, supernovas, conjunctions of planets or something supernatural!
I believe the star was an angel. For in the bible we read in the book of Daniel chapter 8, “And it grew up to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the ground, and trampled them.”
How about what it says in the book of Revelation chapter 1 verse 20, “The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches.
I believe an angel was the ‘star’ that led the Wise Men to Israel and ultimately to the home of Mary and Joseph where the baby Jesus was at.
Legends are told about the Wise Men and they have been given names. There was a scroll that was found in the 400’s that spoke about the ‘Wise Men’ This is how they are often described:
• Gaspar, who has brown hair and a brown beard (or no beard!) and wears a green cloak and a gold crown with green jewels on it. He is the King of Sheba. Gaspar represents the Frankincense brought to Jesus.
• Melchior, who has long white hair and a white beard and wears a gold cloak. He is the King of Arabia. Melchior represents the Gold brought to Jesus.
• Balthazar,who has black skin and a black beard (or no beard!) and wears a purple cloak. He is the King of Tarse and Egypt. Balthazar represents the gift of Myrrh that was brought to Jesus.
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.
Herod asked the Wise Men to find Jesus and tell him where he was, not so he could go and worship him as he said, but so he could kill him! He thought that Jesus sounded like a new King that could come and take his power away.
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.
When the Wise Men found Jesus and Mary, they would have been living in a normal house in Bethlehem, because by this time Jesus would have been aged between one and two. [This is the reason why Herod instructed all babies under 2 years of age to be killed.]
Then they gave their gifts to him. The gifts seem quite strange to give to a baby, but this might be the reason for these particular gifts:
• Gold: is associated with Kings and Christians believe that Jesus is the King of Kings. Our God Is All Knowing. He, or course knew that Herod was going to scheme to kill the babies. He even spoke about this way ahead of time in the book of Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 15, “Thus says the LORD: “A voice was heard in Ramah, Lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, Refusing to be comforted for her children, Because they are no more.” Our Lord Graciously provided for Joseph funds to live off while he, Mary and the baby Jesus lived in Egypt.
• Frankincense: is sometimes used in worship in Churches and showed that people child worship Jesus.
• Myrrh: is a perfume that is put on dead bodies to make them smell nice and showed that Jesus would suffer and die.
12 Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.
It is amazing how angry evil people get when their evil plans are foiled. When the Wise Men were about to go back to Jerusalem to tell Herod where Jesus was, they were warned in a dream not to, so they left Bethlehem and went back to their own country another way.
Because of his anger at who he now listed as ‘Wise Guys’ Herod became so insane that he not only killed the babies under two years old in Bethlehem but if you notice in the Scripture he wound up also order the murder of babies in the towns adjacent to Bethlehem.
