The Exposition of Matthew (Matthew 2:11-18)

(The Wise Men Present Gifts to Jesus)

Questions to be answered in this study

1. How many wise men came from the East to see Baby Jesus?
2. Why did the wise men bring Jesus gifts, and what did they represent?
3. Why did the wise men decide not to return to Herod?
4. Why did Jesus’ parents decide to leave Judea and go to Egypt?
5. Joseph and Mary were poor people. How were they able to go to Egypt and spend up to a year or more there?
6. There is a problem in Matthew 2:18. The problem is that Rama is not Bethlehem; it was 30 miles to the East of Bethlehem where children under two were put to death by Herod?
7. How is the Jeremiah problem reconciled?
8. What is the positive side of Matthew’s quote from Jeremiah concerning weeping and sorrow?

Introduction

In today’s study, wise men bring gifts to Jesus. Traditionally we think of only three wise men, but there were probably many of them. They had traveled likely by camel, going an average of about 10 miles per day, and it is not sure where they were coming from or how far. It was from the East; so, it was several hundred miles through desolate country. It is hard to imagine traveling that far by camelback over rugged and sometimes desolate terrain to see Jesus. That kind of dedication is somewhat rare today. Some Christians won’t venture out on Sunday morning in the rain to worship Jesus. Jesus does expect us to sacrifice in our dedication and service to Him. We will see that later in the study.

Matthew 2:11-12 “And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh.”

The star leads the wise men to where Joseph, Mary, and the Child Jesus are. According to Christmas cards, the wise men were at the manger with the shepherds, but here it says they were in a house; it makes sense they are in a home instead of a stable at this point. It’s been at least a year since the wise men first saw the star. Jesus is not an infant in a manger anymore; by now, he’s a toddler, and the family has found a home to rent after the crowd who came to Bethlehem for taxing purposes are gone home.

After worshipping the Lord, the wise men gave Jesus gifts, for it was the custom that day. When dignitaries from foreign land came to pay respects to a more excellent king, they brought gifts. It wasn’t proper to give a king just any gift. It must be a gift worthy of them, something that reflects their honor and importance. They gave Jesus gifts that symbolized His glory. The reason people assume there were three wise men is because there were three types of gifts. While there were only three types of gifts, there could have been many of the same type.

The first type of gift they gave Jesus was gold: Obviously, gold was precious at that time, just as it is today. Gold was a symbol of Kingship. We don’t know how much gold they gave Jesus, but even a tiny amount of it was precious. One Roman gold coin of that day, called an aureus, would be worth about $3,300 today. So, Jesus’ family probably received a considerable amount of money. God the Father providentially provided money to cover their traveling expense and the money they would need to become established in Egypt.

The second type of gift was a valuable spice called frankincense: Frankincense is a resin produced from the sap of certain trees in Arabia and Africa. When burned, it creates a strong odor. It was the main ingredient in the incense God commanded burned on the altar of incense in the tabernacle, Exodus 30:34. The priests would burn the frankincense, and its smoke would rise in front of the curtain that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies, and drift over into the Holies of Holies, in the presence of the mercy seat of God; in that way, burning incense became a picture or symbol of our prayers. Revelation chapter 5:8 (KJV) tells us that our prayers rise like incense to God: “And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God….”

The third type of gift they gave Jesus was myrrh: This was not a gift you would think suitable for a baby; nevertheless, Jesus was a special baby. Myrrh is another resin spice that comes from the sap of a different tree. Myrrh is also native to Arabia and was quite expensive. Myrrh was also used in the tabernacle service, Exodus 30:23. But its most common use was in making an anointing oil used on dead bodies in preparation for burial. It was to help cover the odor of a decomposing body for the time being. They would also prepare the body with spices and oil. Jesus’ body received this treatment after He died. So, these men bring Jesus a symbol of His coming death, a death that would become a payment for their sin. The wise men, perhaps from Babylon, Israel’s former enemy, were gentiles but also true believers. What faith these men had in Jesus! They were willing to acknowledge Jesus’ coming death as a sacrifice for their sins. These men knew Jesus was their eternal King, their High Priest, and their Sacrificial Lamb. They gave Him gifts to represent all three. And in the process, God used these men to make Jesus’ poor family temporarily financially stable.

The wise men decided not to return to Herod because God warned them in a dream. In last week’s study, Matthew showed us the contrast between Herod’s reaction to Jesus and the wise men’s response: Herod called himself the king of the Jews, even though he was not a true Jew, and he was not interested in having the true king of the Jews as His Lord, or have Jesus, takes over his throne. The concern was obviously for the future because Herod was at the end of his life. He had already killed three of his sons to make sure they did not inherit the throne. Herod was neither in David’s genealogy to be heir to the throne, nor was he in the genealogy of Abraham through Jacob to be a part of the promised nation of Israel. Jesus is the promised King through David’s family line, and He is God’s promised Savior from Abraham’s family line to all countries. Jesus is the Son of David and the Son of Abraham.

Matthew 2:12-13 “And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.” The wise men did not know the character of Herod nor his evil intentions. They probably thought he was sincere when he said he wanted to worship Jesus. Nevertheless, God warned them in a dream to go a different way home.And when they departed them, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him: “When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt: And was there until the death of Herod: that it be fulfilled which was spoken of the LORD by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.”

As the wise men depart, an angel appears to Joseph in a dream. For the second time, Joseph receives instructions from an angel. The first time an angel told Joseph that Mary’s story about being pregnant by the Holy Spirit was true. The second time, the angel warns Joseph he must flee to Egypt to escape Herod Because Herod will try to kill baby Jesus. The threat is imminent, so the angel tells Joseph to get up immediately from his sleep, not to wait for the morning but to go that night. Herod’s plan to kill the children below two years of age would begin the next day. Joseph obeys the angel and wakes Mary; they pack their things and start their journey to Egypt during the night.

Matthew 2:14-15, “When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt. So, they were in Egypt until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the LORD by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.” The Bible does not say where their destination was other than Egypt. It was only 60 miles to the Egyptian border where they would be safe from Herod and out of reach of Herod’s authority. The journey would take 3 or 4 days. It would be several months before Herod died, as we see in verse 15.

The lavish gifts the wise men provided, worth thousands of dollars, would keep them until they returned to Israel, where Joseph would set up his carpenter shop. In v.25, Matthew says that Jesus’ time spent sojourning with His parents in Egypt fulfilled prophecy concerning the Messiah. Matthew quotes from the prophet Hosea: Hosea 11:1 (KJV), “When Israel was a youth I loved him, and I called My son out of Egypt.” Hosea’s prophecy is an instance in Scripture where there is a near and far fulfillment of prophecy. In Hosea 11:2, God refers to this son as “they,” meaning Israel. Just as Jacob traveled into Egypt, so did Jesus shortly after His birth.

God often used symbols and historical events in the Old Testament to point to Jesus the coming Messiah: The account of the Exodus of Israel from Egypt is one of those events. Many events of the Exodus story relate to the life of Jesus in Matthew:

• Moses is a picture in the Bible of Jesus: Pharaoh sought to kill Moses, and he fled Egypt. When Herod seeks to kill Jesus, his family runs with Him from the promised land.
• In Matthew, Pharaoh commanded that every male Hebrew child be killed by casting them into the Nile: king Herod ordered every male Jewish child killed in Bethlehem. Moses was rescued by his mother, placing him in a basket in the Nile to be rescued by Pharaoh’s daughter. Jesus was rescued by His mother taking Him across the Nile.
• Both stories relate to similar events: In Exodus, Pharaoh dies, and Moses returns to free His people, Israel, from bondage. Jesus, through His death on the cross, frees us from the bondage of sin.

In Matthew, Herod dies, so the family of Jesus is told to return so Jesus can free His people, Israel, from the bondage of sin. Both in Exodus and Matthew, an angel of the Lord said return because he who seeks your life has died. Moses returned, just as Jesus returned.

Matt. 2:16-18 “Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Then what had been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.”

Earlier, Herod had questioned the wise men when they had first seen the star appear. Therefore, he knew how old the Messiah was at that point. His mistake was telling the magi to report back on the location of the Messiah when they found him. Logically, he should have had them followed. But Herod was not logical. He is believed to have been insane. At this time, Herod knew he was at the end of his life and would only be concerned about his throne in the future, which he wanted to continue within his family. He had already made sure who his successor would be. As mentioned before, he had three of his sons killed to make sure they would not inherit the throne. His rampage in killing the children was an act of his insanity.

In verses 16-18, Matthew references the prophecy of Jerimiah: Jerimiah31:15(KJV), “Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children because they were not. 16Thus saith the LORD; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the LORD; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy. 17And there is hope in thine end, saith the LORD, that thy children shall come again to their own border.”

The problem with this reference is, Jerimiah said the weeping was in Rama and not Bethlehem. Rama was about the same distance, some 15 miles, to the north of Jerusalem as Bethlehem was to the south of Jerusalem. This passage is similar to the one we studied in Hosea earlier. It also has a near and far fulfillment. The near fulfillment was, Jeremiah was giving Israel a warning concerning the coming destruction of the city of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonian army. The destruction of Jerusalem was a judgment for the sins of Israel. The prophecy was fulfilled in 605 BC when the army of Babylon invaded Judah, killed many Jewish soldiers, and took the sons of Israel as captive slaves back to Babylon. When that happened, the mothers of these sons weep greatly. Jeremiah uses Jacob’s favorite wife, “Rachel,” as a symbol for all the mothers of Israel that were weeping. The mothers of Israel would lose their sons to Babylon’s captivity, and they could not be comforted.

Jerimiah’s prophecy had not only a near fulfillment but also a far fulfillment. The far fulfillment was the weeping around Bethlehem when Herod ordered all the children killed below the age of two years. So, once again, Matthew looked back in Israel’s history and found prophecy that matched the events taking place around the birth of Jesus. God has a plan and carries it out by foretelling events hundreds of years before they occur, sometimes in symbols and sometimes in historical events. God’s plans always have a good purpose, as we read in Rom. 8:28 (KJV): “And weknow that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

In Romans 8:28, Paul shows the similarity of principles at work in Israel in Jeremiah’s day and Jesus’ day. Israel was sinful, and as a result, a bad thing happened. They had fallen into idolatry to the point of worshiping Bail and even offered their children as living sacrifices to be burned. The principle still holds today in our world. Our world is full of sin, evil, and hatred; that is why bad things will happen constantly. That is why the covid-19 has shut down the entire world. Sin is everywhere and is affecting the lives of people around the world. We see the proof of this every day in the news, in our cities and neighborhoods, even in our own families, and in our own lives.

We as believers have no promise in the Bible that bad things will never happen to us:On the contrary, as long as we are on this earth, we will know pain and suffering. If you walk in the rain, you get wet. If you walk in the world, you will suffer hurt, and it is all because of the presence of sin. But in the midst of it all, the Bible promises that God is still on His throne and still in control and has a beautiful plan for his children. According to Scripture, all things will ultimately come together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to his purpose.

The principle is this; we can always trust the Lord and know that He is working amid our trials, turmoil, fears, and troubles to bring about, in the end, a good thing. Throughout Scripture, this principle reminds us that the Lord is working out His plan for us. Even childbirth reminds us of this principle. The pain endured in birth proceeds the joy of bringing a new life into the world. It is also a picture of the pain Jesus suffered on the cross to bring forgiveness and a new life. The suffering we experience now is a result of sin. Still, it is also a preparation for when we enter the heavenly kingdom with our new glorified bodies, never to suffer the consequences of sin and evil again. God uses the trials of this life to mold us into His image, for it is during problems, we grow much more spiritually than during the good times. It is more likely when we’re facing difficulties that our prayer life improves, our study of God’s word increases, and we are more willing to repent of our sins.

The positive side of Matthew’s quote from Jeremiah is to remind us that the mourning in Bethlehem will one day give way to joy: Our God is a God of resurrection. Jesus raised the dead and brought them back to life. He takes what we count as a significant loss and turns it into a victorious gain. God wipes away our tears and takes away the pain. He is merciful and forgives us of our sins. God will do many beautiful things, but not necessarily in the time frame we desire. We must go in faith and wait on God’s plan to reveal itself. It’s easy to get overtaken entirely by our troubles when there seems to be no end. Sometimes we forget what Jesus said: These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world, John 16:33 (KJV). So, don’t forget that you have overcome this world also by your faith in Jesus Christ.

Satan can shoot his fiery darts at you, but he can never take away your position in Christ the Lord and the peace you have in Him. This world and its suffering will one day be over, and God will create a new heaven and earth where all those who know him as their Lord will live with Him forever. That’s what Matthew wants us to trust in and not place our hope in the things of this world. Never forget that God works all things together for good for those who love Him, to those called according to His purpose.