Matthew 2

Comments
Matthew's writings of the Gospel of the kingdom were inspired. But what do they really tell us in the context of the times.


Herod's title had been approved by the Roman Senate in 40 B.C.. Herod's death may have taken place 4 or 5 BC. Archelaus^[1] did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod. Herod Antipas was a tetrarch of Galilee and Peræa; and Philip, mentioned Luke 3 was the tetrarch of Trachonitis and the neighboring countries. There had been no one to sit on the throne since Herod's death for he had murdered his own son. Herod Agrippa we see in Acts 12 never took the throne.
The physical capital Jerusalem had no King but Jesus for a thousand years until the year 1099, when it was taken by the Crusaders under Godfrey de Bouillon. But being the "king of the citizens of Judea" did not require a physical polis^[2] nor dead stone Temples.
Magi^[3] appears in Jeremiah 39:3-13, in the name Rab-Mag, “The chief of the Magi.” Tacitus and Suetonius, tell us sixty or seventy years later had been for a long time very widely diffused. Everywhere throughout the East men were looking for the advent of a great king who was to rise from among the Jews. The expectation partly rested on such Messianic prophecies of Isaiah as Isaiah 9, 11, partly on the later predictions of Daniel 7. Herodotus speaks of them as a priestly caste of the Medes. Based on the gifts they may be from Saba and Arabia.
The social welfare of the people registered with Herod's system of Corban maintained by his central temples was tied to the stability of his reign and in V3 we see Jerusalem in the feminine (here only, πᾶσα Ἰεροσόλυμα) and possibly in Matthew 3:5.
[11] And when they were come into the house^[4]
[13] "for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him."
[15] "Out of Egypt have I called my son."^[5]
[22] "he heard that Archelaus[10] did reign"
Questions
Was there a location called Nazareth or a polis^[2], a body politic?
Who were the Essenes?

The Visit of the Wise Men

[1] Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,^[6]

[2] Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

[3] When Herod the king had heard these things, 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 demanded of them where Christ should be born.

[5] And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet,^[7]

[6] And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor^[8], that shall rule^[9]^[10] my people Israel.^[11]

[7] Then Herod, when he had privily^[12] called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.

[8] And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.

[9] When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw 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 exceeding great joy.

[11] 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.

[12] And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.

The Flight to Egypt

[13] And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth 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.

[14] When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt:

[15] And was there 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.^[5]

Herod Kills the Children

[16] 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.

[17] Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying,

[18] 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.^[13]

The Return to Nazareth

[19] But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,

[20] Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child's life.

[21] And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.

[22] But when he heard that Archelaus^[1] did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee:

[23] And he came and dwelt in a city^[2] called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 745 Ἀρχέλαος Archelaos [ar-khel’-ah-os] from 757 archo (rule over) and 2994 laodicia; n pr m; AV-Archelaus 1; 1 Archelaus = "prince of the people"
1) A son of Herod the Great by Malthace, the Samaritan woman. He and his brother Antipas were brought up with a certain private man in Rome. After the death of his father, he ruled as ethnarch over Judaea, Samaria and Idumaea, (with the exception of the cities of Gaza, Gadara and Hipo). The Jews and the Samaritans having accused him at Rome of tyranny, he was banished by the emperor Augustus to Vienna of the Allobroges and died there.
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 4172 ~πόλις~ polis \@pol’-is\@ probably from the same as polemos 4171 meaning war, or perhaps from polus 4183 meaning many, much, large; n f AV-city 164; 164
1) a city
1a) one’s native city, the city in which one lives

1b) the heavenly Jerusalem
1b1) the abode of the blessed in heaven

1b2) of the visible capital in the heavenly kingdom, to come down to earth after the renovation of the world by fire

1c) the inhabitants of a city
↑ 3097 ~μάγος~ magos \@mag’-os\@ of foreign origin [[גמ־בר^, [[07248^; TDNT-4:356,547; {See TDNT 457} n m AV-wise man 4, sorcerer 2; 6
1) a magus
1a) the name given by the Babylonians (Chaldeans), Medes, Persians, and others, to the wise men, teachers, priests, physicians, astrologers, seers, interpreters of dreams, augers, soothsayers, sorcerers etc.

1b) the oriental wise men (astrologers) who, having discovered by the rising of a remarkable star that the Messiah had just been born, came to Jerusalem to worship him

1c) a false prophet and sorcerer
↑ 3614 ~οἰκία~ oikia \@oy-kee’-ah\@ from 3624; n f AV-house 92, at home 1, household 1, from the house 1; 95
1) a house
1a) an inhabited edifice, a dwelling
↑ ^5.0 ^5.1 : Exodus 4:22 And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel [is] my son, [even] my firstborn:
Numbers 24:8 God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn: he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce [them] through with his arrows.

Hosea 11:1 ¶ When Israel [was] a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
↑ Luke 2:4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
Micah 5:2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, [though] thou be little among the thousands of Judah, [yet] out of thee shall he come forth unto me [that is] to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth [have been] from of old, from everlasting.

Luke 2:11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord....15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

John 7:42 Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?
↑ Genesis 35:19 And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which [is] Bethlehem. Ruth 1:1 ¶ Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehemjudah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons....19 ¶ So they two went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass, when they were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, and they said, [Is] this Naomi? Ruth 2:4 ¶ And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, The LORD [be] with you. And they answered him, The LORD bless thee. Ruth 4:11 And all the people that [were] in the gate, and the elders, said, [We are] witnesses. The LORD make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem:
1 Samuel 16:1 ¶ And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons.
↑
2232 ἡγεμών hegemon [hayg-em-ohn’] from 2233; n m; AV-governor 19, ruler 2, prince 1; 22
1) a leader of any kind, a guide, ruler, prefect, president, chief, general, commander, sovereign
1a) a "legatus Caesaris," an officer administering a province in the name and with the authority of the Roman emperor
1a1) the governor of a province

1b) a procurator, an officer who was attached to a proconsul or a proprietor and had charge of the imperial revenues
1b1) in causes relating to these revenues he administered justice. In the smaller provinces also, which were so to speak appendages of the greater, he discharged the functions of governor of the province; and such was the relation of the procurator of Judaea to the governor of Syria.

1c) first, leading, chief

1d) of a principal town as the capital of the region
- Hegemony from a Greek term that translates “dominance over” and describes the relations between city-states.
- A hegemon a political state having dominant influence or authority over others, hegemonic ideas.
- Archon means "ruler" or "lord", In ancient Greece the chief magistrate in various Greek city states.
↑
2233 ~ἡγέομαι~ hegeomai \@hayg-eh’-om-ahee\@ middle voice of a (presumed) strengthened form of 71; TDNT-2:907,303; {See TDNT 289} v AV-count 10, think 4, esteem 3, have rule over 3, be governor 2, misc 6; 28
1) to lead
1a) to go before

1b) to be a leader
1b1) to rule, command

1b2) to have authority over

1b3) a prince, of regal power, governor, viceroy, chief, leading as respects influence, controlling in counsel, overseers or leaders of the churches
- The apostles were princes who were appointed a kingdom but as servant leaders. They were not rulers nor were they to be like the rulers of the gentiles. They were to account for the people as good shepherds care for the flock of God and "feed His sheep" as Christ commanded.
1b4) used of any kind of leader, chief, commander

1b5) the leader in speech, chief, spokesman

2) to consider, deem, account, think
For Synonyms see entry 5837
↑ 4165 ~ποιμαίνω~ poimaino \@poy-mah’-ee-no\@ from 4166; TDNT-6:485,901; {See TDNT 647} v AV-feed 6, rule 4, feed cattle 1; 11
1) to feed, to tend a flock, keep sheep
1a) to rule, govern
1a1) of rulers

1a2) to furnish pasture for food

1a3) to nourish

1a4) to cherish one’s body, to serve the body

1a5) to supply the requisites for the soul’s need

It does not mean to rule but to tend to the temporal needs. For Synonyms see entry 5824
↑ Numbers 24:19 Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the city.
↑ John 11:28 And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee.
↑ Jeremiah 31:15 Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, [and] bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they [were] not.

[Archelaus-1] 1.0 ^1.1 745 Ἀρχέλαος Archelaos [ar-khel’-ah-os] from 757 archo (rule over) and 2994 laodicia; n pr m; AV-Archelaus 1; 1 Archelaus = "prince of the people"
1) A son of Herod the Great by Malthace, the Samaritan woman. He and his brother Antipas were brought up with a certain private man in Rome. After the death of his father, he ruled as ethnarch over Judaea, Samaria and Idumaea, (with the exception of the cities of Gaza, Gadara and Hipo). The Jews and the Samaritans having accused him at Rome of tyranny, he was banished by the emperor Augustus to Vienna of the Allobroges and died there.

[polis-2] 2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 4172 ~πόλις~ polis \@pol’-is\@ probably from the same as polemos 4171 meaning war, or perhaps from polus 4183 meaning many, much, large; n f AV-city 164; 164
1) a city
1a) one’s native city, the city in which one lives

1b) the heavenly Jerusalem
1b1) the abode of the blessed in heaven

1b2) of the visible capital in the heavenly kingdom, to come down to earth after the renovation of the world by fire

1c) the inhabitants of a city

[magos-3] 3097 ~μάγος~ magos \@mag’-os\@ of foreign origin [[גמ־בר^, [[07248^; TDNT-4:356,547; {See TDNT 457} n m AV-wise man 4, sorcerer 2; 6
1) a magus
1a) the name given by the Babylonians (Chaldeans), Medes, Persians, and others, to the wise men, teachers, priests, physicians, astrologers, seers, interpreters of dreams, augers, soothsayers, sorcerers etc.

1b) the oriental wise men (astrologers) who, having discovered by the rising of a remarkable star that the Messiah had just been born, came to Jerusalem to worship him

1c) a false prophet and sorcerer

[oikia-4] 3614 ~οἰκία~ oikia \@oy-kee’-ah\@ from 3624; n f AV-house 92, at home 1, household 1, from the house 1; 95
1) a house
1a) an inhabited edifice, a dwelling

[calledout-5] 5.0 ^5.1 : Exodus 4:22 And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel [is] my son, [even] my firstborn:
Numbers 24:8 God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn: he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce [them] through with his arrows.

Hosea 11:1 ¶ When Israel [was] a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.

[6] Luke 2:4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
Micah 5:2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, [though] thou be little among the thousands of Judah, [yet] out of thee shall he come forth unto me [that is] to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth [have been] from of old, from everlasting.

Luke 2:11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord....15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

John 7:42 Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?

[7] Genesis 35:19 And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which [is] Bethlehem. Ruth 1:1 ¶ Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehemjudah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons....19 ¶ So they two went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass, when they were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, and they said, [Is] this Naomi? Ruth 2:4 ¶ And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, The LORD [be] with you. And they answered him, The LORD bless thee. Ruth 4:11 And all the people that [were] in the gate, and the elders, said, [We are] witnesses. The LORD make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem:
1 Samuel 16:1 ¶ And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons.

[8] 2232 ἡγεμών hegemon [hayg-em-ohn’] from 2233; n m; AV-governor 19, ruler 2, prince 1; 22
1) a leader of any kind, a guide, ruler, prefect, president, chief, general, commander, sovereign
1a) a "legatus Caesaris," an officer administering a province in the name and with the authority of the Roman emperor
1a1) the governor of a province

1b) a procurator, an officer who was attached to a proconsul or a proprietor and had charge of the imperial revenues
1b1) in causes relating to these revenues he administered justice. In the smaller provinces also, which were so to speak appendages of the greater, he discharged the functions of governor of the province; and such was the relation of the procurator of Judaea to the governor of Syria.

1c) first, leading, chief

1d) of a principal town as the capital of the region

Hegemony from a Greek term that translates “dominance over” and describes the relations between city-states.

A hegemon a political state having dominant influence or authority over others, hegemonic ideas.

Archon means "ruler" or "lord", In ancient Greece the chief magistrate in various Greek city states.

[9] Hegemony from a Greek term that translates “dominance over” and describes the relations between city-states.

[10] A hegemon a political state having dominant influence or authority over others, hegemonic ideas.

[11] Archon means "ruler" or "lord", In ancient Greece the chief magistrate in various Greek city states.

[9] 2233 ~ἡγέομαι~ hegeomai \@hayg-eh’-om-ahee\@ middle voice of a (presumed) strengthened form of 71; TDNT-2:907,303; {See TDNT 289} v AV-count 10, think 4, esteem 3, have rule over 3, be governor 2, misc 6; 28
1) to lead
1a) to go before

1b) to be a leader
1b1) to rule, command

1b2) to have authority over

1b3) a prince, of regal power, governor, viceroy, chief, leading as respects influence, controlling in counsel, overseers or leaders of the churches

The apostles were princes who were appointed a kingdom but as servant leaders. They were not rulers nor were they to be like the rulers of the gentiles. They were to account for the people as good shepherds care for the flock of God and "feed His sheep" as Christ commanded.

1b4) used of any kind of leader, chief, commander

1b5) the leader in speech, chief, spokesman

2) to consider, deem, account, think
For Synonyms see entry 5837

[13] The apostles were princes who were appointed a kingdom but as servant leaders. They were not rulers nor were they to be like the rulers of the gentiles. They were to account for the people as good shepherds care for the flock of God and "feed His sheep" as Christ commanded.

[10] 4165 ~ποιμαίνω~ poimaino \@poy-mah’-ee-no\@ from 4166; TDNT-6:485,901; {See TDNT 647} v AV-feed 6, rule 4, feed cattle 1; 11
1) to feed, to tend a flock, keep sheep
1a) to rule, govern
1a1) of rulers

1a2) to furnish pasture for food

1a3) to nourish

1a4) to cherish one’s body, to serve the body

1a5) to supply the requisites for the soul’s need

It does not mean to rule but to tend to the temporal needs. For Synonyms see entry 5824

[11] Numbers 24:19 Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the city.

[12] John 11:28 And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee.

[13] Jeremiah 31:15 Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, [and] bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they [were] not.

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Matthew 2

Contents

The Visit of the Wise Men

The Flight to Egypt

Herod Kills the Children

The Return to Nazareth

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Matthew 2

The Visit of the Wise Men

The Flight to Egypt

Herod Kills the Children

The Return to Nazareth

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