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On
Christ's Birth and Christmas (Part II)
Finishing
the main article of the last issue, I promised that we would continue in
this issue to examine some other things pertaining to the birth of Jesus
Christ. From the relative records that we left unexamined, Luke 2:21-38
speaks about Christ's circumcision and the visit to the Temple, while
Matthew 2 refers to the visit of the Magi and the flight to Egypt. Here,
and for space reasons, we will concentrate our attention to Matthew 2,
leaving to the reader to study for himself the records referring to the
circumcision and the visit to the Temple.
1. Matthew 2:
The visit of the "wise men" and the flight to Egypt.
The fact that we didn't
discuss the visit of the "wise men" together with the visit of
the shepherds in the night of the birth, may have made some readers to
worry since tradition teaches that these two visits happened
simultaneously. Well, we have already read in the last issue the records
of Luke about the visit of the shepherds, and as we have seen, there is
no reference of any "wise men" be present there. To learn
whether the "wise men" actually visited Jesus that night, as
well as some other things pertaining to their visit, we will go to
Matthew 2, where starting from verse 1 we read:
Matthew 2:1
"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"
According
to the above passage, the wise men did not arrive at Jerusalem but only
AFTER Jesus was born. Since they arrived at Jerusalem after Jesus' birth
and since they stayed there able time for the events of verses 2-9 to
happen (they arrived at Jerusalem and started searching for the child;
Herod was troubled by what the "wise men" said, and called the
chief priests and the scribes of the people to ask them where the
Messiah was to be born; Herod called the "wise men" secretly,
enquiring of them to tell him what time the star appeared; Herod sent
the "wise men" to Bethlehem), it is evident that they could by
no means be in Bethlehem in the night of the birth, together with the
shepherds as tradition teaches. Though therefore we cannot say for the
moment how long after the birth, the visit of the "wise men"
happened, we can do say that it certainly didn't happen in the night of
the birth. Later on, we will have the opportunity to say more about it.
Regarding now the "wise
men" and their identity, the alternative word "Magi"
seems to be more appropriate since it is a transliteration of the plural
of the Greek word that is used in Matthew 2:1, the word "magos".
Concerning the meaning of this word, it is first used for the
characterisation of a member of a caste of priests and wise men among
the Medes, Persians and Babylonians, whose learning was chiefly
astronomy and enchantment1".
The LXX uses this word with this meaning in the book of Daniel (see
Daniel 1:20, 2:2, 10, 27, 4:7, 5:7,11). So, when for example Daniel 5:11
says that Daniel was made "chief of the magicians [LXX: "magoi":
plural of "magos"]" it means that he was made chief of
this caste of learned men. Apart from this meaning, the word "magos"
is also used with the meaning of a sorcerer (Acts 13:6, 8 and Acts
8:92).
Regarding our case now, it is evident that the Magi that came to visit
Jesus belonged to the first category. This is shown by the following
facts:
i) They came "from the east"
i.e. from the place where this caste of learned men used to live.
ii) They were regular observers of the
sky, which in turn means that they had astronomic education and
abilities.
iii) They came searching for the
Messiah (see our comments on Matthew 2:3-4). A sorcerer, like Elymas for
example (Acts 13:6-11), who, as the Scripture says, was "a son of
the devil" (Acts 13:11) would have never done that.
iv) They were receptive and obedient to
God's Spirit (see Matthew 2:12). God would have never communicated with
them, had they been sorcerers i.e. operators of devil spirits.
Having
clarified the identity of the Magi we can now move ahead:
Matthew 2:1-2
"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,
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 [Greek:
"proskyneo": "to do homage to him3"]
The
Magi coming to Jerusalem started searching for the king of the Jews.
They said that they had seen his star in the east and came to do homage
to him. However, the news of the birth of this king didn't make Herod
happy. Matthew 2:3-4 tells us:
Matthew 2:3-4
"When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all
Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and
scribes of the people together, he inquired ["he kept
enquiring" (the imperfect is used in the Greek)] of them where the
Christ was to be born."
The
fact that Herod started searching for the place where the Messiah was to
be born, shows that the Magi weren't searching for an ordinary king of
the Jews. Instead, they were aware that the star they saw announced the
birth of THE king of the Jews i.e. the Messiah, the Christ. For him they
had come from the east.
Matthew 2:5-6
"So they [the chief priests and the scribes of the people] said to
him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by
the prophet4:
"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"
The
chief priests and the scribes of the people were right to say that
Bethlehem was to be the place of the birth of the Messiah. Through the
information of the Scripture, Herod was perfectly aware that the Messiah
was already born in Bethlehem, just few miles away from his palace.
However, the fact that Herod had this head knowledge of the Scripture
does not mean that he also made a good use of it. In fact, we will see
that he used this knowledge in his endeavours to find and kill the
Messiah, because his perverted and wicked heart thought that this child
was......a threat to his throne. Though the case of Herod appears a bit
extreme in its results, it shows clearly that the head knowledge of the
Scripture is not enough to bring a good result. The reason is because a
good result it also requires the existence of a heart soft enough to
honestly believe and practise this knowledge. In other words, for the
Word to produce a good fruit, the HEAD knowledge of the Scripture
("I simply know the Scripture") must be transformed to
"HEART knowledge" of the Scripture ("After I know the
Scripture I put it in my heart, in the deeper part of my being, by
renewing my mind" (Romans 12:1-2, Ephesians 4:17-24, Colossians
3:1-17)). Without doing this, I may know all the passages
that say for example that I should love, but I may not love!! I may
teach others that they should not envy and me myself be envious!! I may
speak for the ONE body of Christ but when it comes to application, I may
consider the so and so denomination as "the body" and all the
other Christians as something lower than me!! Many similar examples may
be found. Whenever we know the Scripture and we haven't put it in our
hearts, our knowledge is no more than mere head knowledge. This head
knowledge still needs to be transformed to HEART knowledge in order to
produce a fruit.
After this digression let us return
to the main topic of this article. After Herod found out where Jesus was
born, he called the Magi secretly enquiring of them to tell him what
time the star appeared:
Matthew 2:7
"Then Herod when he had secretly called the wise men enquired of
them diligently [Greek: "akriboo" meaning "to enquire
accurately"] what time the star appeared"
(NKJV-KJV)
The
reason that Herod enquired accurately what time the star appeared, was
because he wanted through this information to determine the age of
Jesus. We will see later how he used this information.
Matthew 2:8
"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 worship3
him also."
Herod
sent the Magi to Bethlehem and told them to come back to him to tell him
the results of their search so that, as he said, to go and do homage to
him. However, soon we will see that he was lying and what he actually
wanted was to learn where the young child was, so that he can kill him.
After this conversation with Herod, the Magi departed to Bethlehem:
Matthew 2:9-10
"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. When they saw the star, they rejoiced
with exceedingly great joy."
When
it says that the star "came and stood over where the young child
was", it does not mean that there was a star one meter from the
roof of the place where Jesus was. What it means is that it stood in the
sky over the area that Jesus was i.e. above Bethlehem. Also, there is no
indication in the Bible that this star was extremely bright or huge. In
fact, there is no sign that someone else apart from the Magi paid
attention to it. The significance of this star was obviously not in its
brightness or magnitude but in its meaning which was that Jesus, the
Messiah, was born.
Matthew 2:11
"And when they had come into the HOUSE, they saw the young child
with Mary his mother, and fell down and worshipped him ["did homage
to him3"].
And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to him:
gold frankincense, and myrrh"
Several
things are worthy to be mentioned in this passage. First of all,
according to the Scripture the Magi didn't find Jesus in a manger but in
A HOUSE i.e. in a place where he, Mary and Joseph were living regularly
and properly. Obviously, this was not the night of the birth but
"AFTER Jesus was born" (Matthew 2:1). From all this, it can be
concluded that after the birth of Jesus, Joseph and Mary settled in
Bethlehem in a house.
Also, something else that has to be
pointed out, is that though the Word tells us that the Magi brought
three kinds of gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh, it nowhere says
that the Magi were also three. What the Bible says is that they were of
plural number ("wise men") which means that they were
certainly more than one. How many more, we cannot know since the Bible
does not say. Most probably, they were more than two or three since such
long journeys were usually organised in large caravans for security
reasons.
After they visited Jesus, the Magi
were ready to return to their own country. However, they had promised to
Herod that they would return to him to tell him the results of their
search. Then Herod, having the information of the Magi, would
immediately send his army there to kill the child. BUT at this crucial
point, God interfered:
Matthew 2:12
"Then, being [the Magi] divinely warned in a dream that they should
not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another
way."
God
interfered and told the Magi not to return to Herod but to depart
another way. Moreover, knowing what Herod was going to do after he found
out that the Magi deceived him, He warned Joseph:
Matthew 2:13
"Now when they [the Magi] had departed, behold, an angel of the
Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, "Arise, take the young
child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you
word; for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him"
See
how wonderfully God protected Jesus from the threat of Herod, and at the
same time, from the threat of the one that was acting behind Herod i.e.
the Devil. He first told the Magi not to return to Herod. This was
necessary since Bethlehem was just 6 miles away from Jerusalem and
therefore, if the Magi went to Herod, there would be no time for Joseph,
Mary and Jesus to abandon Bethlehem. Then, after He secured that the
Magi wouldn't return to Herod, He told Joseph to take Mary and Jesus and
flee to Egypt. So when Herod perceived that the Magi wouldn't return to
him, Jesus was already far from his threat. Really, what a wonderful,
wise and caring God He is. If we are looking to Him, He always knows how
to make a way for us. There is no situation from which God cannot
deliver us. As Romans 8:35,37 says: "Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or
famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? But in ALL these things
[tribulation, distress etc.] WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS THROUGH HIM WHO
LOVED US." It required for Joseph, Jesus and Mary to flee to
another country to avoid the threat of the Devil. Certainly, it would be
much better if there was no threat and they stayed in their home without
having to go through the hardship of the movement to Egypt. However, the
truth is that there is an enemy and consequently there is also a threat.
Instead of arguing about this fact or ignoring it, we have to recognise
it and to fight the enemy by putting on the armour of God (Ephesians
6:10-17) and by following God's instructions given in the Bible and via
the spirit5.
That's what Joseph chose to do:
Matthew 2:14-15
"When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night and
departed for Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod, that it
might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet,
saying, "Out of Egypt I called My Son"
Joseph
chose to obey. This meant that he had to go through the hardship of the
movement to another country within a very short time. However, imagine
what would have happened had he not chose to obey: Herod would have sent
his army to Bethlehem entrapping Joseph, Mary and Jesus in a very
difficult situation. Personally, I believe that even if Joseph or the
Magi had disobeyed God, He would have found a way to save Jesus.
However, the certain thing is that the whole situation would become much
more tougher and difficult. It is surely much better to avoid the trap
from the beginning, than to fall into it and then to have to escape.
The above record is not the only one
where we find Joseph following what God had told him. Matthew 1:20-24,
2:20-21, 2:22 are all records that show that he was a man full of
believing, ready to immediately do whatever God wanted him to do. It was
not accidental that Mary, the mother of Jesus, married this man nor was
it something that happened only for the genealogical reasons examined in
the last issue. In addition to these reasons, Joseph was the BEST man
for the raring and care of Jesus.
After this digression about Joseph,
let's return to our topic. So after being instructed by God, Joseph took
Mary and the child and departed to Egypt.
Now, when Herod saw that he was
deceived by the Magi reacted very violently:
Matthew 2:16-18
"Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was
exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male
children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years
old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired
[accurately enquired, Gr.: akriboo, as in verse 7] from the wise men.
Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying:
"A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping, and great
mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more."
(NKJV-KJV)
It
is important to note here that according to the above passage, Herod put
the age limit to two years and under "ACCORDING TO THE TIME WHICH
HE HAD DILIGENTLY [ACCURATELY] ENQUIRED FROM THE WISE MEN". As we
may remember from verse 7, Herod had enquired accurately from the Magi
what time the star appeared and by this he knew the age of Jesus. Thus,
if Jesus was born when "his star" appeared "in the
east", it can be concluded that when the Magi visited him and the
massacre of Bethlehem happened, he was certainly no more than two years
old though not too much less than it6.
Sometime after the massacre of
Bethlehem, Herod died and thus God told Joseph to return to Israel:
Matthew 2:19-22
"Now when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in
a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, "Arise, take the young child
and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the
young child's life are dead." Then he arose, took the young child
and his mother, and came into the land of Israel. But when he heard that
Archelaus was reigning over Judea instead of his father Herod, he was
afraid to go there. And being warned by God in a dream, he turned aside
into the region of Galilee."
Joseph
being told by God to return to Israel, he took Mary and Jesus and went
back to his country. Initially, he determined to go and settle with his
family in Judea. Probably, he might have planned to dwell again in
Bethlehem, the place where they used to live after the birth of Jesus
and from which they fled to Egypt. However, when he heard that Herod's
son Archelaus was king of Judea, he was afraid to go there, and being
warned by God he decided to go northern to Galilee. Finally, he settled
in Nazareth the city where he and Mary used to live before they went to
Bethlehem (Luke 2:4-5):
Matthew 2:237
"And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be
fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, "He shall be called a
Nazarene"
From
all the above, it is evident that after Jesus was born in Bethlehem,
Joseph and his family stayed there till the visit of the Magi, many
months after the birth. They abandoned Bethlehem almost immediately
after the departure of the Magi, and went to Egypt to avoid the wicked
plans of Herod. When Herod died, they moved back to Israel. Their
initial purpose was to settle in Judea again, but after being warned by
God, they went to Galilee and they finally dwelt in Nazareth.
2. Luke 2:39
As it clear from all the
above, Mary, Joseph and Jesus settled in Nazareth after they first went
to Egypt, which happened when Jesus was not too much less than two years
old. Bearing this in mind, it is now time to have a look at Luke 2:39:
Luke 2:39
"So when they had performed [Greek: "teleo" meaning
"finish8"]
all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee,
to their own city Nazareth"
The
fact that this verse comes just after the records of the visit to the
Temple (Luke 2:21-38), forty one days after the birth9,
may be confusing for some. The reason is because if we take what is said
in Luke, isolated from what is said in Matthew, we may conclude that
Luke says that Jesus, Joseph and Mary returned to Nazareth immediately
after their visit to the Temple (forty one days after the birth), while
Matthew says that they returned there after they came back from Egypt
(many months after the birth). However, a conclusion like this, cannot
be right since it violates a very fundamental principle of Bible study.
According to this principle: to arrive at right conclusions,
ALL the references about the same event have to be taken into account.
Instead therefore of taking Luke separately from Matthew, we have to put
them TOGETHER. If we do that, we will see that Matthew 2 cannot be but
between the visit to the temple (Luke 2:21-38) and the return to
Nazareth (Luke 2:39).
God having
given analytically the fulfilment of various prophecies in Matthew, and
having also given analytically the fulfilment of the necessary
legalistic requirements in Luke, summarises all these accomplishments in
Luke 2:39 by telling us what happened after Joseph, Mary and Jesus
fulfilled everything i.e. "WHEN THEY HAD PERFORMED [FINISHED] ALL
THINGS ACCORDING TO THE LAW OF THE LORD". To "ALL things
according to the law of the Lord10",
are included both the legalistic requirements (Luke 2:21-38) and of
course the various prophecies, the fulfilment of which is given in
Matthew (Matthew 2:15, 2:17, 2:23). Luke 2:39 does not tell us what
happened immediately after the visit to the Temple, but what happened
after ALL things that the Word of God said about this stage of Jesus
Christ's life were fulfilled. After ALL these things were fulfilled,
Jesus, Joseph and Mary indeed returned to Nazareth (Luke 2:39, Matthew
2:23)
3. Conclusion
After all the above we
are now in a position to give a summary of the events regarding the
birth of Jesus Christ:
1. Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea
(Matthew 2:1).
2. In the night of the birth, he was
visited by the shepherds (Luke 2:8-18). After the birth the family
continued to stay in Bethlehem and they moved to a house.
3. Jesus was circumcised on the eighth
day from the birth (Luke 2:21).
4. Jesus was presented to the Lord in
the Temple, forty one days after the birth. There, the legalistic
requirements for the purification of Mary were also fulfilled.
5. The Magi came to Jerusalem after
"having seen his star in the east" (Matthew 2:2). In
Jerusalem, they met Herod who enquired accurately of them the time that
the star appeared (Matthew 2:7). From this, he determined the age of the
child which then he used to define the age limit for the children that
he commanded to be killed (Matthew 2:16). Since this age limit was two
years old and under, it can be concluded that when the Magi visited
Jesus, he was no more than two years old, though not much less than it.
6. God warns Joseph to flee to Egypt
(Matthew 2:13). The prophecy of Hosea 11:1 is fulfilled.
7. Herod kills all the children in the
district of Bethlehem from two years old and under (Matthew 2:16). The
prophecy of Jeremiah 31:15 is fulfilled.
8. Herod dies, and Joseph returns from
Egypt. Joseph, Mary and Jesus having fulfilled everything that the law
of the Lord said about this period of Jesus' life, returned to Nazareth
(Matthew 2:23 and Luke 2:39).
Tassos Kioulachoglou
Footnotes
1.
See: E.W. Bullinger: "A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the
English and Greek New Testament", Zondervan Publishing House, MI
49530, USA, p. 887., D. Dimitrakou: "The Great Lexicon of the Greek
Language", Domi Publishers, Athens, 1964, p. 4,428. and J. M.
Freeman: "Manners and Customs of the Bible", Logos
International, 1972, pp. 330-332 (press here to
return where you stopped).
2.
In Acts 8:9 this word appears in the noun form ("mageia" = sorcery)
(press here to return where you stopped).
3.
A formal definition of this word is "to do reverence or homage to
anyone, by kneeling or prostrating one's self before him" (see
E.W.Bullinger, op.cit., p.903). In the LXX it is used 172 times of which
148 is a translation of the Hebrew word "shachah" that means
"to bow self down" (Young's Concordance to the Bible, p.1074)
and 11 times is a translation of the word "segad" that also
means to "bow down, do obeisance" (Young's Concordance to the
Bible, p.1074) (press here to return where you
stopped).
4.
The passage that is quoted is from Micah 5:2 (press
here to return where you stopped)
5. See
also: The
Journal of Biblical Accuracy, Vol.1, Iss.7, July 1996 (press
here to return where you stopped).
6.
Otherwise, a different age limit would have been chosen (press
here to return where you stopped).
7.
For more discussion of this verse see the article "Spoken vs Written"
later in this issue (press here to return where
you stopped).
8.
The verb "teleo" occurs 27 times in the New Testament. From these
the KJV translates it, eight times as "finish", seven as
"fulfill", four as "accomplish" and only one as
"perform" (in Luke 2:39). Its meaning therefore is
"finish", "bring to an end" and not simply
"perform" (press here to return where you
stopped).
9.
Luke 2:22 tells us that the visit to the Temple happened when the
days of Mary's purification were completed. Since according to the law
(Leviticus 12:1-5), the days of purification for a woman that gave birth
to a boy were forty, we can conclude that the visit to the Temple
happened forty one days after the birth (press here to
return where you stopped).
10.
The phrase "the law of the Lord" does not necessarily mean the
law of Moses only. Apart from the law of Moses, the word "law"
is also used generally, meaning the Scriptures of the Old Testament.
This is indicated by the usage of this phrase in John 10:34 and 15:25
where the Psalms are called "law" as well as in I Corinthians
14:21 where Isaiah is also called "law". It is with this more
general meaning that this word is used in Luke 2:39 (press
here to return where you stopped).
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