Matthew 2

The Herod mentioned in verse 1 was designated “the Great,” for some reason. It seems like those men in history who kill a lot of other people, like Alexander, are given the title “the Great.” Herod “the Great” was an exceedingly wicked man, as this chapter indicates. He married 10 wives, and some of the Herods we run across later in the New Testament are his offspring. We’ll discuss them in due course. Herod was “king” of Israel, but he was a Roman lackey. He wasn’t even a Jew, he was an Idumean, as the Edomites were called by then. The reader may recall that the Edomites were the descendents of Isaac’s son, Esau, and settled in a land south of Israel, called Edom. They troubled Israel for several centuries, but the country was destroyed by the Babylonians in the 6th century B.C. Yet the Edomites hung around, settled in southern Palestine, and again, were called Idumeans by Jesus’ day.

Herod heard about this new “king” who had been born, and not surprisingly, being completely ignorant of spiritual truths, wanted to kill Him. So he discovered where He was to be born (Bethlehem, as Micah 5:2 had predicted), and proceeded to murder all the male babies two years of age and younger. Fortunately, this was the last year of Herod’s reign, though his sons weren’t much better.

Wise men from the East came to worship the baby Jesus, bringing gifts. We don’t know exactly who these men were; the Greek word is “magi,” from which our English term “magician” comes from. Whatever their true identity, they knew enough about the Messiah that they wanted to worship Him, even as a babe, and they brought Him expensive gifts. They had made a mistake initially. Knowing a little about Jewish Messianic ideas, but not a lot, they went to Jerusalem, asking around, trying to determine where the Christ might be found. That’s what set Herod off. The wise men were eventually warned by God to avoid Herod, so after worshipping the baby Jesus, they went home by a different route than which they had come.

Incidentally, the Bible nowhere says there were “three” wise men. They brought three gifts, so that’s apparently where the number came from.

Because Herod was seeking to kill Jesus, an angel appeared to Joseph and told him to take Mary and the babe down to Egypt until Herod died. As noted, this Herod didn’t live too much longer, but his son, Herod Archelaus, took over and, being afraid of him as well, Joseph went and settled in Nazareth of Galilee. Matthew refers to the Old Testament again concerning Jesus’ being in Egypt, and the last statement of the chapter also indicates some fulfillment of prophecy: “He shall be called a Nazarene.” Matthew was privy to some prophetic knowledge we don’t have because there is no place in the Old Testament where such a statement is made.

But, even when Jesus was a babe, the devil was trying to thwart God’s plan for man’s salvation. Thankfully, he was never successful. The fact that Jehovah had to use dreams to protect the babe, however, indicates just how powerful Satan was—and can be.


Addendum: Adam Clarke, a commentator who lived a couple of centuries ago, has this interesting historical discussion of the Herod family: “Herod [the Great], having put Antipater his eldest son to death, altered his will, and thus disposed of his dominions: he gave the tetrarchy of Galilee and Petrea to his son Antipas; the tetrarchy of Gaulonitis, Trachonitis, Batanea, and Paneadis, to his son Philip; and left the kingdom of Judea to his eldest remaining son, Archelaus. This son partook of the cruel and blood-thirsty disposition of his father: at one of the Passovers, he caused three thousand of the people to be put to death in the temple and city. For his tyranny and cruelty, Augustus [the Roman emperor] deprived him of the government, and banished him. His character considered, Joseph, with great propriety, forbore to settle under his jurisdiction” (Adam Clarke's Commentary, Matthew 2:22). Of course, Jospeh was warned in a dream to go to Galilee. The division of the whole area by Herod the Great is confusing and why we see more than one of his children reigning somewhere.