Matthew 2
1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea in the days when Herod was king—unexpectedlya—Zoroastrian priestly scholarsb from the eastc arrived in Jerusalem.
2 “Where is the newly bornd King of the Judeans?” they were asking. “We saw his star in the easte and have come to bow down before him.”
3 King Herod heard about it, and he was agitated, making all Jerusalem on edge with him. 4 He gathered all the lead priests and the Bible scholarsf from among the people and asked them where the Messiah was supposed to be born.
5 “In Bethlehem in Judea” they told him, “Since this is how it’s written by the prophet Micah:
6 And you, Bethlehem (in the land of Judah),
are not at all least among the leaders of Judah
because a leader will come from you
who will care for my people, Israel.”g
7 Then Herod called the Zoroastrian scholars to him privately to learn from them exactly when the star began to shine. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and told them, “Go on and search carefully for the child. But when you find him, bring me the news, so that I can go there to bow down to himh too.”
9 Then, having heard the king, they went on and—remarkablyi—the star they saw in the eastj led them until it arrived and stood above where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they celebrated with ecstatic joy.
11 When they came to the house, they saw the child with his mother Miriam,k and they fell to the ground and bowed down to him. Then they unpacked where they stored their valuables and gave him gifts: objects made of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.l 12 Then after having received direction during a dream not to return to Herod, they returned by another way to their own region.
13 After the Zoroastrian scholars had left—surprisingly againm—the Lord’s messenger was shown to Joseph during a dream, saying, “Get up, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt and stay there until I tell you. Herod is about to search for the child, intending to destroy him.” 14 Joseph got up, fled with the child and his mother in the night, and left for Egypt. 15 He stayed there with them for the rest of Herod’s life. Therefore, the message from the Lord spoken through the prophet Hosea was acted outn: “I called my son to come out from Egypt.”o
16 When Herod realized he had been played by the Zoroastrian scholars,p he was extremely enraged. He ordered the murder of all the children in Bethlehem and anywhere nearby aged two years and under, based on the timing he had learned from the Zoroastrian scholars. 17 That event acted outq what Jeremiah the prophet said:
18 A voice was heard in Ramah
Weeping and endless wailing
Rachel wept in grief for her children
Having no desire to be comforted
Because they were gone.r
19 After Herod came to his end—another surprises—the Lord’s messenger appeared during a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20 saying, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go on to the land of Israel because everyone who was trying to take the child’s life has died.” 21 Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and reentered the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archileus was ruling Judea in his father Herod’s place, he was frightened away from there. So, after being directed during a dream, he went away to the province of Galilee. 23 He went to a town called Nazareth and settled down there. That is how what was said in the Prophetst was lived out,u that the childv would be called a Nazarene.w
FOOTNOTES:
a The Greek is idou, which literally means ‘look.’ It is an idiomatic way to catch the audience’s attention and point out that something noteworthy is happening.
b Traditionally, ‘wise men,’ which is too generic, ‘magi,’ which is just taking the Greek word magoi and transliterating it, or ‘kings,’ which is just wrong and was developed not based on the word but based on the expensive nature of their gifts. The word here refers to people of the Zoroastrian priestly class from Persia, who had a developed system of reading the stars for meaning.
c Or, ‘the rising.’ The visitors are from Persia, which is both in the direction of the sunrise (east) and a place where people customarily paid homage of the style indicated in the next verse.
d The more traditional ‘one who is born’ is correct too, but it risks reading the whole sentence as if it implies that its saying he was born with the purpose of being the king of the Judeans. It’s something more like ‘Where is the king of the Judeans who was born?”
e Or ‘rising’
f Most literally, this word means ‘scribes.’ While they were responsible for transcribing documents, that was only part of their duties. Overall, they were responsible for overseeing the preservation and study of sacred writings and other important documents. The relevance to this story is their expertise regarding the Hebrew scriptures: Torah, Nevi’im and Ketuvim (or TaNaK), what Christians typically refer to as the Old Testament.
g Reading the lead priests’ and scholars’ rendition of Micah 5:2 side by side with Micah 5:2 reveals major differences. This seems intentional, whether by the intention of the lead priests and scribes to mislead Herod or by the author and editors of Matthew to highlight the untrustworthiness of those group. Micah 5:2 (5:1 in Hebrew verse numbering) reads as follows: “And you, Bethlehem of Ephrath [“the ash heap”], the least of Judah’s clans, from you shall one come forth from Me to be ruler of Israel whose origins are from ancient times, from days of yore. Therefore shall He give them over till the time the woman in labor bears her child, and the rest of his brothers shall come back with the Israelites. And he shall stand and shepherd them by the might of the LORD, by the pride of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall dwell secure, for then shall he be great to the ends of the earth” (Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible, 2019). They seem to be honoring Bethlehem in their quotation, rather than the original which calls it an ash heap. They explicitly call it ‘not least’ when the original says it is ‘the least of Judah’s clans.’ It is possible they were modifying the passage in order to avoid angering Herod.
h A sign of submission
i The Greek is idou, which literally means ‘look.’ It is an idiomatic way to catch the audience’s attention and point out that something noteworthy is happening.
j This may be a reference to Ezekiel 43:1-5.
k Traditionally, ‘Mary.’ Mary is simply the English version of Maria, which is the Greek version of the Hebrew Maryam, typically rendered in English as ‘Miriam.’
l Reference to Isaiah 60:1-6, 16
m The Greek is idou, which literally means ‘look.’ It is an idiomatic way to catch the audience’s attention and point out that something noteworthy is happening.
n Traditionally, ‘fulfilled.’ It could be translated as something like ‘given a fuller meaning.’ It literally means ‘filled full.’ Much like ‘order fulfillment’ when purchasing an order to be delivered, it means to act on something and bring it to reality in a new way.
o Citation of Hosea 11:1 (and the rest of the chapter)
p Traditionally, ‘wise men,’ which is too generic, ‘magi,’ which is just taking the Greek word magoi and transliterating it, or ‘kings,’ which is just wrong and was developed not based on the word but based on the expensive nature of their gifts. The word here refers to people of the Zoroastrian priestly class from Persia, who had a developed system of reading the stars for meaning.
q Traditionally, ‘fulfilled.’ It could be translated as something like ‘given a fuller meaning.’ It literally means ‘filled full.’ Much like ‘order fulfillment’ when purchasing an order to be delivered, it means to act on something and bring it to reality in a new way.
r Citation of Jeremiah 31:15. All of Jeremiah 31 is relevant for what Matthew is communicating to the reader.
s The Greek is idou, which literally means ‘look.’ It is an idiomatic way to catch the audience’s attention and point out that something noteworthy is happening.
t The “Prophets” here does not refer to a group of people who were prophets. Rather it refers to the section of the Hebrew scriptures known as the Nevi’im (prophets), which is made up of the books known in English Bibles as Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.
u Traditionally, ‘fulfilled.’ It could be translated as something like ‘given a fuller meaning.’ It literally means ‘filled full.’ Much like ‘order fulfillment’ when purchasing an order to be delivered, it means to act on something and bring it to reality in a new way.
v Literally ‘he.’
w There is debate what this means. It is clear it is not a reference to a specific prediction in the Hebrew Scriptures. Though it is also a descriptive word for those who are from Nazareth, it seems to be word play, a pun with more than one thing it could mean. Some believe it may be in part a reference to being the ‘Root of Jesse’ since ‘root’ in Hebrew shares a similar linguistic root to ‘Nazarite.’ More likely it has a cultural connotation regarding those who take the Nazarite vow—the most famous of which is Samson—connected with a chosen, low social status and rejection of privilege. It would fit with the theme of the Nativity stories of an extremely austere and humble origin for Jesus. See Numbers 6:1-21.