Saturday - 5th
January
Topic: The Kings Birth
Read : Matthew Chapter 2 again
Hostility against the King (2:13-18)
A person is identified not only by his friends, but also by
his enemies. Herod pretended he wanted to worship the new born King, when in
reality he wanted to destroy Him. God warned Joseph to take the Child and Mary
and flee to Egypt. Egypt was close. There were many Jews there, and the treasures
received from the Magi would more than pay the expenses for traveling and
living there. But there was also another prophecy to fulfill, Hosea 11:1; “ I
called My son out of Egypt.”
Herod's anger was evidence of his pride; he could not permit
anyone to get the best of him, particularly some Gentile scholars! This led him
to kill the male babies two years of age and under who were still in Bethlehem.
We must not envision hundreds of little boys being killed, for there were not
that many male children of that age in a small village like Bethlehem, Even
today only about 20,000 people live there. It is likely that not more than 20
children were slain. But of course, one is too many!!
Matthew introduced here the theme of hostility, which he
focused on throughout his book. Satan is a liar and a murderer ( John 8:44), as
was King Herod. He lied to the Magi and he murdered babies. But even this
horrendous crime of murder was the fulfillment of prophecy found in Jeremiah
31:15. In order to understand this fulfillment, we must review Jewish history.
The first mention of Bethlehem in Scripture is in connection
with the death of Jacob's favourite wife, Rachel ( Gen 35:16-20). Rachel died giving birth to a son whom she name Benoni, “son of my sorrow”. Jacob renamed
his son Benjamin, “son of my right hand.”. Both of these names relate to Jesus
Christ, for he was a "man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isa 53:3),
and He is now the Son of God's right hand ( Heb 1:3; Acts 5:31). Jacob put up a
pillar to mark Rachel's grave which is near Bethlehem.
Jeremiah's prophecy was given about 600 years before Christ
was born. It grew out of the captivity of Jerusalem. Some of the captives were
taken to Ramah in Benjamin, near Jerusalem; and this reminded Jeremiah of
Jacob's sorrow when Rachel died. However, now it is Rachel who is weeping. She
represented the mother of Israel weeping as they saw their sons going into
captivity. It was as though Rachel said, “I gave my life to bear a son, and
now his descendants are no more.”
Jacob saw Bethlehem as a place of death, but the birth of
Jesus made it a place of life! Because of His coming, there would be spiritual
deliverance for Israel and, in the future, the establishment of David's throne
and kingdom. Israel “the son of my sorrow” would one day become “the son of
My right hand” Jeremiah gave a promise to the nation that they would be
restored to their land again ( Jer. 31: 16-17), and this promise was fulfilled.
But he gave an even greater promise that the nation would be regathered in the
future, and the kingdom established. This promise shall also be fulfilled.
Very few people today think of Bethlehem as a burial place;
they think of it as the birthplace of Jesus Christ. And because He died for us
and rose again, we have a bright future before us. We shall live forever with
Him in that glorious city where death is no more and where tears never fall.
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