K, if we’re gonna understand the New Testament and not get mixed up, we need a map and a family tree – because there are more Herods than you can stick a shake at. 🥤
🤔 Don’t you mean “shake a stick?”
I prefer a milkshake to a stick.
😐 Fair enough.
The Herod we read about in the Nativity narrative is Harod the Great. He loved to build things (the Temple, Masada – which was a palace on top of a mesa in the desert, various other temples and forts). But he was also prone to send assassins to “unalive” people (even wives, his own children, and other family members) at the slightest provocation. He was wildly rich, powerful and cruel.
😐 And slightly unhinged.
Yup.
But he is not the only Herod in the NT. Oh no. Far from it.
This massively dysfunctional family sits in the background of every book in the NT. This 15-min video traces the origin of the Herodian Dynasty – their mixed Jewish background and how they connect back to the end of the OT. It’s very helpful if you have the time.
We also need to understand the region.
This map shows all the areas in the Gospels. It is divided into 5 districts ruled by two sons of Herod the Great:
- Archelaus – Judea, Samaria, Idumea
- Herod Antipas – Galilee, Perea
THE VISIT OF THE MAGI
As much as I like the Christmas carol We Three Kings of Orient Are– it, (and countless Sunday School Christmas pageants), are responsible for perpetuating the myth that 3 eastern kings came and worshiped the Christ-child. No such thing happened.
“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 saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.’ ”
Matthew 2:1-2 ESV
There are wise men. Magi. And we’re not told how many. It could’ve been 2. It could’ve been 20 or 200. They bring 3 kinds of gifts, but we’re not told in what quantities. It could’ve been many chests of the stuff.
- Gold – because Jesus is a King
- Frankincense – because He is Divine
- Myrrh – because He will die
- It would be like taking Formaldehyde to a baby shower. Ominous. The only other place in the Bible where myrrh is mentioned is the burial of Jesus, Jn. 19:39.
We’re certainly not told what kind of transportation the wise men had – camels, horses, chariots, flying carpets…
😲 Flying carpets?!
Just making sure you’re awake.
The wise men ask Herod where the new king is. Notice, they aren’t guessing. They aren’t asking, “So, is there a new baby around?” They know a king has been born. And they aren’t asking about a newborn king of the Egyptians or Romans or Ethiopians. They KNOW from looking at the night sky that this new king is for the Jews. Which is kinda trippy. (If you watched the Heiser video in yesterday’s post on the birth of Jesus, you’ve seen how they could’ve deciphered that.)
“When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him;”
Matthew 2:3 ESV
When Herod sneezes the whole city of Jerusalem gets a cold. He’s one of those types “If Herod ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” This is the guy who assassinated his own wife and children when he suspected a coup. Everyone in Jerusalem is concerned. If they are accused of participating in a plot to overthrow him, they are in mortal danger. And however big this entourage of wise men is, it’s big enough to get people talking.
The wise men were most likely from The Parthian Empire which was ethnically predominantly Persian. They probably had copies of the prophecies of Daniel (if not all of the OT prophets). And there was only 1 general route connecting Babylon and Judea.
After basically giving poor Joseph & Mary the equivalent of the winning PowerBall ticket, they are warned by God in a dream to avoid Herod and they “departed to their own country another way.”
There really isn’t another way to get back to Babylon from Judea..by land.
Bethlehem is south of Jerusalem. If they had gone back to Babylon by land, they could’ve maybe gone down by Jericho and then north along the Jordan River, but you can bet Herod would’ve known about it. Jericho is not that far from Jerusalem. Herod’s outpost Masada was smack in the middle of that route. There’s almost no way the wise men could go back to Babylon by land without getting caught.
But there was another way home… by sea.
This is a map of first century frankincense trade routes. They just needed to get in a ship and go around the Arabian Peninsula.
All they had to do was keep going south, further away from Herod in Jerusalem.
From there, it would be easy enough to catch a ship bound for the Parthian Empire.
🤓 Well, that is certainly going home by another way.
😐 So we have baby Jesus born in the garage in September, and now we have wise men escaping by sea. This is very…different.
THE NAZARENE (BRANCH)
Joseph takes Mary and baby Jesus and they escape to Egypt for a few years. After the evil Herod dies, they return home to Nazareth. Matthew says,
“And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.”
Matthew 2:23 ESV
The only problem is, where on earth did a OT prophet ever say that Messiah would be called a Nazarene? You can go look in your Strong’s Concordance all you like. The word “Nazarene” shows up twice in the whole Bible; here in Matthew 2 and in Acts 24:5.
We don’t even know what language the word “Nazareth” is.
But there IS a Hebrew word that sounds like it:
“There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.”
Isaiah 11:1 ESV
In Isaiah 11:1 the Messiah is called the Netser. The branch. THIS has to be what Matthew 2:23 is referring to.
There is a synonym for branch in Hebrew.
This is the word Zechariah, Jeremiah, and Isaiah usually use when referring to the Messiah as “the Branch.” And they did so a number of times. Matthew is writing primarily for a Jewish audience who knows their OT. They know these texts about Messiah being called The Branch. And Matthew is showing the connection. Nazareth comes from netser (branch). When people call Jesus “the Nazarene” they are essentially calling Him “The Branch.”
THE BAPTISM
We’ve already looked at how John the Baptist fulfilled the prophecy in Malachi as the “Messenger” but he was also the fulfillment of Isaiah’s “voice crying in the wilderness.”
There is some well-grounded speculation that John was probably orphaned as a boy. I mean, his parents were “advanced in years.” And since John was the son of a priest, he may have been taken in by the priestly community (called Essenes) at Qumran and schooled there. The Essenes – probably more any other group – were aware of Daniel’s 70-weeks prophecy and knew that the Messiah would be arriving (checks sundial…) any minute now.
SIDE NOTE…
If you like rabbit holes and have not yet delved into the Dead Sea Scroll Calendar and the fascinating Essene sundial, you won’t want to miss this rabbit hole.
John is kitted out like a legit OT prophet- camel hair outer mantle and a leather belt. Zachariah surely told his son that he would be a great prophet with the same Spirit as Elijah. The hair-wool garment was a kind of prophet uniform. So much so that Zechariah foretold of a time when there would be no more false prophets in Israel wearing “the uniform” but deceiving their hearers.
“On that day every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies. He will not put on a hairy cloak in order to deceive,”
Zechariah 13:4 ESV
John is the first prophet in 400 years. People probably thought that prophets had gone extinct but John begins preaching and telling people to get ready because the Kingdom of Heaven is about be established. The “getting ready” looks like repentance, confession of sin, and baptism.
Baptism is ritual cleansing. The Essenes a Qumran were fastidious about it. The Temple Mount was surrounded by mikvehs – little pools with steps going into them. Worshipers had to be ritually clean before entering the temple. One would walk down into the pool, dip, and come back out.
Most churches today have a mikveh. We call it a “baptistry.”
Mikvehs & Baptisteries are the SAME THING.
And Jesus comes to John to be baptized.
It’s no wonder John was hesitant. What did Jesus have to repent of? What sin did Jesus have to confess? None.
“But Jesus, answering, said to him, “Allow it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him. After He was baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and settling on Him, and behold, a voice from the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.””
Matthew 3:15-17 NASB2020
Jesus’ baptism was a fulfillment of righteousness. And immediately afterwards, His identity as the Son of God is affirmed.
And that’s the pattern for all who would follow Jesus. It is in baptism, (immersion into Christ by faith), that we are made sons of God.
It drives me nuts when I hear well-meaning Christians (or ignorant unbelievers) say, “We are all God’s children.” Sadly, that simply isn’t so. All humans are made in the image of God and have that basic dignity and value. But only those who are born of the Spirit and led by the Spirit are the children of God.
Jesus will need that affirmation that He is the Son of God and that the Father is pleased with Him because the Devil is about to try to make Him doubt it.
To The Reader 