Matthew 2:2

Saturday, 3 August 2024

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.” Matthew 2:2

“Saying, ‘Where is He having been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the sunrising, and we came to worship Him’” (CG).

In the previous verse, the magicians had come from the sunrisings to Jerusalem. Now, Matthew continues with the words, “Saying, ‘Where is He?’”

The words of the magicians are in the form of a question, but they are also just as much an assertion. By stating “Where is He,” they are proclaiming that they are certain that the person they are looking for exists. This is understood. The question isn’t, “Has He come?” but rather, “Where is He?” Understanding this, they continue with, “having been born?”

Again, it is an assertion. They do not ask, “Where is the King who has been coronated?” Nor do they ask, “Where is the King who has been appointed by Rome?” Instead, the question is about a birth. Therefore, something prompted them to accept that a divinely appointed birth had taken place for one who was to be “King of the Jews.”

The answer is to be found in Daniel 9:24-27 where a timeline of prophetic events was to take place –

“Seventy weeks are determined
For your people and for your holy city,
To finish the transgression,
To make an end of sins,
To make reconciliation for iniquity,
To bring in everlasting righteousness,
To seal up vision and prophecy,
And to anoint the Most Holy.
25 “Know therefore and understand,
That from the going forth of the command
To restore and build Jerusalem
Until Messiah the Prince,
There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks;
The street shall be built again, and the wall,
Even in troublesome times.
26 “And after the sixty-two weeks
Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself;
And the people of the prince who is to come
Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.
The end of it shall be with a flood,
And till the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week;
But in the middle of the week
He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.
And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate,
Even until the consummation, which is determined,
Is poured out on the desolate.”

The words of Daniel may be confusing without understanding the greater context of the Bible, but they clearly and precisely state when the Messiah would come, what would happen to Him, and what would happen afterward. For example, it is understood from the words that the sanctuary, meaning the temple in Jerusalem, would be destroyed.

Of this expectation of the coming Messiah, Albert Barnes writes –

“This personage, they supposed would be a temporal prince, and they were expecting that he would deliver them from Roman bondage. It was natural that this expectation should spread into other countries. Many Jews at that time lived in Egypt, in Rome, and in Greece; many, also, had gone to Eastern countries, and in every place they carried their sacred writings, and diffused the expectation that some remarkable person was about to appear. Suetonius, a Roman historian, speaking of this rumor. says: ‘An ancient and settled persuasion prevailed throughout the East that the Fates had decreed some one to proceed from Judea who should attain universal empire.’ Tacitus, another Roman historian, says: ‘Many were persuaded that it was contained in the ancient books of their priests, that at that very time the East should prevail, and that some one should proceed from Judea and possess the dominion.’ Josephus also, and Philo, two Jewish historians, make mention of the same expectation. The fact that such a person was expected is clearly attested. Under this expectation these wise men came to do him homage, and inquired anxiously where he was born?”

The reason for paying homage to Him is next explained by them, “For we saw His star.” This “star” is referred to in the Book of Numbers –

“I see Him, but not now;
I behold Him, but not near;
A Star shall come out of Jacob;
A Scepter shall rise out of Israel,
And batter the brow of Moab,
And destroy all the sons of tumult.
18 “And Edom shall be a possession;
Seir also, his enemies, shall be a possession,
While Israel does valiantly.
19 Out of Jacob One shall have dominion,
And destroy the remains of the city.”  Numbers 24:17-19

The Jews, attempting to hide the fact that Jesus fit the biblical narrative, hid a significant period of time in the chronology of the Old Testament. By doing this, they then made the assertion that another person, Simon bar Kokhba, was the anticipated Messiah. His name means “Simon son of a Star.” They claimed he was the fulfillment of the Numbers prophecy.

However, he came after the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. Thus, he could not be the Messiah as indicated in the Daniel timeline. As for the Numbers prophecy, it was understood that One would arise and subdue the surrounding nations. But in the greater context of Scripture, much more was understood about this coming One.

As for seeing His star, the word can mean literally seeing, as in a visible star, or it can mean to perceive, as in “the magicians perceived the star from a reading of sacred texts.” Thus, it is a seeing with the mind. This explanation of the word may help understand later verses. Or it may be that they have seen a literal event that alerted them to the coming of the Messiah. Understanding that, it next says, “in the sunrising.”

It is the same word used in the previous verse. It indicates “east,” but it means “rising of light.” This does not mean that they saw the star to their east but that they were east of Israel and saw the star rising from there, knowing that the heavenly sign prophesied for Israel had come to pass. Therefore, with this information clearly known by them, it next says, “and we came to worship Him.”

Of these words, Albert Barnes says, “This does not mean that they had come to pay him religious homage, or to adore him They regarded him as the King of the Jews, but there is no evidence that they supposed that he was divine. They came to honor him as a Prince, or a king, not as God.”

Barnes’ words, though dogmatic, are not necessarily correct. Depending on the knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures, one could clearly determine that this coming One was, in fact, divine. At a minimum, it would be understood He was divinely appointed by God. He had been anticipated since the time of the first man on earth. He was spoken of throughout the historical writings and prophets of the Jews, etc.

Therefore, whether mere obeisance or worship, these magicians had come to bow before this coming King.

As for the star that anticipated the coming of Christ, the number of theories concerning planetary alignments, the position of constellations, particular comets, and so forth go on and on. Everyone who has a theory dogmatically claims his presentation is correct. Those who hear one claim or another will hold fast to the one they find most convincing and dogmatically avow that they are right as to what is being referred to.

In the end, these things are not necessary to determine when Christ came. The years of Herod’s life and the prophecy of Daniel sufficiently tells us by what time Jesus had to be born and by what time He would be crucified. And more, the fact that these magicians saw a divinely appointed star tells us that it was there.

As such, determining the particular star that heralded in the coming of Jesus, whatever it was, is not necessary, even if it is fun to consider.

Life application: As noted, there are many theories about the star in the skies which point to the coming of Jesus. Some say it is a conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter, which took place in May to July and again in September of 7BC. Others say it was the rising of Sirius which occurred on the same day in four subsequent years from 5-2BC. Many other speculations have been set forth as well.

A video that has gotten jillions of social media views and sold innumerable CDs by Rick Larsen makes certain assertions about the star of Bethlehem. He goes on to cite details about the cosmic event at Christ’s cross as well. The problem with his analysis is that after all of his calculations and details, he assertively places Christ’s crucifixion at the time of a particular solar eclipse.

The problem with this is that it is impossible to have a solar eclipse at the time of the Passover. The moon is full at the Passover. Thus, it is on the other side of the earth when the sun is in the sky. With such an obvious error in his presentation, it then calls into question all of his other assertions as well. The house of cards comes crashing down.

It is best to not get caught up in such hype. If the Bible does not provide the particular details concerning things like this, it is because God is not interested in telling us about those things. Rather, He is directing our attention to Jesus, not a star that served a purpose in telling eastern magicians about the coming of Jesus.

Let us not get overly distracted from the biblical text. It is good to research extra-biblical history, which can confirm many aspects of the Bible but when something is so unreasonably argued over, like the Star of Bethlehem, we have lost focus of the main Subject. Eyes to Jesus. In this, we will do well. The Bible records the facts, and they are sufficient for us to know that Christ has come according to the plan and purposes of God.

Lord God, before Jesus came, we were given the timeline to tell us that He would come at a certain time. As we can rely on Your word, we can also be certain that He is the Messiah. No other person can make the claim because the time for His coming is past. With that, we can read the New Testament and discover what He did and how it has changed all of human history. Thank You, O God, for the coming of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.