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Infanticide Matthew 2:16-18 It’s surprising that Herod’s paranoia had not fuelled more efficient “intelligence gathering”, in that he sent no place with the Magi, nor did he commission any of his officials to “follow the star” to Bethlehem. He simply asked the magi to let him know once they had found the baby king. But, […]

Egypt (Matthew 2:13-15) This is the second time an angel gave instructions to Joseph. As husband and protector of Mary and the baby, he was told to “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt.” This was to avoid Herod’s murderous intent. We read a couple of sentences like this and tend to […]

The Wise Men – Matthew 2:1-12 (Part 3) And, to add a bit of historical context, at that time there was a synergy of both religious and secular hope, or expectation, that a kingly figure would emerge from somewhere in the mediterranean basin and rule the world. The Jewish messianic hope, four hundred years “back-burnered” […]

The Wise Men 2:1-12 (Part 2) Then there’s the star. There have been many attempts to explain this phenomenal aberration. Some commentators refer to Halley’s Comet (11 BC), or to the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter (7 BC). Other talk of the Egyptian “dog star”  (Sirius) that rose at sunrise. My view on the star […]

The Wise Men 2:1-12 (Part 1) There are four points of interest in these twelve verses: Bethlehem, the Wisemen (or “Magi”), the Star, and Herod the Great. Bethlehem literally means “house of bread”. In Micah 5:2 the prophet adds “Ephratah” to Bethlehem which reads, “House of Bread twice blessed”. Perhaps Micah, under the inspiration of […]

Jesus’ Birth 1:18-25 Part 2 We don’t know how far the divorce proceedings had progressed, but at some time in the process, “an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in […]

Jesus’ Birth 1:18-25 Part 1 Matthew’s account of Jesus’ birth is blunt and to the point, lacking Luke’s beguiling detail. Matthew seems to rush into the messianic narrative, impatient to recount Jesus’ powerful, earth-shaking ministry. So he summarizes the story of the incarnation. But the words he does use are charged with meaning. The word […]

Jesus’ Ancestors (1:1-17) Part 10 Before moving on, just a word about “levirate marriage”. In De. 25:5-10 we read this: “If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of […]