Wise Men Visit the King
1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, wise men from the east arrived in Jerusalem, x 2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? y For we saw his star at its rising z and have come to worship him.”
3 When King Herod heard this, he was deeply disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 So he assembled all the chief priests and scribes a of the people and asked them where the Christ would be born.
5 “In Bethlehem of Judea,” they told him, “because this is what was written by the prophet:
6 And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah:
Because out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.” ,b
7 Then Herod secretly summoned the wise men and asked them the exact time the star appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. When you find him, report back to me so that I too can go and worship him.” ,c
9 After hearing the king, they went on their way. And there it was—the star they had seen at its rising. It led them until it came and stopped above the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overwhelmed with joy. 11 Entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and falling to their knees, they worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. d 12 And being warned e in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their own country by another route.
The Flight into Egypt
13 After they were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Get up! Take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. For Herod is about to search for the child to kill him.” f 14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night, and escaped to Egypt. 15 He stayed there until Herod’s death, so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled: Out of Egypt I called my Son. ,g
The Massacre of the Innocents
16 Then Herod, when he realized that he had been outwitted by the wise men, flew into a rage. He gave orders to massacre all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, in keeping with the time he had learned from the wise men. h 17 Then what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled:
18 A voice was heard in Ramah,
weeping, and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children;
and she refused to be consoled,
because they are no more. ,i
The Return to Nazareth
19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, j 20 saying, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, because those who intended to kill the child are dead.” 21 So he got up, took the child and his mother, and entered the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned in a dream, he withdrew to the region of Galilee. k 23 Then he went and settled in a town called Nazareth to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene. l
2:1–6. Having affirmed the identity of Jesus via his familial origins (Mt 1), the author turns to the ways in which Jesus’s messianic identity aligns with Jewish scriptural hopes and puts him at odds with the ruling powers of his day. Matthew 2 is organized around four scriptural quotations (2:5–6, 15, 17–18, and 23) that ground Jesus’s identity as bringer of restoration and authorize him as true king of Israel. The chapter also introduces a key conflict in Matthew: Jesus as Messiah-King is understood as a threat to the existing political structures. Herod’s position as king is emphasized in 2:1–3 (cf. 2:9). The Jewish leaders (2:4) whom Herod consults when he hears about a rival “king of the Jews” should be understood as religious/political leaders whose interests are aligned with those of Herod and Rome. [The House of Herod]
2:7–12. Once Herod knows the location and the timing of the star that the wise men have followed, he asks them to search out and alert him to the child’s whereabouts so that he might join them in worshiping this king (2:7–8). The reader has some hint that all is not right in Herod’s request, since Matthew has indicated that Herod was disturbed by his original encounter with the wise men. Suspicion of Herod’s motives is confirmed by a warning to the wise men in a dream not to return to Herod (2:12a). Instead, after the star leads them to Jesus, they give gifts and worship him (their purpose in coming, 2:11; cf. 2:2); then they return home (2:12b).
2:13–15. Though the wise men have not told Herod the child’s exact location, Jesus is still in danger. Once again, an angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream (2:13; cf. 1:20), this time warning him to take Jesus and Mary to Egypt to avoid the reach of Herod. Joseph again obeys the Lord’s command, and he takes his family to Egypt (2:14). Matthew comments on the flight to Egypt with another OT quotation (2:15; citing Hs 11:1).
2:16–18. The narrative continues with Herod reacting to the news that the wise men have outwitted him (2:16). Herod orders all boys two years and under in the environs of Bethlehem to be killed. Matthew then cites Jr 31:15, which connects Rachel to Bethlehem on the story level (she was buried in Bethlehem according to Gn 35:19) and speaks of her mourning for her lost children (2:17–18). On the discourse level, we again hear echoes of exile and restoration, since Jr 31 is a chapter that explicitly promises Israel’s restoration from exile (e.g., Jr 31:10, 16–17). By drawing on Jewish biblical hopes, Matthew once again intimates that Jesus is the long-awaited restorer of Israel.
2:19–23a. The author concludes the birth story of Jesus by narrating the return of Jesus and his family to “the land of Israel” (used twice; 2:20–21), and specifically to Nazareth in Galilee, after Herod’s death (4 BC; 2:22–23). Once again, the Lord’s guidance comes to Joseph through an angel in a dream, instructing him to return to Israel and then warning him about Herod’s son Archelaus, now ruling in Judea (2:19–20, 22). Joseph obeys, as he has at each instance of divine guidance (1:24; 2:14, 21–22). For Matthew, Jesus’s return to the land mirrors Israel’s return from Egypt (Ex 14:1–15:27; Hs 11:1) and begins Israel’s return from their present exile (Mt 1:11–12; 2:5–6, 15, 17–18).
2:23b. The last fulfillment formula of Mt 2 comes at the final moment of the birth narrative. Joseph settles in Nazareth “to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene [Gk Nazōraios]” (2:23). The interpretive difficulty at 2:23 is that this declaration cannot be found in the OT or elsewhere. It is most likely that Matthew is relying here on a wordplay rather than a full quotation (intending the reader to connect Nazōraios to the location, Nazareth, in the previous line). Likely, Nazōraios plays on the Hebrew word netser (“branch”), which occurs in Is 11:1 and refers to a son of Jesse (David’s father; cf. 1 Sm 16): “a branch from [Jesse’s] roots will bear fruit.” The term netser was used to evoke messianic hopes in other Jewish writings of Matthew’s day. Thus Matthew concludes the story of Jesus’s birth just as he began it (1:1), by emphasizing Jesus as Messiah, Son of David, the hope of Israel’s restoration.