2.1 The Visit of the Wise Men
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea,
in the time of King Herod,
wise men from the East came to Jerusalem saying,
“Where is the one who is born king of the Jews?
For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
When King Herod heard this he was alarmed, and all Jerusalem with him.
After assembling all the chief priests and experts in the law,
he asked them where the Christ was to be born.
“In Bethlehem of Judea,” they said, “for it is written this way by the prophet:
‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are in no way least among the rulers of Judah,
for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
Then Herod privately summoned the wise men
and determined from them when the star had appeared.
He sent them to Bethlehem and said,
“Go and look carefully for the child.
When you find him, inform me so that I can go and worship him as well.”
After listening to the king they left,
and once again the star they saw when it rose led them
until it stopped above the place where the child was.
When they saw the star they shouted joyfully.
As they came into the house and saw the child with Mary his mother,
they bowed down and worshiped him.
They opened their treasure boxes
and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
After being warned in a dream not to return to Herod,
they went back by another route to their own country.
2.2. The Escape to Egypt
After they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said,
“Get up, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you,
for Herod is going to look for the child to kill him.”
Then he got up, took the child and his mother during the night, and went to Egypt.
He stayed there until Herod died.
In this way what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet was fulfilled:
“I called my Son out of Egypt.”
When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he became enraged.
He sent men to kill all the children in Bethlehem
and throughout the surrounding region from the age of two and under,
according to the time he had learned from the wise men.
Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled:
18 “A voice was heard in Ramah,
weeping and loud wailing,
Rachel weeping for her children,
and she did not want to be comforted, because they were gone.”
2.3 The Return to Nazareth
After Herod had died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt saying,
“Get up, take the child and his mother,
and go to the land of Israel,
for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.”
So he got up and took the child and his mother and returned to the land of Israel.
But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea
in place of his father Herod,
he was afraid to go there.
After being warned in a dream, he went to the regions of Galilee.
He came to a town called Nazareth and lived there.
Then what had been spoken by the prophets was fulfilled,
that Jesus would be called a Nazarene.
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Commentary:
First, let's find out a little about Herod's son Archelaus, via a quick A.I. summary:
"Herod Archelaus was the son of Herod the Great and his wife Malthace, a Samaritan woman. Following his father's death in 4 BC, Archelaus was appointed ethnarch (ruler of the people) over Judea, Samaria, and Idumea, rather than king, as confirmed by Roman Emperor Augustus.
"His reign was marked by harsh and tyrannical governance, including the brutal suppression of a Passover uprising that resulted in thousands of deaths. Due to widespread complaints about his cruelty and mismanagement, Archelaus was deposed by Augustus in AD 6 and exiled to Vienne in Gaul, after which Judea came under direct Roman administration.
"In the biblical narrative, Archelaus is significant because his rule caused Joseph to fear returning to Judea with the infant Jesus after their time in Egypt.
"Instead, Joseph was warned in a dream to settle in Galilee, specifically in Nazareth, fulfilling prophecy (Matthew 2:22-23)."
Though this is A.I. it does correlate with the history of Herod that I've learned from old fashioned history books. Hence, it seems Joseph did the right thing by avoiding the part of Judea that was under his rule.
As for Jospeh's dreams, that had long been held as a valid means of receiving revelation in the mid-east until the current day. So why did God use dreams instead of a messenger angel? Unknown, the text does not tell us. But we can assume that these instructions were short and to the point, and a dream was more than a good enough way to communicate these instructions.
Of course those of us living in the 21st century would like these things to be more "verifiable" scientifically speaking, but God is obviously not interested in satisfying the curiosity of the scientifically minded individual. If you don't wish to believe these narrative details, you are free to doubt them.
However, the mention of the historically accurate names of Herod and Archelaus, along with their titles and time of rule, show conclusively that the writers of the gospels were doing their best to show that the story of Jesus is rooted in actual history, with real life villians, culture, and locations. They were not trying to write a fairy-tale, but a real life account of the man/God that they knew, as he entered real history. We obviously cannot independently verify every single word and event in the Gospels, but the writers of these narratives give us more than enough information for us to easily believe they were writing about an actual person in time, and not a figment of their imaginations.
Yet the main thing about the virgin birth narrative and the dream instructions is to show that God was ultimately in charge of this project, and Joseph and Mary were his servants in this endeavor. They were extremely important servants, but servants none-the-less. But they were not picked to serve men, but God himself. And it's very obvious that God was taking a very peculiar interest in the birth and welfare of this Son of Man.
The main take-away for those of us in the modern age to pay attention to is the fact that Jesus was set apart by God as an infant, and his life was God's number one priority. After all, Jesus is the means of salvation for the whole world.
- Pseudo Boethius
