Matthew 2

There is a lot happening here in chapter two and I think it is worth taking the chapter as a whole instead of focusing on a few verses. In chapter two alone Jesus fulfills four Old Testament prophecies. Verses 6, 15, 18, 23 are prophecies fulfilled from the following references, Micah 5:2, Hosea 11:1, Jeremiah 31:15. Matthew 2:23 there is no specific old testament verse that carries the word Nazarene but some scholars think Matthew is making a reference to Jesus as someone who is despised and rejected since those people were looked down upon and that reference would be found in Isaiah 53:1-3 where the Messiah is said to be despised and rejected.

 

One of the biggest things to notice here in chapter two is the parallel this chapter has to the beginning of the Exodus story. When Israel was a slave to Egypt, Pharaoh commanded that all male babies born to the Hebrew women be put to death (Exodus 1:16). The parallel is that Moses was one of those babies that escaped and was eventually raised in the house of Pharaoh who eventually became the one to set the people of Israel free from their captivity in Egypt. Moses became the deliverer; he was the mediator between God and the Israelites. Even though Moses was a good leader he was not a perfect one. He was not allowed to go into the promised land even though he was the one who led them there.

 

What we see is that Moses was a foreshadow of another who would come, which is what we see in Matthew 2. Jesus goes through a similar situation in which His life was being sought to be killed. But God protected Jesus' life. That is because Jesus was to become the greater Moses. This passage is mighty important because Moses delivered the people out of Egypt, but Moses was unable to wipe their sin away. Jesus on the other hand was born into the world, to be able to grow into the savior of His people. Jesus would deliver His people not from physical Egypt but would deliver them from a spiritual Egypt which is much greater. He would deliver His people from a life of bondage of sin, being slaves of sin, to become slaves to Christ. Jesus would be the deliverer, who would deliver them from the wrath of God and a life of sin to the land where we would be united to Him and live with Him forever.

 

The very sad thing is, that his own people rejected him. The chief priests and scribes were indifferent toward the newborn Messiah, instead of rejoicing because salvation was at hand, they were the very ones who did not stop the murders of babies because they wanted Jesus dead. But even though His own people rejected Him, Jesus coming to the world as we know it transcended the Jews and reached the Gentiles. Even though Christmas has passed, the birth of Jesus still is a foundational doctrine that we hold to because if Jesus would not have been born, where would you and I be today? We ought to be thankful Jesus left His throne to be born, so that you and I could be saved from our spiritual Egypt.