The previous chapter has shown us that the One of whom it speaks was everything that their own Scriptures could lead a Jew to expect. He was at once the Son of Abraham, the Son of David, Jehovah the Saviour, and Emmanuel Himself.
In the chapter before us we get the effect of His presentation to man. Three classes are before us. The Roman king, the chief priests and scribes of the Jews, and the wise men from the East. The effect of His coming, in each, is not a little remarkable. With the Jew, there was calm, stolid indifference; with the king, outrageous cruelty; with the wise men, unfeigned adoration. And surely, in the spontaneous outburst of joy that came from them, one can discern that God was about to glorify His Son by means of the Gentiles, when the Jews would not “have this man to reign over them;” (see Isa. 49:1.6).
Bethlehem was the scene of His birth. It had been the place that witnessed the death of Rachel; where the Son of the mother’s sorrow (Benoni) became the Son of the Father’s right hand (Benjamin)—Gen. 35:16-20. —a beautiful figure of Him whose death caused a sword to pierce through His mother’s soul (Luke 2:35); but who, in resurrection, took His place at His Father’s right hand (Mark 16:19). Bethlehem, too, was the abode of Boaz (“in him is strength”), a manifest type of the One who becomes, through redemption, the Husband of the friendless one who comes up from among the Gentiles—Israel returning from her banishment (Isa. 54:5). All was quiet at Jerusalem when the wise men came from the East to inquire, “Where is he whose star we have seen in the East?” And here we have a manifest allusion to Num. 24:17— “I shall see him, but not now; I shall behold him, but not nigh. There shall come a star out of Jacob, and a scepter shall arise out of Israel,” &c., &c. Balaam was from the East (23:7); God had preserved His prophecy; long had “wisdom’s children” waited for the star; and now, at length, it had come to gladden the hearts of those who, taught of God, were ready to receive it. What brought joy to them, however, was a source of much trouble to Herod, who trembled for his throne; and the first thought in his mind is— “How can I destroy the child that is to dispossess me?” He refers, therefore, at once, to the religious rulers whose Scriptures, he knew, could give the necessary information. Mic. 5:2 is the passage they refer to; which tells not merely of His birthplace, but His kingdom. Herod, then, calls the wise men again; and, with the utmost subtlety, tells them to go and find the Child, under the pretense that he might come and worship Him also. And now they have a fresh instance of God’s attention to them—for the very same star that they had seen in the East, suddenly re-appears, and directs them to the actual place where the young Child is. And now, with unfeigned thanksgiving,—the Babe being the one object of their adoration,—they fall down and worship Him, and accompany their praises with gifts of the most costly kind: a beautiful figure to us of how “the kings of Tarshish and of the Isles shall bring presents; the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts: yea, all kings shall fall down before him” (Psa. 72:10-11; compare also 1 Kings 10; Isa. 9:1-9); and also an example of how, in true worship, we lose sight of everything but Christ.
And now God, in His protecting care, warns them to depart to their own country by another way, to escape the fury of Herod. Their mission is ended, and they return home satisfied, for they have been in company with Him who alone can give perfect satisfaction. And surely, before we go further, we may well pause a moment to wonder at the number of instruments God uses to accomplish His purpose. The Star (and compare with this Josh. 10:12-14; 2 Kings 20:8-11, showing how God commands creation in a moment): the angel, the dreams, and Joseph and the wise men. And no wonder; for the object of His interest was His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. Joseph then is warned in a dream of the danger that awaits the child, and in simple obedience to the Word of God departs into Egypt, where he remains till Herod’s death; and his faith is worthy of the highest praise (comp. ch. 1:24). All this, however, is but the accomplishment of the counsels of God. It has ever been so. He who said to the sea, “Hitherto shalt thou come but no further, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed” (Job 38:11), only uses the rage of Satan to fulfill His own purposes. John was sent to Patmos that God might teach him the Revelation; the thief’s legs were broken that he might be that day with Jesus in Paradise; Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the children of Israel, were gathered together against Jesus to do whatsoever God’s hand and God’s counsel had determined before to be done (Acts 4:27-28); and so here God had determined inasmuch as Israel had failed so signally to retain her place as God’s witness in the world to recommence her history in the person of His Son, and therefore permits Herod’s rage to be the cause of His banishment. A famine had in old time been the cause of Israel’s descent to Egypt; persecution now sends the true Son and Firstborn of the Father (Ex. 9:22, Matt. 3:17, Col. 1:15) to the same place. And thus the prophecy of Hos. 11:1, has its full accomplishment in Him. We see now the twofold character of evil developed in Herod—corruption and violence. Such were found in Satan at the time of his fall (Ezek. 28:16-17), and such has ever been found in those who have listened to his enticements.
Corruption we read of in Eve, violence in Cain; in Gen. 6:11, “the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.” All through the book of God we find the same, until in the Revelation the beast expresses violence, while the woman expresses corruption. Herod had tried in vain to destroy the child by subtlety, he now equally fails by violence. Twice in figure in Scripture this scene is brought before us, once when Pharaoh (Ex. 1) commanded all the male children to be destroyed; and again when the great red dragon (Rev. 12) Satan, in figure urging on the Roman power, stands before the woman (the Jewish nation) ready to devour her child as soon as born. And thus Jeremiah’s prophecy is fulfilled (c. 31:15); and it is worthy of remark that this slaughter takes place, according to Jeremiah, immediately previous to the establishing of the new covenant in the hearts of the people. We know, however, that owing to the rejection of their Messiah this has not yet been accomplished.
Ver. 19. Christ now enters the land of Israel again. He does not, however, revisit Bethlehem, but rejected of man, goes aside to the poor of the flock that dwelt in despised Galilee (“Thou art a Galilean” Mark 14:70; “Out of Galilee ariseth no prophet” John 7:52); in fulfillment, however, of the prophecy of Isaiah (9:1-2) that the people who walked in darkness should see a great light. And more than this, that by d welling at the city of Nazareth (“separated,” “sanctified”) he might fulfill the general teaching of the Scriptures which had foretold, by means of figures if not in actual words, that He should be the “separated” one. See Num. 6:1-21; Judg. 13:5; 1 Sam. 1:11. And now we pause for twenty-eight years, until the ministry of John the Baptist commences.