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by John MacArthur
Scripture:
Matthew 2:16-23
We're examining verses 13 to 23 in our continuing study of the Book of Matthew. Let me
back up and get a running start at this text. The central theme of all Old
Testament prophecy is the coming King, the coming King who will rule in God's
promised kingdom. If there is one major emphasis of all Old Testament prophecy
it is that God is going to set up His rule, God is going to have a kingdom like
no other kingdom has ever been, and there will be a very special individual who
will be the King in that kingdom, and that individual of course is none other
than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. That's the theme of Old Testament prophecy.
Over and over again the Old Testament promises that there is One who is to come, One who has the character, One who has the wisdom, One who has the power needed
to bruise the usurpers head, as it says in Genesis 3:15. One who is capable of
taking back man's lost dominion and setting up the kingdom of God on earth and
throughout eternity, and this One, this specially Anointed One, the Messiah, the
Anointed, the King. That is the message of the Old Testament prophets.
The first very clear word of this is Genesis 49:10 so that you have it all the
way back in the first Book of the Bible, "The scepter shall not depart from
Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come;" Shiloh in the
Hebrew means the one to whom it belongs. Clear back in Genesis 49:10 then you
have a statement that the scepter will not depart from Judah, until the One to
whom it belongs arrives, a promise of the coming King. That's the heart of Old
Testament prophecy.
It comes into crystallization in what we commonly call the Davidic promise,
where God made a wonderful promise to David in Second Samuel 7 and verse 16,
"And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee; thy
throne shall be established forever." And in that promise God articulated to
David and to those who would come from David's line, and to all of His people
throughout all history that there was coming an eternal kingdom, and on that
eternal throne would reign One who had the right to rule, the One who's right it
was, the One to whom it belongs.
In Psalm 2, the psalmist speaks of this King. It says, "Why do the nations rage,
and the peoples imagine a vain thing? The kings of earth set themselves, and the
rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed." And
that's a reference to their reaction to Christ. Verse 6, "Yet have I set my king
upon my holy hill of Zion. Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for thine
inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Serve the
LORD with fear, rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you
perish from the way." So God says there will come a King, the King will br...will
bring about some antagonism from the rest of the kings of the earth, nonetheless
He will be established and He will become the crucial point which determines
eternal destiny. That is the prophetic hope of the Old Testament, this Anointed
One who is to come. Psalm 45 talks about Him, Psalm 72 talks about Him in
particular and other places in other Psalms as well as other prophets. He then
is the One who fulfills the great promises of the kingdom, He is the Anointed,
the great Monarch.
The prophets talk much of Him, Isaiah for example says, "the government will
rest upon his shoulder." Isaiah 9:6. Zechariah says, "He comes unto thee, having
salvation." Zechariah 9:9. The prophets talk about the fact that He will be a
King and He will be a saving King. They tell us a lot about Him personally, and
in fact we can divide their comments into the two parts that make up the nature
of Christ.
First for example, Isaiah sees Him reigning in righteousness, and in Isaiah 32:1
and 2 he calls Him a man, a man. Daniel is given a vision of the coming kingdom
and he describes the King's appearance as "like unto the Son of man," Daniel 7.
His experiences are the experiences according to Isaiah 53 of a man, He
suffers, He is wounded, He is bruised, He is grieved, those are things that a
man would endure. And the Psalmist says, "He will be taken out of the womb, and
he will be fed at his mothers breasts." So whoever the King is, this great
prophetic hope, He will be a man, a human King.
But, on the other hand the prophets also tell us that He will be more than a
man. Isaiah calls Him Immanuel, in Isaiah 7:14, which means God with us. In
Isaiah 9:6 he calls Him the mighty God. In the future kingdom as Zephaniah looks
at it, the kingdom is called, or rather, "The nation is called onto shout and to
sing, because says Zephaniah "The King of Israel," watch this, "even Jehovah, is
in the midst of thee." Zephaniah 3:15. More than a man, He is as well Jehovah
God. Zechariah looks at the kingdom and sees the nations who are called, quote,
"To worship the King who's name is the Lord of hosts." That's Zechariah 14:16
and 17. So, the prophets tell us of a King, from
Genesis right on through to Malachi, they tell us of a King, and they tell us of
a King who is a man, and a King who is God, the God man.
And of course Micah tells us, "His going forth has been from of old, from
everlasting." He is eternal. David calls Him, Psalm 24, "The king of glory." The
eternal glorious King who became the God man.He is the One prophesied in the Old
Testament. In fact as I noted last time for you there are probably three hundred
and thirty two specific prophecies fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ, so that
every facet of His life is covered in the Old Testament prophecies and the
prophets of course, according to First Peter chapter 1, you might look at it for
a moment. As they wrote these things really didn't understand the full import.
They knew they were writing of One who would come but they weren't sure just
exactly all the details, and so in First Peter 1:9 it talks about the salvation
of out souls, "Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched
diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come to you." In other
words, even though they prophesied this saving King, they looked into their
prophecies to gain a full understanding of what it was that they meant by what
they said. Verse 11, "Searching what, (person, literally or) what manner of time
the Spirit of Christ who was in them did signify, when he testified beforehand
the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow." They were given
prophecies but they looked at them and they searched them out to try to
understand who and when, would fulfill these tremendous prophecies. So the Old
Testament presents to us a King, and not just a King but a human King, and not
just a human King but a divine King, Jehovah God, King incarnate.
And the wonder of the New Testament and the wonder of the Gospels in particular,
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John is that they call together the answer to many of
these prophecies, and they focus them right on the person of Jesus Christ like
some divine spotlight, and He becomes the only One who can fulfill these
prophecies. All the impostors are unmasked by their inability to fit the
picture, and Jesus Christ is solidified as the One who was prophesied because in
every part He fits what the prophets said. From Matthew which begins the New
Testament, from the very first chapter of Matthew, from the very first verse of
Matthew the royal genealogy of the King is presented, all the way through to
Revelation, and when you get to the Book of Revelation it ends with the King of
Kings reigning in His glory. The New Testament from the beginning of Matthew to
the end of Revelation is intended to present to us the One who fulfilled the
predictions of the King, the One who is the King.
The term for example, the term for kingdom in the New Testament is the Greek
word basileia, the term for kingdom is used one hundred and forty four times in
the New Testament to speak of the reign of Jesus Christ, the reign of Jehovah
God. One hundred and forty four times it talks about His kingdom. The term for
King, basileus, in a form of the term for kingdom obviously, is used one hundred
and fifteen times in the New Testament, and at least 35 of those times in direct
reference to Jesus Christ. And the verb form basileuo, a verb meaning to reign
is used in reference to Christ ten times. One hundred and eighty nine times at
least in the New Testament Jesus Christ is associated with the kingdom that God
promised in the prophets that He would bring. And that is a great and vast use
of terminology for the New Testament, and it helps us to see that the New
Testament is indeed emphasizing the fact that He is a King.
In John 18, look for a moment with me at John 18 before we go back to Matthew.
In John 18, Jesus is confronted by Pilate, the Jews are endeavoring to bring
Jesus to execution because they are offended at His approach to religion, which
is internal rather than external, and He has unmasked them enough times to anger
the leaders, and the leaders insight the people to bring Him to death, and
finally He confronts Pilate verse 33, "Then Pilate entered the judgment hall
again, called Jesus, said to him," and here's the key question, "Art thou the
King of the Jews?" Now this seemed to be the crux of Jesus' message, this seemed
to be the major issue that the Jews had centered upon, and in fact as I have
just said, it was. The Old Testament presented a King to come, the New Testament
focuses on this conceptof His kingdom and that was the issue when He was on the
earth. "Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others
tell it thee of me?" Now let's see what's going on here. In verse 33, thou
there, at the end of the verse, "Art thou the King of the Jews?" Is emphatic in
the Greek, and perhaps a good way to translate that is this, You, are you the
King of the Jews? He took a look at Jesus Christ, who looked at best as a man
abused, rejected, denied, hated, who looked like anything but a monarch,
anything but a King, a victim, a captured criminal, and he said, you, are you
the King of the Jews? And the implication is how utterly ridiculous, this is
ridiculous. And so Jesus said in verse 34, Is this your idea or did somebody
tell you this about me? Is this your charge Pilate, or are you an errand boy for
somebody else? It's really a, a very hard statement. Are you just running an
errand for the angry Jewish people or do you stand on your own two feet? Well
the answer would come pretty soon, wouldn't it?
Well Pilate said this in verse 35, "Am I a Jew?" Are you kiddin' me, do you
think I want to line up with people who say you're their King? "Your own nation
and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me. What have you done?" First of
all he says, am I a Jew, do you think we Romans are dumb enough to pick somebody
like you to be our King? Are you kiddin' me? Your own chief priests did this. We
have no complaint about you, we don't see you as a King, what did you do?
That'll show you a little bit of the illegality of the execution of Jesus when
the Roman governor had absolutely no charge against Him. "Jesus answered, My
kingdom is not of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, then would my
servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now is my
kingdom not from here." Jesus says, you know I'm a King, I am a King but my
kingdom is not like yours, and it's not like any other in this earth, it is not
a kingdom in any sense like you understand, it is not an earthly kingdom at all,
my kingdom is not of this world, this kosmos, this system, it's not part of
Satan's system, it's not part of man's system. And Pilate, "says unto him," in
verse 37, "Art thou a king then?" And the idea is if you're not a King the way
we know kings, what kind of King are you?
And then comes this answer, "Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To
this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world." Stop right
there. He says, you said it, and you're dead right, this is why I was born.
Christ says, I was born a King. And that is exactly what Matthew wants you and I
to understand. Now go back to Matthew chapter 2. And the whole reason for
Matthew 1 and 2 is to vindicate those very words of Jesus, "that I am a king. To
this end was I born." And they, at least of the Jewish people should well have
known by the events of His birth that in fact He was a King. Even from the
beginning it was evident, it was evidentin His genealogy in chapter 1, it was
evident in the virgin birth which by-passed the curse, it was evident in the
adoration of the Persian king makers, who saw Him as the monarch that He was, it
was evident in the antagonism of Herod, who as a king would only have been
threatened by another King and thus back door, backhandedly does Herod
acknowledge Jesus as King by his fear of Him taking his own throne. The first
two chapters of Matthew are to solidify that He was born a King.
Now the final way in which Matthew does this is by drawing out of the prophetic
word, drawing out of the Old Testamentage four prophecies that point to the
King, and showing how Christ fulfills each one. The King fulfills prophecy, four
prophecies showing that Jesus is the King, four drawn from the past that are
fulfilled in Him. And they're most interesting, they are connected each one with
a geographical location, Bethlehem, Egypt, Ramah and Nazareth. They are a
literary unit appearing in the second chapter, there is a method to what Matthew
is saying here as he pulls these four prophecies together. And it's always been
amazing to me as I've studied these four, how that it would be impossible,
humanly speaking for a person's birth to have involved Bethlehem, Egypt, Ramah
and Nazareth. I mean that in itself, a person is born in one spot and that's
usually it, but to have rotated the four different locations in significance or
to have had at least significant events in four places all attendant to your
birth compounds the situation so that chance is eliminated. Whoever it is that
can fulfill these four, Matthew is saying, is worthy to be crowned the King.
Prophecy tells us He is a King.
Now last time we discussed number one, and the first one was in verses 4 to 6 of
chapter 2, the birth at Bethlehem. And in chapter 2 verse 4 Herod "gathered the
chief priests and the scribes, demanded of them where the Christ should be born.
They said to him, In Bethlehem of Judaea; for thus it is written by the
prophet." And then Matthew adds what the prophet said with some of his own words
under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It says, "And thou Bethlehem, in the
land of Judah, art not the least among the princes of Judah; for out of thee
shall come a Governor that shall shepherd my people, Israel." The first prophecy
was that of Micah 5:2, that the Christ would be born in Bethlehem. That was the
first one that should have pointed them to the fact that this was the King.
The second one we saw in verses 13 to15, didn't we? And we called it, the exodus
to Egypt, the birth at Bethlehem, the exodus to Egypt. And you'll remember what
happened, "When they were departed (verse 13) an angel of the Lord" that is
after the wise men had departed being warned by God, the angel "appeared to
Joseph, said, Arise, take the young child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and be
there until I bring thee word; for Herod will seek the young child to destroy
him. When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and
departed into Egypt: And was there until the death of Herod, that it might be
fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet." And that was Hosea
chapter 11 verse I saying, "Out of Egypt have I called my son." And so Christ
fulfills the second element, He was called out of Egypt, as well as born at
Bethlehem. And we saw the beautiful typology in comparing Israel as God's son in
Hosea, with the Lord Jesus Christ as God's Son in Matthew.
Now that brings us to the third prophecy, and where we want to start for our
study tonight, and we're calling that the ravaging of Ramah, the ravaging of
Ramah. The birth at Bethlehem, the exodus from Egypt, the ravaging of Ramah.
Verses 16 to 18. This is not an easy passage to relate to the prophecy so I want
you to think clearly with me as we go.
Now remember, Jesus was born in no doubt a stable, a cave in the side of a hill
in Bethlehem, by the time the wise men arrived He had grown to be several months
old, they fled into Egypt and stayed there for some months, and then the angel
told them they could go back. In all probability after Herod was dead there
would be very little time wasted, and they would begin to move back. But that
was not yet to be, because something is here in an interlude. Before they return
we go back to the land of Israel, and this is what we find happening, verse 16,
"Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked by the wise men," and by the way,
the word mocked, empaizōin the Greek means to mock usually, but because of a use
of it in the Septuagint in Jeremiah 15:10 it is used there to trick, it also has
the implication of tricking somebody, not just mocking but mocking them by
trickery, and that is what Herod assumed that the Magi had done to him, they had
tricked him by going back another way and so when he saw that he was mocked or
tricked by the wise men, the Magi, "was exceedingly angry, and sent forth, and
slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all its borders, from two
years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of
the wise men."
Now you'll remember earlier in the narrative in verse 7, Herod had inquired
diligently of the wise men at what time the Christ was born, what time the King
was born. Not because he wanted the information to validate the King, but
because he wanted to kill the King and he wanted to determine the age, and so he
asked that question. And here it tells us that when he found that information
out, he set about to kill all the children from two years old and under because
that was within the time range that the wise men had told him.
Now let's look at verse 16 and just take it a little at a time and help you to
understand. Herod of course by this time if you've been with us you know what a
horrible, cruel, unbelievable man he was slaughtering people all through his
reign as ah, an Edomite king of Israel. But here it says, he was tricked by the
wise men and -- he became exceedingly angry, this is the Greek word thumoōit's a
very strong word, it literally means violent rage, violent rage he literally
went into a rage. He became enraged. Interesting I think if I recall correctly
it's a passive form, in other words he was out of control, he was not
voluntarily doing it, it was being done to him, he was way out of control with
his anger. And it actually blinded his sense, I mean if he had any sense at all
he would have figured this, he would have said, well if the wise men, the Magi
were smart enough not to come back they were probably also smart enough to have
warned the family that had the baby, right? And the family that had the baby
would have fled. If he'd have used his head he'd of thought along those lines,
if they tricked me they certainly would have warned that family. If they mocked
me they certainly would have taken care of that.But his rageblinds him, and he
doesn't even think about that and he orders the massacre of every baby boy in
the area. And he sent his soldiers into murder them all. And no doubt you can
imagine the bands of soldiers going from house to house, and chasing fleeing
mothers who clutched to their breasts their little ones, and seeing the soldiers
then rip the baby out of the mothers' arms and with their sword pierce its heart
until it was dead. That's what went on in Bethlehem, because of the rage of this
man.
Now it says not only Bethlehem but in all its borders, surrounding areas. And
you'll note also that from two years old and under. It's, it's most interesting
to me that uhm, Herod never bothered with whether this was the true King, it
could have well been the true King if he'd have thought about it he
probably...he may have even thought it was because the prophets had said He
would be born in Bethlehem. And I really believe that he realized in his mind,
this is probably the real thing and I gotta get rid of Him. And so he set about
to execute the real King of Israel, the real Messiah King.
And so he slew, it says, all two years old and under ah, that's interesting why
he did that because I'm convinced that the baby would not be much ... well maybe
at the most about six months old at this time, why would he extend it to two
years? Some commentators believe that ah, any baby that had passed its first
birthday would be constituted a two year old but when a baby became thirteen
months old it was thought of as two year old, it was working in its second year,
and so that he was really just bringing it all the way down to that level.
Others say no, it means two years old and what he was trying to do was make sure
that in case the Magi were wrong or miscalculated or maybe in case they tied to
trick him a little bit themselves the first time through, he was going to get
everybody who was with all -- in any sense or in any way in proximity, and so he
went all the way to two years. Whatever it was he felt in his mind that if he
slaughtered all the baby boys under two years he'd get the one that he wanted to
get.
Well, we don't need to talk about how wicked it is, it's obvious, it's
inconceivable that a man would do this. More inconceivable when you realize that
he probably felt this was the Christ, this was the Messiah, this was the King.
What an evil, vile, incredibly heinous crime. And the wicked deed of course was,
was what I think we might call the beginning of sorrows, for Israel as they
reject their King, this was just the beginning. I feel Matthew wants us to see
that as the very beginning of the Messiah's life takes place there is rejection
that results in death right from the start, unbelief, wickedness, calamity,
tragedy.
And by the way beloved, if you think that slaughter at Bethlehem was something,
listen, that was absolutely nothing, that was nothing compared to the disaster
that came in 70 A.D. when one million, one hundred thousand Jews were
slaughtered by the armies of Titus. This was just the beginning, and I'll tell
ya somethin' else, those two things are nothing compared to what will happen in
the great tribulation when the false messiah, a greater far than Herod ever
dreamed of being will come and shed far more of Israel's blood than has ever
been shed. This was just the beginning, just a start.
You say, well why is this included here? Because it fulfilled prophecy, look at
verse 17, in the death of those babies, "Then was fulfilled that which was
spoken by Jeremiah, the prophet, saying, In Ramah was there a voice heard,
lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children,
and would not be comforted, because they are not." That is they no longer exist,
they're dead, they're gone.
Now, I want you to stick with me on this, so that you'll understand it. Matthew
says, this was done to fulfill prophecy. This is the only one of the Gospels
that refers to this incident, and that's interesting. But it fits Matthew's
theme of fulfilled prophecy at the birth of Christ to establish that He was the
King.
Now what were the circumstances under which this prophecy was uttered? And for
that you must turn to Jeremiah 31:15, and this is fascinating. Jeremiah 31:15,
we've already learned in the first two prophecies that sometimes New Testament
writers really surprise us by the way they use the Old Testament. Sometimes we
just don't understand that kind of use and we have to broaden our thinking a
little; and I want you to see what happens here. The prophecy is in Jeremiah
31:15 and what's interesting about it is it doesn't appear here to be a
prophecy. It is a prophecy; now watch, because Matthew said it was not because
it's inherent in this text. Jeremiah 31:15, "This saith the LORD, A voice was
heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rachel, weeping for her
children, refused to be comforted for her children, because they are not." Now
there is the text, there is the prophecy.
Now let's talk about the setting so we'll understand it and how it applies. The
prophesying of Jeremiah was maybe the most tragic prophesying of all, in
Israel's history because he uttered the doom of a dying nation. His was kind of
like the Swan Song, and he uttered it with tears, and he knew that nobody would
listen and nobody would repent and the captivity was really inevitable. And so
Jeremiah pronounced doom.
And later on there was coming one greater than Jeremiah who again would utter
the same doom for the same nation, and He would also do it with tears. And one
day He sat over Jerusalem and the Bible says that He said, "O Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, how oft I would have gathered thee, as a hen gathereth her brood, but
you would not! Thou that killest the the prophets, stonest them that are sent
unto you." And the Bible tells us that He wept. And so Jeremiah sits in, in view
of a people that are doomed and weeps, and Jesus sits and views a people that
are doomed and weeps.
Now, stay with me and we'll see how this all comes together, don't leave me now.
Even in Jeremiah's prophecy there is great hope, believe it or not, in fact this
is most interesting, from Jeremiah chapter 30 to Jeremiah chapter 35 or rather
33, 30 to 33 there are four chapters in the heart of this Book that are filled
with hope and joy and comfort. Jeremiah is talking about doom and the Babylonian
captivity came not long after and took 'em all away and there was a terrible
tragedy, but in the middle of this doom there is great comfort and great hope in
chapters 30 to 33, so notice this, this statement about weeping and lamentation
and the children and all of that is right in the middle of the hope, right in
the middle of the comfort, right in the middle of the joy section. Why? Because
even though there's weeping, and even though there's lamentation, and eventhough
there's crying, these chapters look ahead to the coming Messiah, these chapters
look ahead to One that is going to come and make it right. There's going to be a
change, in fact look at Jeremiah 31:16 the very next verse to the prophecy,
"Thus saith the LORD, Restrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from
tears; for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the LORD, and they shall come again
from the land of the enemy. And there is hope in thine end, saith the LORD, that
thy children shall come again to their own border." In other words, God says to
Jeremiah, it's a sad day and there's doom and you have a right to weep, but
refrain from weeping any longer because I'll redeem them back. And He did,
didn't He, seventy years later? Seventy years later.
And the same thing is true in the use of the prophecy by Matthew. There is
weeping, there was Rachel weeping for her children, there was wailing, there was
lamentation, because of the tragedy, the destruction, the doom that came on a
nation that rejected its Messiah, but at the same time there was hope because
even then there was a remnant, and one day according to Rev... Romans 11 God is
going to regather that whole nation, isn't He? And He's goin' bring 'em back,
and they're going to see their Messiah and as Zechariah says, they're goin' look
upon Him whom they've pierced and they're going to mourn for Him as an only son,
and there's going to be salvation again in the nation of Israel, and Paul says,
"So all Israel shall be saved." So you can see then that there's a general
parallel, and that's all I'm talking about now, there's a general parallel.
Jeremiah spoke about doom, and the people of Israel wept about the doom, but
Jeremiah said, don't keep weeping because it's going to turn around, it's going
to be salvation.
And the same thing is true of Christ, when Christ came there was weeping because
rejection brought doom, but don't continue to weep because that'll all be turned
around, and there'll be salvation for Israel. That's the parallel. There was
weeping, when the captivity came and the people were scattered, there was
weeping, when the deaths in Jerusalem came, at the very beginning a sign of the
hateful, vengeful rejection of Herod, and a sign of the indifferent rejection of
the chief priests and the scribes and the people. That there was going to be a
price to pay. But the Word of the Lord is that just as there should have been
hope in the hearts of the mothers of Jeremiah's time there should be hope in the
hearts of the mothers of Jesus' time because there was goin' be a turn around.
There's still hope, there's still salvation.
Now, we notice that this whole concept is connected to Ramah and Rachel, and
that's the issue. Look back with me now at Matthew and let's discuss this. Ramah
and Rachel, now this is fascinating. What does Ramah have to do with it? And
what does Rachel have to do with it?
Let's talk about Ramah, Ramah was a city, now notice, five miles north of
Jerusalem, okay? Fiv...not really a city, more like a village.
Now I want you to notice something, now watch, in Israel there were two
kingdoms, the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom, okay? The borderline,
now watch this, the borderline between the two crossed right at Ramah, okay?
Ramah was the border city between the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom,
you can check that out in First Kings 15:17. It was located five miles north of
Jerusalem.
Now Ramah was the place where foreign conquerors ordered the defeated multitude
to be assembled for deportation to far away places. When the conquerors came in
to deport the children of Israel in the captivity Ramah was the deportation
town, and because of its location it became symbolic of the, of the North and
the South, both Kingdoms, it was sort of like Ramah was the only place where
Israel came together. Ramah sort of touched both. Ramah was always associated
with weeping, because it was at Ramah that the deportation into captivity took
place. And so Ramah was a place of weeping.
Now why is Jeremiah talking about Rachel? Well Jeremiah's really drawing a
picture, it isn't that Rachel really went to Ramah necessarily and wept. Rachel
is a symbol of the mothers of Israel, and Ramah is a symbol of the deportation
of the sons and daughters of Israel. And the mothers of Israel are crying
because they see their children taken away. That's the idea, and most
interesting, Rachel, was Jacob's most cherished wife. And Rachel had given birth
to Joseph, and Joseph was the father of Ephraim and Manasseh, and they represent
the Northern Kingdom, in fact the Northern Kingdom is often called Ephraim. So
the Northern Kingdom really, if, if we take that concept is seen as Ephraim, was
the son of Joseph who was the son of Rachel. So that Rachel, from her womb bore
the Northern Kingdom, alright? She bore the Northern Kingdom.
Secondly, Rachel also bore Benjamin, Rachel also bore Benjamin, and Benjamin
went to the South, and is identified with the Southern Kingdom. And so what you
see here is Rachel is a figure, and Jeremiah in Jeremiah 31 sees it as if Rachel
is alive, and he sees Rachel standing at Ramah, and the Northern Kingdom is
deported by Assyria into captivity, and the Southern Kingdom is deported by
Babylon into captivity, and both the North and the South have come from the
loins of Rachel, and so Rachel is weeping as she sees both sides of her family
taken into captivity, she is the symbol of the weeping mothers of the history of
God's people as their sons and daughters are deported. She listens to their
weeping and she herself begins to weep. She mourns bitterly, first she's
deprived of Israel and Ephraim and then of Judah and Benjamin. It was she,
Rachel who in Genesis 30 and verse 1 said, "Give me children or I die." It was
she who of all mothers desperately wanted to be one. And now she stands as it
were, in the middle of those two nations by her seed in one and her seed in the
other and sees them both taken into different captivities, and it tears her up,
and so Jeremiah by the symbol of Rachel standing at Ramah says, Israel is
weeping, because of the captivity of its children. When the population of the
land was carried away it would have seemed as if God had deserted His children,
Rachel's children, as if God had deserted His people. But no sooner had Jeremiah
presented the picture of Rachel weeping then he came right behind it and said,
stop your weeping, because there's coming a restoration, there's coming a
salvation message, they're goin' come back, and they did, and they did. In fact
over in chapter 33 he even talks about the righteous branch, the Lord Jesus
Christ who will be the agent to bring them back, and in the end the sorrow will
be turned to joy in the salvation of the remnant fulfilled in the captivity and
afterwards.
Now listen, Matthew, here's how Matthew comes in, Matthew shows us that the Holy
Spirit also intended this imagery, this picture to reveal the time of the birth
of the Christ. And as Matthew sees the slaughter of Bethlehem's babies, it's as
if he sees Rachel beginning to weep all over again. And so he picks up this
fantastic analogy of Jeremiah, and he sees Rachel weeping for her children. A
nd why Rachel becomes Rachel was like the mother of Israel. And Rachel's tomb,
mark it, was right outside the city of Bethlehem. It's, it's even pointed out to
you today as you take a taxi ride there. And some Bible commentators tell us,
most interesting, the wordRamah meansheight and anyplace in Israel that's a
height is a Ramah. And Bethlehem is a height, and some believe that Bethlehem in
those days was referred to as Ramah, there were many Ramah's incidentally, in
Israel's history many places called height. And some believe that Rachel weeping
at Ramah, as Matthew uses it is because of the proximity of Rachel's tomb to
Bethlehem, and because Bethlehem became known as a Ramah, a height, a high
place. So that that which Jeremiah used as a figure in his Book was nothing more
than a picture of what would happen again when the Messiah came. So Rachel weeps
again, and this time she weeps not because Babylon orAssyria has destroyed her
people but because Herod has, Herod has. And this time it isn't because, it
isn't because of some political foreign power, it's even the King of the very
nation of Israel itself.
But consolation follows, immediately, because even though the King has been
exiled and the slaughter is going on the King is going to come back, isn't He?
From Egypt, and His Gospel will be preached and a remnant will be saved. So
Rachel, you don't need to weep anymore, you can stop. The sorrow of the bereaved
mothers of Bethlehem, babies murdered by Herod, sure it was a sign of the coming
doom, sure it was a sign of the terrible spiritual captivity of Israel that's
still going on today, but in the end there was a destiny and the destiny was
blessing and salvation for the remnant who believe. Those little babies, they
didn't know it but those precious little babies in Bethlehem at that time were
the first casualties in the warfare waged between the kingdoms of this world and
the kingdoms of His Christ, they were the first casualties. But ultimately the
victory would be won, the babies surely, if I read my Bible right, the minute
they died went instantly into the presence of God, who gathers the little ones
in His arms and says, "Forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom." And the
mothers, they could stop weeping because this very One who was now exiled in
Egypt would come back to offer them a salvation that could unite them with their
own babies. How interesting.
The prophet gave us a picture, we didn't understand the picture, you see
beloved, all the Old Testament prophecy we don't really understand. Some of it
we have to wait till the New Testament cracks it open, because remember this,
the coming of Christ is over and overagain called by the Apostle Paul, a what?
Mystery. And it's hidden, and it is the New Testament writer under the
magnificent and equal inspiration of the Holy Spirit who cracks open the
mystery, and we find that what Jeremiah was saying when he didn't evenunderstand
it, when he would have wanted to look into it and search it out and unfold it to
his own mind would never be able to until God sent along Matthew, and inspired
him with the Holy Spirit to give meaningand interpretation to thatverseback
there that enriched it, in a magnificent way and applied it to Christ.
So the King, He has come to Bethlehem as Micah said, He has gone to Egypt as
Hosea said, and He has caused weeping in Ramah by Rachel, the mothers of Israel,
just as Jeremiah said.
Finally, finally in Matthew's magnificent presentation of pictures of the coming
King from the prophets he includes one more, the name of Nazareth, verse 19,
"But when Herod was dead," and by the way, Josephus in his Antiquities, I
thought you might be interested in this, says, he died of this, ulcerated
entrails, putrefied and maggot filled organs, constant convulsions, foul breath,
and neither physicians nor warm baths led to recovery. I would say a rather
fitting end for that kind of a man. Matthew chapter 2 verse 19, "When Herod was
dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt," and
you remember the angel told him to wait until he did, verse 13, he said, now you
go to Egypt, you stay there. And I don't think it was very long after the family
was there that he died. And five days before his own death he murdered his son,
Antipater. Archelaus saw to it that when Herod died he had a tremendous funeral,
he gave him a great big elaborate gorgeous funeral. He took his corpse and wraps
it in purple, put a gold crown on his head, in his hand a scepter, put him in a
solid gold casket if you can believe that, lined it with precious stones and had
five hundred slaves marching with smelly perfume on. Gave him an unbelievable
send off. His place of burial to this day can still be located between Bethlehem
and Jericho.
Now he was dead, the next move the angel came and said, the next place in
fulfilling the prophetic Word is Nazareth, verse 20, "Arise, take the young
child and his mother," and again I point out, every time you have the two
together the child comes first, "go into the land of Israel; for they are dead
who sought the young child's life." Apparently, Herod wasn't the only one, there
were some others involved and the Lord had set them aside also. We don't have
any word about that but it's plural here. You can go back now, they are dead.
Verse 21, "He arose, took the young child and his mother, and came into the land
of Israel."
Now you'll notethat there's no specific place, they just came back to Israel
undoubtedly coming from the direction of Egypt they probably came up through the
south and they would have come to Bethlehem and Jerusalem. Perhaps in their own
thinking that would have been the place to stay, after all they knew the child
was Immanuel, God with us, they knew He was to be the Savior, Jesus for He shall
save His people was his name, they knew He was the Messiah of God, they knew
this because God's angels had told them, and they probably thought Jerusalem is
the place or maybe Bethlehem where He was born in proximity, since He is the
King we better stick around, but that changed very fast, Verse 22, And Joseph it
says, "And when he heard that Archelaus," who is the guy who gave his father
such a send off, "did reign in Judaea in the place of his father, Herod, he was
afraid to go there;" he was afraid to stay in the southern part, the Jerusalem,
Bethlehem area, and in agreement with that, "he was warned of God in a dream,
turned aside into the parts of Galilee."
Now I want you to know why they were afraid. When Herod died, Herod had pretty
well ruled everything, but when he died the kingdom was spread around, a man
named Herod Antipas took over the Galilee area up in the north. Archelaus took
over the Judaea area, both of those incidentally were Herod's sons that weren't
killed obviously, they were less powerful than their father and they weren't
really kings they were more like governors or territorial princes. And so there
was Antipas in the Galilee area of the north, and then there was Archelaus in
the south, and when Joseph heard that Archelaus was in Judaea he was afraid to
settle there and here's why. While Herod was still alive Archelaus had gained
his reputation, Herod had decided that he wanted to take a, a huge big gold
eagle, which was the symbol that the Romans liked, a huge golden eagle and erect
it over the gate of the Jewish temple, okay? Which didn't go over very big to
put it mildly, to the Jews it was an abomination, in fact to them it was a
violation of Exodus 20 verse 4, because it was having other gods, and the reason
they believed that is because the, the, the Romans, mark this, equated the eagle
with Zeus and Jupiter. So the eagle represented one of their gods or two of
their gods, and they were literally putting an idol over the temple.
Well, there were two famous Jewish teachers at this time by the name of Judas
and Matthias, not to be confused with the Bible those are very common names.
Judas and Matthias, these two famous Jewish teachers, experts in the law of God
got their students together and said, are you going to stand for this, are you
going to allow this, are you going to let that guy put that eagle up there in
the temple? And he got the students all stirred up, and of course students are
good for that to get them all stirred up. I always remember William
Wilberforce's book called Revolution For The Hell Of It, where he said some
students came to him and asked him, and he said we've got a group that would
like to revolt do you know a good cause? Students sometimes can be like that.
And so these students were stirred up, and they had a good cause really, they
had their own nationalism, their own religion, and so he stirred them up and
they climbed the temple roof and they started to tear that eagle to pieces with
their axes. They were up there choppin' that thing to pieces. Well, they were
arrested, brought to Herod, to avoid a, a wholesale insurrection he sent them to
Jericho for their trial, they received a mild punishment, the two teachers were
executed.
Now, Herod died and at the following Passover a rebellion broke out in Jerusalem
because of the murder of these two teachers, this is right after ... just before
the time when Jesus comes back from Egypt, this tremendous insurrection because
of the murder of these two great teachers. And Archelaus who was now in control
quelled the revolution by slaughtering three thousand Jews. He just lined them
up and slaughtered them. And most of them, well not most of them, many of them
were pilgrims attending the Passover. So it was an incredible time when Israel's
religious consciousness was so high to move in and just create bloodshed, and
slaughter three thousand, so they hated the man and they feared this Archelaus,
in fact he was so rotten he exceeded his father in re.. been ... being rotten
like some of those Old Testament kings. The Romans even removed him. And you
know one of the guys they replaced him with was a man named Pontius Pilate.
Now that's why Joseph had second thoughts about going to Judaea, and his
thoughts were confirmed because he was warned of God, verse 22 says in a dream,
and turned aside to the parts of Galilee. The angel said, go to Galilee. Then
verse 23, here's the reason, "He came, dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it
might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a
Nazarene."
Now here's the fourth element in the bro... prophecy surrounding his birth to
show He was born a King. He was to go back to Nazareth. By the way, this was
Joseph and Mary's original home, wasn't it? According to Luke 2:4 they were from
Nazareth. They're to return, to live out the prediction of the prophets who aid
He would be a Nazarene.
The term Nazarene, now watch this one, this statement, "He shall be called a
Nazarene." Appears nowhere in the Old Testament, okay? Now look at it again, "To
fulfill that which was, spoken by the prophets," plural, "He shall be called a
Nazarene." Well, if you're lookin' for the prophets who said it you won't find 'em
in the Old Testament. You say, what do you mean? They're not there, we have no
record of it in the Old Testament, we have no record of any prophet ever saying
this. Some people want to connect it up with Isaiah 11:1, where it talks about
Christ being a branch, netserwhich is Hebrew, and they say netserand Nazareth,
it's a bad connection. It really doesn't, doesn't make it for me it's not good
etymology. Besides it...you still gotta deal with the prophets, plural, not just
Isaiah 11:1, it seems so obscure to me that it would never be a connection.
Now, Matthew says the prophets. You say, well how do you explain this? Very
simple, it's very simple to explain. The prophets said this, it just nevergot
written in the New Te...in the Old Testament until now and it finally got
written by Matthew. Well you say, but he says the Old Testament prophets said
it, did they say some things that didn't get written down? I hope this doesn't
shake you up too much, yes.
By the way, there are plenty of things that were said very significantly that
weren't written down in the Old Testament, for example, Jude verse 14, "And
Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord
cometh with ten thousand of his saints." Enoch said that. You wanta know
somethin'? He didn't say it in the -- Old Testament, it isn't there. How do you
know he said it? Because Jude said he said it. How did Jude know? Because Jude
was what? Inspired by the Holy Spirit of God. In Acts chapter 20 and verse 35,
the Apostle Paul said, "Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is
more blessed to give than to receive." Jesus said that Paul said. Wanta know
somethin'? You'll never find Him sayin' it in the Gospels, it never was recorded
until Paul just recorded it.
And by the way, John 21:25 says this, "There are also many other things which
Jesus did, which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the
world itself could not contain the books that should be written." The Old
Testament prophets, the Old Testament patriarchs, Jesus Himself said and did
things that never made it into the Old Testament canon, they are finally brought
in to the revelatory composit by the New Testament writer which makes them no
less authoritative. You know who said that He would be a Nazarene? The prophets
said it. It just didn't get written down until here, but it did get written down
here. But you wanta know what's so beautiful? Matthew doesn't even give a big
explanation, he just says, the prophets said, He shall be called a Nazarene."
Which tells me that it must have been common knowledge that the people knew the
prophets said that about the Messiah. That was common knowledge I believe. Our
Lord, His birth, Bethlehem, ex... exodus into Egypt, ravaging at Ramah, and a
name of Nazareth.
And why Nazareth? Oh, this is interesting. Nazareth is a town fifty-five miles
north of Jerusalem. In an elevated basin which is about one mile by one and a
half miles, elevated just like a beautiful little basin. The people of this
place were rude, violent, crude, uneducated, had a lousy reputation. In fact
even nice, good, wholesome, healthy, righteous godly people like Nathanael
wondered whether anything good could ever come out of there. So it wasn't just
the people who slurred the area, it wasn't just the poor mouths, it wasn't just
the bad mouths, it wasn't the denouncers, even Nathanael saidthat, and by the
way, he was from two or three miles south of Nazareth, in a little village
called Cana. So even from Cana, he being a righteous man questioned whether any
good thing ever come outa that place. That's Luke 4:28 to 30 if you want to
check it. And yet that was the place. When Jesus went there in Mark 6:6 it says,
He marveled at their unbelief, He marveled at it, they had a lack of response to
Him, a lack of interest in righteousness. But that was to be the place where
righteous Joseph and Mary, and righteous as God, Jesus would live for thirty
years.
The place was so despised, now listen, the place was so despised, that Nazareth
and Nazarene became a synonym for somebody despised. When somebody said to you,
oh you Nazarene, that was a term of, of derision. In fact when the early church
was started they used to say that to the Christians as a, a kind of a knock,
kind of a, a joke. In Acts 24:5, "We found this man (they say, Paul) a pestilent
fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and
he's a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes." It's used in derision. And I
think that's part of the reason the prophecy is here. Beloved, the Old Testament
said again and again about Jesus, He would be despised, He would be despised, He
would be despised, He would be rejected, He would be hated, He would be looked
down upon. That's what Psalm 22 says, that's what Psalm 69 says, that's what
Isaiah 49 says, that's what Isaiah 53 says, that's what Daniel 9:26 says. The
Talmud, the Jewish rabbinic writings calls Jesus Jesu-hana-Nazre which means the
Nazarene. They never called Him the Bethlemite, never, even though He was born
there, they never called Him that, they call Him the Nazarene because that's
derisive. Jerome reports the synagogue prayer in which Christians are cursed as
Nazarenes, they say may they be blotted out of the Book of Life and not be
written with the just, these Nazarenes. If Jesus had been raised in Bethlehem,
if He had been raised in Jerusalem He would not have been despised in the same
way. But God said He would be despised, and being from Nazareth just intensified
that. It was to be Nazareth, Nazareth would furnish Him with the name, Jesus the
Nazarene, and that would furnish Him with the title of reproach which God
predicted would come. He was despised, rejected, and finally killed. The
Nazarene."
You see, every single location vital to the character of Jesus Christ. Matthew
paints a masterpiece of a picture. Micah, he said the King would come to
Bethlehem, and to Bethlehem He came. Hosea, the King would come through Egypt,
through Egypt He came. Jeremiah, there would be weeping like Rachel in Ramah of
old in the picture of Jeremiah, and there was as the mothers wept over the
babies, beside the tomb of Rachel in the Ramah of Bethlehem. And the prophets of
old said His name would be Nazarene, and He would be from Nazareth, and so it
was. And at each point, He fulfills a prophecy that solidifies His right to
reign. And so says Matthew, this is the King, by genealogy, by birth, by
worship, by the jealousy of hatred, and by the fulfillment of prophecy this man
was born a King, for this cause came He into the world.
Let's pray. Father we know that the majesty of Jesus is not a painted majesty,
it's not a gilded dominion, it's not a comet like blaze of transient splendor,
it's an eternal Monarchy. Jesus reigns and shall reign for ever and ever, not by
the force of His army, not by the multitude of His soldiers, not by the grandeur
of His earthly state, but by virtue of who He is. And Father we realize that
nothing can hinder Him putting on His head crown after crown, in comparison to
all the other petty monarchs who've come and gone.' We see in the story Lord,
three reactions, the reaction of those who were indifferent who ignored it all,
the chief priests and the scribes. The reaction of Herod and those who resented
and hated, who wanted this child dead, the antagonists. And the reaction of the
wise, the Magi who worshiped. And we know that what Matthew is calling for
Israel to do as he wrote many years ago, and what he is calling for men down
through the corridors of history to do, is to acknowledge Jesus as King, not to
be resentful and not to be indifferent. And so Father we pray that we may see
Him again as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And that we may bow our lives at
His feet and worship Him. We pray in His wonderful and glorious name,
Amen.
© 2011 Grace to You. All rights reserved.
See Also:
Part 1: The King Fulfills Prophecy: Bible Study on Matthew 2:13-15 by John MacArthur
Matthew, as we know by now, is presenting Jesus Christ as the King. Presenting Jesus Christ not only as the King but as the King of Kings, not only as the King of Kings but as the anointed of God.John Chrysostom Homily on Matthew 2:16-23
Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding angry.
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