Flashback Episode — Hidden in Plain Sight: Matthew 2:1-23

As I read Jesus’ birth story from the gospel of Matthew, I am continually amazed at just how foreshadowed this event was. There was so much foreshadowed about it, that it is really surprising to me how the priests and religious leaders missed it.

First off, to set our passage up, there was a cosmic event of some kind. Some say that there was a specific shift in the constellations that the wise men saw that prompted them to begin their journey, while others say that angels shone in the night sky like stars, and it caught the wise men’s attention.

Either way, it is likely that the star and/or angels would have been visible to everyone who was paying attention, though it would seem as though the only ones paying attention were far away from the event. This is the first sign that should have been seen by the religious leaders – especially as this was just a few months after John the Baptist’s miraculous birth that we looked at in the previous episode.

When we then turn our eyes onto the passage for this episode, we see four places where Matthew directly states that an event happened to fulfill prophecy. While I might normally read the full passage, pausing periodically to insert comments, for this episode, we’ll just focus on the four specific places Matthew tells us prophecy was fulfilled.

The first prophecy in our passage to be fulfilled is found in Matthew, chapter 2, verses 5 and 6. Reading from the Contemporary English Version, Matthew tells us:

“They [the religious leaders] told him [Herod], ‘He will be born in Bethlehem, just as the prophet wrote,

 “Bethlehem in the land
    of Judea,
you are very important
    among the towns of Judea.
From your town
    will come a leader,
who will be like a shepherd
    for my people Israel.”’”

The Jewish leaders knew exactly where the Messiah would be born. It’s difficult to say if they were reluctant to share this knowledge with Herod, or if they freely shared the details when asked. Either way, they should have taken note of Herod’s question and perhaps paid a little closer attention to what was happening around them.

The next prophecy to be fulfilled is just a few verses later in verse 15, where we read, “So the Lord’s promise came true, just as the prophet had said, ‘I called my son out of Egypt.’”

It is interesting that Joseph, Mary, and their family would flee to Egypt. This event happening makes the beginning of Jesus’ life a prophetic representation of the children of Israel, who began in the promised land, before moving to Egypt during the great famine we read about in the last chapters of Genesis.

God then called the Israelites out of Egypt, and this prophecy echoes this event by saying that God will also call His Son out of Egypt as well. I’m not sure if any other aspects of Jesus’ life were representative of the nation of Israel, but there is a very clear prophetic parallel within this event at the beginning of Jesus’ life on earth.

The third prophecy that is fulfilled in Jesus’ birth event happens back in Judea. Matthew draws our attention to it when he quotes it in verses 17 and 18 by saying:

“So the Lord’s promise came true, just as the prophet Jeremiah had said,

‘In Ramah a voice was heard
    crying and weeping loudly.
Rachel was mourning
    for her children,
and she refused
to be comforted,
    because they were dead.’”

The Jewish leaders may have given up looking for the promised Messiah after Herod went and slaughtered all the baby boys that were 2 years or younger there. Perhaps Jesus was only months old when this happened, but Herod was the sort of person to be extra thorough in his methods. 

However, if the religious leaders stopped looking for the Messiah because of Herod’s mass killing here, then it shows how little faith they had in God – specifically in God’s ability to protect the Messiah that He promised to send. This event may have shifted the focus of some of the Jewish leaders at the time.

The last prophecy that Matthew points out to be fulfilled in our passage for this episode comes right at the end, at the close of verse 23, where it says, “So the Lord’s promise came true, just as the prophet had said, ‘He will be called a Nazarene.’”

When the leaders push back at a Messiah coming from Nazareth, I wonder where this prophecy was in their minds. Matthew draws our attention to the significance of where Joseph and Mary return to when they move back to the area, but it would seem as though there was a prophecy in place that the leaders either were not aware of, or one they discounted or dismissed. In a quick search of the Old Testament, I see no mention of the word Nazareth or Nazarene anywhere in it, so this makes me wonder what prophet Matthew is referring to.

Perhaps this was a prophecy that John the Baptist shared that is not included in the Bible, or maybe it is something included in one of the other ancient writings that was not included in the Bible. What we do know is that while Matthew draws our attention to this prophecy fulfilled, it is likely that the validity of the prophet or prophecy itself was debated at the time of Jesus.

All this comes together to point us to a significant truth that we might easily miss:

Knowledge is a poor substitute for attention, and if we are not paying attention, no amount of knowledge will keep us from drifting away from God.

Both nature and history pointed the Jewish leaders to pay attention to Jesus’ birth, but if they were not interested or looking for the Messiah to arrive, then there was no way for them to see it coming. Herod, who is known for being a little paranoid about people challenging his rule, clearly saw the sign of the wise men, and in this regard, he was more observant than the religious leaders.

Like Matthew did when writing his gospel, it is much easier to see how God has moved when looking back on the events that happened. Seeing the outcomes make it easier to see how God has moved and directed. This truth then leads us to a challenge when living our lives over 2,000 years later: Will we take our past and the evidence God has moved within it and use it as evidence to trust Him with the challenges we face in the present?

Today will become the past tomorrow, and while we might not clearly see God working in today’s challenges, that doesn’t mean He is absent. It may simply mean that we are looking from the wrong perspective.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always open these challenges by saying, intentionally seek God first in your life and push yourself to look for God moving in your present circumstances. If you doubt God, look for evidence of His love, protection, and guidance from your past and use that to stand on to face your present challenges.

Also, as I regularly challenge you to do in one way or another, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself, so you will better be able to recognize God in the present. While other people have ideas about God, look to the Bible to discover what God is really like, so you can recognize Him more clearly when He is moving in the present.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!