Flashback Episode — The Second Dream: Matthew 2:1-15

Moving forward in Matthew’s gospel, we open chapter 2 looking at an event that happened shortly after Jesus was born, but also an event that is almost always included in the Christmas story. This event is the visit of the wise men, and as we will soon discover, this event shares a characteristic that our last passage and episode focused in on.

Let’s read what happened and draw out some things that we can learn from this event. Our passage and event are found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 2, and we will read from the Contemporary English Version. Starting in verse 1, Matthew tells us that:

¹ When Jesus was born in the village of Bethlehem in Judea, Herod was king. During this time some wise men from the east came to Jerusalem ² and said, “Where is the child born to be king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”

³ When King Herod heard about this, he was worried, and so was everyone else in Jerusalem. ⁴ Herod brought together the chief priests and the teachers of the Law of Moses and asked them, “Where will the Messiah be born?”

⁵ They told him, “He will be born in Bethlehem, just as the prophet wrote,

⁶ ’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.’”

⁷ Herod secretly called in the wise men and asked them when they had first seen the star. ⁸ He told them, “Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, let me know. I want to go and worship him too.”

⁹ The wise men listened to what the king said and then left. And the star they had seen in the east went on ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰ They were thrilled and excited to see the star.

¹¹ When the men went into the house and saw the child with Mary, his mother, they knelt down and worshiped him. They took out their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh and gave them to him. ¹² Later they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, and they went back home by another road.

¹³ After the wise men had gone, an angel from the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up! Hurry and take the child and his mother to Egypt! Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is looking for the child and wants to kill him.”

¹⁴ That night, Joseph got up and took his wife and the child to Egypt, ¹⁵ where they stayed until Herod died. So the Lord’s promise came true, just as the prophet had said, “I called my son out of Egypt.”

Let’s stop reading here because several details stood out to me while reading this passage.

First, I find it interesting that the wise men paid attention to the stars. While there has been much speculation regarding whether the star of Bethlehem was a true star, a planet, or even an angel or band of angels, it is interesting in my mind that the wise men made the connection to a coming king in Judea. Some people believe the wise men were people who had learned from the school Daniel likely founded in Babylon while he was a captive and wise man there many centuries earlier.

It’s also interesting that while the wise men accurately identify the purpose of the star signaling a coming king, they incorrectly assume that the child would be born in Jerusalem. I wonder if they assumed incorrectly, or if they simply did not know but they expected those in Jerusalem to be aware and preparing for the arrival of their Messiah. However, it appears as though those in Jerusalem were more ignorant of the signs of the Messiah’s arrival than they would have thought.

The religious leaders were unaware of anything special in the night sky, but they were very aware of the prophecies concerning the Messiah, especially the one concerning the place of His birth. With how this event is worded, I am curious if the religious leaders knew the purpose of the wise men’s arrival prior to being questioned by Herod. If the religious leaders knew Herod’s tendency towards violence against any threats against his rule, it wouldn’t have surprised them to learn of Herod’s march against the babies in Bethlehem. What is amazing in my mind is that the religious leaders simply hand this key piece of information over, which speaks both to their allegiance to the Roman government and to their ignorance of the Messiah’s arrival.

When reading this event, I am most amazed at Joseph. Just like we saw in the last episode, Joseph has a dream and it immediately prompts him to act. In our last episode, the dream he received changed his plans regarding sending Mary away to accepting Mary and her extraordinary pregnancy, and this dream prompts Joseph and the family to make a midnight escape.

From my understanding, Bethlehem isn’t too far away from Jerusalem, which prompts me to wonder how much lead time Joseph and Mary had to escape. If Joseph’s dream was the same night that the wise men were warned about not returning to Herod, then Joseph and Mary had maybe 6 hours or so to get out. If there was a gap of time between the wise men leaving the region and Herod learning about their departure without returning, then it’s possible Joseph and Mary were already out of the country by the time Herod realized what happened.

In the last passage and this one, we see that Joseph is a man of action, and he is more than willing to follow God’s plan for his life. When God gives Joseph a direction to take, Joseph heads full force in that direction, and this quality ultimately saves Jesus’ life from an early death at the hands of Herod.

In our own lives, we should be as dedicated to following God’s directions as Joseph was. While we might not have as significant of a role in history, God is willing to use us for His glory at the exact moment and place where He has brought us into His story.

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

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first and choose to obey His will for your life. Don’t let indecision get in the way of following God’s Word and His will for you.

Unsure of what God’s Word says and what His will is for your life. The best place to turn is to prayer and to Bible study. Through prayer and studying the Bible for yourself, you open the door to learning from God’s Holy Spirit and you are better able to grow the personal relationship with God that helps you see His will for your life. While other people can help point you in the right direction, God wants a personal relationship with you without anyone else in the place of a middleman.

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!