1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi[a] from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
6 “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’[b]”
7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”
14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”[c]
16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
18 “A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more.”[d]
Hermeneut Hero YOU!
Every year, I break out the Christmas questions.
It’s a hoot
So many biblically illiterate believers due to bad teaching, hokie traditions and textually inaccurate songs.
You have to read Matthew and Luke side by side to get the full picture. Luke says that they took Jesus to Jerusalem for the purification ritual within 40 days of the birth according to the Law of Moses. After that, Mary and Joseph returned to their own city of Nazareth (Luke 2:39). Bible language is pretty specific. There’s a word for baby and a word for child. When Jesus was born he was described as a babe. When the Magi visited he was described as a child so he could not have been in Bethlehem and, as scripture notes, Mary and Joseph left Jerusalem and returned to Nazareth within 40 days of His birth. The reason Herod had all the male children beneath the age of 2 killed in Bethlehem was because he questioned the Magi about how old Jesus was and where He was born. The Bible never says the Magi went to Bethlehem. The Magi “went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.” That was Nazareth, ipso facto, the star of Nazareth.