2:1 Matthew does not go into the actual birth of Jesus, which is not important to his story. He looks at the prophecies that surround Jesus’ birth, and the messianic prophecies that prove that Jesus is the Messiah that was predicted.
He points out that the Messiah was to come from Bethlehem, which was prophesied in Micah 5:2, which is quoted in verse 6.
Another interesting thing in this verse is the reference to the “wise men”. How wise do you think they were? They were a company of philosophers, astrologers, and men learned in the crafts of divination and natural sciences. In short, according to the world, they were wise, according to God, they were not so wise. According to Deuteronomy 18:9-14, these type of people were to be driven from the land of Israel. Look also at Isaiah 47:11-15. The name Magi is short for Magician. The Bible does not say there are three Magi, so there was probably an entire company, literally hundreds of men on the expedition. These men were rich, and had a company of support with them.
I have read that when the Crusaders destroyed the Greek libraries they set back knowledge to a point that the settlers of America would have put a man on the moon. We do not understand the full ramifications of the knowledge that the Magi held. Ancient literature describes them as very wise men. Some were certainly “magicians” as we think of them who marketed cheap tricks as modern “magicians” tend to do. In that day many were well versed in arts and wisdom and able to compile the knowledge to reach interesting conclusions. I think that the reason that they were able to discern that the Messiah had come is because unlike our modern wise men, these men considered spiritual and religion to be valid. Philo who lived from 20 BC to 40 AD stated this about the Magi (a short excerpt):
“Now the true magical art, being a science of discernment, which contemplates and beholds the books of nature with a more acute and distinct perception than usual, and appearing as such to be a dignified and desirable branch of knowledge, is studied not merely by private individuals, but even by kings, and the very greatest of kings, and especially by the Persian monarchs, to such a degree, that they say that among that people no one can possibly succeed to the kingdom if he has not previously been initiated into the mysteries of the magi. (101) But there is a certain adulterated species of this science, which may more properly be called wicked imposture, which quacks, and cheats, and buffoons pursue, and the vilest of women and slaves…”[i]
It is also fascinating that God used pagan Magi to bring gifts to the Messiah. There are a few points of interest here. First, the Magi were unbelievers as in “not” Jewish. The Gentiles recognized a move of God before the Jewish “wise men” even acknowledged the Messiah. Matthew has made an effort to demonstrate through his Gospel that God utilized and reached out to the Gentiles through history. This is clearly notated in the genealogy in Matthew 1. There is a marriage of sorts between the Jew and the Gentile in God’s eyes. Normally God used the Jews as evangelists which reached out to the Gentile nations in order to draw them to truth. In this case, God takes direct action drawing Gentiles through direct intervention.
Secondly this is goes against the wisdom of the Rabbi’s. There is quite a bit of evidence that these magi were Persian wise men. We have encountered these men previously in the scriptures when Daniel was faced with the “magicians” (Dan 2:2). Incidentally, Daniel was trained to be a Magi but what set him apart was the relationship that he had with God. Even though he lived as a Magi; he bowed to the greater authority of the true God. The Rabbi’s were specific regarding the Magi that anyone who became involved with them was guilty of the death penalty:
Said R. Zutra bar Tobiah said Rab, “He who pulls the thread of a seam on the Sabbath is liable to a sin-offering, and he who learns anything at all from a Magus is liable to the death penalty, and he who knows how to calculate the seasons and planets but doesn’t do so—it is forbidden to talk to him.”
XIII.3 A. As to the Magi—
B. Rab and Samuel—
C. One said, “It is pure sorcery.”
D. The other said, “It is blasphemy.”
E. You may conclude that it is Rab who said that it is blasphemy, for said R. Zutra bar Tobiah said Rab, “He who learns anything at all from a Magus is liable to the death penalty.” Now if it should enter your mind that all it is is sorcery, then it is written, “You shall not learn to do after the abominations of those nations” (Deut. 18:9)—but you may learn to understand and to make decisions.[ii]
Even in His birth, Jesus was going against the errors of the Rabbi’s. It is intriguing when you look further in the story. The riches that were received from these Magi were sufficient to finance the flight of Mary and Joseph to Egypt later in this chapter. Please note that God did not invalidate the Rabbi’s teaching, He demonstrated through this revelation that He was reaching out to the world which bore testimony of His truth (Roman 1:18-19).
2:2-3 The Wise men recognized a phenomenon, and were serious about finding out why and how this came about. The Jews seemed to be blinded as to the prophecies regarding the Messiah. The pagans had the discernment to determine what the star stood for, and about where they would end up. They also were able to discern the nature of the star, in that the “King of the Jews” was born. God revealed things to these Gentiles which He did not reveal to the Jews. It is interesting that they believed God, and sought out the new Jewish King. They were serious enough about it that they brought gifts. It is significant that gentiles would point out the fulfillment of Balaam’s prophecy, since he was a gentile, Numbers 27:17.
2:4 Herod gathered the religious scholars together and questioned them about the prophecies concerning the Messiah. Herod also believed the revelation of the Magi. Shouldn’t a flag had gone up in the minds of the scholars that the King was not just following a topic of study, and that there was a real reason for his question? These wise men caused enough of a scene that they were taken seriously.
2:5-6 This prophecy is pretty fascinating. It is a quote from Micah 5:2. The fascinating part is the way that the last line is translated. Micah says “His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity” (NASB95). Micah 5:3 continues that the woman will give birth to a child and “Then the remainder of His brethren will return the sons of Israel.” This phrase is difficult in English, in the Hebrew it appears to say that the “remnant” will “turn back” the sons of Israel. There is a lot in that verse.
In essence, this child that is born will turn Israel back to the path of holiness. I say this because every time that you see a remnant mentioned in the Bible, it is in reference to people who have not abandoned God. It does not speak of turning the remnant to a new way, but rather returning to the “old way” or God’s Torah. You do not “return” to something “new” you are introduced to something new. Therefore, the prophecy does not say that Yeshua will draw the people into a “new” as in “different” way to follow God but rather to return to the “old” way of following God. The ancient way that God had previously ordained.
Micah continues with the prophecy to say that this child will arise and “shepherd” his flock in YHVH’s strength and majesty (Micah 5:4). Think on this for a moment. Micah 5:2b indicates that the ruler that was to be born existed long ago, from eternity. This prophecy indicates that the child in essence “always” existed before he was to be born. This child represented a remnant who would draw the people of Israel back to the ancient paths. Where He would shepherd the people as God (YHVH) always did. The overall picture is God who always shepherded Israel will return to shepherd as a human. Until this time God had always worked through prophets or men who were in touch with Him. Now He was going to do a new thing by personally shepherding His people.
Micah goes further to discuss how that the “Remnant” will take the “remnant of Jacob” and mix it with many peoples and nations (Micah 5:7-8). I am quite certain that this is looking at how Jesus has converted Christianity over the past 2,000 years. Where the Christian church has made an error is in assuming that we have replaced the Jews rather than realizing that we have been grafted in to the root of Judaism (Romans 11:17). Micah prophesies that when the Child to be born takes rule, the pagan customs will be abolished and believers will be returned to the original Jewish Torah (Micah 5:10-15). Jeremiah sums it up:
Jeremiah 6:16 (NASB95)
16 Thus says the LORD, “Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, Where the good way is, and walk in it; And you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
When Matthew boiled the prophecy down to four lines, he expected his readers to understand the source material. Herod was shook up because the “ruler” or “king” that was prophesied was to rule from a throne. We now know that that throne will not be occupied until the Millennium, and that the shepherding was to take place prior to that.
2:7-9 Herod had discerned that this King would be greater than he was. If this was the biblical king that was prophesied, Herod was certain that his throne would be torn from him. He was also able to discern that he was in danger of losing his throne. So as a matter of self-preservation, he made plans to kill off the Messiah. Note that Herod recognized that the Messiah was to be worshipped. He determined the time of the star from the Magi, giving him a rough figure on the age of the Messiah.
2:10-12 The Magi followed the star until it stopped. Think about that for a moment, if you focus on the moon, or on the sun in the sky as you travel down the road, doesn’t it travel with you? You can appear to be following the sun or moon, and all the time it seems to be moving ahead of you. Why isn’t it possible that the star that the Magi saw was not a normal star, but a illumination device that the Lord used to guide them directly to Jesus’ home. God moved the cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night to guide the children of Israel, Exodus 13:21-22. Remember, the manger scenes and the “Christmas Story” are a little off in their presentation. The Magi did not come to Jesus until He was close to 2 years old. Note also that the Magi came to a “house”, not a stable. Jesus is not referred to in the Greek as an infant Luke 2:12, but as a child Matthew 2:9,11. Think about it further, if they followed the star on the night that Jesus was born, they would have had to organize and travel long distances in a single evening. They traveled on an extensive journey before reaching Jesus’ house.
Matthew 2:13-15 Joseph is not given enough credit when we look at him historically or as a man of God. How many would be willing to stake so much of their life on responding to messages received in dreams? In the original situation, he accepted a wife who was impregnated by God. Two years later he has another dream, wakes up and drastically alters his life again. Try to picture the setting…
Joseph’s parents probably taught him about the Joseph of the Old Testament who saved the nation by listening to God through his dreams. In like manner, Joseph the husband of Mary saved the entire world by responding to the call of the angel during his dreams. He protected the vulnerable Messiah who was in prenatal state and now was in his infant state. If Joseph had not responded, we can be certain that God would have sent angels to protect and the redemption story would have a different twist to it (Gen 16; 21). Now we see Joseph emulating Joseph of the Old Testament as he both listened and responded to the dreams.
He wakes Mary up and tells her in a panic that they have to leave immediately. They have only a few minutes to pack. I would wager that he had a donkey and possibly even a cart since he was a builder. Even with a cart, can you imagine the two of them throwing what they deemed necessary for life into it, the baby, and the treasure from the Magi; then leaving town before dawn.
A side note here: I recently had a man try to convince me that Joseph was a stonemason. It made me curious so I looked into it. The Septuagint gives us a little light into the word, he could have been an iron worker (Isa 42:12), a smith (1 Samuel 13:19), a carpenter (2 Sam 5:11), a stonemason (2 Sam 5:11), or even a worker in brass (1 Kings 7:2).[iii] Strongs tells us that the base of the word comes from “an artificer (as a producer of fabrics), i.e. (specifically) a craftsman in wood;-carpenter.)[iv] The Septuagint gives definition to the word “builder” by adding the type of building material that they used. In the New Testament, we have nothing that indicates what type of builder that Joseph was. Tradition tells us that he was a carpenter; this comes from the early church fathers writings:
Justin Martyr stated “And when Jesus came to the Jordan, He was considered to be the son of Joseph the carpenter; and He appeared without comeliness, as the Scriptures declared; and He was deemed a carpenter (for He was in the habit of working as a carpenter when among men, making ploughs and yokes; by which He taught the symbols of righteousness and an active life)…”[v]
Tertullian stated in several places that Joseph was a carpenter. The Pseudo (false) gospel of Matthew makes the following statement. (I am using this just for historical reference, truth is questionable.) “Now Joseph was a carpenter, and used to make nothing else of wood but ox-yokes, and ploughs, and implements of husbandry, and wooden beds. And it came to pass that a certain young man ordered him to make for him a couch six cubits long.”[vi] While I am dabbling on the edge of insanity, let’s look at the pseudo gospel of Thomas, “And Jesus reached the age of eight years, Joseph was a master builder, and used to make ploughs and ox-yokes.”[vii] There is a footnote on “master builder”: “but probably architector here is equal to tekton, a carpenter”.
Philo stated in several places that Joseph was a carpenter. Origen stated that he was a carpenter in several places. There are several wild stories about Joseph building things and Jesus fixing them miraculously by stretching or correcting dimensions in the pseudo writings of the early church fathers. We have absolutely no evidence that Joseph was a builder of any other type of media.
Many religious fables have been established through time for the benefit of certain groups of people. The fable of the stonemason may have been an attempt by the Masons to give credence to their organization. From what I can tell, Joseph was a carpenter, a builder of wood. No evidence from the Early Church Fathers or from any other source has been found to dispute this point.
I quoted from pseudepigraphal writings above. Please note that many of these are considered to be false writings for a variety of reasons ranging from disputes on dating of the writings to rejection by the early fathers as they compiled the scriptures for canonization. These writings can be considered for historical significance, as reference points for early understanding of the culture, but absolutely not for biblical truth. All we can determine from these writings in the context of this study is that Joseph was understood from early on to be a carpenter. We can certainly determine that he was a builder of some sort just from the biblical reference.
There were a few of reasons that we pursued this line of thought. First, it is important to realize that Joseph was a tradesman. He had a marketable trade that could be utilized in any society. Second, he probably had a beast of burden and possibly a cart for carrying building materials. This made it easier for him to relocate at a moment’s notice by carrying both important household goods and his tools with him. Third, the wise men had given Joseph and Mary three gifts, gold, frankincense and myrrh. All of these were extremely marketable goods that would both finance their trip to Egypt and allow them to set up house once they got there. Joseph’s trade would allow sustenance.
Let’s talk about timing for a moment. Joseph and Mary were living under Herod and were able to blend with the society that they were in. You can be certain that the stigma of Mary being pregnant before they were living as husband and wife was well known (John 6:42). It was also well known that Jesus was not the child of Joseph (John 8:41). You can be certain that people were still talking about the Child that was born and the angels that were heralding his birth (Luke 2:13-14). The Magi now showed up with very expensive gifts to give to the new King of the Jews. It seems that Herod was caught flat footed when Jesus is rapidly moved to Egypt. I am not so certain that he was not aware of spiritual changes. The Magi financed the trip to Egypt in the nick of time.
Even if Herod was caught unaware, he quickly recovered by ordering the slaughter of all children in Bethlehem and the surrounding areas who were two years old and under. This raises a problem for a literal thinker like me. Ramah is located on the other side of Jerusalem, quite a distance from Bethlehem according to the maps available. Expositors explain this away by drawing a connection between the Babylonian captivity taking place at Ramah and the deliverance of the captivity with the Messiah Jesus. This works except for the deliverance did not take place until he died as a sacrificial lamb at the cross. I found one reference to a “Ramah of the South” that existed 9 miles from Bethlehem.
“In the Scriptures, there is no trace of any Ramah in all this region, except “Ramah of the South,” a city of the tribe of Simeon, which obviously lay south of Hebron, near the extremity of Palestine. The crusaders speak of a Ramah, perhaps intended for the same, on the way from Bethlehem to Hebron. According to Brocardus, it was three leagues from Bethelehm, and two before coming to mamre; it lay upon a hill, from which could be seen all Arabia even to Mount Seir, all the places around the Dead Sea, and the cost of the Mediterranean from Yafa to Gaza.”[viii]
This may be a case where time has wiped out the evidence of this town. The Crusaders noted a town by this name in close proximity of Bethlehem, one league is three miles. Therefore, all the guesswork involving trying to spiritualize a missing town may be in error. Prophecy referred to a town named Ramah where extreme sorrow would take place, Matthew identified the scripture as one that was fulfilled, and we have no reason to doubt that it existed in close proximity to Bethlehem.
It is impossible to know how many children were executed. Wiersbe contends that around 20 children were probably killed in the town of Bethlehem.[ix] He does not take into account that the soldiers were instructed to slaughter children in nearby towns as well. Since Ramah was on the way from Jerusalem (according to the crusader account), where Joseph and Mary were residing was one of the first places hit.
Here is the problem. Replacement theology has colored the way that we interpret scripture. Since they could not find the town, some expositors jumped on the replacement theology bandwagon and claim that this marked the end of a dispensation of the Jews. Pushing the idea a little further, since the dispensation ended at the “birth” of Christ, the church age starts at His birth. The Jewish Messiah has now been hijacked by the church as the founder of the “church”. For example: The Apologetic Study Bible comments that Ramah was the staging point of the Babylonian Exile and in Matthew the weeping was fulfilled, or culminated as a final morning for exiled Israel (Jer 40:1-2; 31:16-35; 30:1-9; 33:14-26; cp Matt 28:26, his references).[x] The problem with this position is the scriptures he quotes looks forward to the earthly reign of Christ during the Millennium, closer to home this could be looking at the restoration of the Jewish nation. In Jesus’ time, these prophecies were in no way fulfilled. So what we are looking at is a lot of print that justifies replacement theology, all taken out of context… It also supports “dispensationalism” which was a good thought to start with, but bad theology since it demands that scripture must be taken out of context in order to justify it.
Back to discussing Joseph briefly…
Joseph was a man who was willing to raise a child who was not his own. In our day split families are a norm as the sin and corruption of the family unit have created havoc in our land. Joseph raised Jesus as his child with the word from God that this child was one who was born as a holy man to fulfill prophecy (Matt 1:18-24). His basis for accepting and raising Jesus was based on a vision that he received in a dream. Jesus became a holy endeavor for him and a privilege to raise God’s Anointed Messiah.
It commonly thought that Joseph did not see Jesus raised to adulthood since he is not mentioned in the picture after early childhood (Luke 4:22). However, when the leaders of the people were debating over Jesus’ identity they attributed him to be the son of Joseph in a manner that indicates that Joseph was still alive and well known. It is possible that Joseph fell out of the picture since he was no longer important to the story. Jesus was the son of the Father; so rightly, the focus of his identity went to God as the Son of God. The early writers may have not seen Joseph as important enough to confuse the identity of the Messiah. Or perhaps there is more to the story…
Joseph and Mary raised a significant family (Matt 13:55-56; 12:46; Mark 6:3). We have four brothers listed in the English Translations, James (Jacob), Joseph, Simeon and Judas and unnamed sisters. Jacob or as the English translates it as James, was the one that the epistle of James was written to and was the leader of the Jerusalem church in Acts. In the discussions about his family, Joseph is spoken of as if he is still alive.
This causes me to wonder if Joseph disagreed with Jesus when he moved into his ministry. Jesus made it a point to ignore his family on a couple of occasions. He also taught that if a person is not willing to abandon their earthly family, they are not worthy to follow him (Matt 10:35-37; Luke 12:51-53). Yeshua clearly taught that when a person follows Him, there is a real chance of being rejected by his family. This seems to bear true in His earthly life. The only conversion that we see from his family is James (Jacob).
“For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.” (Matthew 10:35–37, NKJV)
Joseph may possibly have followed the Rabbi’s and turned away from his son. If he had disowned him in this way it could have been possible for him to fail to attend various functions as religious righteousness. It is commonly known that if a Jewish person marries outside of the religion, they are often disowned. Disowning involves a ritual of death “sit shivah” were the person is considered to be dead. In the play, The Fiddler on the Roof, this takes place when Trevi’s daughter marries a Catholic. (I searched to find a reference in historical documents on this but was unable to find supporting documentation. If you know of some, please let me know.) The problem that is faced is that an adopted Jewish child cannot be disowned. Joseph never really “adopted” Jesus, so this may not apply unless it was considered to be an adoption by default.
Disowning would have created a situation where Joseph would have taken himself out of the picture historically. We really do not know what took place with Joseph. I build this conjecture on the point that when others refer to Joseph; they speak as if he is alive. As modern thinkers, we contend that Joseph was dead since we do not hear about him in the story. This does not take into consideration the cultural attitude that a child who displeases their father may become disowned.
I contend that Joseph was a serious student of Torah since he was willing to divorce Mary (Matt 1:19). The scriptures refer to him as a righteous man in this same passage. We see evidence that Joseph believed that God could and did speak to people since he moved his entire family based on a dream. Lastly, Joseph was aware enough of the Jewish customs to know how to divorce Mary secretly without stoning her.
We will probably never know the involvement that Joseph had in Jesus’ adult life on earth. This is a mystery that has been lost in time. Evidence is sketchy regarding whether or not he was on the earth. It is interesting to explore the possibility that Joseph was not pleased with his “child” proclaiming to be the Messiah. If he followed the guidance of the Rabbi’s, we can be certain that he was encouraged to distance himself from a child that was acting in a way that appeared to be damaging to the Jewish customs. Imagine the impact of Jesus teaching that following Him meant you must be ready to abandon your family with his disciples being aware of the rejection of his earthly family.
Matt 2:19-23
Over the years I have puzzled over how that God directs someone to take a path, and then changes the path midstream. It’s almost like he points us in a general direction, and gently nudges us to follow divergent paths along the route. Sometimes, when a call is extremely strong, we fight the diversion thinking that we are getting off the course that we were called for. This is not necessarily true.
Joseph responded to the call of God to return to the land of Israel. I am sure that he was set for his homeland. In route, he heard that Archelaus was on the throne, then rerouting to Nazareth in the region of Galilee.
Josephus recorded that Archelaus followed in his father’s footsteps for cruelty. He ordered an attack on the Jews who had joined together for Passover and the feast of Unleavened Bread. There was discontent among the Jews for his execution of some rabbi’s who were put to death. This was followed by the crowd stoning the Roman soldiers, some to death. His response to this left 3,000 Jews dead and dispersed the crowd. Shortly after this he was sent to Rome where he stood trial for the barbarous massacre of the Jews heaping their bodies among the sacrificial offerings.[xi] Due to his “brutal and insensitive rule” Agustus banished him to Gaul, so he never returned to Jerusalem again.[xii]
In the case of Jesus, we can see how that circumstances and a reaction to politics may have saved the life of Jesus. You can be certain that if they had returned to Bethlehem, the short journey to Jerusalem would have been made for Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Joseph and family may have been in the middle of the massacre.
One other idea that nags at the back of my mind is Yeshua went to Egypt when trouble was brewing. How come He wasn’t sent in any other direction? We know that Prophecy indicated that he would be called out of Egypt (Hosea 11:1). The significance of this is pretty incredible. God warned Pharaoh to allow the Hebrews to go free or He would kill his first born to buy the freedom (Ex 4:22-23). On the same token, Yeshua was returned to Egypt and eventually would die to purchase the spiritual freedom of all men who believe in Him.
It is intriguing that Balaam, a gentile prophet, prophesied that God would bring the deliverer out of Egypt and he would rule with an iron rule (Numbers 24:8-9). This foreshadows the events that took place when Jesus came out of Egypt to live and die for men. During the Feast of Unleavened Bread prior to ushering in the 1000 year reign, we will see Him utterly destroy the nations and opposition to His throne (Revelation 19:17-20:3). This prophecy concerning Egypt was delivered by a pagan, gentile prophet who was hired to speak against Israel but was touched by a personal contact with the true God.
We hear about the sin of Balaam in the New Testament but few really capture the idea of his grievous sin (Jude 11; Rev 2:14). Looking back at the Old Testament we see that Balaam found out how to destroy the Jews. He led them to compromise by drawing them in to blend their religion with the sons of Peor (Numbers 25:1-8). He recognized that the way to defeat Israel was to get them involved in sexual sin through fertility worship (2 Peter 2:12-15; Rev 2:14). His sin was not cursing Israel; he understood and blessed Israel through his prophetic utterances. His sin was to understand how to defeat Israel through compromise and draw them into spiritual compromise which became defeat for the people. He taught Israel to defeat themselves by abandoning God’s teaching as directed through Torah…
God called Israel out of Egypt and established them as His son, His chosen people. Hosea’s prophesy speaking about the tendency for Israel to follow Baal and other pagan forms of worship shadowed this prophecy (Hosea 11:1-2). Read through the passage and you will discover a remarkable link between the Messiah Yeshua and the son that came out of Egypt. God called Israel to be His son.
Follow the parallel for a moment. God’s son; Yeshua, went out of Israel to avoid being killed by Herod to take refuge in Egypt. Israel took refuge from death caused by famine in Egypt. Israel became paganized during their stay in Egypt and even though the prophets called them back to God, they still clung to the pagan ways (Hosea 11:2). Yeshua came out of Egypt unscathed. God took care of Israel by providing constant protection for them as a Father teaching a son to walk (Hosea 11:2-4). Yeshua provided spiritual healing for Israel through his death on the cross and by placing the Holy Spirit in the hearts of believers. He tutors His children as a loving Father does.
Yet, to date most of the Jewish people reject their Messiah and do not know that He has healed them (Hosea 11:3). God’s people are bent on turning from Him and following their own devices. Hosea looks forward to the time when the gates of the cities of those who oppose God will be destroyed and “He will be their King” (Hosea 11:5). The Jewish people still call God the only One. Yet, they deny the Messiah that was sent to rescue them. Hosea gives this exact prophecy (Hosea 11:5-7).
The deviation to the Gentile nations is prophesied by Hosea when He says they return to the land of Assyria. Assyria is interesting because when they defeated a nation, they scattered the people through their nation in order to blend them in to society. It was purposeful manipulation of blending religions and people together to form a single society. The Hebrew people have been very good at blending with the other nations of the world since Roman times. Some cling strictly to the Word and follow Torah as a way of life.
In my experience, many of the modern Jews hold a view of God that emulates more of the pagan ideas of pantheism. The idea is that God is in everything both good and evil. Trying to nail down the concept of God with them can be frustrating since the God that they hold to is a generic one of a greater good rather than the one of the Bible.
We can’t harp on the Jewish people regarding blending with Paganism. Their blending was partially because they failed to recognize the Messiah. It was also partially due to ignoring the prophets who told them about the Messiah (Hosea 11:3). It is also partially due to living among all the nations of the world as immigrants. There are many factors involved; most of these started as slight deviations from Torah. Yet, centerline with most modern Jews is the idea that Torah is God’s design. They still keep most of the festivals and cling to the idea that there is only one God.
From the time of Constantine, Christians have purposefully abandoned all Jewish roots and embraced pagan customs. We blended biblical ideas with pagan ideas to come up with a religion that celebrates all of the Baal based holidays. Look up the pagan origins of Easter, Mother’s day, Christmas, and Sunday worship. You will be shocked to realize that all of these are based on pagan customs that filtered down from Baal worship in the Old Testament. No justification for any of them is found in the Bible. It is more shocking to realize that we have “replaced” biblical festivals (Leviticus 23) with pagan festivals. One of the current demons that many preachers are speaking against is “replacement theology” and they continue to practice it unaware.
With this said, when we look at Hosea reprimanding the Jews for being bent on turning from God to pagan customs, we have followed their exact same path. The only deviation is that we are bold about it and claim that the Old Testament Law is abolished and now we are under New Testament teaching. We justify Sunday worship by pulling scriptures out of context. Christmas is justified by adding the story of the birth of Jesus. Easter is justified by importing the story of the resurrection, (which took place on the Feast of First Fruits). None are addressed in the Bible simply because they were pagan customs and were not practiced during biblical times by the Jews or Christians. Incidentally, Good Friday, Lent, Advent, 12 days of Christmas, Christmas Eve and many other celebrated days also were converted days of pagan activity that were Christianized by or shortly after Constantine.
Yeshua is King! He was called out of Egypt to rule as the Son of God over His people. Hosea outlined the basic concept of how God’s people compromise with the world and drift from following Him. This will not be fully set right until the Messiah returns to set up His 1,000 year reign. As you can see, being called out of Egypt is more than an insignificant prophecy. It carries with it the gist of God’s people following their own paths and eventually blending Torah with world religion. Yeshua will eventually set this right. If you carefully read prophecies concerning the Millennium you will notice that all the Jewish festivals and the Sabbath are restored completely.
Some try to claim that Matthew pulled the Hosea passage out of context in order to apply it to Yeshua (Matt 2:15). Stern points out that Matthew refers to four different sources of interpretation which all agree on Yeshua being the fulfillment of Hosea’s passage. There is the simple which looks at the literal sense of the text, the Remez (hint) that looks at hints of truth in the simple, the midrash (search) which looks at interpreting according to experience, and the sod (secret) which looks at secret meanings derived from numerology and special wording.[xiii] Look at his note on midrash:
“Drash or midrash (“search”)—an allegorical or homiletical application of a text. This is a species of eisegesis—reading one’s own thoughts into the text—as opposed to exegesis, which is extracting from the text what it actually says. The implied presupposition is that the words of Scripture can legitimately become grist for the mill of human intellect, which God can guide to truths not directly related to the text at all.” [xiv]
I believe that by all counts we have solid proof that the Messiah is spoken of by Hosea. Other passages as well point to Jesus as God’s appointed Son (Isaiah 9:5-6, Psalm 2:7; Prov 30:4). The theme that runs through the idea of God’s people becoming corrupted by outside influence and deviating by compromising His word is contained in the idea of returning from Egypt. Yeshua came to deliver people from bondage. Egypt symbolizes bondage to worldly religion and bondage to powers other than God. From the beginning this has been a running battle with the Jews. It was almost cured during the Babylonian captivity. After that we no longer see the Jewish people mixing their religion with Baal. However, as Christians we have solid evidence that we have taken up where they left off. We have incorporated Baal worship as tradition and attributed Christian meaning to it.
What do we do? That is what this Bible study is all about. We return to Scripture and look to see what is true. Then we change where necessary in order to follow the scriptural truth as closely as possible. Many of you in this study are Pastors and teachers, if you radically follow what I am proposing you are in serious danger of losing your position. I recommend that you use your leadership positions to make slow changes such as introducing festivals through solid teaching then suggesting that they are incorporated as times of retreat. There is a messianic undercurrent that is running through Christianity today. Believers are ready for change. Yeshua came to deliver us from the blend of paganism and biblical teaching. It is tedious to redirect bodies of believers but it can be done. Jesus did not just come to earth to deliver us from sin, he came to deliver us to himself through personal interaction and draw us into pure truth. That is where abundant life is found (John 10:10).
[i] Yonge, C. D. with Philo of Alexandria. (1995). The works of Philo: complete and unabridged (p. 604). Peabody, MA: Hendrickson.
[ii] Neusner, J. (2011). The Babylonian Talmud: A Translation and Commentary (Vol. 2, pp. 324–325). Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers.
[iii] Lust, J., Eynikel, E., & Hauspie, K. (2003). A Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint : Revised Edition. Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft: Stuttgart.
[iv] Strong, J. (2009). A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament and The Hebrew Bible. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
[v] Justin Martyr. (1885). Dialogue of Justin with Trypho, a Jew. In A. Roberts, J. Donaldson, & A. C. Coxe (Eds.), The Ante-Nicene Fathers: The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus (Vol. 1, p. 244). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company.
[vi] Roberts, A., Donaldson, J., & Coxe, A. C. (Eds.). (1886). The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew. In A. Walker (Trans.), The Ante-Nicene Fathers: Fathers of the Third and Fourth Centuries: The Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, the Clementina, Apocrypha, Decretals, Memoirs of Edessa and Syriac Documents, Remains of the First Ages (Vol. 8, p. 381). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company.
[vii] Ibid.
[viii] A Historico-geographical Account of Palestine in the Time of Christ. Johann Friedrich Rohr. Published 1843. Accessed on 3/6/14 at the following link: http://books.google.com/books?id=W9s7AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA294&lpg=PA294&dq=Ramah+time+of+Christ&source=bl&ots=yyWHKzGqP9&sig=M3MN99cTftaWbNPl01tUdDD_O0I&hl=en&sa=X&ei=BV0YU62_DNDloAT1p4GADw&ved=0CEYQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=Ramah%20time%20of%20Christ&f=false
[ix] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 15). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[x] Cabal, T., Brand, C. O., Clendenen, E. R., Copan, P., Moreland, J. P., & Powell, D. (2007). The Apologetics Study Bible: Real Questions, Straight Answers, Stronger Faith (p. 1406). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[xi] Josephus, F., & Whiston, W. (1987). The works of Josephus: complete and unabridged. Peabody: Hendrickson. Wars of the Jews, Book 2, chapters 1-3.
[xii] Achtemeier, P. J., Harper & Row and Society of Biblical Literature. (1985). In Harper’s Bible dictionary. San Francisco: Harper & Row.
[xiii] Stern, D. H. (1996). Jewish New Testament Commentary : a companion volume to the Jewish New Testament (electronic ed., Mt 2:15). Clarksville: Jewish New Testament Publications.
[xiv] Ibid.
