2.01 Reading Notes on Matthew 2 (summary)

(Incomplete)

As for Matt 2, I’ll let you take tonight’s summary.  MacArthur gave a nice sermon years back.  Who were the wise men?  If you ever get the chance, it’s worth reading.  No wonder Herod was troubled.  The Magi controlled the Parthian empire, who would sit on the next throne of the only nation to stand against Rome successfully.  And the king they currently had was a fool and due to be replaced.  So maybe Herod feared that these Parthian king-makers really meant business; that Jewish prophecies of a king coincided with Parthian plans for domination of the region.  Foreign nobles could come worship the next supposed “King of the Jews” all the wanted, why should Herod care so long as he had the throne?  But these people lent legitimacy to the idea that a real King of the Jews would emerge, perhaps with the spectre of a Persian army backing him and not an Idumean pretender who Caesar barely tolerated and against whom the people would rebel without the backing of Roman arms.  And Jerusalem was a lot closer to Persia than to Rome anyway.  No wonder, as MacArthur said, Herod was troubled.

Who were the Magi?

http://www.gty.org/resources/bible-qna/BQ122011/who-were-the-magi

How did the Magi know about Jesus?
http://www.gty.org/resources/bible-qna/BQ060812/how-did-the-magi-know-about-jesus

Sermon Archive

http://www.biblebb.com/files/MAC/2182.htm

The results turned out differently, but my dad pointed out that the Magi financed the poor carpenter’s decision to take his family to Egypt for several years.  You need a lot of money for that trip, especially when you don’t speak Egyptian and are likely to get very bad deals.