Matthew Chapter 2
“Do not test the Lord your God as you did at Massah.” (Deuteronomy 6:16). Again what I was saying in Chapter 1, we are not to test God. However, if we just look, God continues to prove himself. The wise men in verses 5 and 6 quote Micha 5:2: “But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.”
The wise men confuse me some. What I read about them usually makes them out to be astrologers. This seems to be contradictory to Old Testament teachings. After a few hours of meditating on this, I am brought to 2 places in the Bible:
“You are tired out from listening to so much advice. Let them take their stand –the ones who see omens in the sky,who gaze at the stars, who make monthly predictions –let them rescue you from the disaster that is about to overtake you! Look, they are like straw,which the fire burns up; they cannot rescue themselves from the heat of the flames. There are no coals to warm them, no firelight to enjoy. They will disappoint you, those you have so faithfully dealt with since your youth. Each strays off in his own direction, leaving no one to rescue you.” (Isaiah 47:13-15)
This is what happened to King Herod. He listened to ones who see omens in the sky, “Then Herod secretly called the magi and determined from them the exact time the star appeared” (Matthew 2:7).
And each strays off in his own direction, leaving no one to rescue Herod. “And having been warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod, the magi left for their own country by another way” (Matthew 2:12)
The second place I was drawn was: “When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, you must not learn the abhorrent practices of those nations. There must never be found among you anyone who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, anyone who practices divination, an omen reader, a soothsayer, a sorcerer, one who casts spells, one who conjures up spirits, a practitioner of the occult, or a necromancer. Whoever does these things is abhorrent to the Lord and because of these detestable things the Lord your God is about to drive them out from before you. You must be blameless before the Lord your God. Those nations that you are about to dispossess listen to omen readers and diviners, but the Lord your God has not given you permission to do such things” (Deuteronomy 18:9-14).
Again, Herod is listening to omen readers, but also he sacrificed his son or daughter in the fire. “Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi” (Matthew 2:16) While mystics are forbidden by God, he has a reason for everyone.
Matthew chapter 2 closes explain two more prophecies that are completed.
“He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: OUT OF EGYPT I CALLED MY SON.” (Matthew 2:15)
“A VOICE WAS HEARD IN RAMAH, WEEPING AND GREAT MOURNING, RACHEL WEEPING FOR HER CHILDREN; AND SHE REFUSED TO BE COMFORTED, BECAUSE THEY WERE NO MORE.” (Matthew 2:18)