No One Mourns the Wicked: Matthew 2

What a fantastic villain Herod is in this chapter – killer of babies and newborns. This is some fierce business that’s paired up with the birth/childhood of Jesus. Alas, I’ll get there in a moment.

We begin with the Wise Men (not Kings, as states the song “We Three Kings”…heck, not even three, really) who are eager to find the King of the Jews because they saw his star. They stop by Herod’s place to ask him where they could find him…and perhaps it’s only me, but I always imagined this to be a private meeting. Kind of like they strolled/rode up and knocked on the palace door and asked, which really seems illogical now that I think about it.

Instead, I think it was more of a public question; as if they asked it in front of numerous people because “[Herod] was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.” I can’t imagine that some dudes from a foreign land show up, ask where the new king is, and the king tells his whole people, “Hey, some guys are looking for a king besides me. Your thoughts?”

Maybe he was giving a speech, and they politely raised their hands: “Excuse me, we’re looking for the King of the Jews. Can you point us in the right direction?” And maybe there were gasps and chuckles.

So Herod reasonably asks his top men for help: where could he find this “king”? They pull out the big intelligent guns and tell him, “Bethlehem, in the land of Juda.”

Fantastic. So Herod returns to the wise men: “Soooo…how long ago did the star appear?”

Sneaky bastard.

Bless the wise men for telling him. Bless their hearts. I bet they were the type of people who saw innate good in everyone. Naïve. Gentle. Lovely people. And easily manipulated by the king.

The wise men are off to find Jesus, and Herod starts plotting -- at least, that's what I was taught as a kid. But it doesn't actually say that. It isn't until the wise men sneak back to their country without stopping by to dish about the Jesus family that he decides to kill children.

So why does he kill the children? Is it to protect his throne or does he have severe anger management problems to being ditched? I'll get there in a minute.

And, of course, how do the wise men know not to go back to Herod? A dream. And it seems they ALL had a visit from God this time in their dream, not just one of them.

"And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way."

Then our man Joseph has another dream (see Chapter 1) and is told by an angel that he should flee to Egypt. Again, I wonder, why not tell Mary, too? Why does Joseph get all of the messages? And does he explain to Mary why they have to go? I wish there was more dialogue.

Their job was to wait in Egypt until Herod was dead. Now, looking at the Old Testament God, couldn't he just strike Herod down? Send fire from the sky? A series of plagues?

Oh wait. That reminds me...

Remember when Moses was in Egypt trying to save his people, and God told him that he would be killing all of the firstborn of Egypt if they didn't follow his instructions?

What's with killing children? I don't understand the necessity for it. Are we supposed to fear God even more because he can striketh his people down? And why is it so much worse that Herod does it than God? It's still the death of many innocent, young lives.

And I know that the verses say "Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not."

So should we blame Jeremiah? If Jeremiah hadn't said it, could the outcome have changed? Was this "simply" to fulfill prophecy?

There are two more dreams at the end of the chapter: the first to Joseph (of course) to tell him that Herod was dead and they could return, and the second to tell him to avoid a certain area because of Archelaus (Herod's son). They end up in Nazareth, and that ends our chapter.

My thoughts:
1. I wonder how many people are taught at a young age about the killing of the two year olds. I was, I remember even watching a cartoon (seriously), which included it. But it's such a terrible event to pair up with Christmastime...

2. Joseph certainly has a lot of dreams. What about Mary? I know she's visited by an angel before Jesus is born, but no dreams that I can recall. I wonder how many people in the New Testament have dreams in which they are spoken to by God / an angel of God. It's pretty common in the Old Testament, but the New Testament is a whole other kettle of fish.

3. Why don't we know what happens in Egypt, or how long they are there? There had to be something significant about Jesus' raising that would benefit future Christians...