1Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2saying, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him."
3When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
5So they said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:
| 6"But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, Are not the least among the rulers of Judah; For out of you shall come a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel."' |
7Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. 8And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also."
9When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. 10When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. 11And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
12Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.
Until I did my research into the Genealogy of Jesus in the first chapter of this book, I hadn't been aware of Bethlehem in the Old Testament. After the Children of Israel wandered through the desert and were brought into the promised land, it talks of them taking Jericho. But the first account of where anyone settled in the area is the story Boaz, Naomi, and Ruth. Boaz and Jesse (the grandson of Boaz and the father of David) both lived in Bethlehem. David was born in Bethlehem. It wasn't till the people asked for a king like other countries that David was brought out of Bethlehem and taken to Jerusalem. After that, all the rulers were born in Jerusalem. So both David and Jesus were born in Bethlehem!
I can understand why king Harod would be troubled by this supposed new King of the Jews, but why does it say all of Jerusalem was troubled with him? Haven't the chief priests and scribes been awaiting the birth of their Messiah? They have now gotten what to them should be their first possible sign that their Messiah is coming. Instead of trying to go to Him to worship Him, they are troubled! They tell King Harod where to look for the child and still they do nothing. Rather than check this out for themselves, they stay in their temple in Jerusalem and deny it. To me this is the first indication that the Jewish leaders really didn't want a Messiah yet, at least not in this way. At least Harod was going to check out the validity of the story by having these wise men gather more information for him.
Footnotes in my Bible say the wise men were Gentiles. It is interesting that these wise men from the east, these Gentiles, rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. As far as they knew, He was to be the King of the Jews. Why would they, as Gentiles, celebrate that God had sent a new King of the Jews? Awe and respect would be understandable as they recognize this incredible act of God, but great joy? They must have felt some impact to themselves. The gift of Jesus was not meant just for the Jews but for everyone. Even though they couldn't understand what the birth of Jesus would mean, they still felt the joy that God had given them.
It is interesting to see the reactions of these various people at the birth of Jesus. Harod felt threatened and sought a way to remove this threat. The chief priests and scribes simply denied Jesus' existence by ignoring it. The wise men who should have had no personal gain with this new King of the Jews went through a lot of trouble to find Him and rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. God gives his gifts, no matter how they will be accepted. Let us hope that we can be more like these wise men than like the chief priests and scribes or Harod.