Let the morning bring me word of Your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in You. Show me the way I should go, for to You I lift up my soul. Psalm 143:8.

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for Me One who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from old, from ancient times. Micah 5:2.

Our chapter, Matthew 2, shows the difference between how Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit, works His will in our lives and circumstances, and how human rulers work theirs. After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw His star when it rose and have come to worship Him.” When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd My people Israel.’” Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find Him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship Him.” After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with His mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route. When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, “Get up,” he said, “take the child and His mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill Him.” So he got up, took the child and His mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.” (Hosea 11:1). When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled, “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning. Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.” (Jeremiah 31:15). After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and His mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.” So he got up, took the child and His mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that He would be called a Nazarene. v. 1-23.

In the notes below it said that Jesus was probably around two years old when the Magi found Him. And the gifts: Gold was a gift for royalty; incense a gift for deity, myrrh a spice for a person who was going to die. Can you imagine the sight of the star the Magi navigated by? Do we ever wonder why the Magi came? And I wonder if the people of Jerusalem were disturbed by their news because the news disturbed Herod. A “disturbed” Herod led to the deaths of boys in and near Bethlehem 2 years old and under. In Christmas celebrations, we often show the Magi as three people and as having come right after Jesus’ birth. I’ve even seen a Christmas production with great pomp and even a Lion King-type lifting up celebration of the “baby Jesus” by Joseph. And Creator God’s way is so much more impactful and beautiful and needed. Imagine the Son, being born of a virgin, protected by His stepfather as he was led by an angel of God; a star showing the way to the child that He could be worshiped in private by wise men who sought Him. The human king was thwarted and eventually died allowing this beautiful family to quietly return to a new home in Nazareth where events will pick up. This is how the events unfolded and who, besides Creator God, could have foreseen them unfolding in this way?