Hi, and welcome to 144Judah! Today we are going to talk about Matthew. In our last blog, we talked about Yeshua's birth and the Magi visiting him with gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. We are going to back up a bit, then go forward as we meet King Herod.
So, in Matthew 2, the wise men travelled from the east to Jerusalem, looking for the newborn King of the Jews. Herod got word of this, and gathered his chief priests and scribes and asked where this king was to be born. They answered: "In Bethlehem of Judaea, for thus it is written by the prophet."
KJV: Micah 5:2 "But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."
Matthew 2:5-10
"And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, 6 And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel. 7 Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also. 9 When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy."
So, now we learn that the wisemen were searching for "Yeshua" and Herod heard all about this. He calls them in and they agree that they will go back and let him know where The Child is.
After all of this searching, they see the star again, and follow it all the way to where Yeshua is with Mary and Joseph. They fall down and worship. They also bring gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh.... REMEMBER THIS PART? This leads us all the way back to Genesis with Adam and Eve! So, Adam and Eve got Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh as gifts from God given to them by an angel. And this is the same gift that was given from God, from The Garden of Eden, hidden in the Cave of Treasures, and eventually in the wisemen's hands to give to YESHUA! FULL CIRCLE! (This is found in Adam and Eve's story.)
RECAP FROM THE LAST BLOG
Typically, Myrrh was used for anointing, and Frankincense is used for worship at the Tabernacle (Exodus 30:34). Josephus in Antiquities 8:4 states that a lot of incense was burned when Solomon was consecrating his Temple. There were Jewish traditions about the Messiah building a new Temple, different from the inadequate and (according to some) corrupt Second Temple. (And, by now, we should know the Temple that is being spoken of... HIS BODY. Remember, he takes it down and builds it back up in 3 days!) Could the magi’s gifts relate to that?
So, if you haven't read “The Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan,” you should. Check out the first book, Chapters 30-31, and Book II, Chapter 8, verses 17-19. There we have Adam and Eve, who are trying to adjust to their lives now after being exiled from the Garden. God gives them a few things: Incense and myrrh from the Garde, and Golden rods from the Indian sea for comfort. At first, Adam doesn't feel comforted because all this does is remind him of what he had lost in Eden. But God tells him that the gifts were intended to both comfort him and to give him a sort of prophetic insight of what was yet to come. The Gold symbolizes the Kingdom of God and all its glory, because one day Kings will bring God these gifts when God comes in the flesh. That the Gold represents HIS kingdom, the incense represents Christ's divinity, and the myrrh is a token of Christ's suffering and death, which will save not only humanity, BUT ADAM!
Without knowing and understanding the whole story in this amazing book, you have to understand that Adam and Eve were alone now, outside of God's help/His walls. They were now living in a cave. The gifts also have a practical function as well. The gold is a sort of nightlight for Adam and Eve when they sleep in the cave at night. (They have been terrified as they were never in darkness and now are.) The incense provides a sweet smell, and the myrrh can comfort Adam and Eve in their sorrow. Adam and Eve place these gifts around their cave, which is their home, a place of prayer, and, eventually, a place of burial for the righteous.
Later, Adam on his deathbed is exhorting his righteous son, Seth. Adam instructs Seth to preserve the gold, incense, and myrrh, for they are a sign from God. They symbolize the same things that God told Adam earlier, but Adam also presents an alternative symbolism: the gold symbolizes Christ’s defeat of Satan; the incense symbolizes Christ’s resurrection and exaltation above all things; and the myrrh symbolizes the bitter gall (This is what they put on the sop, when he says that he thirsts) that Christ will drink as well as the torment that Christ will suffer in hell from Satan.
Adam says that the gifts are to be taken aboard the Ark during the Flood, along with Adam’s corpse, and they are to be buried with Adam. A long time afterwards, Israel will be conquered and spoiled, and these gifts will be taken to another land. These gifts will last for centuries, until kings will bring them to the Christ child. The idea seems to be that this gold, incense, and myrrh end up in Persia after Israel is exiled, and the Persian magi later bring them to the child Jesus.
Back to the story, now we have Herod who wanted to be told where the Messiah came to be from the wisemen and the wisemen were warned from God not to return to Herod, so they left and went another way.
After this, an angel o f the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, and told him to take Yeshua (Jesus) and Mary and to go into Egypt and stay there until he tells him. This is where we learn that Herod seeks to destroy Yeshua.
So, Joseph gets up, talks to Mary, and gets Yeshua, and they leave. (This fulfills another part of a prophecy spoken about Yeshua staying out of Egypt until the death of Herod.)
This is also where we learn that Herod ordered for all of the children in Bethlehem were killed (two and under). This was all talked about previously from the prophet Jeremiah.
"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."
Matthew 2:19-23 "But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child's life. And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee: And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene."
Speculation:
*A lot of people think that the two-year-old and under children that were ordered to death by Herod are the ones that make up the 144,000. They believe this because they are male virgins. But the scripture doesn't say male children it states children. It also doesn't have anything else that would allude to being the 144,000 in the future as being the first fruits.
This is also where Matthew stops talking about Yeshua (Jesus) as a child. The next time we see him in Matthew is when he talks about John the Baptist in the Matthew 3. So, where was Yeshua all this time? Why didn't Matthew talk about him? In Mark's Gospel, we start out with John the Baptist, so we aren't getting a back story of Jesus's youth either, but then we get a little more in Luke.
Luke: 2:42-50 "And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it. But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him. And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them.
So, here we learn that Jesus was in the temple with God (his Father) learning and teaching and taking in what the adults were talking about. So, even at 12 his knowledge of the scripture and comprehension of it impressed those around him. It also, apparently, astonished his own mother.
And we learn nothing about Yeshua's childhood from John.
Why so much secrecy?
We will explore the hidden books of the bible soon, and you will love the lessons and understandings there.
No comments:
Post a Comment