3 When Herod the king heard this, he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 So he called together all the chief priests and scribes of the people and [anxiously] asked them where the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed) was to be born. 5 They replied to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for this is what has been written by the prophet [Micah]:
Matthew 2:3-6 (AMP)6 ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are not in any way least among the leaders of Judah;
For from you shall come a Ruler
Who will shepherd My people Israel.’”
Where is this King?
Herod was king. There should be no other king of the Jews. Yesterday we learned a little about Herod. One characteristic was jealousy. Naturally, he was not a little concerned that another king had been born over Judea, his territory. And to have a delegation from a far away land know about it gave support to the notion the newborn was royalty. Maybe he, in fact, was the legitimate king instead of Herod!
This is threat level 1. Herod must investigate and eliminate this threat. All in Jerusalem were likewise disturbed. You’ve heard the expression, “Happy wife, happy life.” Here it’s, “Happy Herod…”
Threat assessment
So Herod gathers together all the religious leaders of Judaism to get the skinny on this new threat. He asks if there is any truth to this. If Messiah is indeed to be born at this time, then where. His intent, as we’ll soon see, fulfills his other character attribute of cruelty; he seeks to destroy the new threat.
Prophecy
“Is there any scripture that tells me where this threat is?” By all means! The minor prophet Micah (Micah 5:2) prophesied His coming and location of birth. God had already told the Israelites, the descendents of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that their Savior would be born in Bethlehem.
“From this passage in Micah, they understood not only that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, but also that He would be a Ruler who will shepherd My people Israel.” (enduringword.com)
We know from Luke’s detailed account of the birth of Jesus (Luke 2) that God orchestrated His birth to be in Bethlehem, just to fulfill the prophecy.
RЯeflection
- Again we’re struck with God’s amazing prophecy about Christ. It takes more faith to believe these are not valid than it does to believe they are true. But the sinful flesh doesn’t want to, doesn’t want to submit to this King.
