The Promised King: Gentiles Bow While Herod Rages
Matthew 2 puts two kings in the same chapter.
On one throne sits Herod the Great — paranoid, murderous, willing to slaughter babies to protect his power. On a far simpler bed lies a child in Bethlehem — born without a palace, without an army, without a single soldier to defend Him.
The Gentile wise men travel from the east. They bring gold, frankincense, and myrrh. They kneel.
Herod hears the news and rages.
This is the way the Promised King enters the world. Gentiles bow. False kings rage. And the true King is protected by His Father, even when His earthly defender is a quiet carpenter.
Wise men from the east
After Jesus is born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, wise men from the east come to Jerusalem:
"Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him."
They are foreigners. They are not Jews. They are Magi — astronomers, sages, advisors to eastern kings. They have seen something in the sky and have come from far away because of it.
Before the religious establishment of Israel has even noticed, Gentiles are arriving from a distant country to worship the Promised King. This is a foretaste of Matthew's final chapter — make disciples of all nations — written into chapter 2.
Herod is troubled
When Herod the king hears this, he is troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
Herod is troubled because there cannot be two kings. The very mention of a born king of the Jews threatens his throne.
Jerusalem is troubled because they know what Herod is. They know what he is capable of. The mention of a rival king means trouble for the whole city.
He assembles all the chief priests and scribes of the people and inquires where the Christ is to be born.
They tell him: In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: "And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel."
The scribes know the right answer. They quote Micah perfectly. But notice: they do not go. They have the location. They do not make the journey.
The danger of religious knowledge without faith — they can point others to Christ without ever coming to Him themselves.
Herod's deception
Herod summons the wise men secretly. He learns from them what time the star had appeared. He sends them to Bethlehem:
"Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him."
He has no intention of worshiping. He intends to kill. But he wraps his murderous plan in the language of worship.
False religion always uses the words of true devotion to cover hostility toward Christ.
Joy in finding the King
The wise men listen to the king and depart. The star they had seen in the east goes before them, until it comes to rest over the place where the child is.
When they see the star, they rejoice exceedingly with great joy.
Going into the house, they see the child with Mary his mother. They fall down and worship Him.
Then, opening their treasures, they offer Him gifts: gold and frankincense and myrrh.
- Gold — the gift for a king.
- Frankincense — the incense of priestly worship.
- Myrrh — the spice of burial.
The first gifts brought to the Promised King point to His three offices: King, Priest, and the One who will die.
Being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, the wise men depart to their own country by another way.
The Promised King will not be delivered into the hands of false kings. God Himself guides the Gentile worshipers home another way.
Flight to Egypt
When they have departed, an angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream:
"Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him."
Joseph rises and takes the child and his mother by night and departs to Egypt. He remains there until the death of Herod.
This is the second time Joseph obeys an angel without argument. He gets up at night. He takes the family. He flees.
The Promised King begins life as a refugee. He knows what it is to be displaced, to be hunted, to live in a foreign country because home is not safe.
Matthew tells us this fulfills what the Lord had spoken by the prophet Hosea:
"Out of Egypt I called my son."
Israel was called out of Egypt in the Exodus. Now Jesus, the true Son, recapitulates Israel's story. Where Israel failed in the wilderness, He will succeed. He is the new and better Israel.
The slaughter of the innocents
When Herod sees that he has been tricked by the wise men, he becomes furious. He sends and kills all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who are two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.
This is the rage of a false king who feels his throne threatened. He cannot reach the real Child. He kills every other child in reach.
Matthew sees in this the fulfillment of Jeremiah:
"A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more."
The Promised King enters a world soaked in violence. The same world that needed Him so desperately is the same world that tried to kill Him at His birth.
The mothers of Bethlehem are real. Their grief is real. The Promised King who came to save them was, in this terrible way, the cause of their suffering. He would eventually bear the full weight of that suffering — and every suffering like it — on the cross.
Return from Egypt
When Herod dies, an angel of the Lord appears in a dream to Joseph in Egypt:
"Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's life are dead."
He rises and takes the child and his mother and goes to the land of Israel.
Hearing that Archelaus is reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he is afraid to go there. Being warned in a dream, he withdraws to the district of Galilee and goes and lives in a city called Nazareth.
This fulfills what was spoken by the prophets: He shall be called a Nazarene.
The Promised King grows up not in the palaces of Jerusalem but in the obscurity of Nazareth. A town so insignificant that later people will ask, Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Yes. Everything good. The King Himself.
Closing prayer
Father, You sent the Promised King — and from His earliest days, false kings raged and Gentile worshipers bowed. You guided wise men by a star. You warned Joseph in dreams. You sheltered the Child in Egypt. You preserved the King for the work He came to do. Save us from the religious knowledge that points others to Christ but never bows itself. Make us, like the Magi, willing to travel and to kneel. In Jesus' name, amen.
