Matthew chapter 2 is one of the most fascinating chapters in the Bible. It begins with the glorious and joyful story of the Magi’s journey to find the newborn King. Their intention in finding him was to worship him, and that’s e what they did, expressing their worship by offering the incarnate infant King gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Next in the narrative, we are told, “and having been warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their own country by another way.”
After the visit from the Magi, an angel from God came to Joseph in a dream and warned him to take Jesus and Mary and flee to Egypt, for Herod planned to search for the child to destroy Him. Verse 15 says this happened that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet (Hosea 11:1) might be fulfilled, saying, “Out of Egypt that I call My Son.”
The holy family likely had spent about three years as refugees in Egypt when again, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him to arise and take the Child and His mother and go back into the land of Israel because Herod had died and was no longer a threat. As they entered Judea, God warned Joseph not to settle in that region. So they departed to the region of Galilee and settled in the city of Nazareth, “that what was spoken to the prophets (Isaiah 11:1) might be fulfilled, He shall be called a Nazarene.”
In these stories, we are told about encounters with the incarnate God and joyful, sacrificial worship. We are told about God communicating supernaturally to the Magi, to Joseph, and the activity of angels from God speaking to Joseph in dreams. Twice we are told things are happening in the fulfillment of prophetic words given many centuries before.
This is very much the stuff of Narnia, and yet in the middle of this magical chapter, we find one of the most tragic and inexplicable stories in all of the Bible. Because the Magi came in search of the newborn King, they were inquiring among people in Jerusalem as to where this King might be found. Of course, the news got back to Herod, and Herod gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people to ask them questions about when this Messiah King was supposed to be born because it all seemed very threatening to him. They were able to narrow down the prophetic utterances from Micah that the Messiah would be born in the tiny town of Bethlehem, which was adjacent to Jerusalem. Herod then secretly called the Magi and asked them about when this star appeared that led them to Jerusalem, and then he sent them to Bethlehem to do a careful search for the child so that they could come back and report to him, so he to go and worship the Messiah King. Of course, Herod’s intention all along was to have the little lamb slaughtered before its time, and when he realized the Magi were not going to come back and tell him where to find the Christ, he sent and had every male child in Bethlehem who was two and under slain. About this event of the murder of the “Holy Innocents,” the Scripture says, “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and great morning, Rachel weeping for her children; and she refused to be comforted because they were no more.” Preceding this quote from Jeremiah 31:15, Matthew 2:17 says, “Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled.”
As a teacher of the Word’ I am supposed to have answers, but sometimes as a Christian, I simply don’t. I’ve come to a place over the decades in my life where it’s okay that I don’t understand everything and that I don’t have answers for everything. Wouldn’t it have been better if the Magi had never come looking for the Christ King? That way, Herod would never have been alerted and would not have felt threatened, and therefore would not have had every male child two and under in the region of Bethlehem slaughtered. History tells us that was probably somewhere between 50 and 100 children. Don’t you think the mothers and fathers of the children would have preferred the Magi hadn’t come looking for Jesus? Maybe those mothers would have not even wished the Christ child has come because it costs them the lives of their children. We do know that if the incarnate God had not come in the person of Jesus and those children had lived to a ripe old age and died they would live forever separated from the God who loved them. Do I believe that it was God’s will for Herod to want to kill all of these children? Absolutely not. God is good, and he tempts no one to do evil, and yet the prophecy concerning these children had been standing for many centuries. God knew it was coming, so why didn’t He stop it? I don’t know, but I know that God is still good, and also know that even in the midst of evil, God’s purposes advanced. Maybe saying that is too simplistic, and we are left still with lots of unanswered questions when things happen that we don’t understand when it appears that evil has won the day. Maybe it is enough, and maybe it’s extremely important that in the midst of magical Narnia stuff, we simply worship Him and trust Him, surrendering all our unanswered questions To His love, when darkness splashes. It’s easy to praise him and believe that He is good in the midst of supernatural wonder. It is true love to worship him when darkness surrounds us and we don’t have all the answers. It is a holy thing to be convinced He is good, regardless of what your senses tell you. It is mature love to trust Him when the enemy is tempting us to put God’s goodness on trial. God longs for our confidence more than our comprehension.