MATTHEW CHAPTER 2

OBSERVATION STAGE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The purpose of the observation stage is to maintain focus on the text at hand within the normative rules of language, context and logic which limits the observer to the content offered by the book of Matthew. This will serve to avoid going on unnecessary tangents elsewhere; and more importantly, it will provide the framework for a proper and objective comparison with passages located elsewhere in Scripture.

Remember that something elsewhere may be true, but in the text at hand it may not be in view.

I) [Mt 2:1-23]:

A) (Mt 2:1-6) AFTER JESUS HAD BEEN BORN IN BETHLEHEM IN JUDEA IN THE DAYS OF HEROD THE KING, MAGI FROM THE EAST TRAVELED INTO JERUSALEM AND WERE ASKING "WHERE IS HE WHO HAS BEEN BORN KING OF THE JEWS? FOR WE SAW HIS STAR IN THE EAST AND HAVE COME TO WORSHIP HIM. HEROD HEARD AND WAS TROUBLED AND ALL JERUSALEM WITH HIM. HEROD WAS INQUIRING OF THE CHIEF PRIESTS AND SCRIBES WHERE THE CHRIST IS BEING BORN. THEY RESPONDED FROM SCRIPTURE, "IN BETHLEHEM OF JUDEA FOR THUS IT HAS BEEN WRITTEN THROUGH THE PROPHET, 'AND YOU BETHLEHEM, LAND OF JUDAH, ARE BY NO MEANS LEAST AMONG THE LEADERS OF JUDAH; FOR OUT OF YOU SHALL COME FORTH A RULER WHO WILL SHEPHERD MY PEOPLE ISRAEL"]:

1) [Compare Dan 2:48-49]:

2) [Num 24:15-17]:

3) [Compare Micah 5:2]:

4) [2 Sam 5:2]:

B) (Mt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

C) (Mt 2:13-22) AND UPON THE MAGI WITHDRAWING, AN ANGEL OF THE LORD APPEARS IN A DREAM TO JOSEPH, SAYING 'HAVING RISEN, TAKE THE CHILD AND HIS MOTHER, AND FLEE TO EGYPT, AND BE... THERE TILL I MAY SPEAK TO [YOU], FOR HEROD IS ABOUT TO SEEK THE CHILD TO DESTROY HIM.' AND JOSEPH, HAVING RISEN, TOOK THE LITTLE CHILD AND HIS MOTHER BY NIGHT, AND WITHDREW INTO EGYPT. THEY STAYED THERE UNTIL THE DEATH OF HEROD, THAT IT MIGHT BE FULFILLED THAT WHICH WAS SPOKEN BY THE LORD THROUGH THE PROPHET, SAYING, 'OUT OF EGYPT I DID CALL MY SON.'

1) [Compare Hos 11:1]:

D) (Mt 2:16-18) THEN WHEN HEROD SAW THAT HE HAD BEEN TRICKED BY THE MAGI, HE WAS VERY ENRAGED AND SENT PEOPLE AND PUT TO DEATH ALL THE MALE CHILDREN WHO WERE IN BETHLEHEM AND ALL ITS VICINITY, FROM TWO YEARS AND UNDER, ACCORDING TO THE TIME WHICH HE HAD DETERMINED FROM THE MAGI. THEN WAS FULFILLED WHAT WAS SPOKEN BY JEREMIAH THE PROPHET, SAYING: 'A VOICE IN RAMAH WAS HEARD - LAMENTATION AND WEEPING AND MUCH MOURNING - RACHEL WEEPING FOR HER CHILDREN, AND SHE WOULD NOT BE COMFORTED BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT.'

1) [Compare Jer 31:15]:

E) (Mt 2:19-22) AND HEROD HAVING DIED, BEHOLD AN ANGEL OF THE LORD APPEARS IN A DREAM TO JOSEPH IN EGYPT, SAYING "HAVING RISEN, TAKE THE CHILD AND HIS MOTHER, AND [GO INTO] THE LAND OF ISRAEL, FOR THEY HAVE DIED - THOSE SEEKING THE LIFE OF THE CHILD." AND JOSEPH, HAVING RISEN THAT NIGHT TOOK THE CHILD AND HIS MOTHER WITH HIM, AND THEY CAME INTO THE LAND OF ISRAEL. AND HAVING HEARD THAT ARCHELAUS REIGNS OVER JUDEA INSTEAD OF HEROD HIS FATHER, JOSEPH WAS AFRAID TO GO INTO JUDEA AND HAVING BEEN DIVINELY WARNED IN A DREAM, HE WITHDREW TO THE PARTS OF GALILEE

F) (Mt 2:23) AND COMING INTO GALILEE, JOSEPH AND HIS FAMILY JESUS AND HIS MOTHER DWELT IN A CITY CALLED NAZARETH

G) JOSEPH AND HIS FAMILY - JESUS AND HIS MOTHER - DWELT IN A CITY CALLED NAZARETH THAT IT MIGHT BE FULFILLED THAT WHICH WAS SPOKEN THROUGH THE PROPHETS, THAT [A] NAZARENE HE SHALL BE CALLED

1) The Language Of Mt 2:23 Does Not Demand That Author Matthew Was Specifically Quoting The Words Of The Prophets In Scripture, i.e., Of The Old Testament

2) The Language Of Mt 2:23 Does Allow For Author Matthew To Be Making A Summary Statement - A Contextual Fulfillment - Which Corroborates A Number Of Prophetic Statements In Scripture

3) There Were A Number Of Old Testament Prophecies Which Foretold That The Messiah To Come Would Have A Lowly, Insignificant Beginning And Be Despised And Rejected By Many

a) [Compare Isa 11:1]:

b) [Compare Ps 22:6-8, 13]:

c) [Compare Ps 69:8-9, 20-21]:

d) [Compare Isa 49:7]:

e) [Compare Isa 53:2-3]:

f) [Compare Jn 1:45-46]:

g) [Compare Acts 24:5]: