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Matthew

About this book
Chapter 2

1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, in the time of King Herod, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem 2 saying, “Where is the one who is born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”⁠ 3 When King Herod heard this he was alarmed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 After assembling all the chief priests and experts in the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born.⁠ 5 “In Bethlehem of Judea,” they said, “for it is written this way by the prophet: 6 ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are in no way least among the rulers of Judah, for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”⁠ 7 Then Herod privately summoned the wise men and determined from them when the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and look carefully for the child. When you find him, inform me so that I can go and worship him as well.” 9 After listening to the king they left, and once again the star they saw when it rose led them until it stopped above the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star they shouted joyfully. 11 As they came into the house and saw the child with Mary his mother, they bowed down and worshiped him. They opened their treasure boxes and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 After being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back by another route to their own country.⁠ 13 After they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to look for the child to kill him.” 14 Then he got up, took the child and his mother during the night, and went to Egypt. 15 He stayed there until Herod died. In this way what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet was fulfilled: “I called my Son out of Egypt.”⁠ 16 When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he became enraged.⁠ He sent men to kill all the children in Bethlehem and throughout the surrounding region from the age of two and under,⁠ according to the time he had learned from the wise men. 17 Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: 18 “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud wailing, Rachel weeping for her children, and she did not want to be comforted, because they were gone.”⁠ 19 After Herod had died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 saying, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.” 21 So he got up and took the child and his mother and returned to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. After being warned in a dream, he went to the regions of Galilee. 23 He came to a town called Nazareth and lived there. Then what had been spoken by the prophets was fulfilled, that Jesus would be called a Nazarene.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Matthew 2:4 and Jonathan Micah 5:1

New Testament · Targum

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Summary

The Aramaic translation of Micah in the Targum identifies the coming ruler from Bethlehem as the Messiah, describing him as an ancient king. Matthew also interprets Micah as a reference to the Messiah, suggesting it was influenced by similar tradition.

Passages

Matthew 2:4

New Testament
1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, in the time of King Herod, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem 2 saying, “Where is the one who is born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” 3 When King Herod heard this he was alarmed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 After assembling all the chief priests and experts in the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem of Judea,” they said, “for it is written this way by the prophet: 6 ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are in no way least among the rulers of Judah, for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’” 7 Then Herod privately summoned the wise men and determined from them when the star had appeared.
70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Matthew

Jonathan Micah 5:1

Targum
1 As for you, Bethlehem Ephrath, you were too little to be numbered among the tribes of the house of Judah. From you before me the Messiah will go out to be a servant, a servant of rulership over Israel, whose name has been spoken from the beginning, from days of antiquity. 2 So the Lord will hand the people of Israel over to their enemies until the time when the woman in labor gives birth. Then the rest of the king’s countrymen will return to be reunited with the people of Israel. 3 He will assume his post and shepherd the people by the Lord’s strength, by the sovereign authority of the Lord his God. They will live securely, for at that time he will be honored even in the distant regions of the earth.
200–300 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Jonathan Micah

References

"... Matthew 2:4–6 takes Micah 5:1 to be a prophecy about the birthplace of the Messiah. But Matthew’s text is very much different from the extant Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts of Micah 5:1. Matthew does not say that Bethlehem is “too little,” but that Bethlehem is “by no means the littlest/least”. Matthew has thus removed the irony of the passage in order to focus on Bethlehem’s significance as the birthplace of the Messiah. Matthew has also forged a word play between “among the rulers of Judah” and “a ruler will go out”. Finally, Matthew has moved the description of the ruler in Micah 5:3 to the position of Micah 5:1b in the form of 2 Samuel 5:2; 1 Chronicles 11:2. However these textual issues are resolved, what is clear is that both Targum Jonathan and Matthew, two texts with very different purposes, have located the Messiah in Mic 5:1. In more ways than one, the text of Micah 5:1–4 has invited this messianic exegesis ..."
Michael B. Shepherd, “Targums, the New Testament, and Biblical Theology of the Messiah,” JETS 51.1 (2008): 56–57.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Matthew 2:4 and Jonathan Micah 5:1

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