Day 5, Read Matt. 2:16-18; Jeremiah 31:15-17, Rachal Weeping

Here we have, not so much a Messianic fulfillment, but rather a fulfillment of a prophecy that concerned Israel.  A study of the context of Jeremiah 31 shows what Matthew is referring to.  Jeremiah is speaking of the suffering of Ephraim, and thus of the northern kingdom of Israel in general.  By Jeremiah’s time they have been cast into the times of the Gentiles, the time when Israel is ruled by the nations.  It is a time of great suffering.  Israel is unable to defend themselves.  Ephraim, being a son of Joseph, was then also the grandson of Jacob and Rachel.  Thus the suffering under the nations is seen in Rachel’s weeping for her children.

At the time of Jesus’ birth it is still the times of the Gentiles (and is to this day).  What happened in Bethlehem was at the hands of the evil Herod.  It is yet another great time of suffering and Rachel is weeping again.  What this shows us is that Matthew understood what was going on in the world of the Jews in the first century.  They are being chastised for their rebellion and abominations against the Lord.  As terrible as is the slaughter of the innocents, it is the way life is for the Chosen People in the time of Jacob’s trouble.  Yes, Matthew was accurate, that this was a fulfillment of Jer. 31:15.

Read Matt. 2:22-23; Isaiah 11:1-2, The Nazarene

Here is another fulfillment that might be hard to find.  But in the end it is quite a wonderful thought.  There is no place, in the OT, in the typical English Bible that says, He shall be called a Nazarene.  But I am telling you, it’s there.  In Isa. 11:1.

It helps to know a little Greek and Hebrew.  “Nazareth” is natzaret.  “Nazarene” is natzaraios.  In Isaiah 11:1 “Branch” is netzer.  That might be about all we need to understand why Matthew saw the settling in Nazareth as significant.  Also, the Hebrew term has, at times, a sense of being hidden, that it is not significant enough to be seen.  That also speaks of our Lord who was despised by men and rejected. 

By the way, the title Branch is also used of the Messiah in Isa. 4:2; Jer. 23:5; 33:15; Zech. 3:8 and 6:12.  The term there is different, Heb. tsemach.  The meanings are similar, although tsemach can be used literally while netzer  is symbolic.

We have already noted that Isaiah 7-12 is the Immanuel Prophecy, and 11:1 is part of that.  The Child Immanuel, on Whom the government will sit, and Who is so wonderfully described in 9:7, is also the descendent of Jesse, the father of David.  To Matthew this is amazing, and should be to us as well.  Here is Jesus, son of Mary, step-son (?) of Joseph, who lived in Nazareth until they had to make an emergency trip to Bethlehem, an emergency trip that fulfilled the prophecy of being born in Bethlehem and revealed at Migdal Eder.  Then there is an emergency trip to Egypt, showing Jesus’ identity with the Nation.  Upon returning it’s not wise to go back to Bethlehem but instead they go to Nazareth.  Diversions.  Emergencies.  Yet Matthew is telling us it all fits.  Nothing was outside the purview of the Sovereign God.