Why would a baby be a threat to a king? Why would far off kings come to pay homage to a baby? What is it that Matthew seeks to tell us about Jesus in the opening chapters of his Gospel? We can put together a few pieces from Matthew 2:1-12 to get a better view.
In the last 60 years, we have discovered libraries and book lists from the ancient Persian empire Some of these royal libraries listed religious texts from around the world.
The Magi from Persia must have seen the rising of a new heavenly body and begun to consult ancient texts to see if there was a prophecy of a king and a star. They found an oracle of Balaam in the Torah, in Numbers 24. This prophecy had waited 1600 years from the telling to the fulfilling, so it seemed very important. They knew this was an Israelite king, so they did the obvious thing, they went and consulted the capital city, where kings are born.
When they got there, Herod was troubled (Matt. 2:4) The prophecy said that the Star who would arise from Jacob would crush Moab and possess Edom. Herod has been appointed king not by the LORD, but by Rome. Herod was in fact an Edomite. Herod is an illegitimate king, in a country that was not his own, about to be faced with the legitimate King, would was predicted to reign in Israel, and in Herod’s own country.
This is the problem with borrowed thrones. They come with a King. Whatever throne you occupy, was either built for you or stolen by you. If you are sitting on a stolen throne, it is only a matter of time before the rightful King comes to claim it. Though you can pretend to be the king of His Country, He is rightfully the King of yours.
Like Herod, we may use trickery , decieit, and terror to try and destroy HIm. But we cannot win. We will either bring our swords to slay Him or bring our gifts to serve Him. But though this King comes meekly, He has come to conquer our hearts. We will find our hearts turned tender and humble enough to worship the Child destined to reign?
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