Today, I am reading and commenting on Matthew 1-4.
One of the things we often miss in reading the New Testament, particularly the Gospels, is the way in which Jesus’ ministry was connected to what was going on in Judaism at the time. The Gospel of Matthew was written in attempt to convey the connection between Christianity and Judaism in a manner convincing to Jews. Which brings me to Herod and why he and “all of Jerusalem” were disturbed by the arrival of the Magi looking for the newborn king of the Jews. I think that, in part, Matthew included this account because it reminded his readers about the political instability of this region. Most of us are familiar with the Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid dynasty based out of Antioch on the Orantes (a city located in what is now Turkey) to establish the Hasmonean Dynasty over Judea. What we generally are unaware of is the many civil wars fought among the Hasmoneans. To a large degree those civil wars were fueled by disputes over the proper way to worship God. Fights between Jews who had adopted the cultural practices of the Greeks (Hellenists) and those who supported more traditional cultural practices. Further, it is clear from the stances on these issues taken by the various Hasmonean rulers that the conflicts were more about different factions than about specific religious practices. Herod the Great had been made king over Judea, in place of the last Hasmonean, by the Romans and despite his cruelty brought a period of stability. Since Herod was an Idumean who had converted to Judaism, he had brought a sort of peace among the factions. So, the various leaders of Jerusalem had to be alarmed by the news of the birth of a new king…especially since they knew he was not being put forth by their own faction. While the various factions hated each other, and fought each other for power, they were united in opposing Jesus because His very existence was a threat to their power.
I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.