Anchor My Faith

Was It Bethlehem or Nazareth?

Scripture: Matthew 2:7-9

Herod is very troubled over the birth of Jesus and is seeking information of where he was born and exactly when: “Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared” (Matthew 2:7 ESV). Herod knew the location of the birth of Jesus to be Bethlehem and now he wants to know as accurately as possible when the star appeared to the shepherds indicating the time of birth. He arranges a secret meeting with the wise men to find this out.

Once Herod has the information he desires he sends the wise men on a mission: “And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him”” (Matthew 2:8 ESV). Herod took great care to obtain accurate information concerning the time of birth and location. Knowing this he sends the wise men to go and verify the information and then to return to him and inform his. He tells the wise men that his reason for this information is so he will know where to go to worship him. If you stop and think about why he wanted to know when he was born, one comes to the conclusion that his motive was not to go and worship, but to go and kill all babies old enough to include Jesus.

The wise men: “After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was” (Matthew 2:9 ESV). Herod told the wise men to go and they went on their way and as they started travel towards Bethlehem, which was about six miles directly south of Jerusalem, the star again appears to guide them to the exact spot where Jesus was.

There are two observations or maybe questions we need to consider: the nature of the star and the location given for Jesus by Luke. It was mentioned in a previous lesson that the star is not a little point of light in the heavens we see at night, but had to be some local supernatural light, like a spotlight that guided them. It is possible that the light could be seen and used as a guide during the daytime. If not the wise men would have traveled to Bethlehem during the night.

In Luke 2:39, we are informed that after performing everything according to the Law of the Lord, Joseph, Mary and Jesus returned to their hometown of Nazareth, but here in Matthew Jesus is located in Bethlehem. Later in Matthew we will learn that Jesus was taken to Egypt, but later returned to Nazareth. Either Joseph, Mary and Jesus stayed in Bethlehem or went back to Nazareth and then moved back to Bethlehem. Regardless of what they did, one to two years after the birth of Jesus, when the wise men visited, Jesus was living in Bethlehem.

Prayer

Father, we aren’t told when or why Joseph and the family moved to Bethlehem from Nazareth. They went from Nazareth to Bethlehem to the temple and then Luke says they returned to Nazareth, but now here in Matthew, we find them back in Bethlehem. Father, when one tries to harmonize the gospel accounts, problems like this tend to surface making our journey along the gospel path more interesting. Father, I pray that as our journey continues day by day that more and more will join our group of travelers and experience in greater detail the life of Jesus.