A Few Observations on Matthew 2.1-10

Matthew 2.1-10:

¹Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, ²saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” ³When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; ⁴and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. ⁵They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:
⁶“‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

⁷Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. 8And 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.” ⁹After 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. ¹⁰When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

Matthew’s wise man narrative has a couple interesting features to it that I want to bring out. The first thing I want to point out is the structure of the narrative itself. It is essentially a five-part narrative, with a different focal point in each part. The way it is constructed in parts forms a chiasm. Chiasms are structures of literature that frames a main point with mirroring details. When we write this out in form, it forms the left half of the Greek letter chi, χ, so it looks like “>.” To get a better visual, I will break the above verses down into its chiasm but paraphrasing the verses:

These are of course, overly simplified, but they work for our purposes. See how a’ and b’ mirror a and b, with c being the “hinge” that holds them together? Here, the parts of the narrative are told, focusing on the actors. Wise men, Herod, prophesy, Herod, Wise men. Certainly its a nice little literary trick, but why am I bringing it up?

I want to bring out two points, which are most easily seen when you are viewing the verses as I have them above. The first point is that the passage is Christocentric….literally. The birth of Christ, and it being the fulfillment of prophecy, is the hinge of the narrative. The second point, is the contrast between the supporting cast. Notice the different attitudes portrayed: the wise men, who are pagan, seek the Christ to worship Him, while Herod and the Jews fear the birth of Christ. The contrast is stark. The ones who should have been anticipating the coming messiah reject him while those who should have no interest seek to worship Him. Interesting indeed.