Matthew 2

v1

"King Herod" sets a time period. Seriously, there is so much historical stuff in the gospels that to claim Jesus never existed is such bollocks.

The KJV uses the old-fashioned "wise men", the NASB uses "magi" and the NIV interestingly uses "Magi" with a capital M. Not sure what the idea is there.

v2

The magi's question is so amazing, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him." I love that line in Life of Brian where Brian's mum asks what star sign he is (Capricorn) and what they're like, and their response is, "He is the Son of God, the Messiah, king of the Jews!" "So that's Capricorn, is it?" "No, no, that's just him." The reason I refer to that is that it's not like there is a prophecy in scripture that talks about a star rising to establish when the Messiah will be born - if there was, it would be very likely Matthew would have included it in his gospel. This means God not only honoured the beliefs of the eastern magi so that their idea of what the star would mean was right, but he used it to communicate the coming of the Messiah in the east, but not in Jerusalem! (Save for Joseph; and Mary and the shepherds, but that's a different gospel.)

v3

The first time that Jerusalem hears of the birth of the Messiah is from some eastern magi. No wonder they were disturbed. It's like it happened without any fanfare - for them, anyway.

v4

The Jews were looking out for a Messiah. I don't mean they had active Messiah Patrol or something necessarily, but the fact is that Herod knew that the Bible had word that there was to be a Messiah, and he expects the Bible to have answers about where that Messiah would be born. Note also that when the magi turn up and ask about the "King of the Jews", Herod instantly translates this as "Messiah". They weren't messing around here.

v5-6

And there is indeed an answer - Bethlehem. Here is Matthew once again pointing to scripture as prophecying Jesus' coming. The Jews don't get told when, but they do get told where.  This is why I say they didn't necessarily have a Messiah Patrol; if they did, you'd assume someone would have heard about Jesus' birth and asked the question, "Could this be the Messiah?"

v7

Uh-oh. We all know how this story ends, but honestly, what noble reason would there be to know when he was born?

v8

See, this command would have been just as legit without verse 7's little investigation. But at least he does tell them where to go.

v9

This is no ordinary star. This is not just astrology. This star moves. It stops moving. There's something special about it. What was it? What did it look like? No idea. Doesn't say, doesn't matter. The point is that it guided them to where they were going - and it had to be a guidance more specific than "here's Bethlehem" because they already knew that bit from Herod.

v10

I think part of their overjoyment was the fact of the star's specialness itself. This is an obviously special thing. They had come all this way for something special, and they were not disappointed.

v11

They worshipped him. That doesn't mean they necessarily accepted him to be God; there is plenty of attestation of the Greek word προσκυνέω as simply meaning to give someone the appropriate homage or respect due to their superior rank over you. This was at the very least a king; you bow to kings. Of course, it doesn't mean they didn't think he was God too. Just saying. I mean, the whole star thing might happen when God has his Messiah born; but it's pretty darn special.

v12

And I imagine the dream fed into that too; that's also fairly special. They certainly took it to heart, because they followed its warning. Again, this doesn't mean the magi instantly associated Jesus with God - although the whole virgin birth story, which they would no doubt have heard upon turning up on Mary's doorstep, is a really strong contender there, even if you're not looking for the Isaiah prophecy.