Posted by Chester Morton / Tuesday 28 March 2017 / No comments
Matthew's account of the birth of Jesus
Jesus’ mother, called Mary, was betrothed to a man called
Joseph but before they could get married, it was discovered that she was with a
child of the Holy Spirit. Joseph, her husband to be, being a just man did not
want to send Mary away in disgrace so he planned to quietly divorce her.
While Joseph was still contemplating this line of action, the
Lord appeared to him in a dream and told him not to divorce Mary because the
child in her belly was a son of the Holy Spirit. The Lord said, Mary shall have
a baby to be called Jesus because he would save the world from their sins.
Joseph obeyed the Lord’s advice and did exactly what was told him. He took Mary
as his wife but he did not sleep with her until the child was delivered.
At the birth of Jesus, a star appeared in the east. Wise men in
the East saw the star and followed it till it took them to Jerusalem to come
and worship the child that was born. King Herod became worried that a king was
born. He called together the High Priest and the scribes to find out where the
child was to be born and he was told it was going to be in Bethlehem because
that was what the prophets had written.
With this knowledge, King Herod invited the wise men from the
East to come and he asked them exactly what time the star had appeared. He told
them to go to Bethlehem and diligently search for the child and after they had
found him, they must come to tell him so that he could also go and worship him.
The wise men followed the star until it rested on the place
where Jesus was born. When they finally saw the child, they bowed down and
worship him. They presented gifts to the child; gifts of gold, frankincense and
myrrh. On their way back home, they were warned in a dream not to return to King
Herod, so they went through another route back home.
After the wise men had left, an angel appeared to Joseph and
told him to take the child and the mother and flee to Egypt because the King
was after the life of the child. He was to stay there until he is told to come
back. That very night, Joseph took the child and his mother and fled to Egypt. When
Herod realized that the wise men had left and he could not locate the baby, he
gave a decree that all babies who were two years or less should be killed.
Joseph stayed in Egypt until Herod died. After that the Lord
appeared to Joseph again and told him to take the child and mother and go back
to Israel because the people who wanted to kill him had died. Upon his return,
he did not go back to Judea because Archelaus, the son of Herod, was the ruler
there, and he was afraid of him. Instead, he went to Galilee and settled in a
city called Nazareth.
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
1. a. Give Matthew’s account of the birth of Jesus.
b. In what three ways is Matthew’s account
different from that of Luke?
2. a. Narrate the account of the birth of Jesus, according to
Matthew.
b. What two lessons
can be learned from the role of dreams in the life of man?
