Matthew 2:3-6 3When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4And after gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired from them where the Messiah was to be born. 5They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for thus it has been written by the prophet: 6‘And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, Are by no means least among the leaders of Judah; For out of you will go out a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ”
The natural place to go to look for a new born king is the palace of the current king. So, the magi consult Herod to find out where this new king was so that they could give him special honor. The paranoia of Herod shows up in verse 3 when he hears about the birth of a new king. The surprising part of this news is that all Jerusalem was also troubled. Matthew does not give more description of who this all included, but it is the first sign of trouble for the coming Messiah. The Jews would reject their own Messiah. This is the first time that someone has identified Jesus as the Messiah, although Matthew already gave this description in 1:18. How did Herod come to connect the birth of a new king and the Messiah? Did he know the prophecies of the Old Testament or heard of the rumors of an expected Messiah?
Herod reveals his paranoia further by gathering together the Jewish leaders and scholars to inquire about this matter and find out what the prophecies said about the birth location of the Messiah. These leaders should have been waiting in anticipation, but as time goes on, they rejected even obvious signs like the coming of magi from the east. Their hearts turned hard in rebellion against God’s revelation.
The Jewish leaders knew from where the Messiah would come based on the prophecy from Micah 5:2. Bethlehem was the same town that David came from. The Messiah would restart the Davidic dynasty and follow the same path to greatness. The small, insignificant village of Bethlehem would provide the cradle for the coming king.
The Messiah is described as ruler and shepherd. The ruler would lead the people of Israel back to God by being a caring shepherd. These two images are almost opposites in people’s thinking. A ruler has power and authority over many people. A shepherd was one of the lowest persons of the society, often alone out in the hills with the sheep. The Messiah bridges both of these. The shepherd has the strength of a ruler, and the ruler has the gentleness of a shepherd to his sheep. These two images also reflect the qualities of David who started off as a shepherd and rose to be the greatest leader of Israel.
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