This is from my daily Greek exercise of sight reading, courtesy of Vincent S Artale Jr.
Our text is from the Greek translation of Matthew 2:2. Here is my translation:
“2 λέγοντες
SayingSENTENCE “ Ποῦ ἐστιν ὁ τεχθεὶς βασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων
Where is the one born King of the Jews?SUPPORT εἴδομεν γὰρ αὐτοῦ τὸν ἀστέρα ἐν τῇ ἀνατολῇ
For we know the Star in the eastSENTENCE καὶ ἤλθομεν προσκυνῆσαι αὐτῷ ””
and came to worship Him
Here are some observations:
- In the context this is the wise men asking those in Jerusalem a question. The wise men came from the east and was searching for the Messiah, the special King of the Jews.
- The first sentence the wise men stated was a question: “Where is the one born King of the Jews?”
- Note this is a question about someone’s location: The King of the Jews.
- Matthew 2:1 earlier said this was “in the days of Herod the king,” yet these wise men weren’t looking for Herod. We know that because the wise men were asking about “the one born King of the Jews.“
- The term “born” of course is passive voice, since this is something done to the this particular King of the Jews. Whereas Herod has to actively plot to become King with this one He is made King by God and made King from birth!
- In the second sentence the wise men tells us why they were asking around about the one born the King of the Jews; this is indicated in the Greek by the conjunction γὰρ indicating reason.
- Two clauses follow each with a different aspect being covered of why they were asking around concerning this King of the Jews since birth.
- The first clause is “we know the Star in the east.”
- These wise men would have been from places east of Jerusalem. Even the name “Magi” which is what the Wise men are called have the word originate from Persia. So these men somehow knew about a star that signal where the Messianic King will be born.
- How specifically these wise men knew about the birth of the Messiah we are not told.
- What we do know here is that they know they were around the vicinity of the location where the Messianic King would be born.
- The second clause says “and came to worship Him.”
- This show their purpose in light of the function of the infinitive verb “to worship.”
- Keep in perspective that for these wise men they traveled very far to worship Jesus.
- This shows the importance of worship isn’t about pleasing ourselves or our comfort first.
Application:
- Like the wise men, it is wise to seek Jesus. For those of you not saved, have you trusted in Jesus as your Lord and Savior? For believers, seek Him daily in prayer and the Word of God!
- Remember these wise men they traveled very far to worship Jesus. If you ever have to travel far to go to a biblical church or a sound Bible study realize that you are not the first to travel far to worship God!
- There is an interesting irony: These are wise men. Yet they realize there are things they don’t know. They were willing to ask questions concerning Jesus. Will we be humble enough to realize that wisdom doesn’t mean we know it all but we know we need the help of others as we seek Jesus?
- How is your worship of Jesus going? Is it just something you engage in during the Winter Holiday season or is it a daily lifestyle?
- We can err and emphasize too much of the wisemen seeking Jesus or even our own seeking of God; don’t forget the greater act is God becoming a man in the person of Jesus. That’s the greater act. In fact the reason why we seek Him is because He first sought us, working in our hearts, moving our hearts to know the truth through the Word of God, etc. Have you thank Him and praise Him for the first coming of Christ to live a perfect life and die for our sins?
Amen! You are right, the wise men were humble enough to know the limitations of their wisdom and knowledge. They asked for directions as they seek the KING, worshipped Him at the manger, and gave Him gifts. In their wisdom, they already accepted that there are higher wisdom and power, and believed it (in faith) to be true, hence the journey.
May we praise and show gratitude to GOD the FATHER constantly for His grace, sending GOD the SON to redeem us from sin’s grip and for directing poeple’s lives, just like the three wise men. We are greatful to JESUS too, not just for redeeming and completing our sanctification (those two combined is very salient, allowing us to have an everlasting life worshipping the Triune GOD) but also for teaching us humility. CHRIST’s humility lead to His “great glory.” GOD bless you, Nancy, and the kids!
A very good comment! I pray for the intellectuals of our world today would humble themselves to believe in Jesus and become truly wise; it’s true 1 Corinthians said not many of you were wise or mighty of this world, but I hope for some of them to come to Christ since their path is harder than a camel going through a camel, because of their pride and money. Have you done a Christmas set of verses?
Not yet started.
This is great, Jimmy! It’s wise to seek Jesus first, Amen!
Amen! It is among the wisest thing we can do. Hope you are doing a bit better. These are hard times. Been realizing how much more important to do this series on Matthew and focus on the Christ’s birth passages for both believers and non believers…who know how long our time is permitted even here on WordPress…I’m sure you’ve wondered about that too. Hoping to have digital trails enough out there to point people to Jesus. Be blessed Mandy and Nathan!
I have been wondering big time when our voices will be quieted. This is an absolutely great series! I am doing better thank you for your prayers!
I am actively looking for ways to put Titus 3 into practice, “doing good” and helping meet needs. It’s more blessed to give than receive and the more I seek to do good to others the less I think about myself and circumstances. Praise God that He is greater than the one who is trying to run the world right now.
Also, not sure if you will watch any but I gotta say, “GO ARMY beat navy” hahaha love and blessings brother!!!
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Amen! It is wise to seek Jesus. May we be wise!
Saw it on FB a few years ago: Wise men still seek Him
Amen!
Amen =)
Thanks for this quick devotional! There’s a lot of info “between the lines” regarding these Magi as your study points out. Some have speculated the magi may have had in mind Balaam’s prophecy in Numbers 24:17. Thanks for the good exhortations drawn from this passage.
Balaam’s prophecy is incredible and I want to give it a further deeper study of it sometime. I do think the prophecy by Balaam helps us to understand Hosea 11:1 as prophecy. I argued that point lightly in the ending of this post in my post surveying Hosea: https://veritasdomain.wordpress.com/2019/02/28/survey-of-the-book-of-hosea/
What does your day look like? I just finished youth group. Going to do sermon prep later for Sunday!
Yup, Balaam’s prophecy would be an excellent study.
RE:Today
I’m just doing my usual Saturday odds and ends – groceries, bills, laundry – and I finally started cleaning out my huge collection of partially-filled paint cans. It’s amazing how they collect over the years. When I cleaned out my parents’ house, I grumbled about my father having such a huge collection of partly-filled paint cans, but I did the same thing.
Lord bless your sermon prep later on!
Reading and studying about the first Christmas in scripture is always a joy; every year there is something new to learn. Thank you for sharing SlimJim ☺️.
Thank you for the Greek. Spot on.
You’re welcome have a blessed Lord’s Day today yeah Maw Maw? 🙂
yeah, my grand. You also.
I hope and pray more would seek Christ
This really spoke to me: “There is an interesting irony: These are wise men. Yet they realize there are things they don’t know. They were willing to ask questions concerning Jesus.” Often people think of themselves as too smart for Jesus; not so these wise men. We too need to realize the fear of God is beginning of wisdom. We ought to see Jesus is the source of true wisdom
is well organized, easy to understand, usually persuasive, and devotional. Grudem does not merely inform you; he stirs your affections to love and worship the triune God. Grudem is not attempting to write a cutting-edge contemporary theology that plays theological Ping-Pong with trendy non-evangelical theologians. Nor is he attempting to write a historical theology that exhaustively explains what significant Bible interpreters and theologians have believed. Rather, he is serving the church by helping Christians who are not experts in theology better understand what the whole Bible says about God, God s word, man, Christ, the Holy Spirit, angels and demons, salvation, the church, and the end times.” Misunderstanding, Nationalism, or Legalism: Identifying Israel’s Chief Error with Reference to the Law
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