Matthew 2: Jerusalem as Egypt – Part Two

The pointed jokes continue as Matthew’s Gospel takes up the serrated edge of Exodus and saws into the bough of the Herodian dynasty.

Part One is here.

However to fully comprehend Matthew’s ironic “Exodus” sequence, we must not only notice what is there, but also what is missing and what has been turned inside out. In this post, we will cover the second and third steps in the fivefold “covenant” sequence of the chapter: Hierarchy and Ethics.

Analysis (continued)

Cycle Two: Hierarchy

The second cycle concerns the “hierarchy” of God, that is, those whom He has chosen to serve Him as priests, kings, and prophets. In this Division step of the chapter, Matthew highlights the fact that there are two courts, and two sets of royal advisors. The kingly court of Man is now contrasted with the priestly court of God, and the Jewish wise men who serve the apostate king of the Jews are contrasted with the believing Gentile wise men who desire to worship the child “whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days” (Micah 5:2).

The point here is the same as that made in 2 Kings 2:15-25, the account of the poisoned spring in Jericho and the bears that slay 42 Israelite children. What is that point? That God is no respecter of persons when it comes to obedient faith. Although the Jews and the Gentiles had different ministries in the economy of God upon earth, God—through His prophet—was quite willing to give babies to the believing Gentiles in Jericho (of all places) and bring down the covenant curses upon the children of Jewish calf worshipers in “house of God” Bethel (Leviticus 26:21-22). The same ironic justice applies here. The kingdom was being taken away from the unbelieving Jews and given to a people who would bring forth the fruits that God desired (Matthew 3:10; Matthew 21:43; Romans 11:20-21).

What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry! (Isaiah 5:5-7)

Beyond the “Cain and Abel, Jacob and Esau” rivalry between the Succession of Herod and the Succession of Jesus, there is the fact that the wise men, in contrast to the adulterous Herods, were likely “eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom” (Matthew 19:12) in the manner of their Judahite “father” the prophet Daniel, the Apostle Paul, and of course, Jesus Himself.¹See “A Castrated Heart” in Michael Bull, Inquiétude: Essays for a People without Eyes. The virgin birth of Jesus gave these barren ones a cause to rejoice (Isaiah 54:1).

Creation – Genesis / Initiation – Ark of the Testimony (Sabbath)

• In the Creation stanza, Herod is the initiator, alluding to Pharaoh the antagonist who considered the Hebrews to be a threat to his kingdom.
• The sevenfold pattern corresponds to the dominion pattern—Israel’s journey from Egypt to Canaan—in which steps 2 and 6 are water crossings. The words “secretly” and “appearing” relate to the cutting of Israel from the nations and the replanting of Israel among the nations. In Tabernacle terms, this is the Veil that hides the throne of God (Division) and the opening of the Veil to the High Priest on the Day of Atonement (Conquest).
• Once again, the Magi are described as “ascending” as worshipers on a pilgrimage. Herod is the false “lampstand” shining the spotlight of interrogation at the center, the oppressive heat of a beating sun. The star (stars are the rulers of heaven, picturing rulers on earth) is placed in the final line, indicating the threat perceived by Herod to the future of his dynasty.

Division – Exodus / Delegation – Veil (Passover)

• In Genesis 1, the Day 2 stanza in Genesis 1 is missing its central line (line 4), indicating the leaving of a vacant space for the sun, moon, and stars which would fill the firmament on Day 4, to govern the times and the seasons. The same device is employed here, perhaps to indicate that Herod’s kingdom of darkness has no true stars, and is not the dynasty promised to Abraham, but also to indicate that he is a king bereft of the Pentecostal Spirit of God, a lawless ruler who misuses the Law of God as a weapon of oppression like the serpent in Genesis 3.
• Bethlehem (“house of bread”) is now in line 2, hinting at Herod’s murderous “Passover” intention for the “fruit” of the womb. Matching this in line 6 is an “uncovering,” an intention that would be remembered by Jesus in His uncovering of the rulers of the Land, those who had rejected the covering of His blood (Isaiah 2:19; Hosea 10:8; Luke 23:30; Revelation 6:16) and were finally exposed to the face of God in the Law of Moses.

Ascension – Leviticus / Presentation – Bronze Altar & Table (Firstfruits)

• The spin put upon this directive by its Levitical location highlights the “brothers at the altar” rivalry between the Cainite Herods and the “firstfruits” offering of this new and better Abel. This is expounded in Exodus in the despising of shepherds by the Egyptians.
• Ascension corresponds not only to the altar but also to the land and its fruit bearers (Day 3). Cain deceived his brother by calling him into the field in order to slay him. Herod’s lip service to priestly submission was mere guile, an unholy cousin of Ehud’s left-handed “gift” for King Eglon (Judges 3:12-30). In the humaniform Tabernacle, the left hand corresponds to the priestly Table, and the right hand to the “seven stars” of the kingly Lampstand. This was not true religion (James 1:27), but a politically-expedient disguise for a treasure-hoarding dragon (Luke 16:19-21; James 5:1).
• Notice that the author has placed “may worship” at Conquest, revealing Herod’s true intention—not an Oath of allegiance but the Sanction of death under the royal sword.

Testing – Numbers / Purification – Lampstand (Pentecost)

• The central stanza employs the Testing symbols of kings, stars, and open eyes. The final line possibly speaks of the guardian cherubim who bore the heavenly sword that Adam had disqualified himself from bearing, but also alludes ironically to the angel of death that slew the firstborn in Egypt.
• The placement of “went before them” in line 5 is a military image, with the star as the “head” and the wise men as the “body” of elders. This corresponds to the blazing torch and smoking fire pot in Genesis 15, where each of the sacrificed animals corresponded to an element of the future Tabernacle of Moses.²See the diagram in “Cutting Off Canaan” in Michael Bull, Dark Sayings: Essays for the Eyes of the Heart. Revelation twists the same image into a mockery of the Judaizers who troubled the Firstfruits Church, telling those who trusted in their Abrahamic lineage that their “blazing torch” was actually Satan being thrown down from heaven in a false Pentecost after the ascension of Christ, and their “smoking fire pot” was in truth a sulphuric host of Babylonian locusts who were devouring the Land and tormenting its people (Revelation 8:10, 13).³See the chart of the seven trumpets in Michael Bull, Moses and the Revelation, 136.
• The three Ethics lines allude to the process of giving the Law (hearing God), opening the Law (acting in its light), and receiving the Law (testifying in response).

Maturity – Deuteronomy / Transformation – Incense Altar (Trumpets)

• Stanza 5 relates to the “music and praise” of the restored Tabernacle of David, and the fruitfulness of God’s people who bring their gifts to His house (the fifth step in the liturgy is the offertory. This alludes to the adjective “Ephrathah” that described Bethlehem in the prophecy of Micah.
• Although the stanza works through the sevenfold covenant pattern, it also cleverly follows the pattern of the liturgy but in reverse (a device used occasionally in the Maturity stanzas of the Bible). This possibly indicates the coming death of the Old Covenant and the acknowledgement of the New.
• Instead of the proclamation of the Word at the center, there is the incarnate Word.
• Unlike Herod’s pretense of worship at Conquest, the Magi worship Christ at Succession.

Conquest – Joshua / Vindication – Laver, Sacrifices & Priesthood (Atonement)

• On the Day of Atonement (or Coverings), the High Priest sprinkled blood in the Most Holy Place, the room containing the Ark of the Testimony, God’s “treasure chest.” Here, the wise men bring their gifts to the true treasure of God (Haggai 2:7), His holy Son, His “indescribable gift” (2 Corinthians 9:15), the one whose tomb, with its slab flanked by two angels, would fulfill the meaning of the Holy of Holies.
• Moving out from the Most Holy Place into the Holy Place, the heavenly court of God, the three gifts correspond to the three pieces of furniture, those that represented the three offices: Priest (Table: myrrh), King (Lampstand: gold), and Prophet (Incense Altar: frankincense). Interestingly, the myrrh is not placed in line 3 (as the gifts on the Altar) but in line 6. This elevates the wise men as spiritual priests but places the sacrifice of Jesus in the place of the High Priest. It was Nicodemus, the epitome of the Jews who would later believe, who brought myrrh for Jesus’ burial (John 19:39). The stanza ends without a Succession line, indicating that Jesus must die a priestly death in order to inherit the kingdom.
• Although there were three gifts, we are not told how many wise men were in this pilgrim caravan. Traditions postulate various numbers, but perhaps sacred architecture can provide a few clues. The first contingent of worshipers were Israelite shepherds (priesthood), corresponding to the Table of Shewbread, and the Firstfruits lamb. This second contingent (as a second legal “witness”) were Gentile magi (kingdom), corresponding to the seven-branched Golden Lampstand, with its seven fiery bowls. The churches in Gentile cities are seen as seven lampstands in Revelation 1. Their combined worship prefigured the Jew-Gentile “bridal” Church, the Altar of Incense (prophecy). However, Revelation 4:4 mentions twenty-four wise elders who sit upon twenty-four thrones before the Lord. Not only do they fall down, but they cast down their kingly crowns as gifts, a sign of priestly submission just before the ascension and enthronement of Christ as Priest-King. This is likely the fulfillment of that signified in the visit of these Gentile wise men, working from the “gifts” of death at His birth to the “gifts” of rest and rule at His ascension (Revelation 12:4-5). James Jordan writes:

In chapters 4 and 5 we are first shown God the Father on His throne. He is surrounded by an emerald rainbow, and the emerald is the stone of Levi. These Levites, however, are twenty-four archangels, the heavenly model of the twenty-four groups of Chief Levites and Chief Priests who served in the Temple according to 1 Chronicles 24-25… We are told in 4:10 that the twenty-four archangels will fall down and worship God and cast their crowns before Him. This forecasts the drama of Revelation, for we shall find exactly twenty-four actions by archangels in the book. Each archangel in his turn comes before the Throne, removes his crown of ruling the Old Creation, and then goes forth to perform his last act of judgment against that Creation. This pile of crowns is then picked up by the saints, who enter heaven to replace the archangels as co-rulers with Jesus (20:4).⁴James B. Jordan, The Vindication of Jesus Christ: A Brief Reader’s Guide to Revelation, 37-38.

• In architectural terms, we have the shepherds “lifted up” as representatives of the tribes of Israel (the loaves on the Table), and the wise men “looking down” as representatives of the stars of heaven (the lights on the Lampstand). However, based on the heavenly worship described in Revelation 4, it is possible that there were twenty-four wise men, which not only accords with the courses of priests in the kingdom era, but also describes a construct that resembles a “Babelic” ziggurat, a liturgical stairway to heaven, since the twenty-four courses were made up of representatives of two Aaronic houses, eight from the house of Ithamar, and sixteen from the house of Eleazar (1 Chronicles 24:4).

• That gives us a three-level “ascension” offering with the High Priest at its peak, mediating between heaven and earth as Adam on the high place of Eden, Noah on Mount Ararat (offering the first true “ascension” by fire), and Abraham offering Isaac on Mount Moriah, site of the future Temple.⁵See The Highest of the Mountains. A contingent of twenty-four wise men gathered around Jesus would replicate the Garden, Land, World construct in Genesis 1-2, the three levels of the ark of Noah, and the three domains of the Tabernacle.

Glorification – Judges / Representation – Shekinah (Booths)

• It seems that the same guardian that stood over the child was now also standing guard over these wise men. The stanza works through the sacrificial process but in the negative, indicating their protection from the sword of the satanic “angel of death” who ironically sat on the throne in Jerusalem.
• The final line, “into their country,” corresponds to the Feast of Booths, the final gathering of the year that united Jew and Gentile in the worship of Yahweh. This pictures the ministry of the Jew-Gentile Church, especially after the destruction of Jerusalem and the demolition of the Temple of Herod.
• Even as an infant, Christ ruled over the wise men of Babylon. Like Daniel, He would set up new worship outside Jerusalem. So, as the Herods and their governments continually refused to enter the new Holy Place, people from all nations became the new priesthood, holy, wise elders who came boldly before the throne.

Cycle THREE: ETHICS

The irony of cycle three is obvious, since it was Egypt that now provided safety from the bloodthirsty “Pharaoh” who ruled in Jerusalem. Child sacrifice in Canaan was not only explicitly condemned, but also implicitly condemned, in symbol, in the prohibition against boiling a kid in its mother’s milk. That which was intended to bring life was not to be used to bring death. The lamb and kid of Passover (Exodus 12:5) represented the priestly and kingly brothers of Israel (such as Jacob and Esau), and the milk symbolised the blessings of the Promised Land, a “land flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 3:8).⁶For more discussion, see Kids in the Kitchen. The prohibition combines the fruit of the land with the fruit of the womb, corresponding to the curses in Genesis 3 and the promises in Genesis 15. The point of the symbol was to describe the horror of what God considered to be a “passover in the motherland.” Herod the Great was about to carry that out, not in symbol, but in reality.

TRANSCENDENCE

• Right at the center of Genesis 15 is the land of Egypt, the place of Testing by the serpentine king. In this cycle we have a new Joseph under whose faithful stewardship, despite various trials, all nations will be made to prosper.

HIERARCHY

• Stanza 2 not only employs the festal calendar in its prediction of Herod’s coming attack, but is another literary ziggurat: the fivefold covenant pattern of the whole is the first level, its expansion into the sevenfold model is the second level, and the expansion of the central point of the sevenfold pattern into its own fivefold sequence is the third level. Angels speak in fractals, because that is how the world was constructed, and apparently that is how it is maintained and upheld—iterations of images, sourced in the Son as the perfect image of the Father.

ETHICS

• Just as the Law is given (priesthood) and then opened (kingdom), so the directive of the angel that was given to Joseph is now “opened” in history through obedience.
• Compare this stanza with the previous one, and take note of what is the same and what is different. Perhaps the most important difference is that the destruction of the Christ has been replaced by the death of Herod. The priesthood of “Jacob” would outlast the kingdom of “Esau.”
• Egypt is at the center of this Egyptian stanza, with the Lampstand fulfilling the sign of the burning bush upon Sinai, site of the giving of the Law during the first Pentecost.
• The phrase “by night” possibly corresponds to the extra covering upon the Table of Facebread. All of the elements of furniture were covered in “midnight” veils and goatskin when in transit, but the Table also had a covering of scarlet (Numbers 4:8), representing not only the “missing lamb” for whom heaven waited (Revelation 5:1-8)⁷For more discussion, see The Missing Lamb. but also the “ruddy” face of the Man who faces God (1 Samuel 17:42). In contrast, the Herodian dragon, like Goliath, would fall down on his face, not in worship, but in death. The name “Golgotha” is possibly derived from “Goliath of Gath,” indicating the place where David buried the head of the scale-covered giant.

OATH/SANCTIONS

• Like stanza 5 in this previous cycle, this stanza seems to run both backwards and forwards. The point here seems to be the reversal of Israel’s inheritance, symbolized in “turning back the clock” and walking Israel back from Canaan into Egypt.
• As mentioned, God’s firstborn is an ironic title, alluding to the failure of Adam (the natural son) and the success of Jesus (the spiritual son). The Old Testament is replete with firstborn sons who were disqualified by God due to their rebellions against Him, their mantles falling to younger, more faithful brothers.
• This cycle ends without a Succession stanza, indicating that this prophecy was a condemnation of the Herods. But the Herodian dynasty would ultimately be cut off due not to the murder of Christ (since He forgave them from the cross) but to their murders of the saints, and their rejection of His blood signified, indeed, celebrated, in their ridiculously extravagant Passovers from AD 64-66, following the completion of the Temple of Herod the Great.⁸For more discussion, see “The Lost History” and “Sin City” in Michael Bull, Moses and the Revelation.

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