TOUGH QUESTIONS but still chose to include the visit of the magi in his account of Jesus’ birth. There must have been a purpose for doing so. We must, therefore, set the magi against the overall purpose of Matthew’s Gospel.
–– Rahab, a Canaanite (Matthew 1:5); –– Ruth, a Moabite (Matthew 1:5); and –– Bathsheba, a Hittite (Matthew 1:6). • The meaning of the name, Jesus
God reaches out to earnest inquirers by revealing Himself in a way that is meaningful and intelligent to the person.”
Since Matthew devotes much space to Old Testament quotations in his Gospel, some biblical scholars suggest that he writes primarily to convince the Jews that Jesus is the promised Messiah, the Son of David, and the one to whom the Old Testament points.h The problem with this view is that it severely restricts the scope of Matthew’s Gospel to persuading Jews that Jesus is the fulfillment of all their messianic expectations.
• The magi came from the east to By including the presence of the magi, the scope of Matthew’s account expands to a universal perspective that salvation is available to both Jews and Gentiles. Although Jesus was born as a Jew, His work is universal. The Gospel of Jesus, the Messiah, is the heritage of all humanity. The following portions of Matthew’s account lend credence to this position:
• In Jesus’ genealogy, Matthew refers to at least four Gentiles who were the ancestors of Jesus:
–– Abraham, a Chaldean when God called him from Ur (Matthew 1:1; cf. Acts 7:2-8);
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(“Jehovah is salvation”), that He will save people from their sins (Matthew 1:21), implies that sin is part of the human condition. Salvation, therefore, is a human need and is possible only through Jesus. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus commissioned His disciples to proclaim repentance for the forgiveness of sins to all nations (Luke 24:47).
Jerusalem. In Matthew 28:19, Jesus commissions His disciples to go into all the nations to make disciples of all nations. This anticipates that there will be, in future, a pilgrimage of all nations that the prophet Zephaniah had anticipated (Zephaniah 3:9-10) to worship Jesus, the King. The visit of the magi was the first instance of such a pilgrimage. The visit of the magi is a unique experience in that no other New Testament book documents a parallel episode. It is unique also in that their observation of the stars led the magi to Bethlehem to pay homage and prostrate before Jesus, who, according