Two Are Better Than One

(From: MATTHEW #2 - 2:1-23)

VII. 2:1-23 GOD'S WATCHFUL CARE OVER EARLY DAYS OF JESUS

1. 2:1-12 WISE MEN WORSHIP

a. 2:1-2 THE WISE MEN SEEKING CHRIST

Tou de IeSOU gen-neTHENtos [1080]en Beth-leEM tes IouDAIas en heMErais HeROdou tou ba-siLEos,

Now when :Jesus was born in Bethlehem of :Judea in thedays of Herod the king,

iDOU, MAgoi [3097] aPO a-na-toLON pa-reGEnon-to eis Ie-roSOlu-ma [2414],

lo, magi from the east came to Jerusalem,

LEgon-tes Pou esTIN ho techTHEIS [5088] ba-siLEUS [935] ton IouDAIon?

2saying Where is the oneborn king of the Jews?

EIdo-men gar auTOU ton asTEra [792] en tea-na-toLE, kai ELtho-men pro-skuNEsai [4352]auTON.

for we saw his :star in the east, and are come to worship him.

b. 2:3-4 HEROD'S INQUIRY

aKOUsas de ho ba-siLEUS HeROdes, e-taRACHthe [5015], kai PAsa Ie-roSOlu-ma met' auTOU;

And when Herod the king heard it, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him;

kai su-na-gaGON PANtas tous ar-chi-eREIS [749]kai gram-maTEIS [1122]tou laOU,

4and he gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people,

e-punTHAne-to [4441] par' auTON pou ho ChrisTOS genNAtai.

andinquired of them where the Christ should be born.

c. 2:5-6 ANSWER

hoi di EIpan auTO, En Beth-leEM tes IouDAIas:

And they said to him, In Bethlehem of :Judea:

HOUtos gar GEgrap-tai diA tou proPHEtou [4396], Kai su Beth-leEM, ge IOUda,

for thus it is written through the prophet, 6And you Bethlehem, land of Judah,

ou-daMOS e-laCHIste [1646]ei en tois he-geMOsin [2232]IOUda,

Are in nowise least among the princes of Judah,

ek sou gar e-xeLEUse-tai heGOUme-nos [2233], HOstis poi-maNEI [4165]ton laON mou ton Is-raEL.

For out of you shall come forth a governor, who shall shepherd my :people :Israel.

d. 2:7-8 HEROD SENDS THEM TO BETHLEHEM

TOte HeROdes LATHra [2977]kaLEsas tous MAgous,

Then Herod privately called the magi,

eKRIbo-sen [3844]par' auTON ton CHROnon tou phai-noMEnou [5316]aSTEros;

andlearned of them exactly the time of the appearing star;

kai PEMpsas auTOUS eis Beth-leEM, EIpen,

8and he sent them to Bethlehem, and said,

Po-reuTHENtes e-xeTAsa-te [1833] a-kriBOS [199] peRI tou paiDIou;

Go andsearch out exactly about the little child;

ePAN de HEUre-te a-pagGEIlaTE [518] moi, HOpos ka' 'GO elTHON pro-skuNEso auTO.

and when you have found itreport to me, so that I also may come andworship it.

e. 2:9 GUIDANCE OF THE STAR

hoi de aKOUsan-tes tou ba-siLEos, e-poREUthe-san [4198]; kai iDOU,

And they having heard the king, went away; and lo,

ho aSTER hon EIdon en te a-na-toLE proEgen [4254] auTOUS,

the star which they saw in the east went before them,

HEos elTHON eSTAthe [2476] ePAno hou en to paiDIon.

till it came andstood over where the little child was.

f. 2:10 And when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

iDONtes de ton aSTEra, eCHAre-san [5463]chaRAN [5479]meGAlen SPHOdra [4970].

g. 2:11 WORSHIP OF THE WISE MEN

kai elTHONtes eis ten oiKIan EIdon to paiDIon

And they came into the house andsaw the little child

meTA MaRIas tes meTROS [3384] auTOU, kai peSONtes [4098] pro-seKUne-san [4352] auTO;

with Mary its :mother, and they fell down andworshiped it;

kai aNOIxan-tes [455] tous the-sauROUS [2344] auTON proSEneg-kan [4374] auTO DOra [1435],

and opening their :treasures they offered to him gifts,

chruSON [5557] kai LIba-non [3030] kai SMURnan [4666].

gold and frankincense and myrrh.

h. 2:12 A DIFFERENT RETURN

kai chre-ma-tisTHENtes [5537] kat' Onar [3677] me a-naKAMpsai [344] pros HeROden,

And warned in a dream not to return to Herod,

di' ALles hoDOU a-neCHOre-san [402] eis ten CHOran auTON.

they withdrew into their :country another way.

2. 2:13-15 JOSEPH WARNED TO FLEE TO EGYPT

a. 2:13 AN ANGEL WARNS JOSEPH TO FLEE

A-na-cho-reSANton de auTON iDOU, AGge-los KuRIou kat' Onar [3677] ePHAne [5316] to IoSEPH, LEgon,

Now when they withdrew lo, theLord's angel appeared to :Joseph in a dream, saying,

E-gerTHEIS paRAla-be [3880] to paiDIon kai ten meTEra auTOU,

Arise andtake the little child and his :mother,

kai PHEUge [5343] eis AIgup-ton [125], kai ISthi eKEI HEos an EIpo soi;

and flee into Egypt, and be there till I tell you;

MELlei gar HeROdes zeTEIN [2212] to paiDIon tou a-poLEsai [3384] auTO.

for Herod is about to seek the little child to destroy him.

b. 2:14-15 SOJOURN IN EGYPT

ho de e-gerTHEIS paREla-be to paiDIon kai ten meTEra auTOU nukTOS [3571],

And he arose andtook the little child and his :mother by night,

kai a-neCHOre-sen eis AIgup-ton, kai en eKEI HEos tes te-leuTES [5054] HeROdou: HIna ple-roTHE[4137]

and withdrew into Egypt, 15and was there till the death of Herod: that itmight be fulfilled

to 'reTHEN huPO KuRIou diA proPHEtou LEgon-tos, Ex AiGUPtou eKAle-sa ton huiON mou

which was spoken by theLord through the prophet saying, Out of Egypt I called my :son.

3. 2:16-23 HEROD SLAYS LITTLE BOYS

a. 2:16 THE SLAUGHTER OF THE INFANTS IN BETHLEHEM

TOte HeROdes, iDON HOti e-nePAICHthe [1702] huPO ton MAgon,

Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the magi,

e-thuMOthe [2373] LIan [3029], kai a-poSTEIlas aNEIlen [337] PANtas tous PAIdas,

was exceeding angry, and sent forth andslew all the boys,

tous en Beth-leEM kai en PAsi tois hoRIois [3725] auTES,

:in Bethlehem and in all its :borders,

aPO di-eTOUS kai ka-toTEro, kaTA ton CHROnon hon eKRIbo-sen paRA ton MAgon.

from two years old and under, according to the time which he had exactly learned of the magi.

b. 2:17-18 SCRIPTURE FULFILLED

TOte e-pleROthe to 'reTHEN diA Ie-reMIou tou proPHEtou, LEgon-tos,

Then was fulfilled what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet, saying,

PhoNE en 'RaMA eKOUSthe, klauthMOS [2355] kai ho-durMOS [3602] poLUS,

18A voice was heard in Rama, Weeping and much mourning,

'RaCHEL KLAIou-sa ta TEKna auTES; kai ouk Ethe-len pa-ra-kleTHEnai [3870] HOti ouk eiSIN.

Rachel weeping for her :children; and she would not be comforted because they are not.

c. 2:19-20 SAFETY DIVINELY REVEALED

Te-leuTEsan-tos [5053] de tou HeROdou, iDOU,

But when :Herod was dead, lo,

AGge-los KuRIou PHAIne-tai [5316] kat' Onar [3677] to IoSEPH en AiGUPto,

theLord's angel appears in a dream to :Joseph in Egypt,

LEgon, E-gerTHEIS, PaRAla-be [3880] to paiDIon kai ten meTEra auTOU

20saying, Arise, andtake the little child and his :mother

kai poREUou eis gen Is-raEL, tethNEka-sin gar hoi zeTOUNtes ten psuCHEN tou paiDIou.

and go into Israel land, for they are dead that sought the little child's life.

d. 2:21 And he arose andtook the little child and his :mother, and came into Israel land.

ho de e-gerTHEIS paREla-be to paiDIon kai ten meTEra auTOU, kai eiSELthen eis gen Is-raEL.

e. 2:22-23 ARRIVAL AND RESIDENCE IN NAZARETH

aKOUsas de HOti ArCHEla-os ba-siLEUei tes IouDAIas

But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over :Judea

anTI tou paTROS auTOU HeROdou, e-phoBEthe [5399] eKEI a-pelTHEIN [565];

instead of his :father Herod, he was afraid to go there;

chre-ma-tisTHEIS [5537] de kat Onar [3677], a-neCHOre-sen [402] eis ta MEre tes Ga-liLAIas,

but warned in a dream, he withdrew into the parts of :Galilee,

kai elTHON kaTOke-sen [2730] eis POlin le-goMEnen Na-zaRET;

23and came anddwelt in a city called Nazareth;

HOpos ple-roTHE to 'reTHEN diA ton pro-pheTON HOti Na-zoRAIos kleTHEse-tai.

that itmight be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophets that he should be called Nazorean.

NOTE: Matthew 1 and 2 are unique in the NT because of 5 unusual dreams for guidancethat appear here. The first was for Joseph, the step-father of Jesus. The angel of the Lord guided him in taking Mary to him as wife, when she was already with child by the Holy Spirit - before they had come together. And he obeyed.

The next was for the Magi, the Wise Men - notto return to Herod. They too obeyed.

Then three more dreams for guidance swiftly came to Joseph as guardian of Jesus. First - Flee to Egypt with the child and His mother. Then when Herod was dead, the angel of the Lord guided Joseph to return to Israel. And finally when Joseph feared going into Judea because of Herod's son Archelaus, a dream guided him to Nazareth in the region of Galilee.

Note, that the above 5 dreams are quite different from the dreams of Joseph in Genesis and Daniel, and practically all the 40 dreams recorded in the Bible. Normally, dreams are not to be taken literally, but are symbolic, and we need the key to these symbolic metaphors. The parables of Jesus are like dreams, and also require the metaphoric key - if we are to understand the meaning. The Book of Revelation is also in this category.

So the 5 dreams in Matthew 1 & 2 are notmetaphoric - but literal. Possibly only 5% or less of our dreams are of this literal nature. All othersrequire a key to interpretation. As I have in the past, I continue to recommend “Dreams: The Divinity Code - The Keys to Decoding Your Dreams and Visions” by Adrian Beale and Adam F. Thompson of Australia. See <www.thedivinitycode.org> for more information.

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Also - as I have noted before - Bible Numerics as discovered, researched and utilized by Ivan Panin - makes possible the outlining method of the above portion - Matthew chapter 2. You can substitute my summaries with your own, but neither of us can touch the Greek and English texts in this Interlinear production. I had to let my associate go because of his corruption of the English text, and even his changes in the Greek text. Who needs enemies, when they have so-called friends?

So - in this case, I leave the above Interlinear portion as a self-explanatory test. J.A.W.