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Matthew
2:13-23
 | Reading the Text:
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| Historical References, Commentary and
Comparative Texts:
 | The
Five Gospels Parallels, John W. Marshall, University of Toronto. |
|
Primary texts about the
Herod's Reign of Terror from
(Rutgers University Dept of Religion) Mahlon H. Smith's
Into His Own: Perspective on the
World of Jesus companion to the historical study of Christian texts. |
|
Slaughter of the
Innocents and
Archelaus:
New Testament Parallels to the Works of Josephus. From G.J. Goldberg's
Flavius Josephus Home Page. (Some of
these "parallels" are speculative.) |
|
III.IX.2,
III.XVI.4,
Adversus
Haereses, Irenaeus of Lyons.
(c. 180) |
|
Chapter
XIX, On The Soul,
Tertullian
(c. 210) |
|
Chapter II,
On the Flesh of Christ,
Tertullian
(c. 211) |
|
Chapter
IX, On Modesty,
Tertullian
(c. 217) |
|
I.LXI,
I.LXVI,Against
Celsus, Origen.
(c.246) |
|
Homily IX
- Matthew 2:16, Homilies on the Gospel of St. Matthew, St. Chrysostom
(c. 380) |
| From the
Catena
Aurea, Patristic Commentary by St Thomas Aquinas. |
| Commentary on a Harmony of the
Evangelists, John Calvin, 1558:
Matthew 2:13-18,
Matthew 2:19-23. |
|
From the
Geneva Notes.
 | "Christ having just
been born, begins to be crucified for us, both in himself, and also in
his members." |
|
|
From
Matthew
Henry's Commentary.
| "Egypt had been a house
of bondage to Israel, and particularly cruel to the infants of Israel;
yet it is to be a place of refuge to the holy Child Jesus. God, when he
pleases, can make the worst of places serve the best of purposes. This
was a trial of the faith of Joseph and Mary." |
|
|
From
Wesley's Notes.
| "The preservation of
Jesus from this destruction, may be considered as a figure of God's care
over his children in their greatest danger. God does not often, as he
easily could, cut off their persecutors at a stroke. But he provides a
hiding place for his people, and by methods not less effectual, though
less pompous, preserves them from being swept away, even when the enemy
comes in like a flood." |
|
|
From the
Commentary on the Whole Bible
(Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, 1871).
| "O ye mothers of
Bethlehem! methinks I hear you asking why your innocent babes should be
the ram caught in the thicket, while Isaac escapes. I cannot tell you,
but one thing I know, that ye shall, some of you, live to see a day when
that Babe of Bethlehem shall be Himself the Ram, caught in another sort
of thicket, in order that your babes may escape a worse doom than they
now endure. And if these babes of yours be now in glory, through the
dear might of that blessed Babe, will they not deem it their honor that
the tyrant's rage was exhausted upon themselves instead of their infant
Lord?" |
|
|
From
The People's
New Testament, B.W. Johnson, 1891.
| "Within half a mile of
that city was the tomb of Rachel, and hence the pathetic language of the
prophet is again applied to the inconsolable mothers of Bethlehem, as
though the Rachel that slept in the tomb were a mourner over her slain
offspring." |
|
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| Contemporary Commentary, Studies, and Exegesis:
|
Comments
(commentary) and
Clippings
(technical notes for in-depth study), Chris Haslam, Anglican
Diocese of Montreal. |
|
"First
Thoughts on Year A Gospel Passages in the Lectionary," Christmas 1A,
William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.
|
"Typically for such narratives
there is more than one stream of allusions. We not only have Israel going
down into Egypt and being called up out of Egypt in the Exodus as God's
son (hence the quotation of Hosea 11:1 in 2:15), but we also have echoes
of the attempt of the Pharaoh to kill Hebrew infants which led to Moses
being set among the bulrushes." |
|
|
"Remembering Rachel: The Slaughter of the Innocents,"
guest essay by Pam Fickenscher,
The Journey with Jesus: Notes to Myself, Daniel B. Clendenin, Journey
with Jesus Foundation, 2007.
|
"What is your visceral response to the 'slaughter of the innocents?'
Do you identify with those who are rescued or those left behind?" |
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|
"Out of Egypt,"
Blogging toward Sunday,
Erin Martin,
Theolog: The Blog of The Christian Century, 2007.
|
"Rachel still weeps for her children. She
refuses to be consoled, and this Christmas, so should we." |
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|
Exegesis, Matthew 2:13-23, A.K.M. Adam,
Lectionary Homiletics
sample.
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"If
we read Matthew’s 'proofs from prophecy' only as an exercise in
solving elliptical puzzles, we miss the assurance that resonates
through Jeremiah’s response to Rachel’s grief." |
|
|
"Out of Egypt," Richard L. Jeske,
eBulletins reflections, American Bible Society Bible Resource Center.
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"Egypt, you are us all, offering both help and
obstacle, every day saint and sinner, both implement and impediment
to redemption." |
|
|
"First Sunday after Christmas: Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23,"
Revelation and Response: Matthean Texts
for Christmas and Epiphany, Carol Mork, Word & World: Theology for
Christian Ministry, Luther Northwestern Theological School, 1989. |
|
"Putting Herod Back into Christmas," Joy Carroll Wallis,
Sojourners,
2004.
| "Herod represents the dark side of the
gospel. He reminds us that Jesus didn't enter a world of sparkly Christmas
cards or a world of warm spiritual sentiment. Jesus enters a world of real
pain, of serious dysfunction, a world of brokenness and political
oppression." |
|
|
Exegetical Notes
by Brian Stoffregen, at CrossMarks Christian Resources.
|
"A possible application might
center around forced moves: the elderly whose health or financial
situation forces them to move from their home place; the young whose jobs
and transfers force them to move from town to town; the expanding families
who need to find larger housing, or clergy receiving a new call." |
|
|
"Rachel Weeping," Frederick Niedner,
The Christian Century,
2004.
|
"In the midst of our celebrations we also
listen to Rachel’s lament because today her children and her
neighbors’ children are still dying with their hands on each other’s
throats in blind rage over disagreements old as her own jealousy of
Leah." |
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|
Matthew in the Margins, by Brian McGowan, Anglican priest in Western
Australia. |
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"Change after the
Holidays," Larry Broding's Word-Sunday.Com: A Catholic
Resource for This Sunday's Gospel. Adult Study, Children's Story, Family
Activity, Support Materials.
|
"Do you look forward to the end
of the Christmas season? Why?" |
|
|
"The
Escape to Egypt," Rev. Bryan Findlayson, Lectionary Bible
Studies and Sermons, Pumpkin Cottage Ministry Resources. Includes detailed
textual notes.
| "In the coming of Jesus the messiah,
there dawns the new age of the Kingdom. Not only is Jesus the fulfillment
of all the prophetic hopes of Israel as the coming prophet, priest and
king, he is Israel itself - the faithful remnant of God." |
|
|
"The
Immigrant Nazarene,"
Jerry Goebel, One
Family Outreach. "Focus on scripture from a justice perspective." Exegesis, study, and teen study
and activities.
| "Our goal is this; are
we in the ‘Nazareths’ of own community? Are we willing to go where the
least of these is found and make our home among them? Are we willing to
take on their title and say with dignity; “Yes, I stand beside the
outcast, the immigrant and the powerless.” Are we willing to follow the
Nazarene?" |
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|
"Jesus the
Refugee," Expository Essay, Dr. William R. Long.
| "We have a God working through
the refugee family to preserve, and then to bring forward, the
Savior of the world." |
|
|
"The
Weeping of Rachel," Klass Schilder, in Kerux: The Online
Journal of Biblical Theology (Reformed)
|
"Rachel
is the first mother in Scripture who dies giving birth to her child." |
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"The
Babe and the Babes of Bethlehem," James T. Dennison Jr., in Kerux:
The Online Journal of Biblical Theology (Reformed)
|
"Jerusalem
in flames-- captives herded to the point of departure-- long lines of
Jewish sons and daughters marching to the East. And for the children put
to sword in Judah and Jerusalem-- what/who would deliver them? As the
curtain falls on the nation of Judah, Rachel weeps-- for all seems lost
and destroyed. When Israel wept for Rachel, she died giving life. Now
Rachel weeps for Israel, for the living are dead and the rest are
marched off to a grave in a far away land. Indeed, the children to whom
she gave life are no more." |
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| Articles & Background:
|
"Flight into Egypt,"
"Massacre
of the Innocents," wikipedia. |
|
"Living in the Shadow of the Manger," Margaret Eletta Guider, O.S.F.,
(other resources at)
"Children," Christian Reflection, The Center for Christian
Ethics at Baylor University, 2003.
| "When the shadow of the Manger falls across our
lives with a power similar to the shadow of the Cross, we will
commit ourselves to respond to the particular needs and suffering of
children."
|
|
|
"Jesus
and Women in Matthew," Jane Kopas,
University of Scranton. Theology Today, 1990.
| "It is not only the gentiles
but mothers and daughters and other marginalized people or outsiders
who get a special hearing from Jesus, Not only do they receive a
special hearing, but they seem to hear and see the possibilities in
his mission beyond what others see." |
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| "The
Greek Translation of Hosea 11:1 in Matthew 2:15: Matthean or Pre-Matthean?"
Maarten J.J. Menken, Filologia NT, 1999.
| "The author discusses the textual form
of the quotation from Hos. 11:1 in Matt. 2:15, which differs significantly
from the LXX Version and agrees with the Massoretic Text and Aquila’s
translation of this clause." |
|
|
The Wise Men
and the Star of Christ, a multi-page historical/theological site by Rev. Phil
Greetham. Includes a page of basic information about Herod the
Great. |
|
Herod the
Great, basic background from Wayne Blank's
Daily Bible Study.
| "Herod was assigned a
territorial rulership by the Romans, making him a "client
king." His area covered from Gaza to Masada in southern Israel,
north beyond Nazareth, and then a section east beyond the Golan Heights
into what is today Syria. If Herod had not died while Jesus was still an
infant, he certainly would have been a problem later because this is the
very area that Christ lived and conducted His entire recorded ministry." |
|
|
Mysteries of the
Nile website from PBS's Nova special. Features historical & archaeological
information, panoramic virtual reality photos, and more. |
|
| Articles in
ATLAS Journals. (Direct link when you are
subscribed and logged in to
ATLASerials online collection of Religion and Theology Journals.):
| Agourides, Savas,
"The Birth of Jesus and the Herodian Dynasty: An Understanding of Matthew,
Chapter 2," Greek Orthodox Theological Review, 1992.
Image Browse -
PDF |
| Bauer, David R., "The Kingship of
Jesus in the Matthean Infancy Narrative: A Literary Analysis," The
Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 1995.
Image Browse -
PDF |
| Davis, Charles Thomas,
"Tradition and Redaction in Matthew 1:18-2:23," Journal of Biblical
Literature, 1971.
Image Browse -
PDF |
| Dodson, Derek S., "Dreams, the Ancient Novels, and
the Gospel of Matthew: An Intertextual Study," Perspectives in
Religious Studies, 2002.
Image Browse -
PDF |
| El-Amin, Imam Plemon, "The Birth of
Jesus in the Qur'an," Review & Expositor, 2007.
Image Browse -
PDF |
| Erickson, Richard J., "Divine
Injustice?: Matthew's Narrative Strategy and the Slaughter of the
Innocents (Mathew 2:13-23)," Journal for the Study of the New
Testament, 1996.
Image Browse -
PDF |
| France, Richard T.,
"Herod and the Children of Bethlehem," Novum Testamentum, 1979.
Image Browse -
PDF |
| Gnuse, Robert,
"Dream Genre in the Matthean Infancy Narratives," Novum Testamentum,
1990.
Image Browse -
PDF |
| Howard, Tracy L., "The Use of Hosea 11:1 in Matthew
2:15: An Alternative Solution," Bibliotheca Sacra, 1986.
Image Browse -
PDF |
| Kopas, Jane, "Jesus and Women in
Matthew," Theology Today, 1990.
Image Browse -
PDF |
| McClaren, James S.,
"Jews and the Imperial Cult: From Augustus to Domitian," Journal for
the Study of the New Testament, 2005.
Image Browse -
PDF |
| Menken, Maarten J.J.,
"The Sources of the Old Testament Quotation in Matthew 2:23," Journal
of Biblical Literature, 2001.
Image Browse -
PDF |
| Mork, Carol,
"Revelation and Response: Matthean Texts for Christmas and Epiphany,"
Word & World, 1989.
Image Browse -
PDF |
| Niedner, Frederick, "Rachel Weeping,"
The Christian Century, 2004.
Image Browse -
PDF |
| Scott, Bernard Brandon,
"The Birth of the Reader," Semeia, 1991.
Image Browse -
PDF |
| Siciliano, Jude, O.P.,
"Advent: The Coming of Christ and His Justice," The Living Pulpit,
1997.
Image Browse -
PDF |
| Tupper, E. Frank,
"The Bethlehem Massacre - Christology against Providence?" Review &
Expositor, 1991.
Image Browse -
PDF |
| Via, Dan O., Jr.,
"Narrative world and Ethical Response: The Marvelous and Righteousness in
Matthew 1-2," Semeia, 1978.
Image Browse -
PDF |
| Vinson, Richard, "'King of the Jews': Kingship and
Anti-Kingship Rhetoric in Matthew's Birth, Baptism, and Transfiguration
Narratives," Review & Expositor, 2007.
Image Browse -
PDF |
| Weaver, Dorothy Jean,
"Rewriting the Messianic Script: Matthew's Account of the Birth of Jesus,"
Interpretation, 2000.
Image Browse -
PDF |
| Whitters, Mark F., "Jesus in the Footsteps of
Jeremiah," The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 2006.
Image Browse -
PDF |
| Young, Robert D.,
"Matthew's Christmas Allegory," Journal for Preachers, 2003.
Image Browse -
PDF |
|
| Reviews:
| Aus, Roger David,
Matthew 1-2 and the Virginal Conception: In Light of Palestinian and
Hellenistic Traditions on the Birth of Israel's First Redeemer, Moses.
University Press of America, 2004.
Review
by Wayne Meeks, Review of Biblical Literature, 2006. |
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| Sermons:
|
"Celebrate the Christ-Child and Remember the Children," Rev. Garth
Wehrfritz-Hanson, Dim Lamp, 2007. |
|
"Rachel's Weeping Must Cease!" the Rev. Dr. Robert M. Zanicky,
Day 1, 2001. |
|
"Rachel Weeps,"
Dr. Paul Sherry, President, United Church of Christ. 30 Good Minutes,
Chicago Sunday Evening Club, 1993. |
|
"Herod and Historical Probability," Christmas 1, Rev. Edward F.
Markquart, Sermons from Seattle. |
|
"Touched by an
Angel," John Jewell, 1998. |
|
"Blood in Bethlehem,"
Dean William Willimon,
Duke Chapel Sermon Archive, 1998. |
| Father Andrew M. Greeley,
"Priest, Author, Sociologist," Commentary and Homily
|
|
| With Children:
|
"Escape to
Egypt,"
"Jesus
Grows Up," Illustrating the
Story (lessons, children's sermons), coloring pages, activity sheets,
crafts, children's songs. MSSS Crafts. |
|
"Joseph Takes
Mary and Jesus to Safety in Egypt," Sunday School
Lessons: Family Bible Study, art projects, music, stories, etc. |
|
"Learning to Be Safe," Lois Parker Edstrom, Children's Sermon,
Lectionary.org. |
|
Gospel Puzzles for
the Lectionary, Matthew 2:13-23, Mark Ryman, edoxy.com. |
|
"Escape to Egypt,"
children's study, puzzles, coloring sheet, etc. Higher Praise Christian
Center. |
|
| Drama: |
| Graphics & Bulletin Materials:
|
Clip Art,
Matthew 2:15, Fr. Richard Lonsdale, Resources for Catholic Educators. |
|
Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23, at
Cerezo Barredo's weekly gospel illustration.
Liberation emphasis. |
|
Matthew 2:13-18, Liturgical Drawing, Maria d.c. Zamora,
Claretian Resources, Philippines. ("Download and use
these for free.") |
|
Clip Art, Julius Schnoor von Carolsfeld woodcuts, World Mission
Collection, Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. |
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| Hymns and Music:
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| Fine Arts Images Linked at The Text This Week's
Art Index:
|
| Movies scenes with the following themes,
listed at The Text This Week's Movie Concordance: |
| Study Links and Resources for the Book of Matthew |
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