Matthew 2:1-12 - Preliminary Questions

Okay, this isn't working. I'm obviously having trouble finding enough time to put everything together in one posting, so I'm going to do it a little at a time. I'll try to get something up here every day or every other day. By chopping it up into smaller pieces, we'll get more continuity and stay more engaged. Also, it will be benificial to all for you to share your own comments as we go.

Okay, there are a couple of preliminary things I'd like to show you. Something quite helpful that you won't pick up in an English translation is how the verb tenses are functioning in this chapter. In Greek, verb tenses have more functions than they do in English. In English, verb tense primarily communicates the time of an action - past, present, or future. But with Greek, the verb tense can communicate time, duration, prominence, and foregrounding/backgrounding. I'll explain some of this as we go.

In this chapter, the tenses are predominantly aorist, which only in a very rudimentary sense indicates past time. Since Matthew is in large part a record of historical events, you would expect almost all of the verbs to be aorist/past time verbs. However, this is not the case. Looking at the Greek text, one can see a noticeable shift in tenses from chapter 2 going into chapter 3. In my own study, I like to highlight aorist tense verbs in red, present tense verbs in blue, future tense verbs in yellow, etc. When I look at my notes on these two chapters (2&3), I see mostly red in chapter 2 and mostly blue in chapter 3. What on earth does this mean?

The verb tenses in chapter 2 are giving us the background that prepares us for the foreground in chapter 3. What on earth does that mean? Matthew, as the author of this book (under the inspiration of the HS, of course) is preparing the hearer to receive the message that is coming in the next chapters. The aorist tense is signaling background information. (By the way, chapter 1 used predominantly aorist tenses, too, linking it with chapter 2 as the background of the book.) Here are a few questions to think about as you look at this passage (2:1-12):
1. In what way are the first couple of chapters background information?
2. How might they be preparing us for what is ahead?
3. In everyday life, what might I want to know about someone before I accept what they have to say?
4. What are chapters 1&2 telling us about Jesus?

In a nutshell, we want to see what is the function of this chapter in the book. Matthew is not throwing any of this in on a whim. This is one of the most methodical books in the NT. There is purpose in everything.

Next, take some time to look at the main people in 2:1-12. Who are they? What is their ethnic background? What is said about them and what do they say?

Until next time, drink deep.