Question on Matthew 2:3

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runandsew

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Matthew 2:1-3
“When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.” When King Herod heard this, he was greatly troubled, and all Jerusalem with him”.

I know why King Herod would have been troubled about the news of the newborn king of the Jews, but why would all Jerusalem be troubled, I would have thought that they were looking forward to the Messiah. Could the reason be fear of Roman persecution?
 
Fear of Rome certainly motivated numerous actions of the Jews against Jesus, so that may be a good conclusion.

I could also see Jerusalem thinking, “Hey, the Messiah that we have been waiting over 2000 years for was born, and we missed out on it? Shouldn’t he have been born and crowned in Jerusalem, not in some watering hole called Bethlehem”??? IMO, the ancient Jews would consider that the city of the Messiah’s birth would be elevated, maybe over Jerusalem.
 
I was just thinking that the fear of Roman persecution might not be the answer, since the common belief of the Jews of that time was that the Messiah was going to be an earthly king, and free them from foreign occupation and bondage.
 
Run And Sew,

Given that Herod was quite the tyrant who killed his own wife because he thought she was plotting against him, ordered the massacre of the innocents in Bethlehem, and also ordered a wholesale slaughter to be carried out when he died (so that everybody else would mourn when he died–this order was thankfully not carried out), it’s pretty easy to imagine that if he got into a tizzy, everybody within his reach would be in a tizzy wondering how he would react. “If momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.”
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Yes, that sounds very reasonable, I remember Scott Hahn speaking about the things that King Herod did in some of his talks. That Man (King Herod) was despicable,
 
I believe someone once said of Herod, “I’d rather be one of Herod’s pigs then one of his family members”. That speaks volumes when speaking of a Jew!!!
 
NotWorthy said:
I believe someone once said of Herod, “I’d rather be one of Herod’s pigs then one of his family members”. That speaks volumes when speaking of a Jew!!!
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Herod executed at least one son he thought was plotting against him. As I recall Herod was not a Jew , but tried hard to imitate their ways to justify his position; thus he would not kill a pig. His claim to the throne was tenuous to non-existant. Thus he reacted violently to the Magis’ announcement of the birth of a legitimate king. The ** Numbers 24:17-18 ** prophecy not only foretold the coming of an heir of Juda, but of the fall of the Edomite.****
 
Joe_Kelley said:
Herod executed at least one son he thought was plotting against him. As I recall Herod was not a Jew, but tried hard to imitate their ways to justify his position; thus he would not kill a pig.
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Yes, he killed numerous family members, including his wife, if I’m correct.

But I thought Herod was a Jew. I actually that he was of the Maccabean line, but I don’t recall why I thought that.
 
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