Matthew 2 explained

The wise men asked for the one "born King of the Jews" (2:2), and Matthew doesn't give that title again until the governor's question (27:11), the soldiers' mocking (27:29), and the words set over Jesus's head on the cross: "THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS" (27:37). And Matthew never says how many wise men there were.

Matthew opens the chapter with a king: "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem" (2:1). The wise men ask, "Where is he who is born King of the Jews? For we saw his star in the east, and have come to worship him" (2:2). "When King Herod heard it, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him" (2:3). Herod gathers "all the chief priests and scribes of the people" and asks them "where the Christ would be born" (2:4) (tap Christ). Matthew doesn't use the wise men's title again until the end of the book: the governor asks Jesus, "Are you the King of the Jews?" (27:11), the soldiers mock him with "Hail, King of the Jews!" (27:29), and over his head on the cross they set up the accusation, "THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS" (27:37).

"They came into the house and saw the young child with Mary, his mother" (2:11). Matthew's word for him there is young child (tap it). Luke tells of shepherds who "found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby was lying in the feeding trough" (Luke 2:16). Each Gospel tells it in its own words, and these notes don't join the two.

Matthew 2:11 · Luke 2:16

Micah 5:2→leads toMatthew 2:5-6

Micah has, "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, being small among the clans of Judah, out of you one will come out to me who is to be ruler in Israel" (Micah 5:2). When Herod asked "where the Christ would be born" (Matthew 2:4), the chief priests and scribes answered, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for this is written through the prophet, ‘You Bethlehem, land of Judah, are in no way least among the princes of Judah; for out of you shall come a governor who shall shepherd my people, Israel.’" (Matthew 2:5-6). Matthew names no prophet, and the WEB words the two differently. Matthew's quotation goes on with words, "who shall shepherd my people, Israel" (Matthew 2:6), that are not in Micah 5:2, and Matthew names no passage for them.

προσκυνέωproskyneosay pros-koo-NEH-o

Strong's: "to fawn or crouch to, i.e. (literally or figuratively) prostrate oneself in homage (do reverence to, adore)". The wise men "have come to worship him" (2:2). Herod tells them, "so that I also may come and worship him" (2:8). And when they found the young child, "they fell down and worshiped him" (2:11). Matthew's Greek has the verb 13 times (counted in RP2018, the Byzantine text the WEB translates), and these are the first three. The WEB doesn't always give it as worship: it is knelt in a parable (18:26), kneeling of the mother of the sons of Zebedee (20:20), and bowed down of the eleven on the mountain (28:17). In the wilderness Jesus answers the devil, "You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only" (4:10), and after he comes to them on the water, "Those who were in the boat came and worshiped him" (14:33).

The wise men came "from the east" (2:1) "to worship him" (2:2), and when they found him, "they fell down and worshiped him" (2:11). What would it look like for you to come to Jesus this week to worship him, and not only to ask him for something?