Matthew 2:4 Commentary and Bible Study

So Herod called a meeting of the Sanhedrin Council, the scribes, the Pharisees. Here is the full spectrum of those who would subsequently be opposed to Christ, but they did know something. ‘What is this about? Where is this one supposed to be born?’ And they told him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judaea’: so say the prophets, and they quoted Micah 5:2 to him. Bethlehem was where Boaz had lived, David’s ancestor, and Bethlehem was called the city of David (Luke 2:4), and it was commonly understood that the Christ would be born there (John 7:42). Bethlehem is going to honoured by God in a way that is disproportionate to its size and importance in Judah. They also quoted 2 Samuel 5:2, almost as though rubbing salt in the wound. They didn’t mean to do this, but they said, he is going to be the shepherd. The KJV says ‘rule’, but in the Greek it is ‘he shall shepherd my people’. These words originally applied to David, but he was a type of Christ. Christ was not a ruler like Herod: cruel and ruthless. He was a king who would be like a shepherd, who would care for the people. So the chief priests and scribes told him and he determined that the child should be hunted down and killed.