1Now you shall gather yourself in troops,
daughter of troops.
He has laid siege against us.
They will strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek.
2But 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;
whose goings out are from of old, from ancient times.
3Therefore he will abandon them until the time that she who is in labor gives birth.
Then the rest of his brothers will return to the children of Israel.
4He shall stand, and shall shepherd in the strength of Yahweh,
in the majesty of the name of Yahweh his God.
They will live, for then he will be great to the ends of the earth.
5He will be our peace when Assyria invades our land
and when he marches through our fortresses,
then we will raise against him seven shepherds,
and eight leaders of men.
6They will rule the land of Assyria with the sword,
and the land of Nimrod in its gates.
He will deliver us from the Assyrian,
when he invades our land,
and when he marches within our border.
7The remnant of Jacob will be among many peoples
like dew from Yahweh,
like showers on the grass,
that don’t wait for man
nor wait for the sons of men.
8The remnant of Jacob will be among the nations,
among many peoples,
like a lion among the animals of the forest,
like a young lion among the flocks of sheep;
who, if he goes through, treads down and tears in pieces,
and there is no one to deliver.
9Let your hand be lifted up above your adversaries,
and let all of your enemies be cut off.
10“It will happen in that day”, says Yahweh,
“that I will cut off your horses from among you
and will destroy your chariots.
11I will cut off the cities of your land
and will tear down all your strongholds.
12I will destroy witchcraft from your hand.
You shall have no soothsayers.
13I will cut off your engraved images and your pillars from among you;
and you shall no more worship the work of your hands.
14I will uproot your Asherah poles from among you;
and I will destroy your cities.
15I will execute vengeance in anger
and wrath on the nations that didn’t listen.”
New Testament writers followed identifiable practices of rabbinic interpretation without going to the fanciful extremes that were common at the time.Examples of the four kinds of rabbinic methodology are found in the second chapter of Matthew’s Gospel.
First, Matthew’s quotation of Micah 5:2 in Matthew 2:5-6 is an example of Pshat, in which meaning is plain or simple.Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem is a plain and simple fulfillment of what was prophesied.
Second, Matthew’s quotation of Hosea 11:1 in Matthew 2:15 is an example of Remez, in which meaning is hinted at, or suggested. God’s calling of Messiah (Yahweh’s individual son) out of Egypt following Herod’s death is seen as fulfilling the type of Yahweh’s calling Israel (his national son) out of bondage in Egypt at the time of the exodus.
Third, Matthew’s reference to Rachel weeping for her children, in Matthew 2:17-18, is an example of Drash, in which meaning is the result of exposition or investigation. The mourning of mothers whose infants were slaughtered by Herod at the time of Christ is seen as an application of a single point of similarity to the mourning of Jewish mothers at the time their sons were taken in captivity (Jer. 31:15). As a wife of Jacob (Israel), and mother of some tribes (Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh), Rachel serves as a timeless representation of all Jewish mothers.
Fourth, Matthew’s reference to Jesus being called a Nazarene (Matt. 2:23) is said to be the fulfillment of what was spoken by the prophets. This is an example of Sod, in which meaning is mysterious or secret. While none of the prophets actually predicted that Jesus would be called a Nazarene, there are several references to his being despised and rejected, including Isaiah 53:3. At the time of Christ, to be from Nazareth was to suffer the stigma that Matthew saw as a summation of the messianic prophecies regarding his rejection.