All the region were going out to him, and they were baptized, confessing their sins. Matthew 3:4-12.

 I am a big fan of the series The Chosen. If you were to ask why, I would tell you that even though we have limited information to define the events we see on screen, there is enough information in scripture to validate that an event, such as the feeding of the five thousand, happened. To those who would include me among the false teachers because I can enjoy The Chosen and be deeply and emotionally moved by the love of God through what I see there, you need to eliminate the box that your religious practices force you to keep Jesus and God inside; they are NOT big enough to hold such love. Like the old wineskins Jesus described, you will burst if you try to take in this much love and be ruined. There is all that and the fact that I read my Bible and know immediately whether a conversation or physical act is valid according to scripture. I also apply my ability to think and ask questions like, does what I just saw invalidate the entirety of scripture and therefore need me to scream that Dallas Jenkins and the producers of the show are all false teachers, which they are not.

One of the things that surprised me was the portrayal of John the Baptizer.

John enters the scene by jumping out from behind a large bush while trying to shock and surprise Jesus, Philip, and a couple of other disciples carrying knives to subdue their fears of living in the wilderness. John is laughing while his crazy-looking hair goes in every direction. Jesus catches His breath and joins in the laughter, obviously, deeply pleased to see His cousin, that He loved. Philip, a disciple of John and now a recent member of Jesus' team, seems used to John's peculiar behavior and gladly gives John a big hug.

What does scripture say that might confirm that John the Baptizer was “unusual”?

“This John had his clothes made of camel's hair, with a leather girdle round his loins; his food was locusts and wild honey.”
(Matthew 3:4 Moffatt NT)

Food is the Greek word trophē, meaning nourishment or meat.

If you were to try to argue that this was the seed pods off of the Locust tree, you would be hard-pressed to convince me. It is fairly obvious that locusts were common and plentiful. Honey speaks for itself. Since I have the potential of a horrid allergic reaction to bee stings, you won't find me playing with bees. So, yes, this is a bit unusual.

Having your clothes made from camel hair is the antithesis of a fashion statement.

Look at what Jesus said.

“Now as they were leaving, Yeshua began to talk to the crowd concerning John. “What did you go out to the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? No? So what did you go out to see? A man dressed in finery? Look, those who wear finery are in the palaces of kings! Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, even more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send My messenger before You, who will prepare Your way before You.’ “Amen, I tell you, among those born of women, none has arisen greater than John the Immerser. Yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Immerser until now, the kingdom of heaven is treated with violence, and the violent grasp hold of it. For all the prophets and the Torah prophesied until the time of John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come.”
(Matthew 11:7-14 TLV)

To say the least, he was unusual.

I used to seek an answer as to why Jesus could say of John - the Baptizer,

“among those born of women, none has arisen greater than John the Immerser. Yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Immerser until now, the kingdom of heaven is treated with violence, and the violent grasp hold of it.” 

I used to think that the answer was associated with the belief that John was the first to be filled with the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but I couldn’t prove that assertion, so I stopped saying it. Consider that all prophetic words from the Lord fell silent for 400 years, right before the advent of John and Jesus. Jesus, I can understand because He is the Son of God. On the other hand, John is a six-month-old baby in his mother (Elizabeth’s womb) when she had the Holy Spirit infill her. 

Why, by the way, would the Holy Spirit filling Elizabeth be unusual? 

Because, as Jesus told His disciples, “if I do not go away, the Comforter (Gk: paraklētos – advocate, comforter) will not come.” [John 3:16].

That could, in some minds, make the infilling of the Holy Spirit before Jesus’ return to the Father impossible or improbable at best.

“In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit,” 
(Luke 1:39-41 ESV)

Filled is the Greek word plēthō and means to “fill,” however, it also (literally or figuratively) means to imbue or influence. 

Imbue – according to Webster, is an old English word that means to dip in water to saturate it. So the key word here is to saturate.

A piece of evidence to validate the presence of the Holy Spirit in the lives of humans prior to Jesus departing the earth can be found when we look at this prophetess, Anna.

“And there was a prophetess, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years and had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers. At that very moment she came up and began giving thanks to God, and continued to speak of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.”
(Luke 2:36-38 NASB)

Anna had no television advertising and no theological training with a special emphasis on the prophetic. She, we are told, never left the temple but served day and night by fasting and praying. And yet, at the right moment in time, the Holy Spirit moved her to greet the family with the baby Jesus as they came near the doors of the temple to be circumcised. Consider one more thing about her, she was a woman. Women were not allowed to serve in the Temple, and they were certainly not permitted to participate in circumcision. Mary was restricted to the outer court for women, just as Anna would have been subject to. Since Jesus was most likely considered to be illegitimate and ostracized in any town where they were known, He would not have been able to have a Bris ceremony.

What happened next in Anna's life?

She went about and began giving thanks to God and speaking of the Messiah to all those who were looking for the redemption of Israel. The end of this sentence is important because not everyone, even if they sit next to you in church, is looking for the redemption of Israel. In our case, the catching away of the church.

-----

When I was too young and naive to stand up for myself, receiving the Holy Spirit was an absurd and irritating experience. We were not told that the Holy Spirit came into our lives when we received Jesus Christ.

“In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,”
(Ephesians 1:13 ESV)

If you are a religious zealot, then what I just said probably set you into a rage because you were never taught that, and even if you were, you, much like I was, could not see the Holy Spirit as an integral part of the Godhead, the three-in-one.

Perhaps that understanding would have changed everything for you as well. I know that for most of those early years, I felt powerless. 

Back to John.

“Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.”
(Matthew 3:5-6 ESV)

In a previous post I discussed how difficult it is to see Jesus coming to John to be baptized, especially since there is about a 72 mile span between the two locations.

Let's say you read the Bible from front to back and saw many times the admonitions to offer sacrifices for your sins.

Did you see anything that instructed them to immerse in water for the forgiveness of sins?

The answer is NO. The Jews did baptize slaves and there was the ceremonial cleansing in a mikveh (a ritual bath,) where the person would discretely get naked and dunk themselves, quickly and completely, underwater in an act that indicates that they had been born anew. At this point, they were considered to be sinless, like a newborn. The problem with that is that it ignores that we are born into sin.

“But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”
(Matthew 3:7 KJV)

Apparently, there was an association between spiritual cleanliness and an escape from the coming wrath. Since that wrath would be at least over 2000 years later, and many Jews still refuse to understand, I am not sure the logic is working for them.

“Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance;” (Matthew 3:8 TLV)

In Matthew 3:5,6, the implication is that everyone from that region came to John to be baptized. If that was the case, then there should have been a tremendous amount of evidence that demonstrates their repentance or change of heart (for the better).

Jesus said,

“Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad; for a tree is known by its fruit.”
(Matthew 12:33 BSB)

First, horticulturalists have observed and studied to determine if a peach tree variety with good flavor and valuable qualities could be grafted onto a rootstock that is NOT susceptible to the nematodes in your soil. Then, because someone else did the hard work for you can trust that the fruit tree you just purchased from the garden center will have a healthy start and will, in most cases, have a rootstock that resists disease, while the upper portion of the tree that brings enjoyment will be what I consider a good variety. 

Secondly, assuming that you allowed someone who realizes that issues must be overcome, such as sin in the case of a human, appropriate actions have been taken to procure a good tree. If you merely dig a hole, shove it in the ground, and walk away from it, what are the chances that it will produce good fruit or any at all? Marginal at best. So, again I have to take actions, such as nutrients, soil amendments, and water – like a drip system so that I don't water the weeds and ensure that the tree gets adequate sunlight. In many cases, like apples, it should get satisfactory cold temperatures. Did you know that many trees produce fruit on second-year growth? That means that the trees need to be pruned to promote healthy growth.

The tree, in itself, has the innate qualities needed to be a good tree. Failure to maintain that tree and the fruit will be poor in quality and eventually inedible. Can you see how the Word of God and an active relationship with the Father promote and maintains this tree called us.

“You did not choose Me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will remain—so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you.”
(John 15:16 BSB)

Our relationship with Christ is meant to produce fruit.

“Therefore, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. ”
(Romans 7:4 BSB)

And if you are not sure what your fruit is supposed to look like, there is this.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
(Galatians 5:22-23 BSB)

John the Baptizer continued to say,

“And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.”
(Matthew 3:9 ESV)

Obviously, the ESV uses the word presume instead of think.

The UCRT conveys that the word “think. Gr. dokeō, *S# G1380. (Implies) Think not for a moment (Aorist). This is an idiom to be frequently met with in the Jerusalem Talmud and means be not of that opinion” (CB)

The New Living Translation conveys,

“Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones.”
(Matthew 3:9 NLT)

Can you imagine that?

“Already the axe is laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire!”
(Matthew 3:10 TLV)

Dr. J Vernon McGee (who, for me, always had a rural attitude) says, “Fruit bearing is the result of having the right kind of tree. Only a fruit tree can produce fruit. He talks here about the axe being laid to the root of the tree, and the reason is that the tree is not bearing fruit.”

Let's try to finish this until the next look at Matthew.

John is still speaking.

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but after me will come One more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
(Matthew 3:11-12 BSB)

In trying to find a validation for John to baptize, I am only concerned with passages from the Torah and Tenach, the law or instructions given to Israel. I find none. I am jumping ahead a bit because Jesus spoke about this very thing.

“Let it be so now,” Jesus replied. “It is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness in this way.” Then John permitted Him.”
(Matthew 3:15 BSB)

So, Jesus was fulfilling some act of righteousness. Perhaps this is it.

““Now this is what you are to do to consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve Me as priests: Take a young bull and two rams without blemish, along with unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil. Make them out of fine wheat flour, put them in a basket, and present them in the basket, along with the bull and the two rams. Then present Aaron and his sons at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and wash them with water.” (Exodus 29:1-4 BSB)

Apparently, this can be perceived as preparation for Jesus to serve as a priest in human eyes.

Have you ever wondered why denominations ordain someone as a pastor? Think about what they do: they present that person before the crowd; in Jesus' case, it may have been a very small number of people, but for the most part, it seems to have been Pharisees and scribes. So, John would have been, unwittingly, presenting Jesus before the elders as a representative of God to serve as a priest.

Perhaps you doubt this, then consider what the writer of Hebrews tells us.

“Every high priest is appointed from among men to represent them in matters relating to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and misguided, since he himself is beset by weakness. That is why he is obligated to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people. No one takes this honor upon himself; he must be called by God, just as Aaron was. So also Christ did not take upon Himself the glory of becoming a high priest, but He was called by the One who said to Him: “You are My Son; today I have become Your Father.” And in another passage God says: “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.” During the days of Jesus’ earthly life, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from what He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him and was designated by God as high priest in the order of Melchizedek.”
(Hebrews 5:1-10 BSB)

No, He is not the ominous God that will strike you down at a moment’s notice, but He can. The passage above tells us what His nature is when it says, 

“He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and misguided, since he himself is (was) beset by weakness.”

I have been to the cemetery on multiple occasions with my wife. Then, one day I read this: 

“Do not mistake kindness for weakness.” 

God, who showed you who He was through His Son, is kind. You should have been able to pick up on that fact when He put Himself on that cross for you. 

Now, as for the ominous God that we correctly understand. Very soon, He will lift His church off this earth and unleash His wrath upon a world that has repeatedly rejected Him.

Some seem to think the first half of the seven years will be a cakewalk; you could not be farther from the truth. It will be filled with heat, fire, poisoned water, death (at the hands of just about everyone,) starvation, diseases, and then the second half begins; and Jesus told us that this portion will be so bad that it will seem like no one will survive, and so God shortens this time for the sake of the Jews. Rest assured that the remaining Jews will wholeheartedly turn to the Lord by then.

I would turn to the Lord now rather than later.

A voice cries out in the desert: “Clear a way for the LORD." Matthew 31-3.

 Matthew chapter three opens with a fast-forward of about 25 years.

The headline from the Berean Study Bible (and most of them say the same thing) reads:

“John the Baptist Prepares the Way”

“And in those days John the Immerser comes, proclaiming in the wilderness of Judea,”
(Matthew 3:1 LSV)

FYI: The LSV = The Literal Standard Version of The Holy Bible is a registered copyright of Covenant Press and the Covenant Christian Coalition (© 2020).

I don’t know if the LSV carries any extra importance, but I like to check to see if it offers some insight that others may have missed. Immediately I am delighted because of the emphasis on John being the Immerser. This word can be substituted with baptizer; however, it is what he did, not who he was, a Baptist. Amir Tsarfati told the story of a person approaching him after a tour lecture and asked, so, was Jesus Catholic or Protestant? One part of the obvious is that there were no church affiliations as there was no church as yet. If you insist that John was such and such, then he was more of an evangelist who called the nation and Herod (who was half-Jewish by blood) to repentance.

In the series “The Chosen,” John (the immerser) is portrayed as someone a bit unusual, to say the least. He has a classic, Jewish, sarcastic sense of humor, and if you think about the comments he made to the Pharisaical crowd that came to be baptized by him, he called them vipers – a bit of a harsh jab. Our introduction to John has him jumping out from behind a bush as his cousin, Yeshua, and a couple of the disciples walk by. Jesus smiled and was glad to see John. Philip was one of those disciples from John’s team and threw his arms around John’s neck, demonstrating how loved he was. Several episodes convey to us how attached Andrew was to John. (When talking about the disciples, you can begin to see where making a distinction as to which John you are referring to can come in handy.)

Pay attention to where John is immersing, Judea, which was, at one time, the Southern and separate kingdom from Israel to the North. The wilderness of Judah runs North to South and parallels the Dead Sea. 

The point is that I have no idea how Jesus and John got together, for, as you can see, there are close to 90 kilometers or 70 miles between the two.

“Turn away from your sins, for the kingdom of heaven is near!” (Matthew 3:2 TLV)

He was referencing Jesus, the Son of God, and, by the way, the Messiah. 

Almost all of Israel looked for and longed for the Messiah, as He would free them from the bondage of the Romans. Well, that was not going to happen.

Matthew describes John the baptizer as the one crying out. However, the designation “crying in the wilderness” certainly makes it sound pessimistic.

I started this blog almost twenty years ago, and that is what I named it, The voice of one crying in the wilderness. Experience has taught me that few listen, and I am not just talking about listening to me; they don’t listen to God either. So the idea of a wilderness speaks to me of the barrenness of our souls without the Word of God being poured into them. You would be foolish if you are willing to depend on someone else doing the pouring; this has to be you.

“This is he who was mentioned by the prophet Isaiah when he said, The voice of one crying in the wilderness (shouting in the desert), Prepare the road for the Lord, make His highways straight (level, direct).” [Isa. 40:3.]
(Matthew 3:3 AMP)

I have used the Amplified as they frequently give you the related passage. It is Matthew who gives us this.

“And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come.” (Matthew 11:14 NASB)

So, allow me a moment here. Elijah was lifted off this earth without dying, and scripture tells us that:

“... it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment “ (Hebrews 9:27 NASB)

Well, when did Elijah get his turn?

I do not know, and I will not accept the idea that he was reincarnated as John the baptizer. Just the fact that Jesus refers to Elijah in terms of coming back merely promotes the idea that Elijah did not die and must yet die. Consider the fact the two witnesses, who come from God, stand in the streets of Jerusalem witnessing about Jesus as the Messiah and the glory of God, will die after their time is done (3.5 years.) But, after lying dead in the street for three days, they will rise again and return to the Lord.

Appointed is the Greek word apokeimai and means reserved or awaited.

I will let you in on a little-known fact. There is nothing that will prevent this body from dying. The body, which carries the broken DNA chain that motivates us to sin, has to be purified. A passage that almost everyone has heard at least once tells us that our works will be tried by fire; this is probably part of the bema seat judgment and where the body will die.

You are aware that Jesus died? Right! Then you should also be mindful that He came back to life and continued to walk this earth for forty more days, sharing the good news.

He will be called a Nazarite. Matthew 2:18-23.

 We ended our last dive into Matthew’s gospel with Matthew 2:16.

So let’s see what we can come up with after recapping the last verse. This will give us a foundation for the following few verses.

“When Herod saw that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was filled with rage. Sending orders, he put to death all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, according to the time he had learned from the Magi.”
(Matthew 2:16 BSB)

While most will look at this and see an evil man, it is much more profound than that.

Do you actually believe that “our enemy,” Satan, did not have everything to do with this vile murder of innocent children, as he tried to, once again, eliminate, in this case, the toddler Jesus, that would bring salvation to all humanity?

This battle started when God spoke “prophetic” words over Eve.

Here is a side note for your extracurricular education.

Time, as far as humanity was concerned, began with Genesis 3:1-7. Time was of no concern, and no record was ever kept until this day in the garden. Why do you suppose that is? Because it impacted all of humanity, damaged by the genetic transfer of sin, and it was the beginning of God’s plan to restore a relationship with anyone who would choose to accept this salvation. If you are a thinker, I know I opened a big can-o-worms for you. Lean on the Holy Spirit; He will straighten it out for you. 

“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” 
(Genesis 3:15 BSB)

Every time I see this word, enmity, I struggle to remember what it means because this is no longer a commonly used English word.

Webster’s dictionary defines it like this. “The quality of being an enemy; the opposite of friendship; ill will; hatred; unfriendly dispositions; malevolence.”

It doesn’t get real until you hit those words: hatred and malevolence. 

Striking his heel sounds like child's work compared to getting your head crushed. I would also note that the crushing of the head sounds like a permanent death blow, while the striking of the heel can be a temporary discomfort.

If this is the case, then why is Satan still alive?

The endless question. Because the entirety of God's plan will be completed, as it takes us all the way out to the judgment at the white throne, where it all comes to a final end. As a follower of Christ, from the catching away of the bride, we will live in peace from that point on.

In case you did not know, this relationship between Satan and the seed was guaranteed to go both ways, and what we see in Matthew 2:16 demonstrates that Satan does not care one bit about you and wants you dead.

Why? 

Because being in Christ and made in God’s image, you look like the enemy.

If you haven't noticed, God and the enemy use people to carry out many of their wishes. Therefore, since you are in a spiritual battle, attack it with the weapons of Spirit, the Word of God, and stand your ground.

“For though we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh. The weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the world. Instead, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.”
(2 Corinthians 10:3-4 BSB)

If I have left you hanging, wondering what the weapons are, here is verse five.

“The weapons we use are not human ones. Our weapons have power from God and can destroy the enemy's strong places. We destroy people's arguments, and we tear down every proud idea that raises itself against the knowledge of God. We also capture every thought and make it give up and obey Christ.”
(2 Corinthians 10:4-5 ERV)

Do you see that the most significant battle always occurs in the mind?

Ask yourself, what are the things that can raise themselves up against the knowledge of God. Most are associated with doubt and defeat.

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think on these things.”
(Philippians 4:8 BSB)

True or honorable things can only come from God as they are based on His moral authority. The LSV translation expands this to anything from the heart of God that is true and honorable.

“As to the rest, brothers, as many things as are true, as many as are revered, as many as are righteous, as many as are pure, as many as are lovely, as many as are of good report, if any worthiness, and if any praise, think on these things;.”
(Philippians 4:8 LSV)

Ephesians 1:3-9 (LSV) lays out many things that you could think about.

• “The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who blessed us in every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

• “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, for our being holy and unblemished before Him, in love,”

• Foreordained us to the adoption of sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.

  Honestly, I could not get any of my dictionaries to define the word foreordained.

  We should understand that fore implies a previous state or event, like before the worlds were created. Ordained is to be Appointed; instituted; established; invested with ministerial or pastoral functions; settled.

  Do you realize these are the things that God thinks about you? HE established you, invested His life in you for a purpose, and gave you the giftings to make that happen. 

• (We are) to the praise of the glory of His grace.

• (And, it is through this grace that) He made us accepted in the beloved,

• (It is because of that grace that) we have redemption through His blood.

• The forgiveness of (all) trespasses.

• (Because of His grace) He has lavished all of the wisdom and intellectual insight we need.

  Even if it doesn't seem like it.

• And, because of that grace – unmerited favor, He has made known to us the secret of His will.

  Some would say we can't know God's will. Well, you can, and He has made it known through the scriptures. A clue, as you read, you are looking for the nature and character of God. His Word is His will, and Jesus walked that out perfectly.

Several years ago, we used to sing a worship song that goes like this. “I remind myself of all that He's done.” I just spelled out many things that He has done for you. If Satan has you going in circles, it is because you have forgotten who you are, a child of the King.

Consider being proactive. Paul, in his letters to the various church bodies, told the recipients, including you and me, that the enemy is restrained from being able to launch total frontal attacks because WE, God's people, are doing everything in our power to resist the enemy. 

Well, that was quite the introduction.

Herod's interactions with the Magi and subsequent order to kill all the little boys in the Bethlehem region were foretold. Unfortunately, the intended person that was meant to be receiving the brunt of Herod's jealousy is not spelled out in Jeremiah 31.

“This is what the LORD says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, and refusing to be comforted because they are no more.” (Jeremiah 31:15 BSB)

If Jesus was born in Bethlehem, why is the slaughter, according to Jeremiah, focused on Ramah? 

• Potential answers lie in what Herod learned from the Magi.

• The star took them to the home where the family was NOW living.

• And the Magi were able to calculate His approximate age, about two.

The commentary written by Albert Barnes tells us that Ramah was the mother of three tribes, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh, but Rachel is regarded as “the mother of the whole ten.”

All this about the tribes happened before they left Egypt, where the final few were the sons of Joseph. So can I assume that the ten referred to those born through Jacob? I am still determining.

Adam Clarke's commentary states that Rachel was buried very near Ramah.

The UCRT gives us a few additional reasons why there is such symbolism in Ramah. “(1) A city of Benjamin, where captives captured by Nebuchadnezzar were guarded, Jer_31:15; Jer_40:1, (2) A town in Mount Ephraim, also called Ramathaim-zophim, the birthplace of the prophet Samuel, 1Sa_1:19, (3) A town on the boundary of Asher, Jos_19:29, (4) A fortified place in Naphtali, Jos_19:36, (5) Another name for the city of Ramoth-Gilead, 2Ki_8:28-29, (6) A place where some Benjamites returned after the captivity, Neh_11:33.”

So there is a tremendous amount of symbolism, but for me, it is the place that the Magi identified merely by their presence.

“But when Herod died, behold, an angel of Adonai appears in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and go to the land of Israel, for those seeking the Child’s life are dead.”
(Matthew 2:19-20 TLV)

Joseph, having been warned in a dream to escape to Egypt, did so. You might think that Joseph was an expert at prophetic dreams by now, and this is where they stayed until they were given the green light to return.

The only question left to answer is, where are they to go upon their return?

Why would I bring up the idea of where they should go?

Because their hometown of Nazareth (a relatively small city) may still be hostile toward Joseph and Mary, both for what the town folk deemed was their respective silence about their premarital activities or the possibility that Mary had an extramarital relationship. If you are struggling to understand or believe this, consider that Joseph took his pregnant wife to Bethlehem, his hometown, under Roman orders, to be counted in the census.

What would Joseph expect to find there?

Kinfolk. Kinfolk or not, NO ONE took them in, and they had to make due in a stall alongside cattle and their excrement.

For the longest time, I was not clear about the city they came out of. Luke's gospel solved that problem for me.

“In the sixth month (of Elizabeth's pregnancy), God sent the angel Gabriel to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin pledged in marriage to a man named Joseph, who was of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary.”
(Luke 1:26-27 BSB)

You see, unless you have had vivid, clear dreams yourself, you are NOT going to fully understand what God has told them and what they were to do, and you may not want to understand what “God” has been telling you, such as, you are going to have a child without any human contact.

So, Joseph now has the green light to go back home.

“So he got up, took the Child and His mother, and went to the land of Israel.”
(Matthew 2:21 TLV)

Ah, so he does not go directly back to Nazareth. The land of Israel is relatively big; it only makes sense that they might have gone back to Bethlehem or Ramah, but I am only guessing.

But when he learned that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father, Herod, he was afraid to go there. And having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene.”
(Matthew 2:22-23 BSB)

1. It seems like fear motivated Joseph at this point. Just saying.

   Archelaus, being a son of Herod, may well act just like his father. You have heard the saying, the fruit does not fall far from the tree. So it would be reasonable to feel fear about this man. Nazareth was not Joseph's first choice of places to live.

2. Again, Joseph is warned in a dream.

3. “he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth.”

   This sounds like this was the first time they had been here, but that isn't true.

   I pointed out some reasons that Yeshua might sustain attacks from people, which you can perceive as you read the gospels. If you, like me, had concerns about the abuse Yeshua might receive upon their return to Nazareth, then perhaps we should try to do the math.

   By the time the Magi arrived, Jesus was about two years old, and they were living in a house, most likely in Ramah. Joseph was identified as a craftsman by the Pharisees. The Bible translators assigned the word carpenter to the Greek word tekton, which means craftsmen but covers poets, artisans, and stone masons. Details about how they afforded that house are unimportant at this point. The family flees to Egypt, fully funded by the gifts that the Magi brought. 

   And there is a strong possibility they will return home to Israel when Jesus is about four. 

   At this point they have been gone from Nazareth for at least five years. Nazareth is not a big town, and people are always willing to remind you of your past, but we don't see that in scripture. This does not mean it didn't happen, but I think the damage may have been minimal at this point, and Jesus might have attended synagogue school unnoticed. 

   Besides, have any of them seen Jesus or pictures of Him as He grew to the age He is? NO.

   To demonstrate that there was evident knowledge and almost open aggression, I give you several scriptures.

   “They replied to him, “You were born completely in sin, and you’re teaching us?” And they threw him out.” (John 9:34 TLV)

   This comment, “you were born completely in sin,” is not a casual comment. It is a direct and aggressive challenge to Jesus' parentage.

   “We know for certain that God spoke with Moses, but as for this Fellow, we know nothing about where He hails from.” (John 9:29 AMP)

   His surrogate parents were from Nazareth, and Jesus spent most of His life here. They knew exactly where He was from, so once again, they challenged His parentage.

The law given to Israel while they wandered in the desert clearly spoke about illegitimate children.

“A person begotten out of wedlock shall not enter into the assembly of the Lord; even to his tenth generation shall his descendants not enter into the congregation of the Lord. 3) An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to their tenth generation their descendants shall not enter into the assembly of the Lord forever,” (Deuteronomy 23:2-3 AMP)

Jesus, according to family lineage, was a descendant of Moabites through Ruth, and because of the silence of His surrogate parents, He was thought to be the product of adultery. Please don't get the impression that Mary and Joseph were wrong; they were, in fact, bold and brave, declaring that He was the son of God. Sadly, you quickly learn that no one cares about the truth, as they each have their own truth.