Matthew does not spend time on the narrative of Jesus as a baby but skips ahead two years to show the contrast between how the gentiles responded to His birth and how the people of Israel responded. Jesus is shown to be prophetically born in Bethlehem and contrasted with the current “king” who is there at that time: Herod. In the gifts given by the Magi we see symbolically who Jesus is, what He came to do, how others

responded, what it cost Him, and where history is going.