The text named ‘The Prayer of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai’ states,

“And during the sixth (year) a star shall appear from the east and on top of it a rod of fire like a spear.  The Gentile nations will claim ‘this star is ours,’ but it is not so; rather, it pertains to Israel, as Scripture forecasts: ‘a star shall step forth from Jacob, etc.’ (Num 24:17).  The time of its shining will be during the first watch of the night for two hours.  It will set (for) fifteen days in the east, and then revolve to the west and act (similarly?) for fifteen days.  If it should be more (its period of shining), this is good for Israel.”
Tefilat Shimon Bar Yochai, Trajectories in Near Eastern Apocalyptic, Translated by John C. Reeves

All of these traditions are linked together and show a consistent theme connecting the Star in the East with the coming of the King Messiah,

“And this will be the sign for you—when you see that at the beginning of one week there is rain, and in the second (week) the loosing of the ‘arrows of hunger,’ and in the third a severe famine, and in the fourth no hunger but (also) no satisfaction, and in the fifth there is great satiety.  A star shall appear from the east with a rod on top of it—this is the star of Israel, as Scripture says: ‘a star shall step forth from Jacob etc.’ (Num 24:17).  If it shines, it is for the benefit of Israel.  Then the Messiah of the lineage of David shall emerge.”
Nistarot Shimon Bar Yochai, Trajectories in Near Eastern Apocalyptic, Translated by John C. Reeves

The Zohar amazingly links this revelation of the Messiah to the land of Galilee,

“The glory of his majesty” refers to the Messiah when he shall reveal himself in the land of Galilee; for in this part of the Holy Land the desolation first began, and therefore he will manifest himself there first . . . and when the Messiah shall have manifested himself, a star shall come forth from the East variegated in hue and shining brilliantly, and seven other stars shall surround it, and make war on it from all sides, three times a day for seventy days, before the eyes of the whole world. The one star shall fight against the seven with rays of fire flashing on every side, and it shall smite them until they are extinguished, evening after evening.  . . . After the seventy days the one star shall vanish.”
Zohar, Volume II, Shemot 7b, Soncino Press Edition, pg. 21

Matthew also links Galilee to the Messiah, based on a prophecy from Isaiah,

“And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Kfar Nachum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zevulon and Naftali: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, ‘The land of Zevulon, and the land of Naftali, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.”
Matthew 4:13-16

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Matthew 2:10

וַיִּרְאוּ אֶת־הַכּוֹכָב וַיִּשְׂמְחוּ שִׂמְחָה גְדוֹלָה עַד־מְאֹד׃

“When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.”

The Midrash notes that Gentile astrologers will recognize the star,

“And there shall be a ruler amidst Jacob [Numb. 24.19] At first a star arose in the east, at the head of which there was a sword. Israel saw it, and said to one another, “What is that?” The other nations asked their astrologers, “What is the character of this star?” They [the astrologers] said to them, “This is the star of Israel. This is the king who shall yet arise for them.: As soon as Israel heard that, they approached the prophet Samuel and said to him, Give us a king to judge us, just like all the nations[I Sam. 8.5] – just as the nations said. in this context it says, a star shall arise from Jacob. [ Num. 24.17] And so also at the end [of days], a star shall arise in the east, and it is the star of the Messiah; as it says, and there shall be a ruler (yerd) amidst Jacob. Rabbi Yose said: In the language of the Arameans, the east is called yerd. And it spends fifteen days in the east. If it tarries even longer, it is only for the good of Israel; and then you may expect the footsteps of the Messiah.”
Midrash ha-Gadol, Numbers, Yemenite Midrash, translated by Yitzchak Tzvi Langerman, HarperCollins, pg. 175-176

The process of the stars coming out, and finally the dawn breaking upon the world, is a pattern of what the Final Geulah, Redemption will look like,

“At night, though it be night, one has the light of the moon, the stars, and the planets. Then when is it really dark? Just before dawn! After the moon sets and the stars set and the planets vanish, there is no darkness deeper than the hour before dawn. And in that hour the Holy One answers the world and all that are in it: out of the darkness He brings forth the dawn and gives light to the world. The hind of the dawn [the morning star]–its light rays out as it rises. At the beginning, light comes little by little; then it spreads wider and wider, grows and increases; and at last it bursts into shining glory.”
Sefer HaAggadah, Translated by Schocken Books, citing MTeh 22:4 and 22:13; Aggadat Esther 7:10 (ed. Buber, p. 68); B. Yoma 29a

Ancient Jews interpreted the Star of Numbers 24 as the Messiah,

“The star is the Interpreter of the Law who comes to Damascus as it is written, “A star has left Jacob, a staff has risen from Israel” (Numbers 24:17).
Dead Sea Scrolls, Damascus Document 7:19-21, Translated by Abegg, Wise and Cook, pg. 58

The Ramban states,

“THERE SHALL STEP FORTH A STAR OUT OF JACOB. Because the Messiah will gather together the dispersed of Israel from all corners of the earth, Balaam compares him [metaphorically] to a star that passes through the firmament from the ends of heaven, just as it is said about [the Messiah]: and behold, there came with the clouds of heaven, one like unto a son of man etc.”
Ramban, Balak, Translated by Rabbi C. Chavel, Shilo Publishing House, Pg 283

The Zohar says,

“Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun” (Isa 30:26), and then will this cause the seventh window to open to the whole world, whose star is the “Star of Jacob”, concerning which Balaam said: “There shall come a star out of Jacob” (Num. 24:17). This star will shine for forty days and forty nights, and when the Messiah shall be revealed and all the nations of the world shall gather around him, then will the verse of Scripture be fulfilled which says: “And in that day the root of Jesse which stands for an ensign of the peoples, to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious” (Isa. XI, 10).’”
Zohar II:172b, Soncino Press Edition

Yeshua, in the Book of Revelation, reveals himself as the Star awaited by the world,

אנכי שרש דוד ותולדתו כוכב נגה השחר

“I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.”
Revelation 22:16

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 Matthew 2:11

וַיָּבֹאוּ הַבַּיְתָה וַיִּמְצְאוּ אֶת־הַיֶּלֶד עִם־מִרְיָם אִמּוֹ וַיִּפְּלוּ עַל־פְּנֵיהֶם וַיִּשְׁתַּחֲווּ־לוֹ וַיִּפְתְּחוּ אֶת־אוֹצְרוֹתָם וַיַּקְרִיבוּ לוֹ מִנְחָה זָהָב וּלְבוֹנָה וָמֹר׃

“They came into the house and saw the young child with Miriam, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Opening their treasures, they offered to him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”

The gifts of the Magi have special significance, as illustrated by the Zohar,

“Sin is red, as it says, “Though your sins be as scarlet”; man puts the sacrificial animal on the fire, which is also red; the priest sprinkles the red blood round the altar, but the smoke ascending to heaven is white. Thus the red is turned to white. The attribute of Justice is turned into the attribute of Mercy. . . R. Issac said: ‘Red (blood) and white (fat) are offered for sacrifice, and the odour ascends from both. The spices of incense are in part red and in part white – frankincense is white, pure myrrh is red – and the odour ascends from red to white.”
Zohar, Volume III, Shemoth 20b. Soncino Press Edition, pg. 6

Rashi cites Onkelos explaining the link between “myrrh” and Moriah, the site of Yitzchak’s sacrifice,

ואונקלוס תרגמו על שם עבודת הקטורת שיש בו מור נרד ושאר בשמים

“Onkelos rendered it [“the land of service”] as alluding to the service of the incense, which contained myrrh [“mor” is phonetically similar to Moriah], spikenard, and other spices.”
Rashi on Genesis 22, cited at Chabad.org

The gifts that are brought to the Messiah are a foreshadow of the Messianic era, in which all of the non-Jews of the world will bring gifts to the King Messiah,

“R. Judah bar Simon taught: The nations of the earth will bring gifts to the King Messiah the son of David, and to Messiah the son of Ephraim. . . the nations will bring gifts to the King Messiah. And as soon as the nations of the earth come to the King Messiah, he will ask: “Are there children of Israel among you? Bring them as gifts to me….”
Midrash Tehilim 87.6, translated by William G. Braude, Yale University Press, pg. 77

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 Matthew 2:12

וַיְצֻוּוּ בַחֲלוֹם לְבִלְתִּי שׁוּב אֶל־הוֹרְדוֹס וַיֵּלְכוּ בְּדֶרֶךְ אַחֵר אֶל־אַרְצָם׃

“Being warned in a dream that they shouldnt return to Herod, they went back to their own country another way.”

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 Matthew 2:13

הֵם הָלְכוּ מִשָׁם וְהִנֵּה מַלְאַךְ יְהוָֹה נִרְאָה אֶל־יוֹסֵף בַּחֲלוֹם לֵאמֹר קוּם קַח אֶת־הַיֶּלֶד וְאֶת־אִמּוֹ וּבְרַח־לְךָ מִצְרַיְמָה וֶהְיֵה־שָׁם עַד־אִם אָמַרְתִּי אֵלֶיךָ כִּי הוֹרְדוֹס מְבַקֵּשׁ אֶת־נֶפֶשׁ הַנַּעַר לְקַחְתָּהּ׃

“Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.”

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 Matthew 2:14

וַיָּקָם וַיִּקַּח אֶת־הַיֶּלֶד וְאֶת־אִמּוֹ לָיְלָה וַיִּבְרַח מִצְרָיְמָה׃

“He arose and took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt,”

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 Matthew 2:15

 וַיְהִי־שָׁם עַד מוֹת הוֹרְדוֹס לְמַלּאת אֶת־דְּבַר יְהוָֹה בְּיַד הַנָּבִיא לֵאמֹר מִמִּצְרַיִם קָרָאתִי לִבְנִי׃

“and was there until the death of Herod; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt I called my son.” (Hosea 11)

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Matthew 2:16

 וַיַּרְא הוֹרְדוֹס כִּי הֵתֵלּוּ בוֹ הַמְּגוּשִׁים וַיִּקְצֹף מְאֹד וַיִּשְׁלַח וַיַּהֲרֹג אֶת־כָּל־הַיְלָדִים אֲשֶׁר בְּבֵית־לֶחֶם וּבְכָל־גְּבוּלֶיהָ לְמִבֶּן־שְׁנָתַיִם וּלְמָטָּה לְפִי הָעֵת אֲשֶׁר חָקַר מִפִּי הַמְּגוּשִׁים׃

“Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked by the wise men, was exceedingly angry, and sent out, and killed all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all the surrounding countryside, from two years old and under, according to the exact time which he had learned from the wise men.”

This account has come under attack by skeptics for a number of reasons. One initial objection is that there is no evidence that the children in Bethlehem were slaughtered, and surely such an atrocious act would have made front page news. This assumption fails in its application of an argumentum ex silentio, an argument of silence. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, especially after 2000 years. Bethlehem itself was a relatively small town and the number of children slaughtered has been estimated to be in the tens or twenties. Despite its unspeakable nature, it was relatively small on the scale of Herod’s more notorious assassinations. Such a heinous act is in perfect accord with the historic understanding of his brutal character. He killed his own wife, even his own children, and his barbarity was as famous as his architecture.  There is one relatively late text that seems to suggest that Herod’s act did not escape notice. The ancient Roman writer Macrobius  (395 CE- 423 CE) [1], who lived in the 4th and 5th centuries, wrote the following words,

“Cum audisset inter pueros quos in Syria Herodes rex Iudaeorum intra bimatum iussit interfici filium quoque eius occisum, ait: Melius est Herodis porcum esse quam filium.”

“When he [emperor Augustus] heard that among the boys in Syria under two years old whom Herod, king of the Jews, had ordered to kill, his own son was also killed, he said: ‘It is better to be Herod’s pig, than his son.”
Ambrosius Theodosius Macrobius, Saturnalia, Book II, Chapter IV:11

For more information see our article:
Vayishlach: Mama Rachel

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 Matthew 2:17

 אָז הוּקַם הַנֶּאֱמָר בְּפִי יִרְמְיָהוּ הַנָּבִיא לֵאמֹר׃

“Then that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying,”

Another criticism is that Jeremiah 31:15-17 is not a Messianic prophecy and does not predict the death of the children in Bethlehem. As stated above, Jeremiah’s words were written at the beginning of the Galut Bavel (Babylonian Exile) and in the midst of the ashes of Solomon’s Temple. Exiles would pass by the grave of Rachel on the road to servitude, and Jeremiah poetically drew upon the history of Israel and its geography to inspire repentance and even hope. While all of this is true, the position that this passage is not Messianic and has no connection to what Matthew is writing misunderstands the profound nature of Matthew’s midrash. Not only has its significance eluded skeptics, but even Christian commentators as well.

Was Matthew wrong, or was he pointing to something deeper than the surface understanding? The passage absolutely refers to the exile and beyond. Yet, the Babylonian exile is a part of a much larger exile process, which is exile from the Garden of Eden. The voice of Rachel’s cry shakes the very foundations of Creation. Ramban writes,

“I have seen that Yonasan ben Uzziel . . . says, “A voice is heard in the heights of the universe…,” and he translates the whole verse as talking about the Jewish nation.”
Ramban on Genesis, Mesorah Publishers, pg. 245

For more information see our article:
Vayishlach: Mama Rachel

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 Matthew 2:18

קוֹל בְּרָמָה נִשְׁמָע נְהִי וּבְכִי תַמְרוּרִים רָחֵל מְבַכָּה עַל־בָּנֶיהָ מֵאֲנָה לְהִנָּחֵם עַל־בָּנֶיהָ כִּי אֵינֶנּוּ׃

“A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; she would not be comforted, because they are no more.”

Midrash Rabbah says,

“AND RACHEL DIED, AND WAS BURIED IN THE WAY TO EPHRATH (35:19). What was Jacob’s reason for burying Rachel in the way to Ephrath? Jacob foresaw that the exiles would pass on from thence, therefore he buried her there so that she might pray for mercy for them. Thus it is written, ‘A voice is heard in Ramah… Rachel weeping for her children…”
Genesis Rabbah 82:10, Soncino Press Edition

Jeremiah’s passage, though difficult and painful, contains a distant glimmer of hope,

“Thus says HaShem, ‘A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more. Thus says HaShem: “Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded,” says HaShem, “and they shall come again from the land of the enemy. ‘There is hope for your latter end,’ says HaShem ‘and your children shall come again to their own border.”
Jeremiah 31:15-17

It is well known within Judaism, that there is one person who can end the exile: The Mashiach. The Zohar illuminates the relationship of Rachel’s weeping and the coming of Mashiach,

“The Messiah…lifts up his eyes and beholds the Fathers (Patriarchs) visiting the ruins of God’s Sanctuary. He perceives mother Rachel, with tears upon her face; the Holy One, blessed be He, tries to comfort her, but she refuses to be comforted (Jer. 31:14). Then the Messiah lifts up his voice and weeps, and the whole Garden of Eden quakes, and all the righteous and saints who are there break out in crying and lamentation with him…All through the seven days the Messiah shall be crowned on earth. Where shall this be? “By the way”, to wit, Rachel’s grave, which is on the cross-road. To mother Rachel he will give glad tidings and comfort her, and now she will let herself be comforted, and will rise and kiss him.”
Soncino Zohar, Shemoth, Section 2, Page 8a-b

For more information see our article:
Vayishlach: Mama Rachel

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 Matthew 2:19

וַיְהִי אַחֲרֵי מוֹת הוֹרְדוֹס וְהִנֵּה מַלְאַךְ יְהוָֹה נִרְאָה בַחֲלוֹם אֶל־יוֹסֵף בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם׃

“But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying,”

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 Matthew 2:20

 וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו קוּם קַח אֶת־הַיֶּלֶד וְאֶת־אִמּוֹ וְלֵךְ שׁוּב אֶל־אֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל כִּי מֵתוּ הַמְבַקְּשִׁים אֶת־נֶפֶשׁ הַיָּלֶד׃

“Arise and take the young child and his mother, and go into Eretz-Israel, for those who sought the young child’s life are dead.” 

This seems to be an echo of Exodus 4:19.  

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 Matthew 2:21

וַיָּקָם וַיִּקַח אֶת־הַיֶּלֶד וְאֶת־אִמּוֹ וַיָּבֹא אַרְצָה יִשְׂרָאֵל׃

“He arose and took the young child and his mother, and came into Eretz-Israel.”

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 Matthew 2:22

 וּכְשָׁמְעוֹ כִּי אַרְכְלוֹס מָלַךְ בִּיהוּדָה תַּחַת הוֹרְדוֹס אָבִיו וַיִּירָא לָלֶכֶת שָׁמָּה וַיְצֻוֶּה בַחֲלוֹם וַיֵּלֵךְ לוֹ אֶל־אַרְצוֹת הַגָּלִיל׃

“But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in the place of his father, Herod, he was afraid to go there. Being warned in a dream, he withdrew into the region of Galilee,”

“And now Herod altered his testament upon the alteration of his mind, for he appointed Antipas, to whom he had before left the kingdom, to be tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, and granted the kingdom to Archelaus.”
Josephus, Antiquities 17.8.1