What a STAR!

 

 Matthew 2:1-12

I.        Introduction - the 'Christmas Star'

On 21st December 2020 - the winter solstice otherwise known as 'the Shortest Day' - Jupiter and Saturn will come very close together forming an effect in our observable sky that many are calling 'the Christmas Star'.

The planets will look like one very bright star.

They haven't been as close as this for 800 years and according to Patrick Hartigan (an astronomer from Rice University in Texas) "You'd have to go all the way back to just before dawn on 4th. March 1226 to see a closer alignment between these objects visible in the night sky."

This 'conjunction' will be very low in the sky and off to the West and as sunset is at about 4 p.m. and the two planets will set about 6 p.m. ... and it will be hard to see.

You may need to go up a hill or to the top of a high building to get a view of the conjunction, as it will be close to the horizon, and at the moment the weather forecast suggests it will be cloudy and raining!

So why am I teasing you like this?

It's because there is a strong suggestion that the star which guided the Magi to the birth of the Lord Jesus on earth may well have been just such a planetary conjunction too.

There was a suitably interesting conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn around this time, when those two 'gas giants' were within one degree of each other THREE times within just EIGHT months!

The star of Bethlehem could also have been Venus and Jupiter which, in 2 BC, "would have appeared to observers in Babylon to have merged just before setting in the general direction of Bethlehem to the West."

Now ... none of that seems particularly closely related to the popular perception of 'the Three Kings of Orient-are' which conditions and colours our fantasy Christmas story.

And there is a lot to do to clear the ground to arrive at a more useful grasp on the historical realities of the fundamental real events on which Christian faith is actually based.

Why is this important?

Because the Christian faith is based on things that actually took place in human history - its' essential issues are rooted in historical reality - and mythical elements and legends that stick to the outside are like overweight scaffolding fastened to the outside of a viable, beautiful but old building which ends up twisting it out of shape.

So let's just briefly get a spanner to that unhelpful scaffolding and expose the glory of the structure that lies beneath

II.      Exposing the underlying structure

Now, let's be clear at the outset that the point of this uncovering of what's really thee in this Gospel account is not to be clever or to be a destroyer of dreams, but to get at what God is trying to tell us.

So ...

A.     Who actually were the men on the camels?

1.     Magi

a.    How many?

We've got to get this out of the way straight away:

Most of us will realise this already but whilst traditionally we're told of three of them, you won't find that number in Matthew ... and only Matthew's Gospel tells us about the Magi.

The traditional idea comes from the three gifts the presented to Jesus but the tradition of three 'Kings' dates back at least to Origen who lived 185-254 AD, so it's an old tradition but not Biblical.

We don't know.

Matthew just uses the plural of Magus … Magi.

b.    What were they?

So, that plural word used in Matthew's text here is μαγοι (magoi) ... the name given by the Babylonians (Chaldeans), Medes, Persians, and others, to the wise men, teachers, priests, physicians, astrologers, seers, interpreters of dreams, augers, soothsayers, sorcerers etc. and therefore this word gets used here of these Eastern wise men (these astrologers) who, having discovered by the rising of a remarkable star that the Messiah had just been born, came to Jerusalem to worship him.

The bottom line? They were false prophets and sorcerers. The traditional 'wise men' or 'kings' isn't in Matthew's Gospel.

So ... 'Magus' comes from a Persian word for a priestly caste ... but it's also used for astrologers and interpreters of dreams.

Philo uses it for the Egyptian sorcerers in Exodus 7.

Josephus uses it for interpreters of dreams.

In the Greek translation of Daniel 2 (LXX) magoi appear with the Babylonian enchanters and wise men consulted by Nebuchadnezzar to intrepret his dream ... amongst whom were certainly numbered Daniel and his friends, because the sentence of death for the failure of the 'wise ones' was about to fall on Daniel and his friends too!

(More of that shortly!)

These guys were practitioners of Mantic (Persian origin) hidden wisdom, divination,astrology and dark arts.

c.     Where were they from?

We're told they came from the East ... likely from Persia, Syria/ Jordan or Babylon itself.

Clement of Alexandria traditionally favoured Persia as it was a hotbed of Zoroastrian astrology.

Other ancient writers like Justin (partly on the basis of Psalm 72:15) favoured some part of Arabia.

Babylon is a great candidate though, because Babylon's 'Magi' would have come into contact with Israel's Scriptures through Daniel and the exiles of the Babylonian Captivity.

By André Thévet - Internet Archive scan of Les vrais pourtraits 

et vies des hommes illustres grecz, latins et payens, 

Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6885509

They probably didn't come from 'The Orient'.

d.    When did they come?

It makes for a good children's nativity play to have the three kings turn up straight after the shepherds the night Jesus was born in the stable in Bethlehem.

But if Christianity is a faith that stands and falls on its' historical reality ... particularly, of course the real existence (life, death and resurrection) of Jesus of Nazareth ... Son of God and Saviour ...  then we need to spring clean a few of these non-historical myths or the message loses all its' credibility!

Matthew 2:1 says: "After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi[a] from the east came to Jerusalem"

It implies a time lag.

A lot of stuff happens next in Matt. 2:4-9 that would be impossible to fit into the gap between the birth of Jesus and the appearance of the Angels to the Shepherds in Luke 2:7-8

And even if the star 'appeared' at or shortly before the Lord's birth, it would have taken WEEKS for the Magi to travel to Bethlehem.

And on their arrival (Matt. 2:9-11) the Lord is called a 'child' not a 'baby' (as in Luke 2:12).

And the Magi visit the child in a house, where the family appear to have relocated after the birth.

Finally, Herod subsequently orders the death of boys two years old or younger 'according to the time ascertained' from the Magi (Matthew 2:16)

And that bears on our next question ...

B.     What led them to journey to Bethlehem?

1.     Faithful Daniel

In Jeremiah 29 we find part of Jeremiah's letter to the Exiles in Babylon, speaking to them prophetically for God, saying: "seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into Exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare." (Jer. 29:7)

Those exiles who had seen the destruction of their own homeland and Temple included Daniel.

It can't have been easy to accept this call from the prophet, but Daniel obeyed God's call and became (we're told) 'chief of the Magi' and a valued adviser to the King.

Certainly a very tough call for a faithful Israelite.

You see, the story of the star of Bethlehem and these Magi doesn't start with Matthew 2, but hundreds of years before in the Babylonian exile where Daniel faithfully answered God's call to a work that was HARD, engaging his idolatrous culture in the hardest of times, so that these Magi knew of  Daniel's God and KNEW of the One Who was to come ... as detailed in Micah's prophecy

2.     Micah's promise

You see, the prophecy we often read around Christmas time in Micah 5 - which dates to around the last half of the 8th century BC, according to its superscription - promises a new David.

It promises a coming King Who would shepherd His people, defeat their enemies and bring a time of great peace.

Under this King, Assyria would come to Israel to be defeated by Israel.

Instead of Assyria shepherding Israel, Israel would shepherd Assyria.

There would come a new day where, instead of tribute flowing out of Judah to the other  Nations, the wealth and tribute of other Nations would flow to Jerusalem.

The Nations would not come to Jerusalem to invade, but to join them under a new King Who would bring peace to the world.

And now these Magi are coming from the East ... Assyria or Babylon or Persia ... from those nations that invaded and terrorised and tore apart Daniel's Israel.

And they are coming not to make war but to worship Christ the King.

Not to plunder but to praise.

Not to take but to give.

Just as God said they would in the Scriptures Daniel took with him to Babylon and was able to circulate there because of the status God gave him in that secular, idol-confronted calling to be a Magus in Babylon.

And because he was FAITHFUL in what he did there ... in a captivity God had told him he'd not live to see the end of (more of that in the podcast sermon for today on Daniel 9)

3.     Astrology and astronomy

The Magi were prompted that these Scriptures, which Daniel witnessed to amongst them, had now been fulfilled by the appearance of an astronomical phenomenon - the Star. 

And those Magi invested that astronomical phenomenon with astrological significance.

But WHY did these Magi, on seeing this star, make the long and challenging journey looking (Matthew 2:102) for "He Who has been born King of he Jews"?

Well, we know that ancient peoples had heard about the expected King Messiah of the Jews.

These Magi see what's happening in the Heavens and conclude that this King has been born.

I know the hymn envisions a floating star 'westward leading, still proceeding' leading the Magi from 'the Orient' to Jerusalem where they had their little chat with Herod.

Matthew's account doesn't actually say this.

Something like that DOES seem to have occurred on the short onward trip south to Bethlehem, but that's differently described.

Look ... in ancient times astrological events were thought to accompany significant events.

Magi were experts in such phenomena.

But what about this star drew them particularly to Jerusalem?

Fasten your seat belts ...

In Numbers 22-24 Balak King of Moab summoned Balaam the pagan prophet to curse Israel.

Balaam was a performer of incantations and divination who came 'from the East' (Numbers 23:7).

But this scoundrel of an occult practitioner (not a nice guy -check the story) blessed Israel instead by prophesying it would receive a deliverer-King via the symbol of a star.

So Numbers 24:17-18  reads: "‘I see him, but not now;

    I behold him, but not near.

A star will come out of Jacob;

    a sceptre will rise out of Israel.

He will crush the foreheads of Moab,

    the skulls of all the people of Sheth.

18 Edom will be conquered;

    Seir, his enemy, will be conquered,

    but Israel will grow strong."

Of great importance is the verb used in Numbers 24:17 ... the Star Balaam prophesies "will arise"

Matthew alludes to it in 2:2 and 2:9 as he describes the Magi seeing the star 'in its rising', which is a term derived from the word used in Numbers 24.

Matthew does NOT specify whether it was a supernova, comet, planetary conjunction like the one we've got coming up on December 21st. nor does he go anywhere NEAR the astronomical detail.

He says only that it 'arose' and 'appeared' (2:7 & 16)

In short, the star that appeared fulfilled a well-known Jewish messianic prophecy within a broader ancient sensitivity to astrological politics in which these Magi were the world-renowned experts.

The Magi saw the astronomy, did their astrology (informed by the Biblical deposit of truth Daniel faithfully sowed in the dark centuries before) and Daniel's faithful sowing now sprouted into the fulfilment of Micah's prophecy as these magi travelled to Jerusalem and then ... still following the Jesus- star ... interpreted the Hebrew Scriptures about the birth at Bethlehem in Judah to follow the star to His birth-place, carrying gifts from Assyria/ Babylon/ Persia which had previously pillaged Jerusalem and bringing worship to the long-prophesied, new-born King Messiah.

III.     Unfolding the architecture's significance

A.     A tale of two outsiders and enemies

Firstly, we have in this account an outsider posing as an insider.

The particular King Herod in Matthew 2 is known to history as Herod the Great 'the King of the Jews'.

But - a bit like the long line of people who've born the title 'Prince of Wales' but weren't Welsh, so Herod bears the title 'King of the Jews' but wasn't Jewish.

He was an Idumean ... an Edomite ... Israel's historical enemies.

And he ruled by terror and murder ... it wasn't just that he ordered all the Jewish babies under two to be murdered, he ordered all his own sons to be murdered from his own death-bed.

People generally didn't like him.

Secondly, the passage also speaks of these Magi who came 'from the East' ... that is East of Jerusalem.

Coin of King Herod the Great 38-4 BC 
https://www.livius.org/pictures/a/judaica/coin-of-king-herod-the-great/

But whenever the Bible talks about enchanters, astrologers, diviners and magicians like these guys it is really ALWAYS pretty negative about them.

As well as being that type of person they've come from 'the East' ... which is where A LOT of Israel's enemies historically came from.

It's where enemy nations historically lay for Israel.

These Magi are representative of historic enemies from without, joining Herod the historic enemy from within, seeking the One Who was to be born king of the Jews.

Herod, the enemy from within, wishes Him harm.

That will be a recurring theme in Matthew's Gospel and in the life of Christ.

The Magi, the enemy from without, come with significant gifts to bring homage and worship

That's going to be a significant theme in the Book of Acts and in the unfolding history of Christ's church.

That's the big difference.

B.     Their role in Matthew's Nativity

So what role do these Magi play in Matthew 2?

Some suggest that these were foreign dignitaries coming to honour a future ruler ... that happened with rulers like Nero and Herod the Great himself.

Foreign dignitaries did that.

But look ... these are not Persian, Assyrian or Babylonian dignitaries.

These are practitioners of dark arts coming to worship the star prophesied by another of their ilk ... the magician Balaam in Numbers 24.

The forces of darkness and oppression come to worship and bring gifts to the prophesied King Messiah ... Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews.

Be much more wary of the unrepentant enemy within.

IV.     Conclusion

What on earth are we to learn about that star in the sky leading these enemy-outsiders to bring their allegiance (refusing Herod's murderous plans and going home by another route), their honours (they fell down and worshipped Him) and tribute (oh, those strange gifts to give a baby!) to King Jesus?!

A.     Historical faith

The link to the stellar conjunctions that prompted these Magi's Scripture searching journey gives us a bit of a clue, an indication, of the historical nature of the incarnation.

Now, we can't STOP there ... but that certainly is the place that our historical faith in King Jesus seems to start.

This stuff HAPPENED and it not only meshed with the history we know about, it also fulfilled centuries of historic prophecy and faithful witness to God's Word in the Scriptures.

But there's more.

B.     Message of Christ's universal Kingship

This event, bringing astrologers from the East to Jerusalem, contrasting King Jesus with King Herod (who received NO tribute from the Magi) confirmed Jesus as the authenticated King over God's incoming universal Kingdom ... where the Nations come to Him to worship the King over God's  Kingdom.

C.     Grace to the most unexpected outsiders

And finally it demonstrates that Christ's Kingdom is designed to bring grace to the most unexpected outsiders ... often by the most unusual means ... by His sheer grace and to His unutterable Glory.

And this message is an utterly open invitation to me ad to you.

If this God wants men like those Magi who travelled to His childhood home to worship Him ... if He will take people like THAT on ... then He is also gracious enough to plan to take on you and me.

Don't be a threatened, paranoid, violent Herod.

Be a magus.