Post #14.
The Christmas Card tradition shows three Wise Men trudging across desert sand dunes at night following an astronomical phenomenon (Star) westward to Jerusalem.
The most important element of the story is the birth of the new King of Israel – the arrival of the WORD who became flesh and dwelt among us – Emmanuel – God with us.
God chose to inform a group of shepherds, the humblest sector of Jewish society, of the birth of Jesus by an angel of the Lord and a host of angels (Luke 2).
He informed the Gentile world by a ’star’ which appeared to a group of Magi somewhere quite far east of Judea. One would assume that God would equally involve an angelic messenger to inform the Gentiles. After seeing the ’star’ they took about two yrs to make arrangements and preparations plus travel time to Jerusalem, as they related to Herod about when the ’star’ first appeared.
As a deliveryman I imagined how I would approach the assignment to deliver the precious parcel (gold, frankincense and myrh) to the new King of Israel, who presumably would be born at Herod’s Palace in Jerusalem. This was the only destination available to the Magi at that time.
There were well known trade routes in those days and Jerusalem was a kind of hub. When kings went to war they would pass through Judea on there way to somewhere else. Robbers were quite plentiful so security measures would include traveling in daylight only and not wearing regal robes or jeweled crowns. There were inns to stay in along the way to rest, feed and water their animals.
All went well along the way and they arrived intact at Herod’s palace (Matthew 2). When they asked, “Where is he that is born King of the Jews?”, Herod the king was troubled and called together the chief priests and scribes. They said he was to be born in Bethlehem according to the scriptures. Herod asked them privately when the star appeared and urged them to report back to him after they found him so he could ‘worship’ him as well, before sending them away.
Again the road to Bethlehem was well known, but nobody knew where Jesus might be living, or even if he were still there. Sometime after they departed Herod and were on their way to Bethlehem the ’star’ they saw in the east appeared again and this time to lead them right to the house where Joseph, Mary and Jesus (now up to 2 yrs old) were living. You can imagine how the Magi were relieved to be guided supernaturally to their destination. Matt.2:10 says, “When they saw the ’star’, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.” I believe only the Magi could see the ’star’. God does things like that in special circumstances – especially when security is paramount.
After offering their gifts of gold , frankincense and myrh and no doubt telling the whole story of their pilgrimage and the appearances of the ’star’, they rested overnight. (As was her custom, Mary would have pondered these things in her heart and later relayed this story to Matthew and the other apostles – thus we have it recorded in the Bible.) The Magi were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, but to return home by a different way. So there was a road available to bypass Jerusalem and make connections with trade routes to their home country.
The traditional theory that a star was needed to find Jerusalem because of the absence of trade routes in my opinion does not give due respect to God and the Magi, who were noted for wisdom, and there was an alternate way (road) home.
All that said, the most important element of the story is the birth of the new King of Israel – the arrival of the WORD who became flesh and dwelt among us – Emmanuel – God with us.
The gospel message would be preached some 30 yrs later, which is the good news of God’s free gift of eternal life in the Kingdom of God – by grace through faith in Jesus as Lord over our lives – whose Spirit leads us to obey him and become like him in attitude and character.
