The Magi – again

In a previous post[i] I wrote about the story of the Magi in Matthew’s gospel.  However, some articles I have recently read prompted me to think more about this story – as well as the feast, of course. The Christian Church celebrates this event as The Epiphany, THE showing forth of Jesus – King and Divine.

The liturgy emphasises this feast as the revelation of Jesus to the gentiles and uses texts from Isaiah and contemporary prophets.  However, there are other, less obvious allusions as the story is awash with connections to the Jewish Scriptures.

I wonder how differently first century Jews and gentiles would have heard this coming from different cultures. 

The Magi.

Huqoq Synagogue

Gentile royal courts had astrologers/astronomers/soothsayers/scholars i.e. magi to advise the ruler.  The Israelites were not to use such people.  Leviticus 19:31 prohibits the use of soothsayers – ‘Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God.’

 

Josephus records the astrological signs foretelling the fall of Jerusalem.[ii]

Philo, a contemporary of Jesus, writes disparagingly of magi.  He refers to Balaam (Nb. 22f.) who was a gentile prophet called to curse Israel but instead under the influence of God prodigiously blesses the approaching people.  Philo calls Balaam a ‘magus’ and turns him into a figure of ridicule.  Balaam’s she-donkey had more intelligence than he.

It is also interesting that Balaam came from the Euphrates River – the east – to Moab.

However, the reality was that by the first century synagogues were decorated with zodiacs and some Rabbis used astrology. 

So, this is the lens through which the visiting Magi would have been viewed.  They were astrologers and gentiles to be looked upon with suspicion, if not ridicule.

The Magi, seeking the King of the Jews, went to the normal place one would find a king of the Jews – the royal court in Jerusalem.  Ironically, Herod was Idumean, not a Jew. He was one of the most brutal, murderous and paranoid of rulers so these travellers actually put the child’s life at risk with their questions of Herod and set off a chain of mass murder and escape.

It is interesting that Matthew writes that Herod and all Jerusalem (not one of Matthew’s favourite places) were frightened – terrified - by the news.  This new king could only be seen as a political threat.  Already Matthew is contrasting the kingship of Herod with that of Jesus.

It took a dream to warn the magi not to return to Herod with their discovery of the child.  In turn, this increased Herod’s fury at being duped and precipitated the slaughter of the children.

So, the magi are not presented in a very positive light by Matthew. 

Looking at this background, with a murderous king, a vulnerable family and a group of court astrologers who initially got it wrong, we see one of the great themes of the Gospels – the great reversal.  Jesus is not to be found in the places of power.  His reign is completely antithetical to that of Herod.  The gentile astronomers, outsiders, for all their mistakes, worshipped.

The magi acted out of their own cultural and class expectations.  While it is obvious from the text that they knew the Jewish Scriptures or at least the Jewish expectations, it was obvious that they did not understand.

After seeing the child and his mother, worshipping him and giving their gifts, Matthew writes that ‘they returned to their own country by another road’.  This is more than safety against pursuit, this is for all who have encountered Jesus, we return to our own country, our own lives changed.  We take a different road, perhaps seeing differently, more thoughtful, more observant of the great reversal brought about by this birth.

The Star

Star of Bethlehem flower

For people of this period, stars were not as we understand them.  Stars had a ‘voice’.  They were living beings.  Philo wrote that ‘stars are living creatures, but of a kind composed entirely of mind’.

In the Scriptures, all creation is under the Creator’s authority.  Unlike pagan belief, stars, trees, etc. are not of themselves divine.  When God takes Job on a voyage through creation, God asks, ‘On what were its (the earth’s) foundations laid, or who set its core in place while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?’

Balaam pops up again.  At the end of his many blessings of Israel he proclaims that 'A star will rise from Jacob; a sceptre will emerge from Israel.' (Nb. 24:17)

Much literature has been generated establishing the star as a supernova.  It may be so, however, for Matthew the star is at the service of the Holy One.  Here creation is revealing the identity of Jesus.  The magi worshipped him because they, in the contradiction of a child born in a humble house, is not only a king, but divine.  So, creation, in the star, is proclaiming Jesus as the Holy One of God.

For the Jews, stars act as guides and do God’s bidding.  So, the star leading the magi, is understood to be this being who is doing the Creator’s bidding in leading the magi to Jesus.

The gifts

The gifts brought by the magi have antecedents in the Scriptures.  The Queen of Sheba (like them, a gentile) came to Solomon to test his wisdom. 

Now when the Queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to test him with difficult questions.  She arrived in Jerusalem with a very large caravan, with camels bearing spices, gold in great abundance, and precious stones. (1 Kings 10:1)

Never again was such an abundance of spices brought in as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. (1 Kings 10:10)

These are the gifts fit for a king.

Queen of Sheba Orchid

However, there is also another association with this story.  The Queen says:

She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your words and wisdom is true.  But I did not believe these things until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half was told to me. Your wisdom and prosperity have far exceeded the report I heard.  How blessed are your men! How blessed are these servants of yours who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom!  Blessed be the LORD your God, who has delighted in you to set you on the throne of Israel. Because of the LORD’s eternal love for Israel, He has made you king to carry out justice and righteousness.” (1 Kings 10:6f)

 Conclusion

So, like the magi, we will make mistakes.  For Matthew, the astrologers’ visit to Herod unleashes murder and the escape of Mary, Joseph and Jesus to Egypt.  Matthew invites the reader to see that God’s salvation is not impeded by evil. 

Both gentiles and Jews fail to understand this momentous event until they come to worship and contemplate.

I take heart in this as we live in a time when disaster seems to be more prevalent than goodness.  This Fleshtaking of the Holy One asks us to join in this Reign of God and like the magi and the Queen of Sheba contemplate Wisdom incarnate.

And go home another way.

[i] https://oldqueenslander.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-magi.html

[ii] Thus were the miserable people persuaded by these deceivers, and such as belied God himself; while they did not attend nor give credit to the signs that were so evident, and did so plainly foretell their future desolation, but, like men infatuated, without either eyes to see or minds to consider, did not regard the denunciations that God made to them. Thus there was a star resembling a sword, which stood over the city, and a comet, that continued a whole year. (Book IV, Ch 5, Sec. 3)