The Magi Visit the Messiah
1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi[a] from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
This event only takes place in Matthew’s gospel. Some undetermined
amount of time passed from the time of Jesus’ birth till the events of
this chapter. I’ve heard many times that the Wise Men actually came
about two years after Jesus’ birth. That assumption comes mostly from
the fact that Herod ordered all boys under age two killed (
v. 16).
It’s also assumed that if the star appeared when Jesus was born, it
would take the Magi time to prepare for and make the trip. They probably
came from Babylon (modern day Iraq), Persia (modern day Iran), or
Arabia. But the two year time span is the maximum amount of time that
could have passed. Herod was simply covering his bases. The Magi
probably actually arrived sometime between one and two years after Jesus was
born.
Who were the Magi? They were not kings, as tradition later supposed.
They were astronomer/astrologer/priests. They kept track of the motions
of the stars and planets in order to predict important events for
kings, such as whether there would be a good harvest. Astronomy and
astrology were the same thing in the ancient world. The school of Magi
in Babylon went back centuries, to before the time of Daniel. Daniel
was made head of the Magi in Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar because he was
able to interpret the king’s dream (
Daniel 2:48).
Jewish tradition holds that Daniel instructed the Babylonian Magi to
watch for the Messiah. Daniel also predicted the exact time of Jesus’
birth (
Daniel 9:25-27),
so it seems likely that these Magi, if they came from Babylon or
Persia, were following Daniel’s instructions. They knew the date of the
Messiah’s birth, and they were watching for signs in the heavens. All
around the region that we would call the Middle East today, there was an
expectation that some important king was about to be born in Judea.
What was the star? That’s been the subject of much debate over the
centuries. I am interested in astronomy, so I’ve read up on this some. I
can tell you what it wasn’t. It wasn’t a comet or a meteorite. They
don’t behave like Matthew describes. Comets were
seen as portents of doom in the ancient world, not as symbols of good
news. I’ve also heard that it may have been a nova, or an exploding
star. But none of those appeared in the skies during that time, and
whatever the “Star of Bethlehem” was, it went unnoticed by Herod. Herod
would certainly have noticed a comet, meteor, or nova. No one could
have missed any of those things. The most plausible explanation, to me,
was that it was a conjunction of planets that indicated to these
learned men that a king had been born among the Jews. If you’d like to
read further on this, I recommend
Wikipedia’s article on it, and there is extensive investigation of it from a Christian scientific perspective at
bethlehemstar.net. But it may not have been a natural phenomenon at all. It may have been entirely supernatural.
When the Magi arrived, they went to Jerusalem, probably expecting
that this new king had been born to the royal house on the throne at
that time, or at least expecting that everyone there would be aware of
the new king’s birth, and would be excited about it. But they would turn
out to be mistaken about that.
3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4
When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers
of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
6 “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’[b]”
Herod was
not of the royal line of David. In fact, he was not even Jewish. He was
an Edomite. He would certainly have been aware of the expectation that
the Messiah would be born soon, though. So when this impressive
caravan of foreign officials showed up at his palace asking about it, of
course he would be disturbed. The chief priests and teachers of the
law, familiar characters in the rest of the story of Jesus, make their
first appearance in the gospels here. They were the ones who told Herod
where the Messiah was to be born. The verse they quote (or misquote, or
paraphrase) is from
Micah 5:2-4.
7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8
He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the
child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and
worship him.”
As I mentioned earlier, it’s unlikely that the star was anything
obvious to the untrained eye, since Herod was unaware of it. He had to
ask the Magi when it appeared. But Herod had learned
where the Messiah was to be born from the chief priests and teachers of the law, and now he learns
when the child was born from the Magi. He has the
where and the
when. Now all he needs is the
who.
So he tells the wise men to report back to him after they find the
child, under the pretense of wanting to pay homage to this new king
himself.
Here is where one possible conflict between Matthew's account and Luke's comes in. Luke says that after
Jesus’ circumcision ceremony, eight days after Jesus was born, Joseph,
Mary, and the baby Jesus moved back to their home in Nazareth (
Luke 2:39).
So they would not still have been in Bethlehem more than a year later
when the Magi came. Verse 8 of this chapter says that Herod sent them
to Bethlehem. But Matthew doesn’t say that the Magi actually
went
to Bethlehem, or that they found Jesus there. He only says Herod sent
them there, which he would have done, based on the prophecy. Look at
what Matthew says in the next verses.
9 After they had heard the
king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose
went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.
10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11
On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and
they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and
presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
In verse 10, the star that had first alerted them that the new king
of the Jews had been born reappeared and guided them to where the child
was. In verse 11, Matthew talks about the Magi coming
to the house. As we all know from Luke, Jesus was not born in a house. As I talked about in
my post on Luke 2:1-7,
Jesus was born in lambing cave, because there wasn’t room for them in
the Bethlehem caravansary that was owned by Joseph’s family. Bethlehem
was a small village just outside of Jerusalem. I don’t think the Magi
would have needed the star to guide them if the baby Jesus was still in
Bethlehem.
So here is my personal theory. The “star,” when it first appeared at
the birth of Jesus, was actually a natural phenomenon that had meaning
for astronomers expecting the Messiah, but would not have been noticed
by the uninitiated. That sent the Magi on their journey to Jerusalem.
This “star” did not continue to appear for the entire time of their
journey. If it had, they could have followed it straight to the Christ
child. It would not have been necessary to inquire of Herod as to where
to go. Once they found out where the baby was to be born, suddenly the
star reappeared to guide them. I believe that, at this point, the star
was actually an angel. No natural celestial body could go ahead of
travelers and rest over a specific location. They’re too high in the sky
for that. I also believe that this “star” guided them to Nazareth, not
to Bethlehem. That was the reason for its reappearance. Herod told
them to go to Bethlehem, and the star appeared to show them where they
really should go.
When the Magi came to the house where they found Mary and the Christ child,
they bowed down and worshiped him.
This was the way to address royalty. They made themselves prostrate
before him. They weren’t necessarily worshiping him as God, they were
paying homage to him as a ruler. Their gifts of gold, frankincense and
myrrh were the most precious products of their country. They were also
standard gifts to present to a royal person. Of course, these gifts had a
spiritual meaning and practical value. Many speculate that the gold
was used by Mary and Joseph to support their family during their time
in Egypt. Frankincense was used as incense by the priesthood, symbolic
of Jesus as our High Priest. And myrrh was used for embalming the dead.
Many believe that Mary carried this myrrh to the tomb on Easter
morning to embalm Jesus’ body. But she never got to use it, because he
was already risen!
In verse 12, God warns the Magi in a dream not to report back to
Herod, so they went home by another route. Since the wise men arrived
after Jesus’ first birthday, I don’t believe that they really belong in
the story of Jesus’ birth. Sorry to ruin your Nativity scene, but they
weren’t there with the angels and shepherds. But God’s timing is more
important than our traditions. God sent these men to a poor, obscure
family in Galilee to confirm again to them who their young son was, and
to provide gifts that would help them. The wise men went to a lot of
trouble and expense, and took months, if not years of their lives to
give to Jesus and bow down to him. How much trouble are we willing to go
to for Jesus? How far does our worship of him go? How much does it
cost us?