Who were the Magi from the East?

“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star [rising] in the east and have come to worship him.’ . . . and the star which they had seen…went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 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” Matthew 2:1-2, 9-11.

Philo of Alexandria (20BC-50AD), a Jewish philosopher wrote about a highly-esteemed Eastern School of Magi who were Persians, successors of the Babylonians.

This is very likely the very school established by the Hebrew prophet Daniel, who restored the study of the stars and constellations to its proper Biblical context, following a long period of its misuse in idolatry begun by Nimrod.

DID GOD CREATE THE CONSTELLATIONS TO TELL THE STORY OF THE MESSIAH?

Let’s first consider Daniel’s likely role in establishing the foundations of the Eastern School of the Magi that existed at the time of Jesus, and then compare His Biblical use of astronomy with the counterfeit version practiced from Nimrod to Nebuchadnezzar.

Dan 1:19-20 “[King Nebuchadnezzar] talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service. In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.”

Dan 2:48 “Then the king placed Daniel in a high position and lavished many gifts on him. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and placed him in charge of all its wise men [Magi].”

Dan 6:25-28 “Then King Darius wrote to all the nations and peoples of every language in all the earth: …I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel. ‘For he is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end. He rescues and he saves; HE PREFORMS SIGNS AND WONDERS IN THE HEAVENS AND ON THE EARTH’…So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian” [Emphasis mine].

Now let’s consider Nimrod’s version:

The following is quoted from “The Witness of the Stars,” E.W. Bullinger 1893, a book which I do not endorse in every aspect but find this passage highly credible:

“Ancient Persian and Arabian traditions ascribe its invention [the Zodiac, or Mazzaroth, Job 38:32] to Adam, Seth, and Enoch. Josephus asserts that it originated in the family of Seth; and he says that the children of Seth, and especially Adam, Seth, and Enoch, that their revelation might not be lost as to the two coming judgments of Water and Fire, made two pillars (one of brick, the other of stone), describing the whole of the predictions of the stars upon them, and in case the brick pillar should be destroyed by the flood, the stone would preserve the revelation (Book 1, chapters 1-3).

“This is what is doubtless meant by Genesis 11:4 [referring to Nimrod], ‘And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven.’ The words ‘may reach’ are in italics. There is nothing in the verse which relates to the height of this tower. It merely says, and his top with the heavens, i.e. with the pictures and the stars, just as we find them in the ancient temples of Denderah and Esneh in Egypt. This tower, with its planisphere and pictures of the signs and constellations, was to be erected like those temples were afterwards, in order to preserve the revelation, ‘lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.’

“This is corroborated by Lieut.-Gen. Chesney, well known for his learned researches and excavations among the ruins of Babylon, who, after describing his various discoveries, says, ‘About five miles S.W. of Hillah, the most remarkable of all the ruins, the Birs Nimroud of the Arabs, rises to a height of 153 feet above the plain from a base covering a square of 400 feet, or almost four acres. It was constructed of kiln-dried bricks in seven stages to correspond with the planets to which they were dedicated: the lowermost black, the colour of Saturn; the next orange, for Jupiter; the third red, for Mars; and so on. These stages were surmounted by a lofty tower, on the summit of which, we are told, were the signs of the Zodiac and other astronomical figures; thus having (as it should have been translated) a representation of the heavens, instead of ‘a top which reached unto heaven.’ ”

[I would differ from Mr. Bullinger only in that I think the Tower of Babel was intended BOTH to depict the Zodiac, AND to rise as high as possible above the plain. There is no reason to consider these goals exclusive of each other.]

YES, GOD TELLS THE STORY OF THE MESSIAH IN THE STARS:

Psalm 19:1-6 “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. YET THEIR VOICE GOES OUT INTO ALL THE EARTH, THEIR WORDS TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun. It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth” [Emphasis added].

Psalm 147:4 “He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.”

Isaiah 40:26 “Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.”

Job 9:9 “He is the Maker of the Bear [Archturus] and Orion, the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.”

Job 38:31-32 “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades? Can you loosen Orion’s belt? Can you bring forth the constellations [Mazzaroth] in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs?”

THE APOSTLE PAUL SPECIFICALLY INVOKED THE WITNESS OF THE STARS AS A PROOF THAT THE JEWS HAD NO EXCUSE FOR DENYING THE MESSIAH AT HIS FIRST COMING

Roman 10:9-18 “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, ‘Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.’ For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’ But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed our message?’ Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did: ‘THEIR VOICE HAS GONE OUT INTO ALL THE EARTH, THEIR WORDS TO THE ENDS OF THE WORLD.’ ”

Whose voice? The voice of the stars: Psalm 19.

About what? About the Gospel of Christ in the form of Jesus among them!

In other words, Paul is saying that the Jews at the time of Jesus were not only familiar with the idea that Messiah’s coming would be announced in the configuration of the heavenly bodies, they were spiritually accountable based upon that witness of Christ’s arrival as told in the night sky!

CONCLUSION

So, in understanding the role and messages of the signs in the heavens, as with so many things in Creation, there is an authentic Godly approach and a false, counterfeit one inspired by Satan. God placed signs in the heavens intended to convey knowledge to us (Genesis 1:14) but the misuse of those signs in service to idolatry is a grievous sin. In Romans 1:25, God forbade worship of the creation rather than the Creator, and in 2 Kings 23:5 His most righteous of all the Hebrew Kings, Josiah, “did away with the idolatrous priests…who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and moon, to the constellations and to all the starry hosts.”

There’s a parallel to this in the story of the Bronze Snake which God told Moses to make and place on a pole during the plague of “fiery snakes” in Numbers 21:4-9. Healing and deliverance resulted just from looking at the bronze snake, as God intended. Yet many years later that same bronze snake became an object of idolatrous worship in 2nd Kings 18:4. The people fell into harmful idolatry involving the very thing God had given for their blessing.

Today there are those whose religious perspectives condemn the study of the heavens because it others misuse it, or condemn the keeping of Christmas as the Christianization of a formerly pagan holiday unrelated to the actual birthday of Christ.

Let us always remember that there is no blessing in the Creation when we fail to honor the Creator, and conversely, there is great blessing in restoring our respect for His gifts after failing to do so in our sin or ignorance, and it is always His will that we overcome evil with good.

It really doesn’t matter whether December 25th is actually the birthday of the Savior or just a cultural tradition with pagan roots. If we approach the day as a time to honor Him and what His birth has meant to all mankind, He will receive our worship and bless us in return.

Merry Christmas

Dr. Scott Lively