Excerpts from CHRISTOLOGY: THE DOCTRINE OF MESSIAH
By Dr. Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum.
A. Concerning Some Common Christmas Practices.
Around Christmas time on church lawns, in front of church pulpits or podiums, and in front of private homes, nativity sets are displayed. All nativity sets tend to look somewhat the same. There is a building that represents a barn, though no Jewish person living in first century Israel would have recognized it as such. In front of this barn, or perhaps inside of it, are three people: Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Jesus is either in a manger or on Mary’s lap. On one side, facing the three people, are some shepherds of various numbers. On the other side are three kings facing them. But the biblical birth-narrative destroys nativity sets. The shepherds and the so-called three kings never met each other. These events were separated by approximately two years in time and the two situations were totally different.
There is a popular Christmas song sung during the Christmas season, the first line of which says, “We three kings of Orient are.” There are two theological blunders in the first line of that song. First, is the number “three.” How many were there? The Bible never states that there were three. In fact, it is only certain that there were at least two because the word is in the plural number. There were at least two, but maybe there were twenty, or two hundred, or two thousand. There were enough to cause the whole city of Jerusalem to be stirred up tremendously. This implies that perhaps there were considerably more than just three of them. The second blunder is to call them “kings.” The Bible never refers to them as kings, but refers to them as magi or Wise-men, a term that means “astrologers.” They came from the East, which, in Scripture, is the area of Mesopotamia. In this passage, there are an unknown number of Gentile astrologers from Babylonia who arrived in Jerusalem asking: Where is he that is born King of the Jews?
B. The Questions Raised by the Passage
This passage raises a number of questions; such as, “How would Gentile astrologers from Babylonia know anything about the birth of a Jewish king?” And even if they knew about it, “Why would they want to come and worship him?” In previous history, such as in the days of Daniel, there were Babylonian astrologers and Jewish kings and yet no Babylonian astrologer had any desire to go to Jerusalem and worship a Jewish king. So, “Why did they want to worship one now?” Furthermore, “Does this passage authenticate a practice or form of Christian astrology, as some people have claimed, although the Bible forbids any kind of contact with any form of astrology whatsoever?” These questions will be answered one by one.
1. How Did They Know?
First, “How did they know?” How the magi knew is somehow connected with the star they saw in the east. The basic rule of interpreting Scripture is to always take the Bible literally, unless there is something in the context that will not allow it to be taken that way. There are five things about this star in this context that shows that this is not a literal star, but something other than a literal star.
First, this star is referred to by the pronoun his, that is, the Messiah’s star (v. 2) It was the Messiah’s personal star in a way that was not true of any other star. Of course, all the stars are God’s because He created them, but there was something unique about this star that it became the Messiah’s personal star. Secondly, this star appeared and disappeared on at least two or more occasions. Thirdly, this star moved from east to west. Fourthly, this star moved from north to south. Fifth, the clincher is that this star literally came down to Bethlehem and hovered over one particular house in the town of Bethlehem (v. 9). Any literal star that will come down to hover over one house in Bethlehem would end up destroying this entire planet. That is the nature of stars. They are like the sun. If the sun came down to hover over one house in Bethlehem, it would obviously burn up this planet before it ever had a chance to do that. Being so huge, stars, like the sun, are not able to simply confine their hovering to one small house in Bethlehem. This is not a literal star. What is it then?
There have been all kinds of attempts to explain this astronomically, but all astronomical explanations fail because comets or conglomerations of planets or constellations simply cannot do what this star did. The root for the Greek word for star means “radiant” or “brilliant.” This “brilliance” is the Shechinah Glory. Just as the Shechinah Glory was used to announce the birth of the Messiah to Jewish shepherds, it was also used to announce the birth of the King of the Jews to Gentile astrologers. When the Gentile astrologers saw the unusual brilliance in the sky, it somehow signaled to them that the Messiah, the King of the Jews, was born.
2. What Was the Source of Their Knowledge?
The next question is: “How would these Gentile astrologers from Babylon know anything about a Messianic concept to begin with?” Jews would know about it, but how would they know about it?
Of all the Old Testament prophecies of the First Coming of the Messiah, only one passage, Daniel 9:24-27, pinpointed how many years would transpire before the Messiah would come. This passage contains the Messianic timetable which spelled out how many years would transpire before the Messiah was born. Unlike many of the other books of Scripture, the Book of Daniel was not written in the Land of Israel, but was written in Babylon. In fact, half of the book is not written in Hebrew, the Jewish tongue, but in Aramaic, the language of the Babylonians.
According to the Book of Daniel, in chapter 2:1-49, he became the head of the Babylonian School of Astrology. Nebuchadnezzar, the king, was not a man with spiritual insight. When he saw that Daniel had some very unique abilities, his assumption was that Daniel must be a superior astrologer. As a result, Nebuchadnezzar appointed Daniel as president of the Babylonian School of Astrology (v. 48). But Daniel never received his information and revelation from the stars or from astrology. He always received it from the Creator of those stars, the God of Israel. This passage in no way supports any kind of teaching on Christian astrology.
A day came when Daniel was able to save the lives of all the other Babylonian astrologers. When the astrologers were unable to interpret a dream of Nebuchadnezzar, he sentenced every one of them to death. Included among the ones arrested to be executed were Daniel and his three friends. From the Babylonian frame of reference, they considered Daniel to be one of the incompetent astrologers. But Daniel requested and received an audience with the king. He interpreted the dream and, by so doing, saved the lives of all the other astrologers. No doubt, as a result of that experience, many of these astrologers turned away from the worship of the stars and astrology, and became believers in the God of Israel, Daniel’s God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Generations later, they still had in their possession a book written by one of their former presidents, the Book of Daniel, which pinpointed how many years would transpire before the Messiah would appear. At least they knew when to look. When they saw an unusual brilliance in the sky, they took that to be the signal that the Messiah was born. Again, the source was divine revelation, the written record, the Book of Daniel, and not astrology. In no way can this passage be used to support any Christian practice of astrology.
While Daniel clearly pinpointed how many years would transpire before the Messiah would appear, Daniel nowhere implied or connected the coming of the Messiah with a star or with some brilliance in the sky. For that, there is another Babylonian connection in the story of Baalam (Num. 22-24). Baalam’s reputation was well-established in the ancient world: “whosoever Baalam blesses is blessed, but whosoever Baalam curses is cursed.” Because of that reputation, the king of Moab hired Baalam to curse the Jews. Four different times the king of Moab took Baalam upon a high mountain where he could look down upon the Jewish encampment. Four different times Baalam tried to open his mouth to curse the Jews. And four different times God took over his tongue, and he blessed the Jews instead. In these blessings, he issued several Messianic prophecies, one of which is found in Numbers 24:17:
I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not nigh: There shall come forth a star out of Jacob, And a sceptre shall rise out of Israel, And shall smite through the corners of Moab, And break down all the sons of tumult.
The word sceptre is a symbol of kingship, and it was Baalam who connected the Messianic Person with kingship and with a star. By profession, Baalam was an astrologer. According to Numbers 22:5 and Deuteronomy 23:4, Baalam was from Pethor, which was also in Babylonia.
Archaeologists have discovered that the Babylonians kept many historical records. Many of our ancient historical records come from Babylonia. As a result of the Baalam connection regarding the star and the Kingship of the Messiah, as well as the Daniel connection which provided the Messianic timetable, these Gentile astrologers from Babylonia knew about the coming of the Messiah. Having a timetable from Daniel, the unusual brilliance in the sky told them that the prophecy had been fulfilled. That is why they came to Israel asking the question: Where is he that is born King of the Jews?
Although they had the Book of Daniel, they did not have the Book of Micah. It was Micah who prophesied the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Mic. 5:2). Since they did not know that, from their perspective the logical place for the King of the Jews to be born would be in the Jewish capital of Jerusalem. They came to Jerusalem asking the question: Where is he that is born King of the Jews?
Eventually, this created such a great stir in the city that Herod the Great called these men into his own palace. Matthew 2:7 points out that Herod called in the Wise-men privately and learned of them exactly what time the star appeared. Herod wanted to know how long it had been since that star appeared. This was crucial in determining what age Jesus was when these events occurred. From the religious leaders, the Wise-men discovered that the place of Messiah’s birth was to be Bethlehem and not Jerusalem. Herod sent them to Bethlehem (v. 8) and referred to Jesus as the young child, using a Greek word that refers to a child that is at least one-year old.
After carefully learning how long it had been since the star first appeared, which was two years earlier, he instructed the Wise-men in Matthew 2:8b: … Go and search out exactly concerning the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word, that I also may come and worship him. The Wise-men headed for Bethlehem. But because there were many houses in Bethlehem, and many two-year-old children, it would be very difficult to find this Child. At this point, the star they had seen earlier reappeared, came down and hovered over the specific house where the young child was (v. 9).
Verse 11 then states: And they came into the house and saw the young child with Mary his mother; and they fell down and worshipped him; and opening their treasures they offered unto him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.
The family was no longer in a stable where the shepherds had found them, but were now in a private house. Therefore, the shepherds and the Wise-men never saw each other. The two events are separated by two years in time. The Wise-men came into the house and worshipped Him. This is the first Gentile worship of the Messianic Person, whereas with the shepherds, there was the first Jewish worship of the Messianic Person.
They left behind three gifts: gold and frankincense and myrrh. All of these have Old Testament symbolic significance: gold is the symbol of kingship–Yeshua is the King; frankincense is the symbol of deity–Yeshua is God; myrrh is the symbol of death and sacrifice–Yeshua is the final Sacrifice for sin. So, while the first line of the popular Christmas song, “We Three Kings of Orient Are,” is not biblical, the last line is correct: “God and King and Sacrifice.”
Even though they were told by Herod to come back to Jerusalem and let him know where the Child was, God warned them in a dream not to do so (v. 12). They returned to Babylonia by a different route, which bypassed Jerusalem, and they did not report to Herod the Great.
XIV. THE FLIGHT TO EGYPT – MATTHEW 2:13-18
After the Wise-men left Bethlehem, the angel again appeared to Joseph in a dream. Matthew told the story from Joseph’s perspective, reporting that the angel appeared to Joseph and warned him to flee to Egypt and to live there until they received word to return to the Land (v. 13). Since they were a poverty-stricken family, where did they get the income to make such a journey? They were still in Bethlehem two years later because, apparently, they did not even have enough money to get back to Nazareth. The Wise-men gave them three types of gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. These were expensive gifts, which provided the income for their journey to Egypt and their sojourn in that land.
Matthew’s theme is: Jesus the Messiah, the King of the Jews. That very theme was Herod’s fear. Herod is known in history as Herod the Great, but perhaps a more proper title would be “Herod the Paranoid.” He was always afraid that there was somebody out there wanting to take his throne away from him. Because of his paranoia, he was always looking out for conspiracies. During the course of his career, he killed his favorite wife and four of his own sons because he thought they were conspiring against him. The Caesar of that day was Caesar Augustus, who once said, “It was better to be Herod’s pig than Herod’s son.” Herod was a nominal convert to Judaism so, as a result, he did not eat pork. Herod’s pigs were pretty safe, but to be one of Herod’s sons was an occupational hazard. If Herod even suspected a conspiracy, executions followed.
Now his paranoia told him there was a two-year-old in Bethlehem conspiring to take his throne away. When he realized the Wise-men had no intention of coming back to inform him where the Messiah was, he took matters into his own hands. He ordered his soldiers to go to Bethlehem and to kill every male child from two-years old and under (v. 16). Why two-years old and under? Because this was the time since the star first appeared according to the Wise-men. Again, this is clear evidence that, at this time, Jesus was two-years old.
Fortunately, Joseph had taken Mary and Yeshua and fled toward Egypt. While many were killed, the Messianic Child was spared. They remained in Egypt for one or two years.