We Have Seen His Star

Jesus' Birth and Childhood

Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east,
and are come to worship him.—Matthew 2:2

Richard Doctor

The story of our Savior’s nativity can be told from many standpoints. Matthew’s account speaks of our Lord’s infancy with four events uniquely described in chapter 2: the visit of the wise men; the Bethlehem massacre; the flight to Egypt; and the return to Nazareth. The heavenly Father’s gift to mankind of his own son is surely one of the greatest gifts ever, yet the making flesh of the “Word” (John 1:14) is also a miracle that simply is beyond human understanding. This gift, and the gift-giving by the magi, make the custom of exchanging gifts one of the most cherished traditions of the nativity season. This aspect of the nativity unquestionably captures the most attention, even for those holding weak or no faith in the mission of Jesus.

The Visit of Wise Men

The basis for today’s gift-giving is introduced with these words: “When they [the magi] were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh” (Matthew 2:11). Who were these wise men bringing gifts?

If we turn to Isaiah’s prophecy of Messiah’s advent we read: “For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising” (Isaiah 60:2,3). Clearly some of the promises here that foretell “the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee” (Isaiah 60:5) will have their fulfillment in a future time when the knowledge of the Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11:9). But there does seem to be a first-advent fore-gleam that speaks to a more glorious fulfillment in the second advent. We find this both in the phrase, “kings to the brightness of thy rising” and “The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah, all they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall shew forth the praises of the LORD” (Isaiah 60:6).

Both the gold and incense are specifically mentioned in Matthew and Isaiah. But Isaiah’s prophecy has a promise of the reconciliation within the extended family of Abraham. Midian and Ephah are Abraham’s descendants through Keturah (Genesis 25:2-4). Likely, some among these descendants remained faithful to the worship of the one true God, even up to the time of the Messiah, to participate in the magi’s search for the seed of promise. Remaining faithful would not have been easy. The Midianites as a whole became quite idolatrous and the unusual extent of their idolatry is mentioned by Nebuchadnezzar’s chronicles nearly six centuries before Messiah’s birth. Early in Israel’s history Moses took refuge among the Midianites and married the daughter of one of their priests (Exodus 2:15,21). Jethro, a Midianite priest, was apparently one who maintained the patriarchal system of worshiping the one Creator as handed down through Shem. Jethro sagely advised Moses on the governing of Israel and was the inspiration for the Sanhedrin (Exodus 18:13-27). Sadly, the friendly relations between Israel and Midian did not survive the experiences in the wilderness.

The promise in Isaiah next speaks of Sheba. Sheba was descended through the line of Ham’s son Cush (Genesis 10:6,7) and was part of Ham’s race that settled in the rich spice region along the Persian Gulf. Sheba established a major city called Raamah (Ezekiel 27:22). In the Isaiah prophecy we find both the descendants of Shem’s and Ham’s extended families are promised to bring gifts of gold and incense, just as the Matthew account attests.

At the time of Christ’s birth, there was a formal office called “magi.” These were the class of men with special knowledge among the Babylonians who were early astronomers supported in the royal service. They used their astronomical knowledge in the state-service of the psuedo-science of astrology. As we learn from the account of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, they were expected to interpret royal dreams. During the captivity of Israel in Babylon, Daniel was made the third ruler in the kingdom (Daniel 5:16); possibly this promotion made him the “Chief of the Magi.” This was an office that appears in Jeremiah 39:3,13 where it is left untranslated as the title “Rabmag.”

Tradition holds that all three of mankind’s races were represented at the nativity and there are plausible Scriptural reasons for accepting this view, for it is among the Magi of the Persians, who are descendants of Japheth, rather than the magi of Babylon, that we find adherents to a monotheistic faith that persists unto this day. Persecution under Islam forced their migration to India where they are known as “Parsi” or “Persians.” Their beliefs survive in the collection of codification of this patriarchal wisdom that was collected in later times in the “Songs of Zarathustra.” Pastor Russell cautiously quoted accounts that these texts were a result of Jeremiah’s instruction.¹.These non-biblical writings speak both of a singular “Savior,” and of “Saviors” who would return God’s law to mankind in a hoped-for future epoch. In these writings we see the echo of the Patriarchal belief system. We see a remembrance of the promise to mother Eve as the “groaning creation” patiently waits for the “refreshing” of the “times of restitution” (Acts 3:19-21). These writings reference a company of saints known as “The Refreshers of the Days” and hold out hope for a future time of blessing when “Good Mind” would inspire mankind. They believed in a resurrection.

We should not be surprised at this preservation of mankind’s true hopes from the times of the patriarchs. Jude says this knowledge was already revealed even before the great flood that brought an end to the first world: “Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints” (Jude 14). Because they were adherents to this ancient patriarchal wisdom, the magi patiently waited, searching the night sky until they saw the “star in the east.” This celestial event alerted them to the birth of him who was to be the King of the Jews.

This may have been the non-biblical text from their sacred writings in their minds: “When, O Lord of Wisdom, those who are the Refreshers of the Days shall come forth to uphold the spiritual life of Divine Law and Order, Righteousness, Truth, and Holiness through the powerful teachings of the Future Saviors of Mankind and their divine plan for salvation, then shall the Good Mind come to them for inspiration. As for me, O Lord of Life, I choose Thee alone as Master. ... What man hast Thou appointed protector over me, O Lord of Life? ... Who is he, in very truth the foremost devotee, who shall teach me how we may glorify Thee as most worthy to be loved, as radiant in action, as Lord of Life and Truth?"²

Sadly, after Christ’s birth the successors of the Persian Magi as a group lost their moorings in God’s promises and they found both a willing and moneyed audience willing to pay for fortune-telling, occultism, and astrology. The Greek word for their activities, magikos from which we derive the word magic, speaks to the popular face of their worship. There has always been something of a fascination with this monotheism from the patriarchal times. This interest should be tempered with caution. The Magian fascination with divination, angels, and the judgment of the soul at death sending it to either eternal bliss or eternal punishment, have propagated confused and God-dishonoring doctrines.

But let us celebrate those faithful ones who had waited so long and so patiently for the promises of God to come true. It was they, not the specially blessed Jewish nation, who kept searching the sky each night for the fulfillment of the gospel story. This is the accurate reading of the Zodiac, or Mazzoreth (Job 38:32). Any time there is spiritual insight and knowledge of the plan of God, we should not be surprised to find Satan hard at work, attempting to turn it to his own use; nor should we be ignorant of his devices.

There is yet one more aspect of the magi that may clarify their title. The translators identify these earnest seekers as “wise men.” Linguists would suggest that more correctly they are “great men” seeing the Persian magi as a cognate with the Sanskrit mohat and the Greek mega, both meaning “great.” There is a significant lesson here. It is character rather than office that earns this revered title. During the twentieth century the world came to respect India’s gentle moral champion “Mohatma” Ghandi from the Sanskrit word mohat. This was a title of honor accorded to him by popular acclaim without any formal office, and this perhaps gives the most accurate sense of what the title “magi” should convey.

The Bethlehem Massacre

A cruel and heartless act, consistent with Herod’s reprobate character, marked the next stage in Matthew’s account of our Lord’s infancy (Matthew 2:16-18). Herod had diligently inquired of the magi about the appearance of the star, for he and his entire court felt threatened by this development: “He was troubled and all Jerusalem with him” (Matthew 2:3). So began the record of the unhappy rivalry between the old order in Jerusalem and the future Messiah. Joseph and Mary had moved from the site of the manger and settled into a house in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:9). Herod, perceiving that the magi were not returning to disclose the location of the infant, became exceedingly angry. He ordered the slaying of all the male children “in Bethlehem, and in all the districts thereof,” from two years old and under. Jesus, born near October of 2 B.C., possibly was near the age of two months when Herod died near the opening of the year 1 B.C.³ so these events may have occurred when he was a few weeks old; this gruesome order may have been carried out surreptitiously. Thus, Matthew records, was fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted … because they were not” (Jeremiah 31:15).

While historians have given us a long list of Herod’s atrocities, Matthew’s account has received considerable criticism since no other historical corroboration of this heinous crime exists. Both Ferrar and Edershiem calculate that approximately twenty infant males might have suffered in the “slaughter of the innocents^.4 In all likelihood, the relatively small population of Bethlehem and its separation from the immediate neighborhood of Jerusalem combined with a “cover-up” provide sufficient explanation for the lack of historical corroboration. Certainly none challenge that the account is consistent with Herod’s character. What Matthew has most admirably done is to focus our attention on the importance of recognizing that even when Scripture may be narrowly interpreted, there is often a more universal and comprehensive lesson innded.

This is the way the end of the Jeremiah 31 text reads: “Thus saith the LORD; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the LORD; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy. And there is hope in thine end, saith the LORD, that thy children shall come again to their own border.” (verses 16 and 17).

A returning to one’s own “border” holds within it the promise of resurrection. Yet, the geographical proximity of Ramah to Bethlehem does not completely explain why Matthew invoked a prophecy about Ramah which lies due north of Jerusalem to describe events that took place at Bethlehem, which lies to the south. Apparently the relationship between these two towns goes beyond their proximity to Jerusalem within eleven miles of each other. There are a number of plausible reasons why Rachel would have been said to be weeping at Ramah. Rachel is, of course, allegorical since she had been dead for nearly nineteen centuries when Herod’s assassins came to Bethlehem. There are richly-linked lessons in the experiences of Ephraim and Manasseh across the Jordan, the near extinction of Benjamin as a tribe, and the unhappy initiation of the monarchy under the Benjamite, Saul.

Within the context of the captivity to Babylon at the time of Jeremiah’s prophecy the Assyrians had exiled the northern kingdom centered on Joseph’s descendants Ephraim and Manasseh. These would be the two offspring of Rachel’s firstborn. It is Ramah’s location in the territory of Benjamin, only a few miles from the border of Ephraim, which would have been a natural place for Rachel to mourn the losses of her children as the tribe of Benjamin now went into captivity to Babylon. Ramah was a staging point for this exile (Jeremiah 40:1). Though the traditional site of Rachel’s tomb is located about a mile north of Bethlehem (about ten miles south of Ramah), Genesis says only that Rachel was buried somewhere between Bethel and Bethlehem (Genesis 35:16-20). After Samuel anointed Saul at Ramah, he told Saul that he would meet two men near Rachel’s tomb on his way home to Gibeah (1 Samuel 10:2). This is an apparent indication that Rachel’s tomb was in the immediate vicinity. If Ramah was near the place where Rachel died on her way to Bethlehem, this might explain why Matthew invoked Jeremiah’s prophecy in connection with the slaughter of the innocents at Bethlehem (Matthew 2:18). From this we see that the relationship between Bethlehem and Ramah was not one of mere geographical proximity, but one of shared historical memory. Once again, a foreigner had persecuted and slain the Lord’s inheritance. Herod the Great was an Edomite, installed by Roman authority, and not an inheritor of God’s promises with Israel. The blood on the swords of the soldiers carrying out the ghastly order satiated Herod and no further search was made for the family; they made good their escape to Egypt by means of this costly sacrifice. Rachel’s “work” throughout Israel’s history, if examined, may well turn out to be the offering of costly sacrifice that the work of the Lord’s program might be protected.

The Flight to Egypt

“And when they [the magi] were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt.”—Matthew 2:13,14

Six centuries earlier as the victory of Babylon against the corrupt remnants of Jewish sovereignty occupying David’s throne became a certainty, a sizable contingent of Jews preferred to immigrate to Egypt rather than submit to exile in Babylon. Jeremiah counseled against such a course; chapter 44 contains the Lord’s special warning to this Jewish community that already had established itself in the Egyptian cities of Migdol, Tahpanhes, Noph, and in the country of Pathros. Later, after the conquest of Alexander the Great, the port city of Alexandria was founded in Egypt in the third century B.C. Alexandria became a thriving center of trade that was quite prosperous in Roman times and was notable for its large and affluent Jewish community. This was the community responsible for the Greek Septuagint translation of the Old Testament Hebrew, a translation commonly used during the times of the apostles.

Local Egyptian Christian tradition holds that Joseph first reached the place called Farma which is on the border of present-day Egypt, and that the family stayed at the place presently known as Hamam, close to Sagsig, seventy-two miles north of modern Cairo. During the Christmas season in remembrance of this sojourn the Christians of Egypt often assemble in suburban Cairo near an old sycamore tree, commonly known as “St. Mary’s tree.” Here they have prayers, meditations, and these are accompanied by the observance of exaggerated local customs that have emerged during the centuries.

The earliest social experiences of Jesus as a young boy may have exposed him to a cosmopolitan world where, in addition to Aramaic, fluency in Greek and some familiarity with Latin would have been part of his everyday experiences. However, we have only the most exaggerated tradition on which to rely for the length of time the family sojourned in Egypt. Then the Bible says, “When Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt. Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel; for they are dead which sought the young child’s life” (Matthew 2:19, 20). Since the record is that they returned during the reign of Herod’s son Archelaus (Matthew 2:22), they certainly had returned by the time our Lord was seven years old, for Archelaus was deposed by Rome in 6 A.D. for exceptionally poor rulership. Matthew (in 2:15) observes that this sojourn was a fulfillment of the prophecy, “Out of Egypt have I called my son” (Hosea 11:1).

The Return to Nazareth

Nazareth lies in a secluded basin in the rocky Galilean hills above the fertile lands of the Great Plain. It is identified with the modern village en-Nazirah. The hill country around Nazareth hardly welcomed a town at all. Its only resource was a spring of good water which probably first drew people to the site and kept them there. By hard work they cleared the ground for small plots where crops and vines could grow. Although Nazareth is not mentioned by name in the Old Testament, it would be in the district allotted to the tribe of Zebulon during the division of the land. Nazareth is located in Galilee, about sixty-five miles north of Jerusalem, about halfway between the Mediterranean Sea and the Sea of Galilee. To the south is the Plain of Esdraelon; across is Megiddo, or Armageddon. In the time of Jesus, Nazareth, with its few hundred people, was nothing more than a town of small farms and vineyards. “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” asked a guileless Israelite (John 1:46,47).

The people of Nazareth were all religious Jews devoted to their traditions and their synagogue. Rather than live on choicer land next to Gentile neighbors, as Jews did in so many other towns in Galilee, or in prosperous Greek cities like Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee, the Jews of Nazareth dwelt in remote hills where they could live as Jews without interference from outsiders. Nazareth was the original home of Joseph and Mary (Luke 2:39). It was in Nazareth that the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary to announce the coming birth of Christ (Luke 1:26-28). Joseph and Mary lived there for a few short months after their marriage, and it was from there they went south to Bethlehem to register for the census. We can be sure that when the family returned, Nazareth presented a stark contrast to the cosmopolitan experiences they had had in Egypt.

As Jesus grew, he would have worked hard with Joseph in the family carpentry business. It was in Nazareth that Jesus “grew in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52) until he began his ministry at the synagogue there. One of the greatest ironies about Nazareth is that, although it is now world-famous as the Savior’s hometown, the people of his time held him in low regard, to the point of contempt and even outright hostility. No miracles were performed there. The situation eventually became so contentious that Jesus was twice forced to leave town; once he was nearly thrown over the town’s cliff by a mob. Jesus went to Capernaum on the north coast of the Sea of Galilee: “A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country, and in his own house” (Matthew 13:57).

Matthew preserves some rich details about the early life of our Lord. He specifically calls attention to passages of Old Testament prophecy that are linked to our Lord’s early life and ministry. These remind us to consider the broader application of texts that may at first seem specific and focused. We may use Matthew as a guide to deliberately seek insight into the deeper meaning of the Scriptures. Without Matthew’s illumination, these unseen riches of Christ’s life would remain hidden. Matthew leads us through these otherwise baffling texts so we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and see that the heavenly Father’s providential watch care over his son is the same watch care we are receiving as his children.