The Wise Men, the Journey, and the Star. Or Was It a Star?

In order to understand the story of the Wise Men and all of the elements of their story, as with anything regarding God, we must first consult the Word of God, not man’s own ideas or traditions.

Exodus 13:21-22 – And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people.

Numbers 9:15-18 - Now on the day that the tabernacle was raised up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the Testimony; from evening until morning it was above the tabernacle like the appearance of fire. So it was always: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night. Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, after that the children of Israel would journey; and in the place where the cloud settled, there the children of Israel would pitch their tents. At the command of the Lord the children of Israel would journey, and at the command of the Lord they would camp; as long as the cloud stayed above the tabernacle they remained encamped.

Matthew 2:1-12 – Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.” When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet: ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, Are not the least among the rulers of Judah; For out of you shall come a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.’” Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.” When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.

One of the important, and more scholarly items, we ought to bear in mind about God the Father is this: He is consistent in His ways. In Malachi 3:6 He Himself tells us that He does not change. His habits, His function, His M.O., if you will, remains unchanged. Only man’s ideas change, man’s feelings impose wrong meanings to His word, and man’s desires to be his own boss enact feeble attempts to usurp the authority of the Father. That won’t end well.

The oft-misconstrued story of the Wise Men is no exception! Like many Nativity (Christmas or birth of Christ) traditions, it has been altered, diluted, or misunderstood by man.

We are approaching the season of Epiphany in the Christian Church, some refer to it as Orthodox Christmas, or the date on which the Wise Men arrived at the manger. This message does not address any of that – those are man-made celebrations, and every person is free to celebrate in their own way. As a non-denominational Christian pastor, my job is to teach the Bible.

Nevertheless, we usually think of Epiphany as the special event when the wise men arrived at the manger. The word comes from the Greek “epiphaneia” – meaning an appearing, or sudden appearance. It marks the end of “The 12 Days of Christmas,” and the same calendar arrangement that landed Christmas on 25 December, landed Epiphany on 6 January. In the modern Christian Church, it represents the “making real” of Christ to the Gentiles, also as witnessed in Old Testament times, perhaps most notably by the pagan prophet Balaam, who foresaw the coming of the rod of Israel from the root of Jacob.

This visit by the Wise Men, the Magi, to baby Jesus is seen as evidence that Christ, the Jewish Messiah, is not only real but also came for the salvation of Gentiles.

We must remember from our Scriptures above that Matthew said that they came not to just see what’s what, but to worship Him as well.

The Magi, which comes from the Greek word “magus,” has many meanings. I will not go into that here, but recommend you study that on your own. However, in this case, it is clear from Scriptural context that these men were scholarly, not gypsies; astronomers, not astrologers; learned and fairly wealthy, not back-alley fortunetellers looking for something new to peddle at home.

Were the Magi expecting “epiphany” or some mere discovery/revelation? Evidently, they knew the Scriptures. They knew whom they sought. Do we think about how far our talk with God might take us?

Did the wise men know how far they had to go, or only that they were following the ‘star’ with only an idea of what might lay ahead? And just what was that “star” really?

How many Magi were there? No one knows. It is not recorded anywhere. Everyone assumes there were three because there were three gifts, but that is merely a wild assumption, at best. Traditionally, their given names were Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar. However, this “tradition” only dates from the Middle Ages, with the earliest record of it appearing in the mid-15th century!

How long was their journey? Here again, we can look to Scripture for clues. We know that they came from the east, and that their customs were of Persian origin.

Ezra 7:9-10 – “On the first day of the first month he began his journey from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him. For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.”

Such a journey for Ezra required 4 months. There are other biblical clues, as well…

Matthew 2:16 – “Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men.”

Jesus could have been as old as two years by the time the Wise Men arrived, otherwise there would have been no reason to slaughter older children. This verse also implies that Herod had no idea of the event of Jesus’ birth at the time it actually happened, so he wanted to cover all the bases.

Now, with relation to when Jesus was born (from an earlier blog post) multiple Jewish historical records have Herod’s death in 3 BC on the Roman calendar.  Roman history dates his death in 1 BC. Either way, the arithmetic still bears out Christ's birth in 4 BC (probably May or June), providing ample time for Scripture to be fulfilled EXACTLY as it appears, EXACTLY as God inspired the Gospel writers to record it, and perfectly aligns with His crucifixion death at the age of 33 in AD 30 (there was no year 0).

Regardless, the Magi had a long journey. We are also not told how far in advance they planned the trip before they departed. Another often misunderstood fact about this story: the “star” was not in the east – the Wise Men were in the east when the saw the “star” that led them to Jerusalem, then Bethlehem. Therefore, the “star” was in the west when they observed it.

So yes, let us talk about that “star” for a moment. What was it? The small-mindedness of man usually attempts to place some kind of natural occurrence as the origin – a comet or planetary conjunction, or something of that sort. But we have already seen how long this journey would have taken these men. Planetary conjunctions only last a few nights, at best. Even supernovae fade in a week. I continually fail to understand why anyone – especially one who claims to be of the Christian faith – has so much difficulty in accepting the Guiding Light as a supernatural occurrence. This is precisely why I began this post with those passages from Exodus and Numbers.

Christ is special, why would the “star” that led them not be? Man loves to try to explain away God’s power and authority with science, all the while forgetting that God created science. Are the Magi the only ones who saw the “star” or whatever it was? No one else recorded having seen anything spectacular, and there were plenty of pagan astrologers in those days who were constantly scanning the skies for signs. Was this Guiding Light specifically aimed at the Magi for reason? Again, apparently neither Herod nor any of his astrologers saw it.

Now, let us consider the language of the Bible when studying this “star.” The ancient Hebrew term means “radiance.” The Greek is asteiri – where we get “astral” – root of “astronomy.” The modern use of the word “star” is a direct descendant of the less-accurate Latin influence on Bible translation, where asteiri became ‘stella’ – origin of stellar, meaning star. So, do you see how the original Hebrew term for “radiance” became “star” in today’s language? Not particularly accurate.

The Root of all we are is in the books of Moses. Radiance referred to “Shekinah” — that is, a physical manifestation of the glory of God in the form of a supernatural radiance, as described in the opening Old Testament passages. While no one can prove it, a very logical and educated deduction may be that the Magi may actually have been following the Shekinah Glory of God, not a “star!”

The Old Testament passages describe, in very similar terms, the Magi journey; moving and then resting. Why did these men “from the east” follow the heavenly radiance? Magi is a Persian term for a priestly caste of wise men who specialized in astrology, medicine, and natural science. They may have been Zoroastrian (note the underlined portion of that name). The ancient historian Herodotus says they interpreted dreams and omens; they claimed to have the gift of prophecy. Such men would naturally have been interested in an unusual heavenly radiance.

It is likely they were familiar with the writings of Daniel, known as a wise man and interpreter of dreams in the Babylonian court of Nebuchadnezzar. If so, they would have known “70 weeks” prophecy, Daniel 9:24-27. The Daniel prophecy establishes general time of Messiah’s coming by indicating it would be 483 years after a Persian ruler issued an edict to rebuild Jerusalem. The Magi probably had been counting down years since Ezra & Nehemiah were sent back by Cyrus from Babylon to rebuild Jerusalem – this was their occupation, their speciality. They would know general time when the Messiah would be born; Because of captive Jews in Babylon, the Magi likely had access to the books of Moses you read earlier, and from those writings, they may have awareness of Messianic prophecy.

In conclusion, considering the radiant and maneuverable qualities of the Shekinah that are demonstrated in those Scriptures, may be very likely that the “star,” the radiance, which led the Magi was actually the Shekinah glory of God, as opposed to some man-made need to assign an unprovable scientific explanation.

Why can’t we just take God’s word as face value? Isn’t the duty of the Christian to do as Moses declared, “hear the word of the Lord and be obedient unto it.” – Not change/redefine/explain it away?

“The celebration of Epiphany, therefore, calls us to make this truth known to the world. We shine it out, we reveal it. We do not keep the truth of redemption to ourselves. After all, the gospel is too good not to share.”   – Rev. Kyle Norman

How long are the journeys God puts us into? But does He lead us? Of course, He does, but we must open our eyes to HIS leading, not following our own glory.