All these years I have been put off by how we retell this part of the story surrounding Jesus’ birth. Without taking any part of the miracle of Jesus’ birth away, I have a much deeper and greater understanding of the magi and how important it is that they came to worship the newborn King of the Jews.
Last week I was in a place where the stars shine so vividly. Every night I watched as the star closest to the moon was in a slightly different place in the sky.
Now, I don’t know if the star the magi followed to Bethlehem “shone both day and night”, or if it stayed in a fixed position over the house where Jesus was on the night of his birth until the magi’s visit. But there are so many great clues that we seem to overlook every year.
As I was able to show with pictures yesterday, the stable area is part of the house. And vs. 11 says that when the magi entered the house they found the baby with His mother and they prostrated themselves (lying stretched out on the ground with one’s face downward) and worshipped him.
Another thing I pointed out yesterday was that Luke’s Gospel is very specific about the fact that Jesus’ parents did everything for Him and for Mary according to Torah (the Law). That means that Mary could not travel until her 40 days of uncleanness were completed. Scripture doesn’t say the magi warned Joseph. It states that they were warned not to return to Jerusalem, and that Joseph was warned in a dream to flee to Egypt after the magi left. This tells me that Jesus was at least 2 months old when the magi found Him (read at Luke 2:39). Still, the point is that the magi came to see, bless, honor and worship Yeshua/Jesus, the newly born King, not necessarily one who was born within a few hours, but one who was still a baby. After all, even Herod couldn’t pinpoint Yeshua’s age since he ruthlessly killed every little boy who was 2 years old and younger.
But after doing some studying, I don’t think when they came is what is important about the magi. Isaiah 60 is very clear about where the caravans of camels and wealth came from — not from the Far East, as in the Orient, like the song states. But from the Middle East — Father Abraham’s other sons, Ishmael, Midian and the 5 other male children born to him after Sarah’s death. Matthew 15:24 states, “But he answered and said, ‘I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’” It is so very clear to me that Jesus was speaking about all of Abraham’s sons. These tribes are from whom the magi came. The woman from Canaan (Matthew 15:22–28) and the Samaritan woman (John 4:5–26), considered Gentiles by the Jews, were descendants of Father Abraham by interracial marriage. Yeshua came to bring all of Abraham’s descendants the Good News, first, then to the Greek and to the uttermost parts of the world.
How exciting! How grateful I am for this new insight! How thankful I am for John 10:16, “And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one Shepherd.”
Matthew 2 Complete Jewish Bible
2 After Yeshua was born in Beit-Lechem in the land of Y’hudah during the time when Herod was king, Magi from the east [Sages, learned men who were, at least, familiar with the Hebrew Law and Writings] came to Yerushalayim 2 and asked, “Where is the newborn King of the Jews? For we saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.” 3 When King Herod heard of this he became very agitated, and so did everyone else in Yerushalayim. 4 He called together all the head cohanim and Torah-teachers of the people and asked them, “Where will the Messiah be born?” 5 “In Beit-Lechem of Y’hudah,” they replied, “because the prophet wrote, 6 ‘And you, Beit-Lechem in the land of Y’hudah, are by no means the least among the rulers of Y’hudah; for from you will come a Ruler who will shepherd my people Isra’el.’”[a] 7 Herod summoned the Magi to meet with him privately and asked them exactly when the star had appeared. 8 Then he sent them to Beit-Lechem with these instructions: “Search carefully for the child; and when you find him, let me know, so that I too may go and worship him.” 9 After they had listened to the king, they went away; and the star which they had seen in the east went in front of them until it came and stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 Upon entering the house, they saw the child with his mother Miryam; and they prostrated themselves and worshipped him. Then they opened their bags and presented him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 But they had been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, so they took another route back to their own country. 13 After they had gone, an angel of Adonai appeared to Yosef in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and escape to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you to leave. For Herod is going to look for the child in order to kill him.” 14 So he got up, took the child and his mother, and left during the night for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until Herod died. This happened in order to fulfill what Adonai had said through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”[b] 16 Meanwhile, when Herod realized that the Magi had tricked him, he was furious and gave orders to kill all the boys in and around Beit-Lechem who were two years old or less, calculating from the time the Magi had told him. 17 In this way were fulfilled the words spoken through the prophet Yirmeyahu, 18 “A voice was heard in Ramah, sobbing and lamenting loudly. It was Rachel sobbing for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no longer alive.”[c] 19 After Herod’s death, an angel of Adonai appeared in a dream to Yosef in Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to Eretz-Yisra’el (land of Israel), for those who wanted to kill the child are dead.” 21 So he got up, took the child and his mother, and went back to Eretz-Yisra’el (Land of Israel). 22 However, when he heard that Archelaus had succeeded his father Herod as king of Y’hudah, he was afraid to go there. Warned in a dream, he withdrew to the Galil 23 and settled in a town called Natzeret, so that what had been spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he will be called a Natzrati.
Matthew 2:6 Micah 5:1(2)
Matthew 2:15 Hosea 11:1
Matthew 2:18 Jeremiah 31:14(15)
The Gospel of Matthew is the only one of the four canonical gospels to mention the magi. Matthew reports that they came “from the east” to worship the “king of the Jews”.[2] The gospel never mentions the number of magi. Their identification as kings in later Christian writings is probably linked to Isaiah 60:1–6, which refers to “kings [coming] to the brightness of your dawn” bearing “gold and frankincense”.[5] Further identification of the magi with kings may be due to Psalm 72:11, “May all kings fall down before him”.[6][7]
Isaiah 60 Complete Jewish Bible
“Arise, shine [Yerushalayim], for your light has come, the glory of Adonai has risen over you.
2 For although darkness covers the earth and thick darkness the peoples; on you Adonai will rise; over you will be seen his glory. 3 Nations will go toward your light and kings toward your shining splendor.
4 Raise your eyes and look around: they are all assembling and coming to you; your sons are coming from far off, your daughters being carried on their nurses’ hips. 5 Then you will see and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with delight; for the riches of the seas will be brought to you, the wealth of nations will come to you. 6 Caravans of camels will cover your land, young camels from Midyan and ‘Eifah, all of them coming from Sh’va, bringing gold and frankincense, and proclaiming the praises of Adonai. 7 All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered for you, the rams of N’vayot will be at your service; they will come up and be received on my altar, as I glorify my glorious house.
Genesis 25:4
4 And the sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abidah, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah.
Son of Ismael of the Israelites. A Kedarite kingdom emerges on the eastern flank of the Levant, in eastern Syria and present day Jordan. Many small states have arisen by this time during the period of the Assyrian decline, with the Kedarite state being perhaps one of the last to emerge.
Midianite, in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), member of a group of nomadic tribes related to the Israelites and most likely living east of the Gulf of Aqaba in the northwestern regions of the Arabian Desert. They engaged in pastoral pursuits, caravan trading, and banditry, and their main contacts with the Israelites were from the period of the Exodus (13th century BCE) through the period of the Judges (12th–11th century BCE). According to the Book of Judges, the Israelite chieftain Gideon drove the Midianites into western Palestine, after which they largely disappeared from the biblical narrative.
2According to the Book of Genesis, the Midianites were descended from Midian, who was the son of the Hebrew patriarch Abraham by the latter’s second wife, Keturah. Jethro, priest-leader of the Midianite subtribe known as the Kenites, and his daughter Zipporah, a wife of Moses, influenced early Hebrew thought: it was Yahweh, the lord of the Midianites, who was revealed to Moses as the God of the Hebrews.
The Midianites traditionally have been identified as Ishmaelites, in part because of an unclear passage in Genesis (37:28) that refers to the traders to whom Joseph was sold by his brothers as both Midianites and Ishmaelites. In addition, the story of Gideon in Judges contains a verse (8:24) that includes an apparent interpolation identifying the Midianites as Ishmaelites.
The name Eifah means “Darkness, gloom. The name is borne in the Bible by a grandson of Abraham” and is of “Hebrew” origin. [no longer are they in darkness and gloom because The LORD has shone them His Light.]
Sheva = “Jehovah contends”. Judaite, son of Caleb by his concubine Maachah and grandson of Hezron. [yes, the LORD is contending for all of Abraham’s descendants. He is not a man that He should lie, blessed be HE!]
Chacham is Hebrew for “sage” or “scholar” and is also translated as “wise one or wise man”. The pl. is Chachamim.
One more link: the Midianites are the group of people that Joseph’s brothers (the Tribes of Israel) sold him to, who then traded him as a servant to Egypt. Joseph is a foreshadow of Messiah in the Old Testament. Isn’t it wonderful and awe-inspiring that when the magi left, Joseph (Jesus’ earthly dad) was instructed to flee from the Land of Israel and go to the land of Egypt? And all to fulfill Scriptures that were written about Him hundreds of years before His birth!
TDuncan 