The Meaning of the Magi...Matthew nativity pt 4

https://billrandles.wordpress.com/2019/12/15/the-meaning-of-the-magi-matthew-nativity-pt-4/ ^ | 12-12-19 | Bill Randles

[pastorbillrandles]

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, 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. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel… When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw 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 exceeding great joy. And when they 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 2:1-11)

Wise men from the East came seeking Jesus, calling him “King of the Jews”. Who were they and how did they know to come and seek him?

The Eastern frontier of the Roman Empire was the Euphrates river. The Parthians (Medo/Persians) were a particular threat to the Romans, never having succumbed to the Roman expansion and handily resisting them upon every incursion from the west.

The Magi came from Persia, their ‘school of the Magi’ was believed to have dated all the way back to the days of Daniel the prophet, from his time in the schools of Babylon, and then Persia.

The Magi were careful observers of astronomy, as well as being completely conversant with the Hebrew prophets (especially Daniel). Why are they considered Kings? Because they were of an ancient Persian Priestly caste, of teachers, philosophers, and educators of Kings. No King could be crowned in Persia without having mastered the teachings of the Magi, and without the approval of the same.

When the Magi came west, to seek Jesus, (There were far more than three of them), Herod and all of Jerusalem were troubled. Quite a large contingent of them crossed the frontier into the Eastern most district of the Roman Empire, the defense of which, Herod would have been responsible. The Magi would have come with a military escort, and a caravan of supplies. Some ancient historians speculate that they would have been accompanied by up to a thousand mounted cavalrymen.

What did they seek? the King of the Jews. They had seen a star, as a portent of the birth of a powerful King. They were also familiar with the prophecies of Balaam, the pagan Seer, whom God put prophecy into his mouth, back in the days of the Exodus,

I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth. (Numbers 24:17)

Was this the Star out of Jacob, which would crush heathendom in its unity against the only true God? The Medo/Persian Magi were so sure of it, they openly told Herod, that they had come to worship Him, (Christ).

Herod immediately called a counsel of his advisors; Chief Priests, scribes, experts in the Torah, in order to demand of them the birth place of the Messiah. Already the baby jesus was causing the Kings of the earth and their rulers to seek counsel against the LORD and his Messiah.

Without hesitation, a Priest, or scribe rattled off the prophecy of Micah, that Messiah would be born in Bethlehem of Judea, the place of King David and his family.

But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting… And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.( Micah 5:2,4)

Other than mindlessly rattling off the scripture which they were familiar with on the one hand, and blind and deadened to on the other, there seemed to be very little interest in walking the short journey from Jerusalem to Bethlehem to see of there was anything to what the Medo Persian contingent had traveled 500 miles to inquire of.

Herod was quite interested for other reasons as we will see.

The Magi would follow the star until they found the child within two years after the interview by Herod. By that time Jesus no longer an infant ,but was a Paidon, ( a young child just walking). The Star led them to the very house where Jesus was living, and with his mother.

Their gifts of Gold,Frankincense and Myrrh, all point to his Kingly dignity, His Deity, (Gold) and the fact that he is a Priest (Frankincense) . Myrrh points to his substitutionary death for our salvation.

These gifts are also a foretaste of a Prophecy for the restoration of Israel and the Jewish people by Isaiah, in which the Gentiles will come streaming in to present the wealth of the nations to God’s chosen people,

Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.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. Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side. Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee. 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. All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee: they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory.( Isaiah 60:1-7)

In the days to come, Israel’s sorrow will be turned to joy and her fortunes will be restored, in the days of the Messiah, and instead of being “forsaken and hated” the Gentiles will pour in, bringing their gifts.

They entered into the house, fell down and worshiped him.

Priests of God, scribes and Jewish elders didn’t bother to seek him, although they knew the scripture, but these Medo/Persian King trainers, knew a King when they saw him (by the Holy Spirit) so they bowed down to worship and adore him.

Another factor which made the Magi sensitive enough to know the time had come for the King of the Jews to be born, was their familiarity with the Prophet Daniel.

Five hundred and forty some years previously, the prophet Daniel was praying about the future of his people, from captivity in Babylon, and in Persia. An amazing time sensitive prophecy was revealed to Him, personally delivered to him by the Angel Gabriel.

Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. (Daniel 9:25-27)

The future of Daniel’s people, (Israel) would be decided in a manner of 70 weeks of years,(490 years). Within that time the entire program of God for them will be concluded; finish transgression,end of sins,reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting rightiousness, seal up the vision, and all prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.

Picture a stopwatch. It starts “from the going of the command the restore and build Jerusalem”… This decree of Artaxerxes, occurred in 444BC and is recounted in Nehemiah 2.

We are told, that in 69 weeks, (483 years(, Messiah the Prince would come and die, but not for himself but for the people”. This would bring us to the year 33 AD. (At this point the Divine stopwatch stopped. ;eaving 7 more years for God to complete his program for Israel).

These Magi had studied Daniel’s prophecies copiously for centuries. Thus they would have known that the time was near for the Messiah to present himself, and they knew to be aware and to understand the star and it’s meaning.

The meaning of the Magi is clear, that those who seek the Messiah, and his salvation and who fear God and tremble at his word, will find the Christ, and be able to bow down and Worship Him. Those who have no heart for God, even if they are familiar with scripture, will not seek Him, and will not find Him.

[ealgeone]

If Mary’s his mother, is she not the mother of God? I don’t think they’d have to call her anything but his mother, that should be obvious.

The lines begin to blur when you call Mary the mother of God.

Is she the mother of the Father? The Spirit?

Scripture is clear on how Mary is referenced....His mother.

[MHGinTN]

Digested .. more please.

[allwrong57]

You’re making something simple difficult. She’s his mother, Jesus is God, therefore she can be called the mother of God. Scripture references her as his mother, he is God. Not that difficult.

[ealgeone]

No...it’s the Roman Catholic that is confusing the issue by straying from what Scripture accords Mary on this issue.

[MHGinTN]

Did Jesus exist before Mary? Why are you refusing to see that since Jesus IS GOD He cannot have a progenitor. The Blessed Mary is His mother, for His physical body, but you can’t even know that any of her genes were in His genetic make up. It isn’t hard to understand, if you don’t have an agaenda to deify the Mother of Jesus.

[allwrong57]

No, you’re attempting to make a mountain out of a molehill, and I for one don’t guess I really care what you think. She’s his Mother, he’s God, if you can’t figure the rest out so be it, and really what difference does it make? Bye

[allwrong57]

I don’t deify Mary, but she is the most blessed among women. That is scriptual. Find someone else to argue positions that are unimportant.

Mother of Jesus
Jesus is God

end of story. I’m not going to argue about it, believe whatever you want, it’s your right.

[ealgeone]

No, you’re attempting to make a mountain out of a molehill, and I for one don’t guess I really care what you think.

It is Roman Catholicism that has made the mountain on this issue. From this title they've added many others to Mary and many abilities to Mary....all non-Scriptural.

She's become a de-facto combination Savior/Spirit in Roman Catholicism.

She’s his Mother, he’s God, if you can’t figure the rest out so be it, and really what difference does it make? Bye.

She's the mother of Christ....if you can't figure that out you've departed from Scripture. That's what difference it makes.

[allwrong57]

You’ve departed from sanity, everything you say is irrelevant to anything. Please don’t answer me back, I don’t care or want to hear anything more.

[MHGinTN]

LOL

[MHGinTN]

Progenitor: noun
1a biologically related ancestor: 2a person or thing that first indicates a direction, originates something, or serves as a model; predecessor; precursor:

Show us where the Bible (the Word of GOD) lists Mary as a biological predecessor to GOD. ... Your woeful lack of education on the scriptures is glaring. Or mayne, just matbe, someone has fed to you too many fables.

[ealgeone]

I assure you my sanity is fine. The bigger and more accurate concern should be Rome’s departure from Scripture on this issue.

[allwrong57]

show me where the Father is a predecessor of Jesus. Hint:he isn’t. Is he therefore not the son of God also.

“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43 But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”

Note: mother of my Lord is scriptual

Your lack of education on scriptures is glaring, or maybe you just skip the parts you don’t like, which is more likely.

Note: she is also ‘blessed among women”

Note: argue with someone else, I don’t have time for it

[imardmd1]

The star sign that brought the Magoi from Anatolia, The Southern Cross constellation.

Genesis 1:14-16 (AV):

¹⁴ And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
¹⁵ And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
¹⁶ And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

The four main stars of the famous Southern Cross constellation are
Acrux (Alpha Crucis), bottom; Becrux (Beta Crucis), left;
Gacrux (Gamma Crucis), top; and Delta Crucis, right.<

Excerpt:

Crux was plainly visible everywhere in the United States some 5,000 years ago, as well as in ancient Greece and Babylonia.
According to the writings of Richard Hinckley Allen (1838-1908), an expert in stellar nomenclature, the Southern Cross was last seen on the horizon of Jerusalem around the time that Christ was crucified. But thanks to precession — an oscillating motion of the Earth's axis — the Cross ended up getting shifted out of view well to the south over the ensuing centuries.

========

In order to understand the yearly travels of the Magoi from Anatolia southerly toward Jerusalem and back, one first has to remember that they were effective scrutinizers of the shifts of the heavenly lights, and their interest in determining ways to determine the "true" north pointed to by the extension of an imaginary line defined by the axis about which the earth rotates. That could be done if one could find a star that always appears in the same place in the night sky (the imaginary line passes close to or through it), and to the left (the north) of the direction which one faces (the east) to see the sun rise. Such a star in the north would seem to stay pretty much in one place, while during the night the other stars would travel circularly about it. In our day, that star is Polaris, the bright star at the end of the handle of the Little Dipper.

But what about finding south for navigation? Well, if God had made it so, there would be a star in that direction also; but then, would people north of the Equator be able to see it? Of course not, so God has provided another way to find the south by the stars, and that is by using the Southern Cross.

But before discussing that, one needs to take account of another factor, the moving of the place on the horizon, and the variability of the length of days that tells us of the seasons of the solar year. Even the ancient humans were aware of this, and accounted for it using permanent structures to give reference points for these celestial indicators. One such edifice is Stonehenge, built in Moses' time, the chief feature of which was to mark the longest day, and hence the number of night/day cylces that define a solar year. This seasonal variability of daylight is by consequence of the precession (click here) of the earth's axis, which is tilted with respect to the plane defined by its orbit about our star, the Sun.

The earth's precession

In this image, the edge of the shadow on the earth's surface is perpendicular to the plane defined by its orbit about the Sun.

The tilt of the earth's axis of rotation from the direction perpendicular to the ecliptic plane is constantly but very slowly changing, making the Souhern Cross since before the Magoi were putatively observing that it was moving further and further south over the horizon, decade by decade.

In Abraham's time, the Southern Cross constellation was easily observable in his town (Sanli = "glorious")-Urfa, Ur of the Chaldean mountains/people. Doubtless the astronomical observers recorded its vagaries, but when many years had passed they must have noted that its height in the night sky became less and less, when finally--long before Jesus' time--at Ur's latitude, it failed to rise above the horizon. However, to overcome this problem, they nerely traveled south enough to be able to see it again rise briefly low on the horizon. So this led them further and further south, generation by generation of scientists, until they recognized that they were being drawn to the Golan Heights above Israel. But when they descended to the Jordan Valley floor, they found that the had to again climb up the hills further south leading up to Jerusalem to see it again. And this they did, showing up in Herod's city when Jesus was about two years old.

Also along the way, they (being wise in astrology as well as in astronomy), because of the spreading of the Jewish prophetic writings of Isaiah and Jeremiah and Daniel throughout the Mideast because of the synagogues, were also able to see and hear from the Jews that Daniel's 69th week ("week"=a heptad of years; see Gen. 29:27) was steadily approaching, and because of knowing from the very precise chronicles of the Babylonian/Median kings, they could ascertain the dates of the destruction of the Jewish temple, the command to rebuild it (Dan. 9:25), amd the times when it began (Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai 1:8). And now that Herod the Great had finished his outstanding renovation of the Second Temple, everyone saw in it a sign that the Messiah's appearance was nigh, even upon them.

It seems clear that, though the quadrilateral form of the four stars had no significance formwise, still because of the talk of Jewish scholars about the arrival of Messiah for years before, the sign of a star leading them south from Padanaram (language=Aramic) to Israel might indeed be the sign of Messiah the King's arrival as a human child. They wouldn't need a prophet to suggest that portentious idea to them.

But God the Creator, Himself knowing from before the foundation of the Earth, before His dispersion of the Heavenly illumination, surely knew that in the proper dispensation, when cast in the light of a Risen Messiah, the shape of this ever-lasting sign of Jesus, Lord and Messiah, ought to bring the reminder of the Cross of Calvary, of Golgotha, to mind forever, as we who believe in the Babe of Bethlehem enjoy eternal life.

And that is my Christmas story.

Take time to humbly worship the Mighty King, the Prince of Peace, Who is soon to institute His Global Kingdom of Righteousness and Peace on Earth.

Have a blessed Christmas, all y'all!

[Elsie]

But what about finding south for navigation?

I'd suggest going 180° away from north.

[Elsie]

Gobekli tepe today

https://www.shutterstock.com/es/search/urfa+gobeklitepe?section=1&orientation=horizontal&safe=true&search_source=base_related_searches&saveFiltersLink=true

[imardmd1]

If you can find it.

Which you can't if it is directly overhead.

Try it out to sea, bro.

https://earthsky.org/favorite-star-patterns/how-to-use-southern-cross-to-find-south-celestial-pole

Another slighty trickier, but more accurate, way of finding south is to use the Southern Cross and the pointer stars from the neighbouring constellation, Centaurus. Draw a line through the two stars at the ‘head’ and the ‘foot’ of the cross and extend it to the dark patch of the sky the same way as in the first method (Line 1). Then join a line between the two pointers (Line 2). Find the middle of Line 2 then draw a perpendicular line down toward Line 1 until the lines meet. The point at which the lines 1 and 3 intersect is the south celestial pole. From there just look straight down to the horizon and you’ve found south. Illustration and caption via ABCScience.

[pastorbillrandles]

Magi is a Persian word... Daniel is a very familiar prophet to the Persians... a sixth century Mosaic in the church of the Nativity (I know it probably isn’t an accurate site) showed the Wise men in Persian clothes...I can not be sure, but I think they were the Persian school of Magi

[fproy2222]

“The Meaning of the Magi...Matthew nativity pt 4”

It also means that God spoke to more than the people in the old testament.

[MHGinTN]

Read the definition of Progenitor. Then read John chapter one. Stop trying to make the Mother of Jesus into a goddess for your Semiramis derived Catholicism. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and was God.