A Brief Recap
As Matthew begins to tell the story of Jesus’ birth, he immediately brings up the issue of Mary becoming pregnant by the Holy Spirit. We often hear the term immaculate conception in regards to this event. This is conflating two different things. The immaculate conception idea is purely a Roman Catholic doctrine which has little to do with the birth of Jesus.
Immaculate conception is a doctrine held as a core belief that the Virgin Mary was herself conceived by a divine miracle. This made her free from sin. In many respects, the thought is that Mary conceived her son in the same way she was conceived. In Roman Catholicism this allows for elevating Mary beyond normal human status to being semi-divine.
Included in the story of Christ’s birth is the matter of Mary and Joseph being betrothed. Living in modern times, we need to think of betrothal more as marriage than as an engagement. Even though during this period of betrothal the girl still lived with her father, she was called “wife” upon her betrothal, and she was called “widow” should her betrothed husband die. For Jewish reader’s of Matthew’s Gospel, the mention of Joseph and Mary being betrothed meant that the time for her moving in with Joseph had not yet come.
It also mean that they were not yet permitted to have marital relationships. Other than that, they were completely married as we think of it today. For a betrothal to be called off, a divorce document called a get had to be issued by the man. This was to invalid the marriage contract which had been drawn up and executed between the man and the girl’s father.
Chapter 2
Verse 1: The first half of verse one concludes Matthew’s story of the conception and birth of Jesus by saying that He was born in Bethlehem (House of Bread) in Judea. Although Matthew does not go into detail by explaining the significance of the place of Jesus’ birth, it was common knowledge for Jews to know that Bethlehem was the birthplace of King David. The direct connection between the Messiah and King David is a must in the messianic prophecies.
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.” (Micah 5:2)
Verse 2: The second half of verse 2 gives us an approximation of the date of Jesus’ birth based on the reign of King Herod. King Herod reigned from 37 B.C. to 4 B.C. So according to Matthew’s timeline, Jesus had to have been born prior to 4 B.C.
The last part of verse two also begins a captivating story about a visitation of magi in search of the new king of the Jews. This account we only find in Mathew’s Gospel. This story about the magi appears in no other place in the New Testament other than the Book of Matthew.
Who were the Magi?
The first thing to notice is that despite many Christian traditions and songs about the magi which indicate there were three, we are not told how many magi are actually present in the text. The idea of three magi traveling to find Jesus is entirely fictional and not supported by the Bible or any other ancient text.
The next fictional description is that the magi were kings. This is wrong on many levels.
The magi were highly respected experts in their field in which they used wandering lights in the sky to interpret current events and future events. Although they are said to have come from the east, There is a lot of land mass to the east of Judea. So, their point of origin cannot be pinpointed.
The most important feature of the magi for us to understand is that they were not astronomers as we think of an astronomer today. Rather, they were Hellenistic astronomers. What does Hellenistic mean? It means those who have adopted the Greek language, culture, thought, art and religious views. In the first century, it mostly meant to assimilate into the Greek based Roman culture.
The magi did not practice ancient astrology which was prevalent among the Babylonians. This form of astrology had ceased to exist shortly after the conquests of Alexander the Great in the 300’s B.C.
The other point which is fundamental for proper understanding is that Jews generally did not practice any form of astrology at this time. They did not look to the skies for understanding events or for foretelling the future. However, understanding events and foretelling the future is exactly what Hellenistic astrologers did. This is exactly what the magi in the Book of Matthew did.
Historical Context
There is an underlying historical context which generally aids our understanding of the role of the magi in Jesus’ birth story. First, Rome and the Holy Land were in a constant state of confrontation and tension. The Jews felt offended by Rome’s overpowering presence, and Rome was frustrated with these stubborn people who refused all effort to assimilate. The Jews valued and insisted on keeping their unique faith, culture, traditions and history while Rome wanted them to abandon their heritage and conform to the progressive Hellenistic way of life which had been adopted by the rest of the Roman empire.
This festering hatred of the Romans led the Jews to openly express their hope for a Jewish Messiah to deliver them from Rome’s heavy hand. In turn the Romans were very concerned about the Jews’ messianic prophecies of a charismatic deliverer and were on high alert for his arrival. In both cases, the expectation was for a Jewish leader to emerge who would defy and challenge the Roman military. The Jews welcome the notion while Rome feared it.
The second element for understanding the context of the magi in our story is that astronomy was advancing at a high rate in the years leading up to Jesus’ birth. The Hellenistic astronomers studied the skies for many years. They developed mathematical equations which could fairly accurately predict the movement of the stars and plants. This will play a role in our understanding of the famous star which the magi followed to Bethlehem.
The third element for historical context is that there was no real distinction between astronomy and astrology in this era. The constantly progressing understanding of the movement of the objects in the sky could now be predicted. This made the development of astrology more credible and exciting. The entire purpose of astronomical observations in that era was to more accurately aid in the predictions that the cosmos was thought to reveal to the magi. The belief that fate could be determined in advance of a future event by means of observing and interpreting the movement of the stars and planets was well accepted throughout the Roman Empire, except it was rejected by the Jews. Thus the highly educated people who were expert star gazers (the magi) were greatly prized and admired for their knowledge. Their wisdom was much sought out and believed. It was believed that the ability to understand the movement of the stars and planets was a gift from the gods to help mankind navigate the present and to prepare for the future.
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