Today’s passage is, of course, the inspiration for the classic carol, ‘We Three Kings of Orient Are.’ You may notice, from a careful reading of the passage, that the Reverend John Henry Hopkins, Jr., uses a little poetic license in his carol. We have no idea, for instance, how many of these ‘kings’ there were. There were three gifts, but–who knows?–there could have been duplicates, or some of the guys could have gone in together on a gift; these are fairly big ticket items, after all.
Also, they’re not kings at all. They’re astrologers.
I think Rev. Hopkins calls these astrologers ‘kings’ in order to more strongly connect them with a series of Old Testament prophecies that speak of other nations streaming to the coming Lord to honor him and seek his wisdom. This visit from the foreign astrologers is clearly something of a down payment on a fulfillment of those prophecies. These impressive astrologers even get the gifts right:
Nations will come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn . . .
And all from Sheba will come,
bearing gold and incense
and proclaiming the praise of the LORD (Isaiah 60: 3, 6)
Sheba, by the way, is probably in Arabia, which may be where these Magi are from; they could also be from Persia, or Babylonia.
One thing that sticks out to me about this passage is how eager God is to communicate. In general, the Bible tells us that God frowns on astrology. But God really wants these people to know the good news that the long-awaited king has come. And these people speak astrology. So, God breaks his own rule, and speaks to them in astrology.
The other thing I notice is the strong contrast between these foreign astrologers and the Jewish religious experts. The Magi don’t even quite know what they’re looking for, all they have to go on is a star, and eventually they have to stop and ask directions; but they travel a long distance to see this exciting new thing God is doing. The religious experts in Jerusalem have been expecting the Messiah for hundreds of years. They know exactly where to find him. And he’s only six miles away. Yet, they can’t even be bothered to go and check it out.
I guess knowledge and familiarity can be a dangerous thing. God preserve me from such jadedness–or forgive me and heal me from the ways I’m already jaded.
December 19, 2009 at 3:05 pm |
I’ve always loved this passage. It just speaks so strongly to how open God is to anyone who is genuinely searching for a connection with Him. There are millions of us out there trying to find God. It’s nice to have this reminder that He meets us where we are and leads us from there.
December 20, 2009 at 9:59 am |
How interesting! I am finding these Advent stories in the Bible to be inspiring and educational – In some ways I feel like I’m reading them for the first time or at least in a new way. It wasn’t until this year that I realized that the Magi didn’t reach Jesus while he was still a newborn, but almost 2 years later! I had always thought that they arrived during the night of his birth, like the shepherds. While it destroys the image of the nativity scene with all the characters huddled around Jesus in the manger, it does bring truth and a reality of what life was like in Jesus’ time – and that for me, helps connect me more with Jesus and appreciate Him as the King and Savior He is.
December 26, 2009 at 12:22 am |
I guess how old Jesus is depends on the star’s timing. Did it appear just as Jesus was born (in which case Jesus was 2 by the time the Magi arrived), or did the star come early so that the Magi would arrive on time?
Herod figured, ‘better safe than sorry.’ He’d rather slaughter more children than risk letting this new king live.
December 25, 2009 at 9:59 am |
The Greco family is reading this today, and we were surprised to learn that the gold and incense was foretold.
Matthew replayed his role as Herod from Messy Church (he still knows his lines), which strikes a chord in this household of boys.