Matthew 2: 1- 12 - The Magi visit Jesus.
So, at the Day of Judgement, do the Magi enter heaven? Did they say the ABC prayer? They did believe in the Christ. Did they give up their magic arts after they met Jesus?
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_Magi :
The word magi is the plural of Latin magus, borrowed from Greek μάγος magos,[10] as used in the original Greek text of the Gospel of Matthew ("μάγοι"). Greek magos itself is derived from Old Persian maguŝ from the Avestan magâunô, i.e., the religious caste into which Zoroaster was born, (see Yasna 33.7: "ýâ sruyê parê magâunô" = "so I can be heard beyond Magi"). The term refers to the priestly caste of Zoroastrianism.[11] As part of their religion, these priests paid particular attention to the stars and gained an international reputation for astrology,
which was at that time highly regarded as a science. Their religious
practices and use of astrology caused derivatives of the term Magi to be applied to the occult in general and led to the English term magic, although Zoroastrianism was in fact strongly opposed to sorcery. The King James Version translates the term as wise men, the same translation is applied to the wise men led by Daniel of earlier Hebrew Scriptures (Daniel 2:48). The same word is given as sorcerer and sorcery when describing "Elymas the sorcerer" in Acts 13:6–11, and Simon Magus, considered a heretic by the early Church, in Acts 8:9–13. Several translations refer to the men outright as astrologers at Matthew Chapter 2, . . .
Why was Herod disturbed and why was "all Jerusalem" disturbed with him? Was Herod so paranoid about his position that any kooks could come around looking for the next king and disturb him?
ReplyDeleteAlso, why did God tell the wise men to go home a different route? If Joseph and Mary escaped right away, the wise men could have reported back to Herod and a lot of babies would have been saved. Why did the babies have to be sacrificed?
One more question: What was the star that the wise men could follow it until it stopped over Joseph's house? There's no natural phenomenon that I know of that could lead you more than in the general direction of something - that could lead you a certain distance.
From http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/focus-freedom/2013/dec/28/wise-men-triggered-massacre-innocents/
DeleteA key point often overlooked by people is that the world of 2,000 years ago saw infanticide as unimportant. The Greeks often left defective or female infants to die of exposure.
Despite people believing in specific religious doctrine, they were still capable of killing their own children. Very few governments had enacted laws to prevent infanticide, and it was acceptably practiced almost everywhere and primarily the manner of death varied with the geographic region or culture. Who would raise an issue with a king who chose to kill a few children? The current estimates of the number of those infants killed through Herod’s command is about 15 – 20 Hebrew children based upon the actual population of Bethlehem and surrounding area at the time. The pervasive reality of infanticide may be the reason why no contemporary challenged Matthew’s account.
It is important to remember within the context of history that these times were dangerous times of tyrants and usurpers of power. Herod, the “King” of the Jews, was only a tetrarch allowed to be a tyrant in limited manner over the Jewish people. Herod, a foreigner, was simply a pawn of the Roman Empire and he was allowed his measures of tyranny as long as it did not interfere with Roman dominion. However, his action of beheading his grown son even shocked the Roman Emperor, Augustus. The historian Macrobius relates that when Augustus learned about Herod’s murder of his own son, he said: “It is better to be Herod’s hog, than his son.”
The comments of Emperor Augustus demonstrate an understanding of King Herod’s ruthlessness. It also shows the Emperor’s awareness of Jewish law as he sarcastically alludes to the law of not eating pork, and consequently not killing swine.
Flavius Josephus, a Jewish historian, also acknowledged Herod’s cruelty, as when he singled out individuals for public execution as well as the mass slaughter of opponents in the last years of his reign. But, he does not mention the slaughter of the children of Bethlehem. Perhaps the massacre never occurred. Or perhaps to Josephus, this event, quite insignificant when compared with Herod’s greater atrocities, was too minor to require mention.
http://www.whychristmas.com/customs/star-of-bethlehem.shtml
Deletegives some options. I thought that the "dancing planets" option was interesting. Basically it says that as a planet orbits the sun in comparison to ours, it's path in the sky can move in a back and forth pattern (depending on which way around the sun earth and the other planet(s) are rotating). If you compare Mars and Jupiter against each other, they could point to something and then over time come together.