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Mat_2:1-2
Already there are matters in this which excite our inquiry, and demand our attention, before proceeding further. Who were these “wise men?” What concern had they with the birth of a king of the Jews? What was the nature of the star which they had seen in the East, and how came they to conclude that it had any connection with the birth of a “king of the Jews?”
If we repair to Roman Catholic authorities, we shall, as usual, learn much more about these strangers than the Scripture teaches. They were from Arabia; their number was three; they were kings; their very names are known—Gas-par, Melchoir, and Balthasar; and, to crown all, their bodies repose in the odor of sanctity at Cologne, popularly known as “the three kings of [or at] Cologne.” What more can we desire to know? Not more, certainly; and we must be content to know much less. It is right to state, however, that the best Roman Catholic commentators admit the doubtfulness of all this. One of them Note: Calmet. Dissertation sur les Mages. freely points out that these names are modern, and that other names as doubtful as these are to be found in some authors. Thus, we are told that in Greek they bear the names of Magdalat, Galgalat, Saracin; and in Hebrew, of Apellius, Amerus, Damascus; but these names are the manifest inventions of persons ignorant of both Greek and Hebrew. Others call them Ater, Sator, Paratoras—names forged at random, and unknown till the twelfth century. That they were kings, and that their number was three, is not expressly affirmed by any writer until the ninth century. Tertullian has indeed been often quoted as an authority—but the case, as regards him, is, that after citing the words of the Psalm, Note: Psa_72:10.—“The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts,” he adds, that the East ordinarily had magi for kings, a statement certainly not true at the time of Christ’s birth in any country whose history we possess—not even in Persia. In fact, the notion that the “wise men” were kings, was, at a comparatively late period, inferred by interpretation from the text just cited, and which has been presumed to be prophetically applicable to the event; and as Seba and Sheba were in Arabia, on this text is also founded the prevalent notion that the wise men came from that quarter. That their number was three, is a similar deduction from the text, Note: Mat_2:11. in which the strangers are described as presenting “gold, frankincense, and myrrh,”—it being presumed that each of these three articles was offered by a different person. In such uncertain and precarious deductions often originate details which, in the lapse of time, assume the character of positive facts and affirmative traditions.
The word translated “wise men,” is in the original magi—a word which is, however, not Greek, but a foreign Oriental term, adopted by the evangelists, and other writers in Greek, as an appellative. This title of magi, or magians, originally belonged to the priests, who were also the learned men, of the Persians under that religious system which was described in the previous volume of this work. From this use of the term, it gradually, in all the countries constituting the great Persian empire, and eventually much beyond what had been its limits, came to denote any man who applied himself to learned and scientific pursuits. This anciently included, in all countries, much study of what was deemed occult knowledge—such as astronomy in its application to astrology, and what we now call natural philosophy, the facts and results of which, familiar to us now, formed a treasury of hidden knowledge to the “wise men” of ancient times; in short, the name covered all that was true, all that was pretensive, and all that was false, in the philosophy of the ancient Orientals. Astronomy was, however, the favorite object of magian study; and the face of the heavens was so much examined, that any strange luminous body could hardly fail to attract attention. Such a body was observed by our sages at the time our Lord was born; and it remains to ask, what it was; and then, how they were led to connect it with the birth of a “king of the Jews?”
The notion that this luminous appearance was a star, or planetary body, then first called into existence—created for the occasion—originated when the system of the universe was but little understood, and the nature of the planetary bodies wholly misapprehended. God does not make waste of his almightiness, or call forth more power than is needed to produce the result his Divine wisdom contemplates. This notion is not, therefore, now entertained. Still, and with all deference to better astronomers than we can pretend to be, it seems to us quite possible that, in the Divine foreknowledge, it may have been so ordered, that the light from one of the heavenly bodies, and, therefore, that body itself, should at this particular time first become visible to spectators on the earth. Nothing is more familiar than the great length of time it takes a ray of light from the more distant heavenly bodies to reach the earth, and so long must it have been after the creation of any one heavenly body before it could be seen from the earth. We do not, however, suppose that this was the case; though it may solve some difficulties in the way of those who will persist in claiming a new star for the occasion.
The favorite notion of the Continent at present is that which originated with Kepler, and which has lately been revived, and supported with great ingenuity and vigor. It was first set forth in this country by a writer in the Cyclopaedia of Biblical Literature, from whose article Note: Star in the East. the following particulars are gathered.
The conjunction of Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars, which took place in 1604, presented such appearances as reminded the great astronomer of the star of the magi, and led him to hope that he had discovered the data on which the period of our Lord’s birth might be determined by astronomical calculations. “He made his calculations, and found that Jupiter and Saturn were in conjunction in the constellations of the Fishes (the fish is the astrological symbol of Judea) in the latter half of the year of home 747, and were joined by Mars in 748. Here, then, he fixed the first figure for the date of our era, and here he found the appearance in the heaven which induced the magi to undertake their journey, and conducted them successfully on their way. Others have taken up the view, freed it from astrological impurities, and shown its trustworthiness and applicability in the case under consideration. It appears that Jupiter and Saturn came together for the first time on May 20th, in the twentieth degree of the constellation of the Fishes. They then stood before sunrise in the eastern part of the heavens, and so were seen by the magi. Jupiter then passed by Saturn towards the north. About the middle of September they were, near midnight, both in opposition to the sun—Saturn in the thirteenth, Jupiter in the fifteenth degree—being distant from each other about a degree and a half. They then drew nearer: in October the 22d there was a second conjunction in the sixteenth degree: and in November 12th there took place a third conjunction in the fifteenth degree of the same constellation. In the two last conjunctions the interval between the planets amounted to no more than a degree—so that, to the unassisted eye, the rays of the one planet were absorbed in those of the other, and the two bodies would appear as one. The two planets went past each other three times, came very near together, and showed themselves all night long for months in conjunction with each other, as if they would never separate again. Their first vision in the East awoke the attention of the magi—told them the expected time had come, and bade them to set off without delay towards Judea (the fish land). When they reached Jerusalem the two planets were once more blended together. Then in the evening they stood in the southern part of the sky, pointing with their united rays to Bethlehem, where prophecy declared the Messiah was to be born. The magi followed the finger of heavenly light, and were brought to the child Jesus. The conclusion, in regard to the time of the advent, is, that our Lord was born in the latter part of the year of Rome 747, or six years before the common era.”
This is one ingenious and beautiful explanation. As to the connection of this appearance with the Messiah, we are told, as is indeed certain, that a conviction had long been spread through the East, that about the time of the commencement of our era, a great and victorious Prince, or the Messiah, was to be born. His birth was in consequence of Balaam’s words (himself an eastern prophet) connected with the appearance of a star. (Num_24:17.) So far all is clear; and it is certain that such an expectation did exist, not only in the East, but in the West; and furthermore, that it was expected that this great personage was to make his appearance in Judea. We may add, that the ancient nations regarded the appearance of stars, meteors, or luminous bodies, as indicating the birth of high personages, of which many examples are recorded; and that from the text referred to, the Jews themselves entertained the expectation that a star would appear at the birth of the Messiah. But we are further informed, that calculations seem to have led the astronomical astrologers of the East to place the time of the advent of this King in the latter days of Herod, and the locality in the land of Judea; and accordingly, at the appointed time, the two planets, Jupiter and Saturn, were, as first explained, in conjunction, “under such circumstances, as to appear a resplendent heavenly body, and to marshal their way from their own homes to Jerusalem.”
Now, although we are reluctant to object to so neat a theory, we cannot help thinking that it fails in making out any possible connection, apparent to the magians, between this conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn and the birth of Christ. We do not see that there could be any astronomical, or even astrological, basis for such a calculation as is supposed. They might calculate the conjunction of the planets, but there was no datum on which to connect that conjunction with the birth of the expected Messiah. We are also reluctant to assume, that the Lord would, even to this extent, employ the instrumentality of the delusive and reprobated science of “the stargazers and monthly prognosticators,” and thereby give an implied sanction to its errors. These magi must also have been sufficient astronomers to understand the nature of this phenomenon, and they would scarcely have designated as “a star” the two planets in this relation to each other, even though their rays were so commingled as to appear one heavenly body. The explanation does, indeed, very skilfully meet the difficulty of supposing a conjunction of planets to indicate a particular country, though we were not conscious that Judea was under the sign Pisces, and was, therefore, astrologically known as “the fish land;” but still, how could the rays indicate a small town, or any town, as alleged? The evangelist says that the star went before them, and stood over the place where the young child was. Allowing every latitude to the use of popular language, it is simply impossible for a fixed star, under any circumstances, to have given this indication. If the planets in conjunction had appeared to the magi as resting over Bethlehem when they had crossed the Mount of Olives from Jerusalem, it is certain that they would have appeared just as far still to the south of Bethlehem when the travellers approached the place.
This applies also to a comet which some suppose to have been the star in question: and it indeed applies equally to our own suggestion that a star may then have first become visible.
We therefore remain shut up to the conclusion, that the star of the magi was a luminous meteor of some kind or other, the motions of which were supernaturally directed, and which is called “a star,” either from its resemblance to a star, or from its concentrated brightness. The wise men who afterwards were divinely instructed as to their homeward way, may well have been in the same manner taught to know what this appearance signified; and that, if they followed its leading, it would conduct them to Him who was “the desire of all nations,” and whose appearance was then earnestly expected by both Jews and Gentiles. This expectation may have arisen from ancient traditions; from intercourse with the Jews, who were then found in almost every important town; and from a more or less direct knowledge of the prophecies of Isaiah. Both in the East and West the Jews doubtless vaunted largely of their expectations in this respect, till the heathen, among whom they dwelt, became familiar with the idea; and over all the vast region in which the Greek language was spoken or understood, the prophecies were directly accessible through the translation made in the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus. Writers who lived before Christ came to indicate their knowledge of these prophecies; and Virgil in particular has left a poem, which is little other than a paraphrase of Isaiah’s great prophecies of the Messiah’s reign.