There was a letter today, from jfh, speaking about the star & the wise men.

             http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/nov2013/jfh114.htm  (Re: time of Jesus’ birth)

Some of the things he wrote I had been convinced of similarly, after I had been saved a while.

However, I no longer am convinced of that, as I had been.

I believe that there were three wise men and that they arrived perfectly on time when the Lord was born, not a couple of years later.

I believe it simply the way even a child would read it in the scriptures.

Luke talks about shepherds showing up to see the new born king, and Matthew speaks about the wise men showing up to see the new born king.

After I had been saved, some people had convinced me that there were not three wise men, that they were not kings, and that they showed up two years too late!

I have since gone back to believing what I believed when reading the scriptures when I first got saved.

The star moved from where they had been, to exactly over the manger in Bethlehem.

It was a miraculous guiding star, not some naturally occurring alignment of planets or a super nova way up in the sky.

There are old testament scriptures that refer to them as kings, their nations, the gifts, and the star.

The people who wrote all those carols years ago apparently believed the account this way as well - and why not?

They were not ignorant of the scriptures, in fact four or five generations ago the Christians seemed to be more familiar with the scriptures than those of us today.

Just yesterday, during my studying and meditation, I also came to the conclusion that I believe that there were probably three wise men.

First there are the the star, kings, gifts, and three different nations named for bringing the gifts.

Isaiah speaks of something that, yes, has its ultimate fulfillment in the gospel to the Gentiles, then finally in the kingdom, but it also initially speaks of his birth:

 

Isaiah 60:1 Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.

2 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.

3 And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.

4 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.

5 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.

6 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.

 

I had also thought about the requirement of two or three witnesses in relation to them.

Also, if it had only been two men, the scripture uses,  “two men ”, 22 times like that.

As a side note, I had been one of those who joked about how we used to sing the song as boys, about the rubber cigar, etc. - I do not think it a joke anymore, I take it literally.

These were true wise men it appears, with the wisdom from above, rather than the earthly/sensual/devilish kind of “wise-guys”, like in Exodus and Daniel.

I also think that it was a real guiding star.

I had just recently heard another thing on the radio, rebroadcast from Moody Radio, about the star being some kind of planetary alignment or super-nova, or some such silliness.

The star needed to be not too far above the earth ’s surface, where they could triangulate to not only follow, but most importantly to take them to the exact specific house where Jesus was.

Anything else would not have worked.

Go out some night just after it gets dark and mark the location of stars and planets.

Then go out again, later, and notice that they have moved!

All but the North Star move from east to west across the sky during the night.

How in the world could that have led them to an exact house thousands of miles from where they were?

No, it had to be a special, one time star, sent by the LORD to guide the wise men to the exact location.

There are some interesting stars mentioned in the last book of the Bible, so why couldn’t the LORD have done something very miraculous with a guiding star?

After all, the virgin birth was super miraculous, so why can ’t we believe that the LORD had a one-time special star for this purpose?

I think that the song had it right, “westward leading, still proceeding, guide us …”

The star was moving ahead of them.

The LORD had moved a pillar of smoke by day and a pillar of fire by night to lead Israel through the wilderness.

Also, he caused the pillar to stand over the tabernacle in one place as long as the LORD wanted them to stay there.

So why couldn’t he have done something like that with a special moving star, NOT zillions of miles above the surface of the earth.

I also had thought that perhaps they really didn’t come two years after Jesus was born, but perhaps the star first appeared to them two years before Jesus was born.

Initially they all would have had to have seen it,.

Then they would to have consulted with their books, charts, and calculations.

Then they would have no doubt double checked everything.

Then they would have needed to communicate, or meet, to consult with one another (i.e. three different countries).

Then they would have  had to plan and organized the expedition to follow the star.

Then they would have had to travel by night, and not by day, in order to follow the star, when they would see it - night travel would have taken a lot longer.

They also had to go a great distance from the east to Israel, by special caravan routes where there was water, etc.

Also when Joseph and Mary had to go to Bethlehem to be taxed, they obviously both were of the house of David).

Joseph had to leave his occupation, carpenter shop, and home that he had in Nazareth, to go get taxed.

I do not think that he planned to just abandon all that or that he would have sold it all just to go get taxed.

I don ’t think that he planned to be spending two years in Bethlehem.

I realize that he had to go to Egypt when the angel told him to, but that had not been his plan.

Also, many now argue that the wise men came later because the Bible uses the word “house”.

However, the Bible does use the word house sometimes when referring to a structure that actually had animals inside (i.e. where a manger would have been, also):

Genesis 24:32 And the man came into the house: and he ungirded his camels, and gave straw and provender for the camels, and water to wash his feet, and the men's feet that were with him.

He ungirded the “camels in the house” .

I Samuel 28:24 And the woman had a fat calf in the house; and she hasted, and killed it, and took flour, and kneaded it, and did bake unleavened bread thereof:

She had a fat “calf in the house”.

Psalm 50:9 I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds. 

 

The LORD isn’t going to take a “bullock out of someone ’s house”.

II Kings 10:12 And he arose and departed, and came to Samaria. And as he was at the shearing house in the way,

Here is the “shearing house”.

Also, Nabal had his sheep sheared near David ’s men, which was out closer to where the flocks were.

No, I think that the three wise men came right when Jesus was born, just like the shepherds did.

After all, where else better to find a new born Lamb, but in a shearing house?

To me, synchronizing it all to be simultaneous, would have shown how really “in control ” the LORD was.

First to move Caesar to tax the empire.

Causing Joseph to have to go to be taxed in his family’s city.

So that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem in fulfillment of Micah 5:2.

To also have angels appear to shepherds by night to announce the birth and location.

Then also to bring the three wise men from their kingdoms.

To synchronize all of this at the same time and at the same place?

So, not I do not be live that it was a convergence of planets.

Rather I believe it to be a convergence of shepherds, those visited by the angels coming to the Good Shepherd that lie in a manger.

Also I believe that it was a convergence of kings, three wise kings of the east coming to Jesus that was born King.

 

                                       Gino