We three kings of Orient are Bearing gifts we traverse afar Field and fountain, moor and mountain Following yonder star. So pretty, So wrong!

Transcription

1 We three kings of Orient are Bearing gifts we traverse afar Field and fountain, moor and mountain Following yonder star So pretty, So wrong!

2 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him. When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; Matthew 2:1

3 The Magi of Medo-Persia Latinized form of Magoi, ancient Greek transliteration of the Persian original Herodotus Hebrew - Rab-Mag, Chief of the Magi in Nebuchadnezzar s Court - Jer 39:3-13 Also, Daniel s Title Daniel 4:9, 5:11

4 Rab-Mag, Chief of the Magi Jeremiah 39:2-3,13 (ESV) In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the 2 ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the city. Then all the officials of the king of Babylon came and sat 3 in the middle gate: Nergal-sar-ezer of Samgar, Nebu-sarsekim the Rab-saris, Nergal-sar-ezer the Rab-mag, with all the rest of the officers of the king of So Babylon.13 Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, Nebushazban the Rab-saris, Nergal-sar-ezer the Rab-mag, and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon

5 Daniel s Title Daniel 4:9 (NIV) I said, Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, I 9 know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you, and no mystery is too difficult for you. Here is my dream; interpret it for me.

6 Daniel 5:11 (NIV) There is a man in your kingdom who has the spirit 11 of the holy gods in him. In the time of your father he was found to have insight and intelligence and wisdom like that of the gods. Your father, King Nebuchadnezzar, appointed him chief of the magicians, enchanters, astrologers and diviners. (Spoken by the queen, wife of Nebuchadnezzar)

7 Medo-Persian Magi Established as the state religion of Persia by Darius the Great (Daniel 5:31) after some Magi who were considered to be expert in the interpretation of dreams had been attached to the Median court. (Could have been led by Daniel) Hereditary priesthood The priestly cast during Seleucid and Parthian periods.

8 The Parthian Empire Parthia, ancient empire of Asia, in what are now Iran and Afghanistan Parthia was subject successively to the Assyrians, Medes, Persians, and the Macedonians under Alexander the Great and then the Seleucids.

9 Political Background Since the days of Daniel, the fortunes of both the Persia and Jewish nation had been intertwined: Both nations had, in their turn, fallen under Seleucid domination in the wake of Alexander s conquests. Both had regained their independence The Jews under Maccabean leadership, The Persians as the dominating ruling group within the Parthian empire. (The Parthian Empire was constantly fighting the Romans)

10 The Parthian Empire 250 BC: the Parthians succeeded in founding an independent kingdom During the 1st Century BC, it grew into an empire extending from the Euphrates River to the Indus River and from the Oxus River to the Indian Ocean (the Eastern extreme of Alexander the Great s empire), After the middle of the 1st Century BC, Parthia was, thus, a rival of Rome, and several wars occurred between the two powers. Judea was a buffer zone between these two powers.

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12 Magistrates It was at this time that the Magi functioned in a dual capacity of priest and counselor whereby civil and political counsel was invested with religious authority, Thus, the Magi became the supreme priestly caste of the Parthian empire.

13 Political Background The Magi, in their dual priestly and governmental offices, composed the upper house of the council of the Megistanes ( magistrates ) whose duties included the absolute choice and election of the king of the realm. When the king needed to be replaced, it fell upon the Magi to pick the new king.

14 Judea: a Buffer Zone Pompey, the first Roman conqueror of Jerusalem, in 63 BC had attacked the Armenian outpost of Parthia. The Battle of Carrhae was fought in 53 BC between the Roman Republic and the Parthian Empire near the town of Carrhae. The Parthian general Surena decisively defeated a numerically superior Roman invasion force under the command of Marcus Licinius Crassus. It is commonly seen as one of the earliest and most important battles between the Roman and Parthian empires and one of the most crushing defeats in Roman history. The Parthians counterattacked with a token invasion of Armenia, Syria and Palestine.

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16 Judea: a Buffer Zone Nominal Roman rule was reestablished under Antipater, the father of Herod, who in turn retreated before a Parthian invasion in 40 BC. In 40 BC the Parthians invaded Palestine, civil war broke out, and Herod was forced to flee to Rome. The senate there nominated him king of Judaea and equipped him with an army to make good his claim. In the year 37 BCE, at the age of 36, Herod became the unchallenged ruler of Judaea, a position he was to maintain for 32 years.

17 Judea: a Buffer Zone Mark Antony reestablished Roman sovereignty in 37 BC, and like Crassus before him, also embarked on a similarly ill-fated Parthian expedition His disastrous retreat was followed by another wave of invading Parthians, which swept all Roman opposition completely out of Palestine, including Herod himself who had to flee to Alexandria and then to Rome

18 Judea: a Buffer Zone With Parthian collaboration, Jewish sovereignty was restored and Jerusalem was fortified with a Jewish garrison Herod, by this time, secured from Augustus Caesar the title of King of the Jews. However, it was not for three years, including a five months siege by Roman troops, that the king was able to occupy his own capital city.

19 Herod s Slippery Rock Herod was an Idumean. Thus he was not popular with the Jews. By the time Jesus was born, the area or province of Edom was known by its Greek name, Idumea, and had been greatly extended toward the north and west. This was due to the influence of Herod s father, Antipater, and the Roman decision of the provincial boundaries. As Herod s father was ruler of Idumea, and his mother was a Nabatean from Petra, the capital city of Edom, Herod clearly would have been recognized as a descendant of Esau. Jesus, on the other hand, was a descendant of Jacob, and people knew that when the Messiah came, the line of Jacob would conquer the line of Esau.

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21 Herod s Slippery Rock Herod had thus gained the throne of a rebellious buffer state situated between two mighty contending empires of Rome and Parthia. He s a pawn between two contentious empires. At any time his own subjects might conspire in bringing the Parthians to their aid. Because Herod was an Idumean, the Jew s sympathies would have been with the Parthians.

22 Roman Problems and Tensions Augustus was also aged; Rome, since the retirement of Tiberius, was without any experienced military commander Pro-Parthian Armenia was fomenting revolt against Rome This revolt was successfully accomplished within two years (At the time of the birth of Christ, Herod may have been close to his final illness).

23 Parthian Instability The time was ripe for another Parthian invasion of the buffer provinces, except for the fact that Parthia itself was racked by internal dissension: Phraates IV, the unpopular and aging king, had once been deposed and it was not improbable that the Persian Magi were already involved in the political maneuvering requisite to choosing his successor. It is possible that the Magi might have taken advantage of the king s lack of popularity to further their own interests with the establishment of a new dynasty if a sufficiently strong contender could be found..

24 An Unsettling Visit It was the Magi, a group of Persian-Parthian king makers, who entered Jerusalem in the latter days of the reign of Herod. The Magi, likely traveling in force with unimaginable oriental pomp and adequate cavalry escort to insure their safe penetration of Roman territory, certainly alarmed Herod and the entire populace of Jerusalem. (This was NOT three guys on camels)

25 An Unsettling Visit Matthew 2:1-3 (NIV) After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the 1 time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, where is the one who has been 2 born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him. When King Herod heard 3 this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. Herod s reaction was understandably one of fear when one considers the background of Roman-Parthian rivalry that prevailed during his lifetime.

26 An Unsettling Visit When he had called together all the peoples chief 4 priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. In Bethlehem in 5 Judea, they replied, for this is what the prophet has written: But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, 6 are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.

27 An Amazing Prophecy But thou, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. (Micah 5:2)

28 Now I m prepared to admit that the remarkable thing about Micah s prophecy is not that Bethlehem was chosen as the place for His birth. After all, that was David s town, the place where he had been born and raised. If any place were picked for Messiah s birth, you would expect it to be Bethlehem since He was to be in the line of David. The remarkable thing is that our Lord was actually born there. How could He be born in Bethlehem? How could He? Look at the situation. To begin with, when Micah (who was contemporary with Isaiah) wrote this prophecy, it was around 700 B.C. Seven hundred years before Jesus came, Micah said, If you want to know where to look for Him, don t look in Jerusalem or Hebron or up at Nazareth. He won t be born there. He is going to be born in Bethlehem.

29 During the intervening years, Nebuchadnezzar had come (587BC), invaded Israel, destroyed Jerusalem, and carried away the royal family into captivity. They never did return as a royal house. In view of that fact, notice that the prophet Isaiah was very careful when he wrote this prophecy concerning Christ s first coming:

30 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. (Isaiah 11:1)

31 Why from the stem of Jesse, David s father, since the royal line began with David himself? Because when Christ came seven hundred years after Isaiah, the royal line was back to the level of the peasant, like Jesse who was a farmer. Mary was only a peasant girl from Nazareth, and Joseph was a carpenter. The royal family was back among the peasants when the Lord Jesus came. The Messiah is a Rod and Branch out of Jesse, if you please.

32 Now those seventy years of captivity in Babylon go by. The royal family is well scattered. And when they finally return to their land, they don t go back to the hometown they are not permitted to do that. The Samaritans are in their land now. (The Jewish people had the same problem that they re having today they couldn t get their land back like it was before.) So one segment of the royal family, of which both Joseph and Mary were descendants, went up north to Nazareth instead of to Bethlehem, which is south of Jerusalem. So here is the royal family living in Nazareth. They are peasants no longer do they attempt any claim to the throne and the time has come for Messiah to be born.

33 But, when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law. (Galatians 4:4)

34 But wait a minute! Mary is up yonder in Nazareth! That is where the angel appeared to her. Did the angel tell Mary, You ve got to get down to Bethlehem? No, he didn t say anything about it. Yet Micah had said He was to be born in Bethlehem. If you had been there, perhaps you would have said to Mary, If you don t get down to Bethlehem soon, you re going to make Micah look like a false prophet! If you had spoken to Mary like that, she probably would have told you, I have no notion of going to Bethlehem at all.

35 But you see, God was moving. Way over yonder in Rome, I can see Caesar Augustus walking with his military advisers and his political economists at his ranch in southern Italy. To these fellows he says, We have to raise more money! They were carrying on a war over in what is now called Europe, and he needed funds. One of the economists says, The only thing to do is to tax the people. That s the way you raise money. You know, there s nothing new under the sun. The advice of the smart government economists today is tax the people, and that s what they did back in Caesar Augustus day.

36 So they plan their strategy. They say to him, Now Caesar Augustus, you must sign a tax bill that the whole Roman Empire is to be taxed in order to raise money for your military expeditions. They bring him the tax bill, he signs it, and it goes into law. Throughout the Roman Empire go the riders and the couriers and the ships, carrying the word that every man must go to his own city to be enrolled because he is going to be taxed. It s the same old story, isn t it? The people have got to be taxed.

37 Both Mary and Joseph happen to belong to the family of David. They both will have to go down to Bethlehem to be enrolled. But something had happened. The angel had appeared to Mary and told her that she was to have a child, and at this time Mary s pregnancy is near term. It s a 70 mile trip and Joseph knows it will be a dangerous trip for both Mary and the child. But that s where they are to go, and so they go to Bethlehem.

38 Back to those Magi Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found 7 out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and 8 said, go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.

39 An Unsettling Visit After they had heard the king, they went on their 9 way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the 10 star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the 11 house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

40 An Unsettling Visit How did they know? When this star appeared they were to go and worship Him - To bring gold, frankincense and myrrh - That there was significance to this Baby -

41 A Speculation In the days of Daniel when he was in charge of the Magi, he developed an inside group he could trust, and shared Daniel 9.

42 The 69 Weeks The Beginning Commandment to restore Jerusalem The End The Messiah the King 69 X 7 X 360 = 173,880 Days Decree of Artaxerxes Longimanus March 14, 445 BC Daniel 7 The Triumphal Entry April 6, 32AD

43 A Speculation They would know when the time had come by counting days. They brought gold for His Deity, Frankincense for His Priesthood and Myrrh for His death. (Three gifts don t mean three guys.)

44 And then 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route. Within two years, Phraataces, the son of Phraates IV, was duly installed by the Magi as the new ruler of Parthia.

45 Had you been over in Rome, knowing what you know today, you might have looked over the shoulder of Caesar Augustus as he was signing the bill into law and said to him, Did you know that you are nothing in the world but a puppet in the hands of Almighty God? When you sign that tax bill, you will move a woman down to Bethlehem in order that a prophecy given by God seven hundred years ago might be fulfilled! Old Caesar Augustus would have turned around and laughed at you, saying, You must be a religious fanatic to believe a thing like that! I m no puppet in the hands of God. I need money! And I m signing this bill so the world will be taxed and our coffers filled! Yes, but in doing so he fulfilled the prophecy.

46 And then But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the 19 Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, Rise, take the child and his mother 20 and go to the land of Israel, for those (Herod and Antipater II) and who sought the child's life are dead.

47 In his last years Herod suffered from arteriosclerosis. He had to repress a revolt, became involved in a quarrel with his Nabataean neighbours, and finally lost the favour of Augustus. He was in great pain and in mental and physical disorder. He altered his will three times and finally disinherited and killed his firstborn, Antipater II. The slaying, shortly before his death, of the infants of Bethlehem was wholly consistent with the disarray into which he had fallen. After an unsuccessful attempt at suicide, Herod died. His final testament provided that, subject to Augustus s sanction, his realm would be divided among his sons: Archelaus should be king of Judaea and Samaria, with Philip and Antipas sharing the remainder as tetrarchs.

48 Antipater II was Herod the Great's first-born son, his only child by his first wife Doris. He was named after his paternal grandfather Antipater the Idumaean. He and his mother were exiled after Herod divorced her between 43 BC and 40 BC to marry Mariamne I. However, he was recalled following Mariamne's fall in 29 BC and in 13 BC Herod made him his first heir in his will. However, in 5 BC Antipater was brought before Publius Quinctilius Varus, then Roman governor of Syria, charged with the intended murder of his father Herod. Antipater was found guilty by Varus; however, due to Antipater's high rank, it was necessary for Caesar Augustus to approve of the recommended sentence of death. After the guilty verdict, Antipater's position as exclusive successor was removed and granted to Herod Antipas. Once the sentence had approval from Augustus in 4 BC, Antipater was then executed, and Archelaus (from the marriage with Malthace) was made heir in his father's will as king over Herod's entire kingdom