Christians decry polytheism, but worship a Trinity.

Birth Narratives 3.1

The Magi and the Star of Bethlehem
Shepherds and Angels

Abstract

Why were Jesus’s family assessed for tax by the Romans when Quirinius taxed Jud�a. Galilee, where they lived, was not ruled by the Romans but by the puppet king Herod Antipas? Roman custom was to register people for a census at their place of residence not at their place of birth which imposed absurd burdens on people. If Matthew was written in Alexandria in Egypt, its birth narrative humours the large Jewish population there—the Jewish Son of God was sheltered in Egypt. Matthew exalted Jesus to the equal of Moses by giving him an equal history. No historian mentions Herod’s massacre. Even Luke, reputed a good historian by theologians, does not mention it. In Matthew, Magi saw the “star” and rejoiced with great joy. Soon they fell down worshipping Jesus. An interpolation disguises the rejoicing being over the prophesied man of destiny. The “star” is human. Essenes had twelve leaders and three priests, these latter were probably the three wise men.

The Magi and the Star of Bethlehem

As soon as god-begotten saviours were born, they were often visited by wise men—called in the apocryphal Christian gospels Magi, Persian priests. Magi, magic and magician are derivations from the same root, all suggesting a wisdom handed down by the gods. When the fame of Pythagoras (600 BC) reached Miletas and neighboring cities, their wise men came to visit him. In the Anacalypsis, Magi came from the East to offer gifts at Socrates’ birth, bringing gold, frankincense and myrrh, the very same offerings given to Christ. Gold, frankincense and myrrh were traditionally offered as gifts to the sun in Persia more than two and a half thousand years ago, and in Arabia about the same time. Zoroaster of Persia (700 BC), says he also was visited by Magi at his earthly advent.

Matthew tells us of a miraculous star bringing from the east to Judæa three wise men bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

We have seen his star in the east, and have come to worship him.
Mt 2:1

Details of now well known gospel traditions given by early writers in respect of the birth narratives show that they were not known in the same way as they emerged. This Christian Star story makes its first appearance about the year 119 AD in Rome and, curiously enough, three wise men had in 66 AD been brought to Rome from the east to worship the emperor! Moreover, a precursor of the story of Matthew’s travelling star occurs in Virgil (60 BC) where a star guides Æneas westward from Troy. Ignatius of Antioch in a letter of about 110 AD describes the star which appeared at the birth of Jesus:

A star shone in heaven brighter than all the stars. Its light was indescribable and its novelty caused amazement. The rest of the stars, along with the sun and the moon, formed a ring around it, yet it outshone them all.

This description sounds like a possible supernova, and the description in Revelation 12, if that is the same event, sounds more like a spectacular comet sweeping across the sky towards the sun rising in Virgo. Supposed astronomers have made a publishing industry latterly out of identifying the star of Bethlehem without arriving at anything conclusive. Though they call themselves scientists, all they really have is their own speculation to offer irrespective of the historical evidence that they seem uninterested in, depending simply on the gospels alone. Really most of them are Christian apolgists trying again to get bogus historical evidence for the gospel events. Apologists have stupidly suggested that the star was a meteorite, even though they move at huge speed and burn out in seconds.

For hundreds of years, astrology and meteorology had been used for predicting the future in Babylon and Persia, and even quite trivial celestial events had meaning, including the sound of thunder. Conjunctions of stars, and their relations to the moon, and the zodiac were common enough events, and the supposed star need not have been a supernova, or any complex meeting of the stars in the sky, even if the star described meant anything like this at all. It was a misunderstanding or deliberate dramatisation of the messianic title, “The Star”!

These wise men, led by a star, which nobody sees but themselves and which moves in such a way as to guide them across country, arrive at Jerusalem and lose the scent. The divine guidance then acts in a way which certainly perplexes the mere human mind. The sages go and tell King Herod that a new “King of the Jews” has been born somewhere and Herod, in a fury, and believing the statement with childish credulity, orders the murder of all the children in Bethlehem and the entire region under the age of two and a half years.

The little Almighty is taken, presumably on donkey-back, hundreds of miles across the desert, to get out of the way, and let the innocents suffer murder. Miracles and apparitions crowd the narrative but the simple miracle of changing the king’s heart and sparing the children does not occurs to God, or his chroniclers.

An apparent absurdity in Matthew’s story, is that the wise men followed the star in the east, when they were coming from the east. Unless they circumnavigated the world or walked backwards so that they pretended they were travelling east because that was the way they faced, they must have been travelling westward, which would place the star to their backs. The tale of the Magi reads like fairy tale but note, Matthew does not say the wise men followed the star but simply that they had “seen his star in the east”. He writes it was his star not just a star or even the star, suggesting a astrological or prophetic meaning—it could still contain genuine Nazarene tradition.

The stars have a clear role at the births of several of the saviours and to mark important events in their subsequent history. The ancients thought the arrival of gods and great people would be announced by a star. A star figured either before or at the birth of Abraham, Caesar, Pythagoras, Yu and Krishna. Zoroaster, about 1000 BC, prophetically announced to “the wise men” of that country that a saviour would be born, “attended by a star at noonday”. Simlarly when Nared had examined the stars, having heard of Krishna’s fame, he declared him to be from God—the Son of God. The Roman Calcidius speaks of a wonderful star, presaging the descent of a God amongst men. A star foretold of the birth of the Roman Julius Caesar. The Chinese God Yu was not only heralded by a star, but conceived and brought to mortal birth by a star.

All nations once believed that the planetary bodies or their inhabitants controlled the affairs of men, and even their births. That is astrology which still holds sway over many gullible people. Early people thought a star was alive, because it appeared to move, and acted as though controlled by a living spirit. In Job 38:9, the morning stars join in a chorus and sing together. Pliny in his Natural History records that the people of Rome fancied they saw a man they took for a god in a star or comet. The apocryphal book of Seth relates that a star descended from heaven and lighted on a mountain, in the midst of which a divine child was seen bearing a cross. Jews, Pagans and Christian could have had no idea that stars were immensely bigger than the earth and even the nearest was untold millions of miles away and could hardly hop hither and thither as international guides.

The practice of calculating destinies by the stars had long been popular in the East at the time of Christ’s birth and, indeed, the Essenes were adept at it, as the astrological texts of the scrolls indicate. An astrological interpretation of the star of Bethlehem makes more sense than the notion of a star leaving the firmament and travelling untold light years to stand over the young child Jesus, as he lay amongst the oxen and asses in a stable (Mt 2:7). To those who like to see God grossly violating his own laws of nature, they might as well believe, since it would have been much easier, even for God, that the star was a large electric light bulb suspended on a wire from heaven.

Using Chris A Marritt’s SkyMap Pro to look at the movements of the planets from Jerusalem, 5.00am on 21 September 11 BC proves to be a likely time for ancient astrologers to think that a great king had been born. It was the autumn equinox. Mercury, the messenger of the gods, had risen at 4.02. Venus had risen at 4.34. The sun was to rise at 5.25 and Mars at 7.38 followed by Jupiter at 8.37. Most important however was that the constellation of the Virgin with her infant Spica rose at the very time that the sun itself rose. Thus Spica, the infant, seemed to be the sun on this occasion, and had been preceded by the planet Venus and the messenger only shortly before.

The heliacal rising of Spica was not itself unusual, so the portents depended on the planets coming into conjunction with it. Moreover, within a few days the four planets Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Mercury were in the same part of the sky as the sun, the new born infant, and so were eclipsed by it. On 6 November 11 BC, all five heavenly bodies set together in Scorpio. It might well have been seen as an eschatological omen by Persian and Babylonian astrologers, and soon would be seen as an omen of a great victory over the eagles, the Romans, Scorpio being also considered the eagle by the ancients.

It seems odd that the divine Father chose to reveal the birth of his son, Jesus, to heathen idolaters hundreds of miles distant in Persia. And why should a skill in astrology give them the privilege of seeing the world saviour at birth while people of God’s own election—His Chosen—were denied the honour? Indeed they were denounced as fools and a vipers, despite their having put up with countless troubles at His behest, in attempting to stave off the pressures of mightier surrounding nations with their heathen gods in favour of Him, Yehouah, the ungrateful god.

Matthew mentions the word east three times in nine verses, and curiously it is the same word translated “dayspring” in Luke 1:78 which also means a branch! Now this might seem coincidental since a title of Jesus was “the Branch” but “the star” referred to is a metaphorical use of the messianic scriptural citation Numbers 24:17. Since the reference to “a branch” is also messianic, the coincidence is beginning not to look accidental. Matthew records:

When they saw the star they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
Matthew 2:10

This verse makes much more sense if in “the star” they recognize a man of destiny rather than a twinkle in the sky. The first part of Matthew 2:11 has been inserted, for without it the wise men rejoice with exceeding great joy then fall down and worship him—all very natural if “the star” is human. Essenes were organized such that there were twelve leaders and three priests. It seems from the clues remaining that the three wise men are really three Zadokite priests, the leadership of the Essenes. In reality they were present to participate in the crowning ceremony, the baptism in the gospels, but have been moved back thirty years in Matthew to appear at the actual birth rather than the ritual rebirth of the baptism. It seems then that a call on the lines of, “Where is he that is born prince of Israel? for he is the star, and he is the branch”, was part of the coronation ceremony.

Matthew immediately records that Herod heard of this and was troubled. Herod was the paranoid Idumaean king of the Jews who murdered half of his sons, young princes he suspected of plotting against him. When Augustus Caesar heard of Herod condemning his son Antipater, he remarked: “It is better to be Herod’s pig (hus) than his son (huios)”. If Herod had discovered that part of an Essene ritual involved crowning a prince, he would have been outraged. Now Josephus says that Herod and the Essenes were on good terms but that seems belied by the fact that the Essene centre at Qumran was deserted during most of Herod’s reign. If Matthew 2:1-18 is anything to go by, Herod did not get on with the Essenes.

Shepherds and Angels

In many mythologies, as soon as god-begotten saviours were born into the world they were adored by shepherds. Instead of wise men Luke 2:8-21 has lowly shepherds, who had been “watching their flock”, coming a-visiting, notified by angels of the birth of God. Sometimes the visitors were angels, leaving the splendid perfection of heaven to adore the new born saviour of this wicked world. Christian imagery usually has both!

Angels and wise men appeared to Confucius who was born in 598 BC. Five wise men came from afar to the house where the infant lay to present their offerings to him. Celestial music was heard in the skies, and angels attended the scene. The only difference in the Christian story is the number of wise men. Matthew (Mt 2:1) does not give the number, but popularly it is three. Luke speaks of a multitude of the heavenly host praising God (Lk 2:13). Popularly the heavenly host was singing its praises so we have another way of saying that celestial music was heard. How complete the parallel!

It goes further. Confucius, like Christ, had twelve chosen disciples. He was descended from a royal house of princes, as Christ from the royal house of David, and like Christ was born poor. He had a disagreement with a monarch and retired for a long period from society into religious contemplative seclusion. He taught the same Golden Rule of doing to others as we desire them to do toward us, and other moral maxims equal in importance to anything in the Christian scriptures.

In Luke, an angel saluted Mary:

Hail, thou that art highly favoured; the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women.
Lk 1:28

In the next chapter the angel joins with the heavenly host in praising God. The same is found in the Ramayana, when Brahma and Siva, with a host of attending spirits, came to the mother of Krishna, the eighth avatar of India (1200 BC), and sang:

In thy delivery, O favoured among women, all nations shall have cause to exult.

When Krishna was born, he was inundated in flowers by the gods, the equivalent of Christian angels. Pipes and drums were played in the heavens, trees blossomed and pools were filled with clear water. The room was illuminated by his light, and the countenance of his father and mother shone with its brightness and glory. They had an image of him as a king and, realising he was the preserver of the world, they began to worship him, but like the virgin Mary quickly forgot all this and soon regarded him as an ordinary infant!

The ninth avatar of India, Buddha (600 BC), is similar. On a silver plate in a cave in India is an inscription stating that a saint in the woods, at the time of the advent of Buddha, learned by inspiration that an avatar had appeared in the house of Rajah of Lailas. He flew through the air to the place beheld the new-born saviour. He declared him to be the great avatar destined to establish a new religion.

The metaphor of a shepherd is one of those that the Essenes were fond of—which is why it appears so often in Christianity. The Essenes, among many other things, called themselves “the watchers for the kingdom”. Thus the Master in the Community Rule is commanded to watch always for the judgement of God. We have noted that the Damascus Document interprets Zechariah 13:7—a very important passage for Essenes and Christians—by applying the metaphors the “humble of the flock” and “those who watch for him” to the Essenes themselves. Luke has used the same metaphor of the watchers and their flock, the children of Israel, and dramatized it into the birth story. One scroll fragment, discussing the expected visitation, even uses the same terms as Luke—“the holy spirit”, “the meek”, “glad tidings”, “the messiah shepherds the holy ones” and “commands the heavens and the earth including the heavenly host”.

The heavenly host in Luke 2:14 are calling for the kingdom of God when they sing:

Glory to God in the highest; on earth peace, good will towards men.

Though a desirable sentiment the offer of goodwill to all men is not meant. The proper translation of the best manuscripts is given as:

on earth peace to men in whom He is well pleased.

The men in whom God is well pleased are the Essenes, His righteous, to whom glory and peace come in His kingdom, because those who…

…walk by the spirit of truth shall receive abundance of peace and everlasting joy in a life without end.

Next Luke 2:22-38 has Mary and Joseph—described as the parents thus acknowledging Joseph as the father (in short, a passage preceding the invention of the Virgin Birth)—present at the temple for Mary’s ritual purification after childbirth. There an unknown man described as “just” and “devout”, “waiting for the consolation of Israel”, and “having the holy spirit upon him” chants his Nunc Dimittis before Jesus. These words denote him as an Essene.

The word translated “devout” is peculiar to Luke and might be his translation of “Nazarite”. The clergy have always denied any connection with the Nazarites, perhaps because they did not like others besides Jesus in the story consecrated to God, and because the word is remarkably similar to Nazarene, suggesting that the latter might have had nothing to do with Nazareth. So Luke or an editor avoids it. “Waiting for the consolation of Israel” meant he was waiting for the messiah and therefore the kingdom.

The word “Lord” beginning the song in Luke 2:29 is a mistranslation—it should be “Master”, immediately showing its Essene origins and that it is the departing Master recognizing the new Master. The song is litany from the coronation or transference ceremony of the Nasi. Luke being a gentile has altered verse 2:32. Originally, following Isaiah 9:2, it will have read, “a light to lighten the darkness”, meaning the sins of the people, but Luke had a good knowledge of the scriptures and knew that Israel was “the light of the gentiles” (Isa 49:6) and merely substituted this here. Anna the prophetess is one of Luke’s female additions to placate the church’s female congregations.

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Last uploaded: 19 April, 2008.