Musing – How Could the Wise Men Have Possibly Known?

 

Hebraic Musing – How Could the Wise Men Have Possibly Known?

The typical manger scene at Christmas includes some extra-Biblical portrayals of “Three Kings” and a “Star”.  This is portrayed even though Matthew 2:1 begins with “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem…”  Actually, some number of Magi, or wise men (not kings), visited Jesus in His home about two years later; and they had journeyed from the East and brought significant gifts.  But who were they and how could they have possibly known about Jesus and His birth?

It makes sense that these wise men were astrologers from Babylon and they were led by something that has been translated as a “Star”.  The original the Greek could just as easily been translated “Light” or “Brilliance” which makes more sense since everyone, especially astrologers, know that stars do not move East, West, North, South and rest over a home!  Many rightfully contend that it could have been the Shechinah glory of God that they followed. 

Why would “Wise Men” from Babylon have been searching for such a sign?  Matthew recalls the Magi referring to it as “His star” in Matthew 2:1-2 …during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?  We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."   NIV   These Magi had not come to welcome previous kings of the Jews, so why this one?!?!   This was obviously not an ordinary star or event!  How would Magi, wise men, from Babylon know about the coming of a Messianic King?  Here are two clues in the OT.

First, Daniel’s book was written mostly in Aramaic while he was in Babylon; and Daniel had many associations with the wise men, astrologers in Babylon.  They would have studied and interpreted Daniel’s famous “Seventy ‘sevens’” prophecy in Daniel 9:24-27.  But, why would the astrologers have paid attention to prophecies of a Jew in exile?  Answer – He saved their lives!  And they would have recognized Daniel’s “God of Heaven”.   Daniel 2:12-17 tells of the King Nebuchadnezzar’s orders to execute all the wise men of Babylon; and of Daniel’s answer from the “God of Heaven” which spared their lives.  Nebuchadnezzar had made Daniel head of all the astrologers (whose lives he just saved!).  Since they were “wise men”, can we assume they also recognized the “God of Heaven” whom Daniel heard from?  Hence, a line of Babylonian astrologers from generation to generation recognized and worshipped the true God and were relying on Daniel’s prophecy looking forward to the coming “King of the Jews” whom they asked for in Matt.2:2. 

Second, since Daniel said nothing about a “Star” announcing the Messiah’s birth, where did the knowledge of a star come from?   Remember that back in Numbers 22, the king of Moab, Balak, desperately needed someone to curse the Israelite nation, so he called on “Balaam son of Beor, who was at Pethor, near the River, in his native land.” Numbers 22:5   Balaam’s home is a suburb of Babylon, and he had a reputation as a noted wise man or seer!  After failed attempts to curse Israel, Balaam was forced by God to prophesy of the coming of the Jewish Messiah, and he related that to a “Star/Scepter out of Jacob”.  God had Balaam utter this oracle -- "…, the oracle of one whose eye sees clearly, the oracle of one who hears the words of God, who has knowledge from the Most High, who sees a vision from the Almighty, who falls prostrate, and whose eyes are opened:  I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel.  He will crush … his enemy, will be conquered, but Israel will grow strong.  A ruler will come out of Jacob and destroy the survivors of the city."  Numbers 24:15-19 NIV

Two of Babylon’s renowned wise men, both Balaam and Daniel had provided the Wise Men of Babylon with belief in the “God of Heaven” and with prophecies and Messianic understanding and timing.  It’s not surprising they responded when they saw a brilliant light appear in the sky at just the right time. 

 Point to ponder

They were obviously Wise Men; they came seeking the “King of the Jews”.

Shouldn’t we all be Wise Men and seek Him today?

Job 34:2 "Hear my words, you wise men; listen to me, you men of learning.” Merry Christmas

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd                        December 16, 2025 (December 19, 2017 originally)

Author: “Hebraic Insights – Messages exploring the Hebrew roots of our faith” 
“Biblical Marriage”   Weekly “Hebraic Musings”

Musing – How important are the differences between Greek and Hebrew thinking?

 

Hebraic Musing – How important are the differences between Greek and Hebrew thinking?

It was the Greeks who ignored the Old Testament after the New Testament came into being.  They were quick to accept the new in place of the old.  No wonder the Old Testament is often ignored by our Sunday Church.

The ancient Greeks celebrated man’s supremacy over nature.  Columns that were designed to resemble human muscles support massive stone roofs.  The columns bulge as if they were muscles clenching under a great weight.  They express man’s triumph over gravity, and the Greek concept of beauty.

The ancient Hebrews celebrated YHVH In contrast.  They were more transcendent in their outlook on life.  They looked to Elohim for answers.  Today we tend to see Hebrew only as a language not a culture, but the Bible is a culturally Hebrew book, even though we are reading it in English.

We, 21st century Americans are devoted to science and technology, walking in the footsteps of the Ancient Greeks who upheld virtues of logic, philosophy, science, beauty, athletics and taming nature.  Greeks gave us sports.  Democracy with voting began in Greece city states, each of which maintain its own laws, goals and customs.  Greek ideas, values and habits have influenced North America with reasoning, governing, treating the sick, and educating the young, to pursue excellence modeled after the Ancient Greek civilization.  The scattered Greek cities each became their own state, maintaining its own goals, laws and customs.  Democracy was first established in Ancient Greece, with each citizen voting by placing a white stone for “yes” and a black stone for “no” in a large clay jar.  Remember the “White Stone” in Revelation 2:17 NKJV – “And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written…” 

Hebrews and Greeks have two completely opposite worldviews regarding religion, culture, government, reasoning and logic.  They are polar opposites.  Greeks were highly visual, expressing perfection through beautiful objects.  For the Greeks, beauty was seen as holiness, whereas emotions represent weakness.  Greek thinkers require logic.  When confronted with contradicting ideas, one must be wrong while the other must be right.  Greek reasoning is linear, following a straight line.  Each new idea on the line redefines or eliminates the previous ideas on the line.  Old ideas are redefined or eliminated by any new idea.  A Greek thinker reading Paul, assumes his reasoning is linear.  They assume Paul replaces the Torah with grace, therefore abolishing the Law of Moses with the New Covenant.  We see this in the Sunday church which began under Greek influence by ignoring the teaching of the Old Testament instructions for Sabbath.  Paul was exposed to Greek as well as Hebrew, so he debated but upheld both Torah Law and Grace.

Hebrew thinking thrives on what appears to be inconsistencies and contradictions in Scripture because they point to the unfathomable wonders of an awe-inspiring Elohim.  In contrast, each step in a Greek argument is tightly linked to the next step, creating rational and orderly arguments.  Hebrew thinking is full of inconsistencies, because Hebrews are comfortable with two opposites both being true.  

Greek thinking has influenced believers who live in the Western world.  Many of us believers act like Greek thinkers and argue theology.  Our Greek thinking drives us to separate from those who interpret scripture differently.  Greek thinking compels Bible believers to be right.  Greek thinkers would rather be right, than to be part of a unified body of believers; but Jesus taught.  “that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:” John 17:21-22 NKJV.  Why do we have so many denominations?

Alexandria, Egypt, was the world center for Greek learning in that day.  The Greeks believed Greek philosophy and religion could transform the world.  Many Hebrews learned Greek mythology in the Royal Library of Alexandria, but Greek mythology is symbolic, allegorical, and diametrically opposed to Hebrew thinking

Ancient Greece was wealthy and advanced enough for people to sit and discuss ideas for a living.  Their job was to explore knowledge.  The ancient Greeks pursued a lifestyle of abstract thinking and their own mythological gods.  What did Paul encounter in Athens?  “Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols.  Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there.  Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection. And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak?  For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.”  For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.” Acts 17:16-21 NKJV  The Greeks loved the idea of new thoughts and ideas.

The wise men of Greece taught followers to “know self,” and that is the foundation of Western philosophy today, including ours!  Plato understood philosophy to be the best preparation for a good death.  For Greeks, man’s thinking defined who he was; the Hebrews see man as his actions demonstrate purpose.  For Plato, man’s soul was divine, the body was the prison of the soul.  He urged the Greeks to see themselves as imprisoned in the body.  But Paul taught “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?  For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NKJV   And that is why when Paul saw the Olympian gods he declared “for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you:  God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.” Acts 17: 23-24  What a contrast in objects of worship!!!  But, what do we worship today?!?!

Points to Ponder

Have we become so accustomed to Greek thinking, we consider it the norm?
Do we recognize the huge conflicts between Hebrew and Greek thinking?

Why have Christians changed the “Sabbath” to Sunday?

Why does Acts 15:28-29 have to tell us to abstain from (1) what has been sacrificed to idols?
(2) from blood? (3) from what has been strangled? (4) from sexual immorality?

Read the whole Bible as a Hebrew book.  The NT did not replace the OT. 

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd                          December9, 2025            
Author: “Hebraic Insights – Messages exploring the Hebrew roots of our faith” 
“Biblical Marriage (by Yosef)”     Weekly “Hebraic Musings”

P.S.  These highlights are from “GREEKS, getting rid of the OLD & moving on to the NEW” by Johanna Hocker (behockers@bevcomm.net)   Her 4 page document with the above points and a lot more is available on request from either Johanna, or from me.

Musing – What happens when the Father’s role is missing?

 Hebraic Musing – What happens when the Father’s role is missing?

Teachers (in Public and Christian schools) all seem to agree with this statement: “Less than 10% of school children go home to both of their original parents.”  And these teachers are bemoaning the discipline issues they contend with daily.  How did our society here in the “Bible Belt” wind up so far out of touch with God’s plan for our families?  Thankfully, this does not apply to every family; some families are wonderfully functional and have overcome past re-structuring; and then, some traditional families have become dis-functional.  But the 10% view is still what teachers see (in both Public and Christian schools!).

My personal perspective begins with growing up in WWII days when divorce was verboten; then after the war divorces were more common.  I can remember my uncle came home after the war and divorced his sweet and respected wife, our loving aunt!  And our family was surprised he did not move to California where “divorced” people normally escaped to back then.  Over the generations, California had developed the reputation for divorces and broken homes; but in more current generations, the rate of divorces and broken homes in the Midwest “Bible Belt” is sadly now more comparable to California’s rate years ago!!!

The traditional role of God’s two parent system is to raise children with a combination of a nurturing mother AND a disciplining father.  I grew up as a boy and I’ll willingly testify that as a boy, I needed discipline!  God knew that.  “Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?” Hebrews 12:7 NIV  So the Bible agrees, sons need discipline (and respect) provided by a father.  And it goes on in vs.8-9:  “If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.  Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it.”  And then in v.11 we find the purpose for discipline.  “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” Hebrews 12:11 NIV

What does the Bible say about the role of and need for discipline in Hebrews 12:4-11?
 - Biblical discipline deters destruction of angry kids done in love. (v. 4)
 - Biblical discipline “do not lose heart when he rebukes you,” (v. 5)
 - The motive in biblical discipline is to express love. (vv. 6-8)
 - Biblical discipline teaches obedience (v. 9)
 - The result of discipline: short-term pain and long-term gain (vv. 10–11)

If only 10% of children have their original birth father available for discipline as a son, how do we apply Proverbs 15:18 to the raising of today’s generation of boys?  “Discipline your son, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to his death.” Proverbs 19:18

To be fair, I know of a few instances where a step-father is doing an admirable job, but it is rare and fraught with challenges.

Points to Ponder

Are today’s teen boys seeking “discipline” by joining “Gangs?

Are non-biblical ideologies being promoted in school by non-Christian teachers?

What’s happening to today’s crime rate?  Why?

How can we minister to boys who do not have a parenting father?
(Are “Youth Pastors” a sufficient substitute?)

Do we recognize and appreciate the collateral damage from divorces?

“A fool spurns his father's discipline, but whoever heeds correction shows prudence.” Proverbs 15:5

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd                         December 2, 2025            
Author: “Hebraic Insights – Messages exploring the Hebrew roots of our faith” 
“Biblical Marriage (by Yosef)”     Weekly “Hebraic Musings”