I opened my New Testament translation by Dr. Jay Adams to the beginning book of Matthew and read Chapter 1 this morning. I noticed that the magi from the east saw the star in the east harkening the birth of the Messiah and came to worship Him. But what I had never paid proper attention to was that they also returned ‘to their own country’. This implies they were not Israelites. The main entities bordering Israel in that time were Egypt to the west and the Chaldean/Medes/Persian empires to the east. In Strong’s concordance, magos means ‘oriental scientist’ which is such a cool term 🙂
μάγος mágos, mag’-os; of foreign origin (H7248); a Magian, i.e. Oriental scientist; by implication, a magician:—sorcerer, wise man.
‘Oriental scientist’ definitely doesn’t sound Hebraic.
Herodotus claimed that the magos were originally the aristocrats of the Median nation, who were also gifted with the interpretation of dreams. With the spread of Hellenism, magos became an adjective; magas techne, or ars magica in Latin, referred to the expertise of astrology and magical rituals. All these conceptual elements come together in Matthew’s story (https://www.worldhistory.org/Magi)
This reminded me of Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar and my theory on how Daniel took his sacred Essenic teachings and knowledge of God and taught them to the king, who then became a keeper of the faith. I propose that this esoteric knowledge had been passed down to Daniel from the Zadokite priests since the time of the Midianite priest Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law (who taught it to Moses) from the time of the Egyptian exile (1870 BC — 1450 BC) and possibly even before….
Daniel was exiled to Babylon at the age of 15 in or around 605 BC, and Babylon became usurped by the Persian empire later. My theory is that this sacred knowledge was passed down generation by generation by the Zadokite priests who were the real priests of God, and who probably were the priestly writers who perpetuated the ‘priestly code’ hidden in the Pentateuch. Which means that 600 years later, at the birth of Immanuel, the *keepers of the knowledge* were still paying attention and noticed the star that illuminated the birth of Jesus. This is a mind-boggling phenomenon. Why else would eastern ‘astrologers and scientists’ care so much about Israel’s messiah, enough to travel months taking the most valuable gifts of gold, incense, and myrrh to worship Him personally? These are noteworthy gifts because they are all the accoutrements of a Kingly court.
For those with eyes to see and ears to hear, there is definitely another story line going on beneath the surface. This implies that a sanctified sect, who became known as the Essenes, spread across that entire region of the globe from Egypt (initially) to Persia (later) via murmurings and writings. How else would they still be watching for their foretold Messiah, Yeshua, passing along this pristine knowledge orally, and burying it in the symbology of the bible.
~<3
~Song of Mary~ 