What if—The Wise Men tried to Enter Bethlehem Today? Reflections on an Occupied Palestinian Town—Then and Now
By: John Mason/ Arab America Contributing Writer
In the last post, we looked at the historic town of Bethlehem, the town of Jesus’ birth, to assess what it would have looked like today in “welcoming” Mary and Joseph were they seeking refuge. This post looks at how the three Wise Men or ‘magi’ fared in making their way to the manger to pay their respects. Though they were of much higher social status than the holy family, they were also challenged by the prevailing authorities, but in a much different manner. John Mason, a contributing writer, will explore the story of these strange men from the East. The focus on Christianity is because the religion witnessed discrimination from its very beginnings, in the birthplace of the three Abrahamic faiths. Not to be forgotten is the fact that Christmas is now just around the corner.
These mysterious visitors from the East have raised eyebrows for millennia now, specifically about what they were up to. These biblical figures are variously called The Three Wise Men, The Three Kings, or The Magi, meaning magicians, the singular of which is magus. They are often associated with astrology, which was in those days an accepted method of predicting the future. In the story of the predicted birth of a holy child, these are the three visitors who are described in the Gospel of Matthew, the Biblical tradition of the Christian faith, and the only one of the gospels where they are represented.
According to Matthew, they came from the east to visit Jesus after his birth, they bore gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and their purpose was to worship the “King of the Jews.” They appear in traditional representations celebrating the nativity of Jesus. They appear to have followed the rising “Star of Bethlehem,” which sounds as if it was a moving object, not a natural astronomical occurrence, leading them to the nativity scene.
In searching for the place of the holy birth, the Wise Men apparently came to Jerusalem first. Their visit raised the curiosity of King Herod before they moved on to Bethlehem to honor the divine birth. Once King Herod heard of the impending birth, he was frightened by the thought of a competing power in the person of Jesus, the Messiah.
Herod is depicted as a “half-Jew,” because his mother was not Jewish. At some point, he purportedly became a full member of the faith. As a surrogate of the Romans, King Herod had dominion over the region, including Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Fearing an uprising following the news that the “King of the Jews” had been born, the Bible asserts that Herod ordered the killing of all boys in the area two years or under. By then, the holy family with their newborn had escaped to Egypt.
Were the Wise Men Emissaries of King Herod sent to Bethlehem to verify the birth of “the King of the Jews”?
Having come from the East in search of the new “King of the Jews,” the Wise Men met with Herod who, according to Bible Blender, a source which relies on a science. Asking the Wise Men “what time the star had appeared in the sky (over Bethlehem), Herod then sent them to Bethlehem with instructions to report back to him when the infant was found so that he could ‘worship him’ too…Rather than return to Herod to report Jesus’ location, the Wise Men returned to their own country using a different route. They had been warned against returning to Herod in a dream.”
Historical records back up the above interpretation and show that Herod was filled with suspicion about the birth of Jesus, since he believed it posed a true threat to his rule. Were the birth line of the Messiah aligned with the ‘House of David,’ then it “would make it natural for the Jews to associate that messiah as their proper king. This, of course, would have been a threat to the authority of Herod, who was not descended from the line of David.”
Walls of Occupation—How would the Wise Men fare Today?
Similar to the holy family which we discussed in last week’s post, the life of Palestinians under Israeli occupation today is reminiscent of a time when their ancestors lived under the control of both King Herod and his boss, the Roman Empire. As in that earlier time, today the Israeli occupiers control the foreign visitors who meet in Bethlehem to relive the Christian story of Jesus’ birth. In Herod’s time, however, it would have been easier to enter the town considering the Wise Men’s eminence. And the fact that Herod had sent them, in this case, to ’spy’ for him to check on the birth of the “King of the Jews,” gave them a special advantage.
Today, the Wise Men would have been stopped at the Israeli border and interrogated about the purpose of their visit. They would probably have been described by the border officials as “religious zealots,” unless they had an endorsement from some foreign power, such as U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo. The Wise Men’s gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh might have been confiscated by the Israeli army, never making it the newborn King. Or these gifts may have been considered, as the prophet Isaiah envisioned them, as rendering tribute to Jerusalem. But that was the Jerusalem of old, the undivided city, where the world’s three Abrahamic faiths, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam eventually had equal status. Today’s Jerusalem is Israel’s new capital, as designated by Mr. Trump.
Perhaps the Wise Men could have played it either way, as emissaries of King Herod coming to Bethlehem to convey his deceitful respects to the new King of the Jews or as genuine worshippers who today would likely be detained by border authorities because of some presumed religious zealotry.
Reference
“Bethlehem, Herod the great, Jesus, Magi, Book of Matthew, and Wise Men,” Bible Blender,10/14/2014
John Mason, PhD., who focuses on Arab culture, society, and history, is the author of LEFT-HANDED IN AN ISLAMIC WORLD: An Anthropologist’s Journey into the Middle East, New Academia Publishing, 2017. He has taught at the University of Libya, Benghazi, Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, and the American University in Cairo; John served with the United Nations in Tripoli, Libya, and consulted extensively on socioeconomic and political development for USAID, the UN, and the World Bank in 65 countries.
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