Political Challenge
Matthew chapter 2 opens with the phrase, “In the time of King Herod.” That word “king” asks readers to make a choice: to follow “King Herod,” Rome’s agent who ruled by violence, or to follow the new king, introduced in chapter 1 as the “son of David.”
When the Magi enter Jerusalem with the impolitic question, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?” (2:2), they are denying Herod’s kingship.
While today’s lectionary suggests the Magi are kings, For Matthew’s first readers, the Magi represent not royalty but challenge to political authority. Several ancient sources record that Magi challenged the rule of the Persian king Cambyses in the sixth century BCE. The Magi in Matthew, seeking an alternative to King Herod, continue this tradition.
The Magi of Matthew 2 start to be associated with royalty after Constantine, seeing the Greek letters chi and rho in the heavens, converts to Christianity. The chi rho then becomes associated with the star of Bethlehem. The association had political benefits: just as the Magi, seen now as kings, paid homage to Jesus by following his star, so the kings of the earth should pay homage to the emperor by following his sign.
The Star of Bethlehem
Herod, summons the “chief priests and scribes” to ask them where the Messiah was to be born (2:4). They tell him that prophet Micah had announced that from Bethlehem “shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel” (2:5).
Matthew suggests that Magi’s knowledge of astrology is insufficient; they need Jewish wisdom to interpret fully what message the star is conveying. Indeed, the only time the word Magi appears in the Greek translation of the Old Testament is in Daniel 2:10, where King Nebuchadnezzar summons Magi not only to interpret his dreams, but also to describe them. They fail, and Nebuchadnezzar would have executed them all had not Daniel, knowledgeable in and faithful to the traditions of Israel, intervened.
Matthew also tells us that the star “stopped over the place where the child was” (2:9). Were a star, as we understand stars, to stop directly over a house, that earth would be incinerated.
People in antiquity thought of stars as living beings, whether as the souls of the righteous, or as angels. The star is a heavenly portent, not a science lesson. The story Matthew tells is not about science, it is about faith.
The Gifts of the Magi
Along with gold, frankincense and myrrh, the Magi offer us an additional gift. Magi in antiquity, and Magi to this day, are Zoroastrian priests. In our reading, the Jews Mary and Joseph sharing hospitality with the gentile Magi. Matthew chapter 2 thus offers a lesson in inter-religious cooperation.