December 30, 2009

Did the Wise Men Know Jewish Prophecy?

Archaeological discoveries are helping to illuminate the biblical
account of the humble birth of Jesus.

Almost everyone on Earth knows the story of Christmas. The angels
announcing the birth of the Messiah to the shepherds and the wise men
following the star to the little town of Bethlehem where they found the
Son of God lying in a manger.

But there's a lot more to the story. What led the wise men to follow a
Jewish prophecy?

Few Saw The Signs

The birth of a baby -- a small event that became the turning point in
world history. 2000 years ago, the Messiah arrived on earth, but only a
few people saw the signs.

"Where is he who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen his
star in the East."
Matthew 2:2

The only people who see the sign in the stars of the night are the
people who are looking for it. The ones who saw the sign were wise men
from the East. Their search for the King of the Jews brought them to the
palace of Herod the Great.

The irony of course, is that they have seen a star that they associate
with the rising of a King over Jacob and this takes us back to the book
of Numbers, chapter 24 and the prophecy of Balaam the prophet

So who exactly were the wise men who called on King Herod? Where did
they come from? And why did they seem to know Jewish prophecy better
than the Jews?

3000-Year-Old Inscription Discovered

The answers may lie in a 3000-year-old inscription discovered in Jordan.
In 1967, archaeologists found the remains of an ancient temple in a
village called Deir Alla.

On the wall of the temple was an inscription about Balaam the prophet,
the same character that we know from the book of Numbers.

Balaam, the son of Beor. visited by an angel and scolded by a donkey. A
freelance prophet hired to curse the nation of Israel.

But instead, he prophesied the coming of the Jewish messiah by the star
of Jacob.

"A star shall come out of Jacob; a scepter shall rise out of Israel."
Numbers 24:17

Only small fragments of the Balaam inscription have survived. It's
written in Aramaic and it reveals a vision of judgment from the gods of
Canaan.

"[It's] totally different context archaeologically with a story about
him that is not the biblical story," said Stephen Pfann, one of the
editors of the Dead Sea Scrolls <http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/347306.aspx>
.

"But it shows us that his reputation as a professional foreteller or
prophet was known throughout the eastern Jordan or Trans-Jordan."

Balaam is one of the few Old Testament prophets with archaeological
proof of his existence.

"I think it's just exciting, Pfann said. "It lends plausibility in one
sense to Matthew's story, because the people who are familiar with
Balaam's prophecies are people who are coming from that side of the
Jordan River."

Herod's Secret Meeting With The Wise Men

Balaam's prophecy led the wise men to look for a star and the star led
them first to Jerusalem.

The tower of David -- the spot where Herod's palace once stood. A place
historians have called wondrous beyond words.

It was here that Herod summoned the wise men to a secret meeting.

"The humor of the text is that they come to the King of the Jews, Herod,
who does not know his own scriptures," Pfann explained.

"He has to ask his counselors and his advisors to search the scriptures
so that he can find out which prophecy they're talking about while they
who are foreigners and gentiles know the prophecy of Balaam," he said.

Herod's men found a 700-year-old clue from the prophet Micah. A passage
that led the wise men to the birthplace of the Messiah.

"But you, Bethlehem, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler
over Israel.
Micah 5:2-5

They went to Bethlehem and found Joseph, Mary and Jesus. They brought
gold, frankincense and myrhh. Gifts that were described by the
prophets, hundreds of years earlier.

"Nations shall come to your light, and kings, shall bring gold and
frankincense."
Isaiah 60:2 - 6

Massacre of the Innocent

But while the wise men worshipped Jesus, Herod planned to kill him.

"I think nowadays if we were to meet Herod the Great, we would probably
consider that he suffered from severe paranoia, and was in need of
medical treatment and a good psychiatrist," Pfann said.

The wise men only fueled his paranoia. They were known as the king
makers of the East and now they were in Herod's palace, looking for the
one who had been born King of the Jews.

Herod saw their visit as a threat.

"This is just who Herod is," Pfann said. "He's a convert with no Jewish
blood who is always fearful, doesn't trust anyone, loved his wife so
much he killed her, loved her to death, I say."

Herod ordered a massacre in Bethlehem. Every male under the age of two
was killed. An event that was prophesied by Jeremiah more than 600 years
before it happened.

"A voice was heard in Ramah, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing
to be comforted for her children, because they are no more."
Jeremiah 31:15

Joseph and Mary fled to Egypt, a journey predicted by the prophet Hosea
and fulfilled in the Gospel of Matthew.

"Out of Egypt I called my son."
Hosea 11: 1

"Hosea 11:1 says when Israel was a child, and I loved him. and out of
Egypt have i called my son," said Pfann. "Some of the rabbis say Matthew
misquoted Hosea 11 terribly. Nonsense. "What was his point? His
assumption was that his audience would know the whole verse when Israel
was a child I loved him, out of Egypt have i called my son," he
continued. "As it happened to Israel, it happened to the Messiah. You
have this pattern all over the scriptures."

Nowhere is the promise of the Messiah more powerful than in the book of
Isaiah. He spoke of a child, born of a virgin. A son called wonderful
counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father and Prince of Peace.

Book of Isaiah Found Among The Dead Sea Scrolls

The words of Isaiah were copied by scribes, hidden in caves and
protectedfor more than 2000 years.

When the Dead Sea scrolls were rediscovered, the book of Isaiah was
found completely intact.

"I would say the one scroll that has had more impact on the world than
any other scroll that was found here was the great Isaiah scroll," Pfann
said.

The oldest known copy of the book of Isaiah is the only one we have
today that existed before the birth of Christ.

"There we have a scroll from around 100 B.C. that is nearly as
well-preserved as it was in the days it was being read over 2000 years
ago," Pfann explained. "Otherwise, the next complete copies of the book
of Isaiah come from a thousand years later."

"And with this, we are going to be able to say, now and for all time,
that we have the text that existed 2000 years ago," he said.

From the desert caves near the Dead Sea to the ruins of an ancient
temple in Jordan, the story of the Messiah was etched in stone and
written on parchment hundreds of years before Jesus was born.

"And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory.
For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through
Jesus Christ."
John 1: 14 &17