Feast of the Epiphany: The echoes of the pagan world

They were overjoyed at seeing the star,
and on entering the house
they saw the child with Mary his mother.
They prostrated themselves and did him homage.
Then they opened their treasures
and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Mt. 2:12
Readings for the Feast of the Epiphany

 


The Story of the Magi from the east is an echo of the ancient, pagan world.  We take Christian history for granted and forget the power of the ancient, pagan world and the influence of the East on the Western World. A good example is that the ancient Babylonians named the weekdays after the five planetary bodies known to them and the other two days they dedicated to the Sun and Moon (Sunday and Monday).
 
The Jews, of course, explained the seven days of the week differently. The Romans followed the Babylonian example, not the Jewish, and the Emperor Constantine established the seven-day week in the Roman calendar in 321 A.D. designating Sunday and Monday as the first two days of the week. The names of our days of the week came later in European history. The other English weekday names were derived from Anglo-Saxon names for gods from Teutonic mythology. Tuesday comes from Tiu, or Tiw, the Anglo-Saxon name for Tyr, the Norse god of war. Tyr was one of the sons of Odin, or Woden, who in turn gave his name to Wednesday. Thursday originates from Thor, the god of thunder. Friday is derived from Frigga, the wife of Odin, representing love and beauty. Saturday comes from Saturn, the ancient Roman god of fun and feasting. We kept Sunday in honor of the Sun and Monday in honor of the moon. The echoes of the pagan world are all around us.
 
Judaism’s world was not taken seriously. The Romans knew of the prophecy about the Judean king and the star. They believed, as did Herod, that the prophecy, however, applied to themselves.  The Roman historian Tacitus (56 A.D. – 120 A.D.) wrote about the Jewish War in the mid-60s and the Jewish Messiah also:

“Some few put a fearful meaning on these events, (the Jewish revolt)  but in most there was a firm persuasion, that in the ancient records of their priests was contained a prediction of how at this very time the East was to grow powerful, and rulers, coming from Judaea, were to acquire universal empire. These mysterious prophecies had pointed to Vespasian and Titus, but the common people, with the usual blindness of ambition, had interpreted these mighty destinies of themselves, and could not be brought even by disasters to believe the truth.”  Tacitus, Cornelius. The Complete Works of Tacitus. Digireads.com. Kindle Edition.

 Another early historian, Suetonius, (69 A.D – 122 A.D.) penned the following words about the First Jewish War and the Messiah (66 A.D. to 73 A.D.)

"A firm persuasion had long prevailed through all the East, that it was fated for the empire of the world, at that time, to devolve on some who should go forth from Judaea. This prediction referred to a Roman emperor, as the event showed; but the Jews, applying it to themselves, broke out into rebellion, and having defeated and slain their governor, routed the lieutenant of Syria, a man of consular rank, who was advancing to his assistance, and took an eagle, the standard, of one of his legions.”  Suetonius. The Twelve Caesars (Annotated) (p. 284). Unknown. Kindle Edition.

 Interestingly, Suetonius also makes reference to the Emperor Claudius  (Emperor 41 A.D. to 54 A.D.) banning of the Christians from Rome. Suetonius wrote that Claudius banned

“…from Rome all the Jews, who were continually making disturbances at the instigation of one Chrestus.” Suetonius thought Chrestus, that is Christ, was a slave, not a Messiah. Suetonius. The Twelve Caesars (Annotated) (p. 203). Unknown. Kindle Edition.

Acts of the Apostles also refers to Claudius banning Christians in Acts 18:2; ( There Paul met a Jew named Aquila ,  a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome.)  Christians were still seen as Jews in the First Century and what was happening in Judea was poorly understood, especially when it came to the ‘King of the Jews’. 

 
The Prophet Isaiah and St. Paul and the Mystery of the Nations
 There were Jews who understood what was happening.  St. Paul talked about it in his letter to the Ephesians. He said that a mystery had been revealed to him; the nations were converting to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and away from the pagan idols. They would worship the creator not the created. He wrote in Ephesians,

“that the mystery was made known to me by revelation.
It was not made known to people in other generations
as it has now been revealed
to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit:
that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body,
and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”  Eph. 3:2-6

 Why is this surprising? Because the whole history of Israel is one of conflict with the pagan world.  All the other nations worshipped idols that represented natural powers. Israel was oppressed by idol worshipping nations including Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, the Greeks and Romans.  The Prophet Isaiah foretold that the ethne, the people of the world, would come to see the light.
 
The complete book of Isaiah, a scroll 24 feet long, was discovered at Qumran and dates to before Christ. It dates from before Christ and is the same Isaiah we have today. In the last chapter, Isaiah wrote,

“I am coming to gather all nations and tongues; they shall come and see my glory.   I will place a sign among them; from them I will send survivors to the nations: to Tarshish, Put and Lud, Mosoch, Tubal and Javan, to the distant coastlands which have never heard of my fame, or seen my glory; and they shall proclaim my glory among the nations.   They shall bring all your kin from all the nations as an offering to the LORD, on horses and in chariots, in carts, upon mules and dromedaries, to Jerusalem, my holy mountain, says the LORD, just as the Israelites bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD.   Some of these I will take as priests and Levites, says the LORD.”  Is. 66:18-21

 The idea that idol worshippers would be made priests and levites is an incredible idea for a traditional Jew.  Paul, however, was witnessing the conversion of the Gentiles, the ethne or goyim. They were all being called into one Church or Ecclesia. Jews and Goyim worshipping together the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  The ‘wise men’ from the East are the first fruits and represent the wise among the pagans.
 
St. Paul had seen a sign from God. Jesus came into the world, proclaimed the kingdom of God was at hand, he sent out twelve apostles  and foreign nations converted, in time, en masse.  Pagans turned from idols and pagan temples closed down. The prophecies were being fulfilled by the miraculous conversion of the ethne. Who could accomplish that but God.
 
St. Matthew and the Magi from the East
St. Matthew saw the same signs as St. Paul and understood what the wise men from the East represented. How does the whole story told in Matthew fit together?
 
Herod
Who was Herod, a puppet king, an Idumean by birth, was not from tribe of Judah. Herod like the Roman emperors thought that the prophecies about the Messiah applied to him. Herod is troubled by the birth of a pretender to his throne. The Magi inquired where the Messiah or Christos, was to be born. The scriptures said,  

“But you, Bethlehem-Ephrathah least among the clans of Judah, From you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel; Whose origin is from of old, from ancient times. Therefore, the Lord will give them up, until the time when she who is to give birth has borne, Then the rest of his kindred shall return to the children of Israel. He shall take his place as shepherd by the strength of the LORD, by the majestic name of the LORD, his God; And they shall dwell securely, for now his greatness shall reach to the ends of the earth:  Micah 5:2

 The star was another sign of the Messiah.  Was it a comet, an alignment of stars or an angel? Who knows: But another pretender to the throne, a Jew name Bar Kochba, a name that means “ son of the star,” lead a revolt against Roman rule in the Second Century that ended badly for the Jews. (132-136 A.D.) Bar Kochba took his name from the same scripture referred to by St. Matthew from the Book of Numbers.

“I see him, though not now; I observe him, though not near:  A star shall advance from Jacob, and a scepter shall rise from Israel, That will crush the brows of Moab, and the skull of all the Sethites, Edom will be dispossessed, and no survivor is left in Seir. Israel will act boldly, and Jacob will rule his foes.” Numbers 24:17-19

The Wisemen or Magi
The magi were from the East. In the First Century as is true today, the East was a different cultural matrix. To think that the nations would be drawn to the God of Israel from both East and West was a challenging prospect. ‘Magi’ is the root world for ‘magician.’ For the pagan world, magic was the control of the physical powers of the world. The word magi described astronomers, astrologers, the learned class in general.  They were there because they followed a star leading to the Judean king.
 
In Isaiah 60, the prophet refers to the future conversion of the gentiles,

“Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem! Your light has come, the glory of the Lord shines upon you.
… Nations shall walk by your light, and kings by your shining radiance. Caravans of camels shall fill you,
dromedaries from Midian and Ephah;
all from Sheba shall come
bearing gold and frankincense,
and proclaiming the praises of the LORD.”  Is. 60:1-6 

The Gifts
In St. Matthew’s story, they bring their gifts not to Jerusalem, but to Mary and the child.  The gifts are referred to in Isaiah also. They will come “bearing gold and frankincense,
and proclaiming the praises of the LORD.” Is. 60:6  

Psalm 72 continues the idea of the gifts as homage

“The kings of Tarshish and the Isles shall offer gifts; the kings of Arabia and Seba shall bring tribute. All kings shall pay him homage,
all nations shall serve him.”

In Psalm 72 is also the idea of the universal kingship ruling by justice and charity.

“Justice shall flower in his days,
and profound peace, till the moon be no more. May he rule from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth… For he shall rescue the poor when he cries out,
and the afflicted when he has no one to help him.”

St. Irenaeus, in his book Contra Heresies 3:9:52, commented on the meaning of the gifts [i].

… they showed, by these gifts which they offered, who it was that was worshipped; myrrh, because it was He who should die and be buried for the mortal  human race; gold, because He was a King, of whose kingdom there is no end;  Luke 1:33 and frankincense, because He was  God, who also was made  known in  Judea, and was declared to those who sought Him not.  Irenaeus’s Contra Hereseos, Against the Heresies from the 2 ^nd Century here.

The Epiphany and the conversion of the pagans
 St. Eusebius of Caesaria was a Fourth Century Christian apologist who reflected on Christian history to his time. He could still see the remnants of the pagan world, fighting for dominance, around him. He argued in his book, The Proof of the Gospels, that the conversion of the pagans was a sign from God of the kingship of Christ.

“Behold how to day, yes in our own times, our eyes see not only Egyptians, but every race of men who used to be idolaters, whom the prophet meant when he said "Egyptians," released from the errors of polytheism and the daemons, and calling on the God of the prophets! They pray no longer to lords many, but to one Lord according to the sacred oracle; they have raised to Him an altar of unbloody and reasonable sacrifices according to the new mysteries of the fresh and new covenant throughout the whole of the inhabited world, and in Egypt itself and among the other nations, Egyptian in their superstitious errors. Yes, in our own time the knowledge of the Omnipotent God shines forth, and sets a seal of certainty on the forecasts of the prophets. You see this actually going on, you no longer only expect to hear of it, and if you ask the moment when the change began, for all your inquiry you will receive no other answer but the moment of the appearance of the Savior.”  Eusebius, the Proof of the Gospel.