“We have a case of gentiles getting it absolutely right, in a way we don’t expect: among other things, they know whom they are seeking, and the difference between a sign that points the way, and Child himself. It is precisely this that foreshadows the possibility of the nations as not necessarily idolatrous” – Faydra Shapiro, director of the Israel Center for Jewish-Christian Relations, writes in a commentary for the Heschel Center of the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin.
Many people put a lot of work into understanding the star of Bethlehem as fulfilling a Messianic prophecy from the Old Testament, from the book of Numbers chapter 24.
“I see him but not now;
I behold him but not near—
a star shall come out of Jacob,
and a scepter shall rise out of Israel.”
Without a doubt that prophecy was being used for Messianic purposes by other Jewish groups, including the Zealots and the Qumran community. But here it starts to – in my eyes – get a little murky. Is Jesus himself the star (which will come out of Jacob) or does the star (the one in our Gospel reading) point to him? So for this commentary I really want to avoid the whole “Jesus is the morning star” that we really encounter in the book of Revelation and try to isolate a little this “star of Bethlehem” appearance and think about what it could mean.
Let’s start perhaps with a little context: until this moment in the Gospel story, everyone who knows anything about the identity of this baby is Jewish. In this way, we might say, it’s a bit predictable: a Jewish Messiah fulfills Jewish expectations in a Jewish context. And Matthew chapter 1 is super Jewish with its tracing of Jesus’ genealogy through David back to Abraham. But then suddenly in chapter Two, in a most unexpected way, a couple of visitors from the East crash the scene, non-Jews who want to pay homage to the child who has been born King of the Jews. This is pretty wild in itself. What might it tell us that they are led by a star?
I think we might find a hint in Deuteronomy 4. That text is an important warning about mistaking signs for what they symbolize:
“And when you look up to the heavens and see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, do not be led astray and bow down to them and serve them, things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples everywhere under heaven.” – Dt 4,19.
The Hebrew Bible here specifically connects stars and other natural phenomena, to gentiles, reminding us specifically that the sun, the moon, and the stars were given to all peoples under heaven. They aren’t specific to Israel, they aren’t special. They are creations of the Creator.
So with the magi, we have a case of gentiles getting it absolutely right, in a way we don’t expect: among other things, they know whom they are seeking, and the difference between a sign that points the way, and Child himself. It is precisely this that foreshadows the possibility of the nations as not necessarily idolatrous, who are able to distinguish between images or signs, and the reality that they point to.
