By Timothy W. Burnett
This sub-series on the "wise men" and "his star," borrows from the book, Jesus Christ Our Promised Seed, by Victor Paul Wierwille. In his book, Wierwille showed how the Bible and astronomy fit perfectly with regards to "his star." We should also note that Wierwille cited (along with many other sources), Ernest L. Martin's book, The Birth of Christ Recalculated (suggested reference list).
The phrase "wise men" in Matthew 2:1 was a weak translation of the earlier known Greek word "magoi." This religious caste, called Magi, can be traced back to Media and Persia before the rise of the Zoroastrian sects. They were thought to be worshippers of nature. Later, the Magi split into two sects, those who continued in the religion of Zoroaster, and those who went back to nature worship. Wierwille explained that a great number of the nature worship Magians later arrived into the Roman Empire. And it was from them that we get the terms "magic" and "magician." He also noted that their influence on religion still remains today.
Now let's go back to the time of Media and Persia, and look at how the Magi learned about God's word written in the stars. This can be found in the book of Daniel. Here, King Nebuchadnezar of Babylon, brought the Judeans across to Babylon. The Judeans had great influence in the royal courts where the Magi also served. God emphasized four Judeans in particular. They were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. They were renamed Belteshazzar,Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego (respectively). Although all four meekly demonstrated God's power and dominion before the king, it was Daniel who boldly spoke for God and interpreted the king's dreams. This meant so much to the king that according to Daniel 2:48, he made him "chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon." He was referred to in 4:9 as "master of the magicians..." More detail can be gleamed from Daniel 5:11 where it says he was made "master of the magicians, astrologers, chaldeans, and soothsayers."
This is significant because Daniel, being a meek and humble man for God, would have instructed the Magi on God's word written in the stars. This would have been passed down through the generations of the Zoroastrian Magi who split from the nature worshippers. And even after 500 years, their descendents still had this knowledge. According to God's word in Matthew 2:1-2, they knew exactly what the star meant. This is why they journeyed to Jerusalem in order to ask, "Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him."
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