The story of the Magi where Rubel Shelly assumes that
Matthew misquoted Micah 5:2 goes much deeper than the story of
Christmas.
Jesus warned that He wasn't
speaking to the doctors of the law because they did not love the
truth. As a result, He spoke in parables as He has (as the Spirit of
the Prophets) "from the foundation of the world." (Matthew 13). To
"He who has ears" Jesus would say "let him hear."
For instance, the story of the
clergy "piping" to force Jesus to sing
and dance
was to guard against the accusation that Jesus was the incarnation of
Dionysus or Bacchus.
The story of the "musical
mourning team" playing for the dead girl was to prove that Jesus and
not their magical music had the power. They believed that music had
the power to both resurrect and to appease the spirit or ghost. Jesus
was not a demon spirit. He "cast the team out
more or less violently" just as he "lovingly" turned over the
collection plates in the temple: they were called "trumpets."
Without understanding the Magi
it might be easy to assume that those who visited Jesus to fall down
in front of Him were "welcomed into the kingdom of God." The fact is
that for those who came equipped with ears this is another example of
Messiah being superior to all forms of ritualistic magic filling many
nooks and crannies of the Word of God.
Far from welcoming the magical
soothsayers into the kingdom "regardless of their background" this is
a fundamental example of God crushing the "serpent" under the heels
of His Incarnate Self.
As the evil would accuse Jesus
of being a winebibber or a wholesaler of new wine in new wineskins,
they would accuse Him of being a Magian
because no other group were known to pretend to supernatural power of
knowledge:
Arnobius (quoted below): "My opponent will perhaps meet me
with many other slanderous and childish charges which are commonly urged. Jesus was a
Magian; (sorcerer) He effected all these
things by secret
arts.}
When the Magi (soothsayers in Matthew, shepherds in Luke) came to
worship the "baby" Jesus it was God's proof that Messiah would be
filled with the "spirits" of Divine
knowledge and not that of the Magi or soothsayers:
And shall make him
of quick understanding (spiritual) in the fear of the Lord: and he
shall not
judge after the sight
of his eyes,
neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: Isaiah 11:3
But
with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity
for the meek of
the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath
of his lips
shall he slay the
wicked. Isaiah
11:4
The Magi's magical incantations
or fortune telling could have no effect upon a baby. All they could
do was fall down before Him. In Matthew the wise men were:
Magos
(g3097) mag'-os; of for. or. [h7248 the "Rabs" ]
; a Magian,
i.e. Oriental scientist; by impl. a magician: - sorcerer, wise
man.
Their normal practice is
described by Luke:
And when they had
gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a
false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-Jesus: Ac.13:6
Which was with the
deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for
Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God. Acts 13:7
But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood
them, seeking to turn
away the deputy from the faith. Ac.13:8
Then Saul, (who
also is called Paul,) filled
with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him, Acts 13:9
And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou
child of the
devil, thou
enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not
cease to pervert the
right ways of the Lord?
Acts 13:10
Simon Magus continued in history and the mixing of
religion and commerce gave rise to "Simony."
"Later, the offense
of simony
was extended to include all traffic
in benefices and all pecuniary transactions on masses (apart from the authorized
offering), blessed oils, and other consecrated objects."
A benefice would be to get your buddy on the "team" so that he
might have "a crust of bread" by taxing
the poor. These clergy teams were held to be the replacement of the
Magi with power to intercede between the gods and the paying
customer.
See
Erasmus on the Monks as Magi
If the Magi are truly
astrologers rather than local shepherds then Paul has some
interesting comments to show why the Magi must bow to Jesus rather
than attempt to replace Him:
THOUGH I speak with the tongues
of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as
sounding brass,
or a tinkling cymbal. 1 Corinthians 13:1
Echeo
(g2278) ay-kheh'-o; from 2279; to make a loud noise, i.e.
reverberate: - roar, sound.
And there shall be
signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the
stars; and upon the earth distress of
nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Lu.21:25
Brass:
Chalkos (g 5475)
khal-kos'; perh. from 5465 through the idea of hollowing out as a vessel (this metal being chiefly
used for that purpose); copper (the substance, or some implement or
coin made of it): - brass, money.
This word is related to the
Chaldeans -- to say Chaldean was to say soothsayer or
astrologer or Magi:
Chaldaios (g5466)khal-dah'-yos; prob. of Heb. or. [3778]; a Chaldoean (i.e. Kasdi), or native or the region of the lower
Euphrates: - Chaldaean.
Kasdiy (h3778) kas-dee' ... also an astrologer (as if proverbial of that people: -
Chaldeans, Chaldees, inhabitants of Chaldea
Kasday (h3779) kas-dah'ee; corresp. to 3778; a
Chald an or inhab. of Chalda; by impl. a Magian
or professional
astrologer: - Chaldean.
Nebel (h5035) neh'-bel; from 5034; a
skin- bag for
liquids (from
collapsing when
empty); hence a vase
(as similar in shape when full); also a lyre
(as having a body of like form): - bottle, pitcher, psaltery, vessel, viol
Nabel
(h5034) naw-bale'; a prim. root; to wilt; gen. to fall away, fail,
faint; fig. to be foolish or (mor.) wicked; causat. to despise,
disgrace: - disgrace, dishonour, lightly esteem, fade (away, - ing),
fall (down, -ling, off), do foolishly, come to nought, * surely, make
vile, wither..
The Familiar Spirit of the witch of Endor had a similar
meaning including "speaking in tongues and of the world or out of the
ground."
Owb
(h178) obe; from the same as 1 (appar. through the idea of
prattling a father's name); prop. a mumble, i. e. a water-skin (from its hollow sound); hence a necromancer (ventriloquist,
as from a jar): - bottle,
familiar spirit.
And thou shalt be
brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall
be low out of the
dust, and thy voice
shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall
whisper out of the dust.
Is.29:4
Cymbal:
Kumbalon (g2950)
koom'-bal-on; from a der. of the base of 2949; a "cymbal"
(as
hollow): - cymbal.
Sorcerers still exist trying to
replace the Word of Christ with magical fads and rituals. If they do
not fall on their face they will have their part with the
unbelieving, murders and liars (Re. 18:23; 21:8) as well as the
And the voice of
harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard
no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be,
shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall
be heard no more at all in thee; Revelation 18:22
This story is not to prove that
either Joseph or Mary
had any authority to welcome them into the kingdom of Christ.
The Sermon From Faith Matters WoodMont Hills in Black. Dr.
Shelly begins:
Rubel Shelly:
"Always scheming,
violent, and unpredictable, he (Herod) became paranoid in his final years. He was so jealous of his
favorite wife - among his ten - that he twice ordered that she be
killed if he failed to come back from a dangerous mission. He could
not bear to think of another man having Mariamne. He did, in fact,
have her put to death before he died. Out of suspicion that some of
his sons were plotting to take away his throne, he murdered three of
them. It is not surprising that Jerusalem was upset about Herod's
discomfiture over a "baby born king of the Jews." It could well be
the occasion for a murderous rampage in the city.
"Herod did not know the
Hebrew Scripture, so he
called together the chief priests and teachers of the Law of Moses to
get to the bottom of what was happening. They informed him, based on
a statement from Micah 5:2, that the Jewish Messiah was to come from
Bethlehem of Judah.
"An interesting thing about
Micah 5:2 is that it is not quoted quite accurately at Matthew 2:6. A closing line is
added to the prophecy from 2 Samuel 5:2, so
that it reads this way:
- But you, Bethlehem, in the
land of Judah,
- are by no means least among
the rulers of Judah;
- for out of you will come a
ruler
- who will be the shepherd
of my people Israel.' Matthew 2:6NIV
-
- The Micah NIV
reads:
- But you, Bethlehem
Ephrathah,
- though you are small
among the clans of Judah,
- out of you will come for
me
- one who will be ruler
over Israel,
- whose origins are
from of old, from ancient times. Micah 5:2NIV
Dr. Rubel Shelly believes that
Matthew is inaccurate or may have changed things for some reason based on
the statement:
- who will be the shepherd
of my people Israel.' Matthew 2:6NIV
The thesis is that someone
added this from 2 Samuel:
THEN came all the
tribes of Israel to David unto Hebron, and spake, saying, Behold, we
are thy bone and thy flesh. 2 Samuel 5:1
Also in time past, when
Saul was king over
us, thou wast he that
leddest out and broughtest in Israel: and the Lord said to thee, Thou
shalt feed my people
Israel, and
thou shalt be a captain
over Israel.
2 Samuel 5:2
It might be that they quoted
Micah accurately and it was recorded accurately and that the last
line is not a quotation but an
explanation.
This speaks clearly of the
human David and it is not necessary to reach
back that far as far as Samuel for the "shepherd" statements.
The value of allowing the Bible
to speak where it speaks is that we don't ascribe error to it. First, the answer
must fit the
question. So, what was
the question?
And when he had
gathered all the chief
priests and
scribes of the people together, he demanded of
them where Christ should
be born. Matthew
2:4
If we look for accurate use of
Micah as recorded by Matthew 2:6 the question is answered. They then
are at liberty to add any additional comments they wish without
making an error.
The Septuagint (LXX) The
Version Jesus Read
The Septuagint (LXX) reads differently:
And thou, Bethleem,
house of Ephratha, art few in number to be reckoned among the
thousands of Judah; yet out of thee shall one come forth to me, to be
a ruler of Israel;
and his goings forth were
from the beginning, even from eternity. Michah 2:2LXX
Therefore, if they answered the
question from the LXX the answer fits the passage in Micah without
any error.
The first question is
answered: The
Spiritual David will come from Bethlehem. In addition they
softening of the blow is that Messiah will be a Shepherd and not a
"king set over
us."
What follows in the LXX gives a
student of the Magi another hint. He will be a king but over a
spiritual realm and He will be a shepherd so superior to the earthly
shepherds or perhaps astrologers that they with all of their rituals
must bow before Him.
Remember that Jesus said that
the Word had been delivered in parables "from the foundation of the
world." (Matt 13). Why? It was to hide the truth from those who do
not love the truth. Isaiah 48 goes further to have God explaining
that this is to keep the Word away from the "repackagers and
retailers" of the free Word (Isa 55). Therefore, wittingly or not
they absolutely pointed the sincere seeker of the Word back to Micah
to get the ammunition to fend off those specializing in fleecing the
flock.
Next, Micah in the LXX
immediately follows the "misquoted" passage with the "missing shepherds" after Matthew quotes the relevant part
of Micah 5:2.
Paul insisted that if we are
"filled with the Spirit" or "filled with the Word of Christ" we will
have in our memory banks the Spiritual vocabulary so that we "speak
in Psalms" in order to teach one another. Therefore, it is elementary
that the Apostles were "filled with the spirit of the Old Testament"
and used the "spirit of the prophets" to make their point without
bringing their knowledge or inspiration into dispute.
Micah, in "the version Jesus
read" continues:
Therefore shall he
appoint them to wait
till the time of her
that travails: she shall bring forth, and then the remnant of their brethren shall return
to the children of Israel. Michah 2:3LXX
The prophecy explains how the
Lord will lead and teach even as He absolutely dismissed the "doctors
of the Law" or "rabbi" or "presiding priest." If we miss this point
then we will again and again demand, like Israel's elders, "Set a
king over us so that we can worship like the nations." The false
teacher may try to be king rather than feeding shepherd and he may be
called performing preacher (King and Priest) or "Musical Worship
Facilitators" (Levitical musicians) but the
"gospel preached beforehand" in Micah promises to free men and
women.
And the
Lord shall stand,
and see, and feed his
flock with power, and
they shall dwell in the glory
of the name of
the Lord their
God: for now shall they
be magnified to the ends of the earth. Micah 2:4LXX
Anyone who "steals the glory"
in a religious performance ritual is stealing the glory of the Shepherd and the flock just as the
human kings of the Monarchy of Israel and Judah would take the glory of God and to place the "flock" under
their control so that they could "butt with the horn and eat the
flesh of the lambs."
And the LXX shows that the
true Israelites would go out into
the world in the midst
of those in need as
refreshing as dew
falling from the Lord. That is, they would feed and not be fed on the
wages of the poor:
And the remnant of
Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst
of many
peoples, as
dew
falling from the Lord,
and as lambs
on the grass;
that none may
assemble nor resist
among the sons of men. Micah 2:7LXX
In the KJV Micah 2:7
reads:
O thou that art named the house
of Jacob, is the spirit
of the Lord straitened? are these his doings? do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly? Micah
2:7KJV
This is a parallelism: the
Spirit of the Lord is not limited is parallel to "do not my words do
good?"
This is why Jesus
said "My words are Spirit and Life" (John 6:63). Therefore, the words
of God conveying the Spirit or "mental disposition" of the Lord is
the watering
dew, and the grass
feeds the lambs. Both versions show that the Lord is competent to enable the Lord to do the feeding and watering without a middle
man.
At the same time the remnant
would would defeat the enemies of the Lord. They would remove the
sorcerers and tear down the high places and groves of which Topheth was once "the king's music grove" where even Hebrew
babies were "dedicated" but dedicated to
Molech.
Micah goes on to issue a
modern warning:
In 2:8 "my people" are risen up
to take the garments even from those returning from war. Therefore,
Micah wrote:
Arise ye, and
depart; for this is not your rest: because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction.
Micah 2:10
If a man walking in the spirit
and falsehood do lie, saying, I will prophesy (ooze honey) unto thee of wine
and of strong
drink (strong wine); he
shall even be the prophet of this people (congregation). Micah
2:11KJV
Again, Rubel Shelly is
troubled by the last part of Matthew's quotation:
Rubel Shelly:
who will be the
shepherd of my people
Israel.
Whether the Jerusalem scholars advising Herod or Matthew
altered the
verse to include that
line is difficult to say.
Those "filled with the OT
spirit" through its words
fitted them to the need at hand. They were under no obligation to
quote the NIV. We believe that they were remembering the LXX and not
the NIV. However, we have shown that the message about "shepherds"
follows immediately in the LXX.
The verse was not
altered by Matthew. For what purpose? To
create
uncertainty about the
Scriptures? No. The people were quoting Miicah and leaving out part
of it rather than adding to it because it was not part of the
specific
question.
Then they added their own understanding of
the LXX to Herod to remind them that Messiah would be a
shepherd and not a king. This should have calmed him but it did not.
Rubel Shelly:
In either case, the
prospect of a ruler
who would treat the Jews with a shepherd's concern
rather than Herodian contempt is a stark contrast in the text
This is not a human king or
ruler. Rather, Micah may be prophesying of the modern church.
The context begins earlier:
THE word of the
Lord that came to Micah the Morasthite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz,
and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. Micah 1:1
Hear, all ye
people; hearken, O earth, and all that therein is: and let the
Lord God be witness
against you, the Lord
from his holy
temple. Micah 1: 2
For, behold, the Lord cometh
forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth. Micah 1: 3
And the mountains shall be
molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the
fire, and as the waters that are poured down a steep place. Micah 1:
4
For the
transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of
Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem? Micah 1: 5
Samaria:
Therefore I will
make Samaria
as an heap of the field, and as plantings of a vineyard: and I will pour down the stones thereof into the
valley, and I will discover the foundations thereof. Micah 1:
6
In Isaiah 5 their
religious festivals had included lots of wine music.
And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces, and
all the hires
(wage of the prostitutes) thereof shall be burned with the fire, and
all the idols thereof will I lay desolate:
- for she gathered it of the hire of an harlot,
- and they shall return to the hire of an harlot. Micah 1: 7
This is described in Amos 5 and
6 and includes ritual prostitution and musical instruments in their
religious festivals.
The same pattern is repeated of
Tyre whose king was the agent of Lucifer:
And it shall come
to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years,
according to the days of one king: after the end of seventy years
shall Tyre sing as an
harlot. Is.23:15
The song of the prostitute
was this:
"Take an
harp, go about the city, thou harlot that
hast been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs,
that thou mayest be
remembered.
Is.23:16
And it shall come to pass after
the end of seventy years, that the Lord will visit Tyre,
and she
shall turn to her
hire,
and shall commit
fornication with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.
Is.23:17
The spiritual adultery of Tyre
whose king was a "change agent of Lucifer" was mixing religion and
commerce. A primary weapon of the spiritual prostitute was the
singing women with instruments. The goal was to gather more
customers. Because the king wanted to be "remembered as a male" it is
clear that music as the weapon of the masculine rulership made them
male prostitutes.
Jerusalem:
For the
transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of
Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem? Micah 1: 5
And their dead
bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually
is called Sodom
and Egypt,
where also our Lord was
crucified.
Re.11:8
Micah continues:
Therefore I will
wail and howl, I
will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the
dragons, and mourning as the owls. Micah 1: 8
Yalal
(h3213) yaw-lal'; a prim. root; to howl (with a wailing tone) or yell
(with a boisterous one): - (make to) howl, be howling.
And the
songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord God: there shall be
many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with
silence. Am.8:3
The songs were:
Shiyr
(h7892) sheer; from 7891; a song; abstr. singing: - musical (-ick), *
sing (-er, -ing), song
From:
Shuwr
(h7788) shoor; a prim. root; prop. to turn, i. e. travel about (as a harlot
or a merchant): - go, sing. See also 7891.
They were marketing their
talent for their own gain.
For her wound is incurable; for it is come unto Judah; he is come unto the gate of my people,
even to
Jerusalem. Micah 1: 9
The Wineskin
Factor:
Declare ye it
not at Gath,
weep ye not at all: in the house of Aphrah
roll thyself in the dust. Micah 1: 10
Gath was the home of the first "new wineskin
religion." Gath is from the Hebrew meaning the winepress:
Gath
(h1660) gath; prob. from 5059 (in the sense of treading out grapes);
a wine-press (or vat for holding the grapes in pressing them): -
(wine-) press (fat).
And the New wine got its name from playing musical instruments because some music and old wine got the
grape stomping party going:
Nagan
(g5059) naw-gan'; a prim. root; prop. to thrum, i. e. beat a tune
with the fingers; espec. to play on a stringed instrument; hence
(gen.) to make music: - player
on instruments, sing to the stringed instruments, melody, ministrel,
play (-er, -ing..
Nagan 5059 is used interchangeably
with:
Chalal
(h2490) khaw-lal'; a prim. root [comp. 2470]; prop. to bore, i. e.
(by impl.) to wound, to dissolve; fig. to profane (a person, place or thing), to break (one's word),
to begin (as if by an "opening wedge"); denom. (from 2485)
to play (the
flute): - begin (* men
began), defile, * break, defile, * eat (as common things), * first, *
gather the grape
thereof, *
take
inheritance,
pipe, player on instruments, pollute, (cast as) profane (self), prostitute, slay (slain), sorrow, stain, wound.
Ezekiel's Promise of a
Shepherd
By pointing to Micah and its context in the LXX it would have been
possible for Herod to understand that Messiah would not be a literal
David. The kings (like
David) and the elders who demanded "set a king over us"
fed
themselves and not the
flock. Therefore, God would take out the "middle man" and woe to him who reinserts himself (herself) as
feeder or mediator:
And as for you,
O my
flock, thus saith the
Lord God; Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the
rams and the he goats. Ezekiel 34:17
Seemeth it a small thing unto
you to have
eaten up the good
pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue
of your pastures? and to have drunk of the deep waters, but ye must foul (muddied) the residue with your
feet? Ezekiel 34:18
And as for
my flock, they eat that which ye have
trodden with
your feet; and they
drink that which ye have fouled with your feet. Ezekiel 34:19
Therefore thus saith the Lord
God unto them; Behold, I, even I, will
judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle. Ezekiel 34:20
Because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the
diseased with your
horns, till ye have
scattered them
abroad; Ezekiel
34:21
Therefore
will I save my
flock, and they shall
no more be a prey;
and I will judge between cattle and cattle. Ezekiel 34:22
Now, rather than quoting from a
human leader which might give authority for modern human "rulers,"
Matthew understands that this is the spiritual David, ruler and only
Shepherd.
- But you, Bethlehem, in the
land of Judah,
- are by no means least among
the rulers of Judah;
- for out of you will come a
ruler
- who will be the shepherd
of my people Israel.' Matthew 2:6NIV
Prophecy of Messiah who
cannot be David:
But thou,
Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of
Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be
ruler in Israel;
Because Micah defines Him as
eternal:
whose goings forth
have been from of old, from everlasting. Micah 5:2KJV
God will come as the
One
Shepherd and
He will do the feeding all by Himself:
And I will set up one shepherd over
them, and
he shall feed
them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their
shepherd. Ezekiel
34:23
How does He do this? He does it
by teaching and inspiring His Word which can be read by anyone and
understood unless a false shepherd had gotten there firest and
muddied it.
And I will make
with them a covenant of
peace, and will cause
the evil beasts (wild,
merry
congregation) to
cease out of the land: and they shall
dwell safely in the
wilderness, and sleep
in the woods.
Ezekiel 34:25
Remember that we quoted Micah
2:7 from the LXX. It prophesied:
And the remnant of
Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst
of many
peoples, as
dew
falling from the Lord,
and as lambs
on the grass;
that none may
assemble nor resist
among the sons of men. Micah 2:7LXX
In the KJV Micah
2:7 reads:
O thou that art named the house
of Jacob, is the spirit
of the Lord straitened? are these his doings? do not my words do good to
him that walketh
uprightly? Micah 2:7KJV
There are no priests or musical
Levites. God or
Jehovah-Saves (Jesus or Joshua) will feed
the lambs who have been brought into His
fold through His
Word which is Spirit and Life (John 6:63). They will dwell safely in
their "wilderness" or "woods" out in the "rural" areas and will not
need mass meetings with the "urbans." Jesus will be "outside the
walls" of the city and if you want to find Him He will be there
because it was prophesied that He would call no mass assemblies.
Rubel Shelly:
God does not wait for
our permission to draw
people to his Beloved Son. He is doing that constantly. But he does
want us to participate in receiving them into his kingdom, lest our coldness to them become the final, insurmountable barrier
that keeps them from Christ.
John Calvin could not have
said it better. Don't we give ourselves just too much importance
while refusing to evangelize?
If God does not
wait for our permission to draw people to His Son how is it that we
get the veto power?
Seems to me that the
plan was not to
"draw"
seekers but to
"go, preach the gospel" and those who are
drawn to Him by His
Word will respond. When
the gospel is preached, Paul would suggest that he would go on to the
next place and preach while allowing God to give the increase. That
is, a taught person then deals with God without out warmth or coldness interceding or mediating.
How then shall they
call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they
believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear
without a preacher (herald or evangelist: not a located "Paul
Revere.")? Romans 10:14
And again, this may express a
Baptist
view in which God calls
whom He will because He has predestinated them to be saved. However,
the members of the church get the honor of welcoming them into the
"kingdom."
And how shall they
preach, except they be
sent? as it is written,
How beautiful are the feet of
them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good
things. Romans 10:15
A preacher is a "kerusso" or
herald or public crier, a publisher of the Word. He is not a preacher
unless he is sent
and has beautiful feet.
The Worship of the
Magi
When the Magi "worshiped" they simply fell on their faces. They
did not sing, preach, take up a collection, play instruments or make
announcements. They were the givers
directly to Christ and not the collectors at the temple.
There is not the remotest
evidence that the Magi were "received into the kingdom" so that they might come to Christ.
They went their way deceiving Herod.
Rubel Shelly:
The Magi came. Joseph
and Mary welcomed them into the presence of the Son of God.
They offered their worship. God accomplished his purposes.
Does God still call men to
himself today? Do all come from the backgrounds we would like? Do
they offer the same form or intensity of worship we do?
So long as
we welcome them into the presence of the Son of
God by the faithful
proclamation of the gospel, is God not able to accomplish his
purposes in them?
Who doubts it. However, it is
important to understand the meaning of "gospel" and what Jesus came
to bring as "good news." The enemies of Christ tried to identify Him
with many of the pagan systems of worship. For instance when the
clergy "piped" and tried to force Jesus to sing and dance they were
testing whether He might be Dionysus returned with new wine, women
and music. In the story of the Magi:
Arnobius, Against Heresies, Book
1 shows
that this "Christmas" event was to show that Jesus was
superior to the magicans:
-
- 43. My opponent
will perhaps meet me with many other slanderous and
childish charges which are commonly urged. Jesus
was a Magian; (sorcerer) He effected all these things
by secret
arts. From
the shrines of the Egyptians He stole the names of angels
of might (incantations and barbarious names), and the religious
system of a remote country. Why, O witlings, do you speak
of things which you have not examined, and which are
unknown to you,
- prating with the garrulity of a rash tongue?
- Were, then, those
things which were done, the freaks of demons, and the tricks of
magical
arts?
- Can you specify
and point out to me any one of all those magicians who have ever existed in
past ages, that did anything similar, in the thousandth
degree, to Christ?
- Who has done this
without any power of incantations, (songs)
- without the
juice of herbs and of grasses,
- without any
anxious
watching of sacrifices, of libations, or of seasons?
-
- For we do not
press it, and inquire what they profess to do, nor in
what kind of acts all their learning and experience are
wont to be comprised. For who is not aware that these men
either study to know beforehand things impending, which,
whether they will or not, come of necessity as they have
been ordained?
- or to
inflict a
deadly and
wasting
disease on
whom they choose;
- or to
sever the
affections of relatives;
- or to open without
keys places which are locked;
- or to seal the
month in silence; or in the chariot race to weaken, urge
on, or retard horses;
- or to
inspire in
wives, and
in the children of strangers,
- whether they be
males or females, the flames and mad desires of illicit
love? (Break
family ties by bringing plagues into houses)
-
- Or if they seem
to attempt anything useful, to be able to do it not by their own
power, but by the might of those deities whom they
invoke.
-
- 44. And yet it is
agreed on that Christ performed all those miracles which
He wrought
- without any aid from external
things,
- without the
observance of any ceremonial,
- without any
definite mode of procedure,
- but
solely by
the inherent might of His authority;
- and as was the
proper duty of the true God, as was consistent with His nature, as
was worthy of Him, in the generosity of His bounteous
power He bestowed nothing hurtful or injurious, but
only that
which is
helpful, beneficial, and full of blessings good for
men.
-
- 59.
But when we
are discussing matters far removed from mere display,
we should consider what is said,
-
- not with what
charm it is said nor how it tickles the
ears,
- but what
benefits it confers on the hearers,
-
- especially since
we know that some even who devoted themselves to
philosophy,
- not only
disregarded refinement of style,
- but also
purposely adopted a vulgar meanness
- when they might
have spoken with greater elegance and richness,
- lest forsooth they
might impair
the stern gravity of speech
- and
revel
rather in the pretentious show of the Sophists.
- For indeed it
evidences a worthless heart to seek
enjoyment
in matters of importance;
- and when you have
to deal with those who are sick and diseased,
- to pour into their
ears dulcet
sounds, not
to apply a remedy to their wounds.
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And John Chrysostom in Homily I noted the
differences between the Here and the
There; the
there
being the methods of the demons and the here being the simple
words of Christ:
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There
indeed are flutes, and
harps, and
pipes
|
|
|
|
-
|
|
but here is no music
of sounds unsuitable
|
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-
|
|
-
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but what? hymns, singing of
psalms
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-
|
-
|
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-
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-
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There
indeed the Demons are
hymned
|
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but here, the Lord of
all, God
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If the magi worshiped even
baby Jesus it is to prove to us that the worship of the magi is
absolutely forbidden.
A fundamental tenent of the
gospel is that Jesus would come to remove
the burden of "spiritual anxiety created by religious ritual" and
lead us beside still waters in Green pastures. There the lambs can
feed without some preumptive clergy grinding up the grass and
muddying the water to make the lambs fat and lazy for "barbecue
day."
To, as Albert Barnes puts it,
"to preachify or sermonize or versify" the Word of God is treating
the flock as "dumb lambs ripe for fleecing" or preparing them for the
slaughter by keeping the Spiritual food, peace and rest out of their
grasp.
Jesus sent anyone who presumes
to be a shepherd out into the wilds to find the lost sheep and not to
"assemble" them all in one spiritually dry, arid place.
Chrysostom who lived from AD 347 in Syrian Antioch
and died in AD 407 wrote of Colossians 3 and defined it, like Paul,
as the way God purposed to do the teaching all by Himself with no
role for the magi (soothsayers, etc.)
"Tarry not, I entreat, for another to teach thee; thou hast the
oracles of God.
No man teacheth thee as they;
for he indeed oft
grudgeth much for vainglory's sake and envy.
"Hearken,
I entreat you, all
ye that are careful for this life, and procure books that will be medicines for the soul. If ye will not any other, yet get you
at least the New Testament, the Apostolic Epistles, the Acts, the
Gospels,
for your
constant teachers.
If grief befall thee,
dive into them as into a
chest of medicines;
take thence comfort
of thy trouble, be it loss, or death, or bereavement of relations;
or rather dive not
into them merely,
but take them wholly to thee;
keep them in thy
mind.
"This is the cause of all evils, the
not knowing the
Scriptures. We go into
battle without
arms, and how ought we
to come off safe? Well contented should we be if we can be safe with
them, let alone without them. Throw not the whole upon us! Sheep ye
are, still not without reason, but rational; Paul committeth much to you also.
Someone has decided that after
singing a song about five times most people "sing it by rote" without
even thinking about the song or its mechanics.
It is utterly impossible to
think about "Jesus" when we are singing about Jesus using modern,
mind-altering methods.
And even if you make a
conscious effort (as I do) to ignore the mechanics of singing and try
to remember something you know about Jesus, your mind will be whipped
back to the "bad tenor" in front or the "cigarette smoke" wafting up
from behind.
Thus, modern singing with
non-scriptural content is a deliberate attempt to keep you ever
learning but never coming to the truth.
When you have learned
something, Chrysostom was wise enough to know, then you don't keep
singing it over and over and over.
"They that are under
instruction, are not for
ever learning; for then
they are not
taught. If thou art for
ever learning, thou
wilt never learn. Do not so come as meaning to be always learning;
(for so thou wilt never know;) but so as to finish learning, and to teach others.
In the
arts do not all persons continue for set times, in the sciences, and in a word, in all
the arts? Thus we all fix definitely a certain known time;
but if ye are
ever learning, it is a certain proof that ye have learned nothing.
And if you keep on learning
the same old songs ye have learned nothing.
"This reproach God spake against the Jews. "Borne from the belly,
and instructed even to old age." (Isa. xlvi. 3, 4, Sept.) If ye had
not always been expecting this, all things would not have gone
backward in this way. Had it been so, that some had finished
learning, and others
were about to have finished,
our work would have
been forward; ye
would both have given place to others, and would have helped us as well.
Tell me, were some to go to a
grammarian and continue
always learning their
letters, would they not give their teacher much
trouble? How long shall I have to discourse to you concerning life?
In the
Apostles' times it was not thus, but they continually leaped from place to place,
appointing those who
first learned to be the
teachers of any others
that were under instruction.
Thus they were enabled to circle the
world, through
not being bound to one
place.
How much instruction, think ye,
do your brethren in the country stand in need of, [they] and their
teachers?
But ye
hold me riveted fast
here. For, before the
head is set right, it is superfluous to
proceed to the rest of the body.
Ye throw everything upon us.
Ye alone ought to
learn from us, and your wives from you, your children from you; but
ye leave all to us. Therefore our toil is excessive.
For when for the time ye
ought to be
teachers, ye have need
that one teach you
again which be the
first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have
need of milk, and not of strong meat. Heb.5:12
For every one that
useth milk is
unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. Heb. 5:13
But strong meat
belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of
use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Heb.
5:14
"Teaching," he saith, "and admonishing one another with
psalms and hymns
and spiritual
songs." Mark also the
considerateness of Paul.
Seeing that
reading is
toilsome, and its
irksomeness great,
he led them not to histories, but to psalms,
that thou mightest at once delight thy soul with singing, and gently
beguile thy
labors. "Hymns," he
saith, "and spiritual songs."
But
now your
children will
utter songs and dances of Satan, like cooks, and caterers, and
musicians;
no one knoweth any
psalm, but it
seems a thing to
be ashamed of even, and a mockery, and a joke.
"There is the treasury house of all these evils. For whatsoever soil the
plant stands in, such is the fruit it bears; if in a sandy and salty
soil, of like nature is its fruit; if in a sweet and rich one, it is
again similar. So the matter of instruction is a sort of fountain.
Teach him to
sing those psalms which
are so full of the love
of wisdom; as at once
concerning chastity, or rather, before all, of not companying with the
wicked, immediately with the very beginning of the book; (for
therefore also it was that the prophet began on this wise,
"Blessed is the man
that hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly"; (Ps. i. 1), and
again,
"I have not sat in the council
of vanity"; (Ps. xxvi. 4, Sept., and again, "in his sight a wicked
doer is contemned, but he honoreth those that fear the Lord," (Ps.
xv. 4, Sept.,) of companying with the good, (and these subjects thou
wilt find there in abundance,) of restraining the belly, of
restraining the hand, of refraining from excess, of not overreaching;
that money is nothing, nor glory, and other things such like.
"When in these thou hast led
him on from childhood,
by little
and little
thou wilt lead him forward even to the higher things.
The Psalms contain
all things, but the Hymns again have nothing human.
When he has been instructed out
of the Psalms, he will then know hymns also, as a diviner thing.
For the Powers above
chant hymns, not psalms.
For "a hymn," saith
one, "is not comely in the mouth of a sinner" (Ecclus. xv. 9);
9. A
hymn of praise is not
fitting on the
lips of a
sinner, for it has
not been sent from the
Lord.
10. For a hymn of praise should be uttered in wisdom, and the Lord will
prosper it. The Book of
Ecclesticus or Sirach
and again, "Mine eyes shall be
upon the faithful of the land, that they sit
together with me" (Ps. ci. 6, 7, Sept.); and again,
"he that worketh haughtiness hath not dwelt in the midst of my
house"; and again, "He that walketh in a blameless way, he ministered
unto me." (Ps. ci. 6, Sept.)
Yes, the story the Magi should
teach us is that the greatest Christmas warnings included in the
Gospel of
Christ is that when we
"set a king over us" we have guaranteed that the Chief Shepherd will be put in second or third
place.
The message of Christmas is that the "tigers and lions" in the big sheep
folds are most likely to be scratching and clawing to see who gets
the best lamb for Christmas dinner. However, the true Apostolic shepherds will be out in the lonely
pastures tending the lambs by leading them beside still waters and
allowing them to do their own
eating.
The ultimate message of the
magi bowing to Jesus is that none of the
musical methods of magic
have any power exercised only by the Word of God. Religious rituals
cannot replace the Word.
The shepherd must also be aware that there is such a thing as "wolves in sheeps clothing" and be able to beat them off the
flock without apology.
Rubel Shelly Sermon Reviews
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