At the End of the Journey

On to my last book, “At the End of the Journey” in “Meeting Jesus; Three Christmas Stories.” This one is about the Wise Men. Now where to begin on why I did what I did. First I guess I will start with the star. Now I tried to do some research on the Christmas star, and I did learn or hear some interesting things, but as to more solid evidence of things one way or another, well there not much. The Bible is pretty vague on just what the star was, or what it was like. We always see it as a big bright star, but was it? In fact on a talk I watched the man pointed out that King Herod had to ask when the star appeared. This was a time when people knew the sky better than we do. People slept outside. If it was too hot people slept on the roof. There were not the lights to obscure the sky at night. Yes, Herod likely spent his time inside, but if a big bright star suddenly appeared in the sky, he was likely would have been told as soon as it happened. Yes, maybe it came up at a different time depending on where the Wise Men were from, but really I doubt it would be that big of a difference. So I think that the star was not something big and out of the ordinary. But just what it was and what it was like, the Bible does not say so I don’t know, as one of my college professors use to say. So I leave just what the star was and what it was like pretty vague too.

Now on to where the Wise Men or Magi were from. Now there are many theories and ideas as to where these men came from. I believe I read that the Ethiopian Church claims they came from Ethiopia and there were 15 of them. The Catholic Church says they came from Arabia and there were the traditional 3 and even have their supposed names (Balthasar, Melchior, and Gaspar).

Now the Bible does not say how many wise men there were, not their names, or even where they came from. But, from the research I have done I think they came from the Parthian Empire which is where the Babylonian Empire was. Let me explain. The Parthian Empire used and had wise men (that’s essentially what Daniel was.) These wise men were astronomers and astrologers, but they were a lot more as well. They studied math, science, and even medicine. This was a time when science and magic could be practiced together. If science and human means don’t work, then try magic and the supernatural. These particular wise men seemed to have been well renowned. This area is where the Empire of Babylon was this, and this is where the Jews ones were, and there may have been Jews who remained even to that time. So these people potentially would have had access to a lot of Jewish material. Maybe that’s how they knew that the star meant that the King of the Jews had been born. (I don't know how they knew this.)

The Parthian Empire was one of Rome’s biggest advisory. The wise men could have been from a Roman territory, but considering they wanted to get away from King Hared (who had Roman backing, and Israel was a Roman territory), and the Bible says they went home by a different route, I think it is likely they were not from Roman control land. Almost all of Arabia at this time was under Roman control. Though the Parathions and Romans were often at war with each other, over the time that Jesus was born (including all the debated dates) there was peace between the Parathions and Romans at this time. So it would have been possible for Parthian wise men to cross over into the Roman territory. Also, the Parthian wise men had a hand in choosing the next Parthian ruler. So much so that they were known as “King Makers.” We are told that King Herod was disturbed when he heard about the wise men and that they were there looking for the King of the Jews. Well, why would he not have been if “King Makers” showed up asking where the new king was. Also, Herod did not have a good track record with the Parathions. I think he had gotten the Romans to help him get into power over his adversary who had had the Parathions support. All this considered, I think that the wise men coming from the Parthian empire seems the most likely and best fit.

I have heard the argument that the gifts were all things readily found in Arabia and so a point for that theory, but really the areas are not that far apart, and I would think the same things could be found pretty easily there in the Parthian Empire too.

Anyway, as to how many wise men there were, the Bible does not say. We normally say or show three, but that is only because there were three gifts. Who’s to say there was not more, and they just shared gifts. That’s why I go with that in my story. I really doubt that there were three guys traveling alone or with a few servants like we often see. If they were from the Parthian Empire, as I think, I read one source that suggested they could have brought Parthian soldiers. Maybe they did. They were likely on at least good terms with the Parthian leaders, if not tight. In my story, I decided to go with bodyguards rather than soldiers. These men likely were rich and if they were important, they may well have had their own guards. And bodyguards, or slaves who acted as such, may have been better behaved or trained than common soldiers.

On a fun side note, one source said they likely dressed like we would imagine magicians or wizards would, pointed hats and all. I don’t know if that is how it was or not.

Also, I went with horses (or steeds) rather than camels. Again it’s the picture we see everywhere, but there is nothing in the Bible that says they rode camels. That idea is likely linked to the theory that they were from Arabia. One book I read said that the wise men likely rode Persian steeds and not camels. Since I wanted to make people think and open their Bibles, I put in that they rode horses. It was a fun idea and something different. (It worked too, to get people into their Bible, because my one Grandma told me after she read it that she thought the wise men rode camels, but she looked in her Bible, and it did not say what they rode.)

So to recap a bit, I leave just what the star was and what it was like, vague because the Bible does not tell us much. (Somehow from it they were able to determine what house Jesus was in. Not sure how, but that’s what it says.) I think the wise men were from the Parthian Empire because that makes the most sense, and there’s a lot of interesting little details that add up for them coming from there.

The last thing I want to add is the main character, Javed, would have become a proselyte before he became a Christian. A proselyte is a person who is not of Jewish descent who becomes a Jew by faith or religion. The Bible talks about them and there is other evidence that some of them would become even more zealous for the Jewish faith than those who were Jewish by birth. In other words, they could be even harder on Christians than Jews because, I guess, they had been brought to faith and did not want anyone messing it up.

I think that is all I have to explain for this book. If you have any questions about this please do contact me and ask.

Thank you for reading this, and if this makes you interested in my book, “Meeting Jesus; Three Christmas Stories” you can find it on Amazon or just type it into Google, and I’m sure you can find it.

God Bless