The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1904-05-05
The Magi.

DERHAPS no incident in Christ's
- life has been made the butt of |
more sarcasm and irony than the
star guiding of the Magi. The
early Biblical illustrators are to blame
for much of the ridicule, for in their il
Illustrations of that incident they cer-
tainly proved their skill in misrepre-
sentation.
How far does astronomy corroborate
the Gospel story?
The conjunction of Jupiter and Sat-
urn is rare event, occurring only once
in about 800 years. According to as
Economical records, this conjunction
occurred no less than three times in
the few months next preceding the
birth of Christ. In the year in which
Christ was born Jupiter, Saturn and
Mars were in conjunctlon-the only
time on record of a conjunction of the
three planets. The combined light of
the three would be 8-fold their usual
brilliancy, thus appearing as star of
far greater magnitude than any previ-
ously observed. Their position at the
time of conjunction was such as to ap-
pear to gazer in Arabia or Egypt to
rest over Palestine
Who were the Magi, and whence
came they? If they were not kings,
as the legend states they were, then
they were greater than kings. They
were disciples of Zoroaster and men,
bers of the sacred or priests order Of
Persia, which included men of the
most exalted rank. The Magi kept to
themselves and to their families all
their knowledge regarding religion
and politics. Their erudition gave
them prestige and authority both
with the rulers and the people,
who could offer no sacrifice with
out the ministratiOn of one of the
Magi. Before a Persian prince could
inherit the crown he was compelled to
receive certain instruction from the
Magi. Nor could he. after he had been
crowned, transact any important af-
fairs of state without first consulting
them. Pliny says that in all the East
ern countries they occupied'a very ex-
alted position, ranking as the Brah.
Minis among the Hlndoos and the Dru-
ids among the Gauls. No doubt among
these sages were the lineal descendants
of the people upon whose ears many
centuries earlier the words of the
prophet had fallen: Il shall see him
but not now. 1 shall behold him, but
not nigh. There shall come star out
of JACOB and sceptre out of Israel.
Whence came they? According te
tradition, the eldest came from India
His offering was gold and jasper, as &
token of the Babes royalty. The
youngest came from Iran or Persia
His offering was frankincense, in tok
en- of Christ's divinity. The third was
Moor, one of the priests of Egypt
He brought as an offering myrrh, iI
token of Christ's suffering and death.
3 Why did the Magi connect the ap
pearance of the star with the birth o.
: Christ? For two reasons. First, they
were the great astronomers of ancien
times. Their knowledge was so pro
l found and their researches so deep il
i that science that modern astronomer
have been able to add comparativel!
little to the information they impaired
They were also believers in astrology
: that so-caiIed science which teaches
that the stars have potent inf1uenc,
!. over human destiny, and that certain
appearances in the heavens indicate
and foretell certain events on earth
! Secondly, about 10 B. C. the Jewisl
Scriptures were translated into Greek
Before that date the Jews had guarded
J, their sacred book from the sacrilegiou
+ touch and gaze of .he Gentiles with ex
traordinary ZEAL But an Egyptian
= king, patron of the arts and sciences
having collected great library at AL
: exandria, wished to add to it the Jew
9 ish Scriptures. So Ptolemy sent dep
utation to the high priest at Jerusalem
g with the request that the Scripture
y be translated, into Greek. The resul
0 was that seventy Of the most iearne'
Jews went to Alexandra and trans
lated them. So for the first time tn