From a practical storytelling standpoint (and to work as many prophesies into the story as possible) Matthew needed the Zoroastrians to show up for the birth of Jesus. The Priestly caste of the Zoroastrians being, at the time, THE witnesses of record. IF the Zoroastrians showed up for something it was important, IF something was important the Zoroastrians show up.
Read some older Greek and Roman text, the Zoroastrians show up for a lot of important stuff (at least they were claimed to have been there, even if they weren't, they were that regarded as being the witness you needed to ensure people took you seriously. Now we have cell phones with video cameras, so we're all Zoroastrians, I guess).
To get the Zoroastrians (what Matthew simply refers to as "Kings from the East") into Israel required something that would get a Persian Priest's attention.
A Star. (A Star, glimmering in the night).
Dr. Kaufmanis was an astrophysicist at the University of Minnesota and he had a theory, a sound one actually, as to what this star was and how it came to show up and disappear without much fanfare from the rest of the astrological world. (The Chinese after all were looking up too and keeping good records).
He gave this lecture about a thousand times, maybe more, mostly for free or as a fund-raiser. I heard in person more than once.
In all that time, it was audio recorded exactly once and never video recorded. (hard to believe, I know)
I beg you, do yourself a favor and take an hour out of the last week of this year (still the holiday season) and listen to an educated and learned scientist actually defend the proposition that the Bethlehem Star was real and not created specially for the birth of Christ.
Read some older Greek and Roman text, the Zoroastrians show up for a lot of important stuff (at least they were claimed to have been there, even if they weren't, they were that regarded as being the witness you needed to ensure people took you seriously. Now we have cell phones with video cameras, so we're all Zoroastrians, I guess).
To get the Zoroastrians (what Matthew simply refers to as "Kings from the East") into Israel required something that would get a Persian Priest's attention.
A Star. (A Star, glimmering in the night).
Dr. Kaufmanis was an astrophysicist at the University of Minnesota and he had a theory, a sound one actually, as to what this star was and how it came to show up and disappear without much fanfare from the rest of the astrological world. (The Chinese after all were looking up too and keeping good records).
He gave this lecture about a thousand times, maybe more, mostly for free or as a fund-raiser. I heard in person more than once.
In all that time, it was audio recorded exactly once and never video recorded. (hard to believe, I know)
I beg you, do yourself a favor and take an hour out of the last week of this year (still the holiday season) and listen to an educated and learned scientist actually defend the proposition that the Bethlehem Star was real and not created specially for the birth of Christ.
