What wasn’t said about Jesus’ birth
27
Dec
It’s not part of the biblical narrative, but
apart from the Roman census, Herod’s persecution (historical data) when he placed Jesus in a manger wrapped in cloths and the coming of the “magi”, it can be clarified in the light of stories from the time.
It was Jewish custom to separate a newborn lamb for the Jewish Passover sacrifice, recalling the sacrifice that Abram would make with his son and that an angel interceded by offering a lamb, the fact that Jesus was wrapped in swaddling clothes also recalls a Jewish custom of the time to separate the lamb, wrap it in swaddling clothes and place it in a manger, with special care.
So this is already a preparation for Easter, since he was born and made small to be like earthly man, even though he was a God, an Emmanuel, the divine among us.
But remembering yesterday’s astronomical events, we also want to remember the “magi”, who may have been kings and not magi, because they had gifts of prophecy and were informed about a star “And when they saw the star, they rejoiced with great and intense joy” (Mt 2:10-11) and so they followed it and found the child in Bethlehem as the Jews had expected.
The star that announces a cosmic event that predicts the arrival of the “king of the universe” and not just the “god of the Jews” could be the passing of a comet, an event that was already known at the time, although it was mistaken for a “shooting star“, if It had to choose (see the previous post), I’d choose the nova, which is the birth of a star. In short, the famous “guiding star” could be one of these phenomena.
The image of the Adoration of the Magi, in a stone painting dating from the 3rd century AD (photo) shows only a star, without the typical cometary tail, so it could be any of the celestial phenomena that cause great brilliance.
It’s worth remembering that the kings who came to worship Jesus weren’t Jewish, and yet they had a sign and followed their vision (it wasn’t magic, of course) and worshipped him.
