Today’s Bible Study discussion from Bible Gateway Plus is about the Tower of Babel passage in Genesis 11:1-9. The discussion is interesting in itself but what really interested me was that several of the linked study resources talked about the Babylonian ziggurats as intended to be pathways for the assorted gods to enter their temples. The Babylonians were big on astrology which led to descriptive astronomy. Whether this was ever intended when the ziggurats were built, they served nicely as places for observing the stars, high above the fires and smoke of the city with a good view of the entire sky.
Matthew 2 tells the story of the Wise Men seeing a star ‘as it rose’ or ‘in the east’, a start that went ahead of them leading them to travel west seeking the newborn King of the Jews in Jerusalem. Then, having been told the King of the Jews would be born in Bethlehem, were overjoyed to find the star standing over Bethlehem.
Pretty confusing stuff. But a professional astronomer named Kidger put forth a hypothesis about how all of this made sense if one interpreted it as an astronomer would in light of a series of impressive if perfectly natural astronomical phenomena that had recently taken place. Not only does this hypothesis make sense of Matthew’s account, it gives a reason for Babylonian astronomers to go to Jerusalem looking for a newborn King of the Jews. It is not my intention to go into the details. The hypothesis involves triple conjunctions and heliacal risings and Babylonian mythology and such esoterica. I did delve into this and IMO it beats the pants off all the other ideas on the subject I have seen.
However as I said my purpose is not to wax astronomical. Rather it is to raise the notion that this is another instance of Matthew referring to scripture to bolster his narrative, if only obliquely. The otherwise confusing star narrative introduces the possibility that Matthew came across some record of these events by wise men from the east who really came to Jerusalem for the stated purpose, and thought it a perfect addition to his gospel.
The Tower of Babel passage has God punishing the people, apparently of Babylon, for using their Tower to contact heaven just as the ziggurats were used. It would be intriguing if Matthew has a subtext going on about the ziggurats being used for observing stars to be a means for the people of Babylon to recognize the real God come to earth and go to worship him.
An idea anyway …
Matthew 2 tells the story of the Wise Men seeing a star ‘as it rose’ or ‘in the east’, a start that went ahead of them leading them to travel west seeking the newborn King of the Jews in Jerusalem. Then, having been told the King of the Jews would be born in Bethlehem, were overjoyed to find the star standing over Bethlehem.
Pretty confusing stuff. But a professional astronomer named Kidger put forth a hypothesis about how all of this made sense if one interpreted it as an astronomer would in light of a series of impressive if perfectly natural astronomical phenomena that had recently taken place. Not only does this hypothesis make sense of Matthew’s account, it gives a reason for Babylonian astronomers to go to Jerusalem looking for a newborn King of the Jews. It is not my intention to go into the details. The hypothesis involves triple conjunctions and heliacal risings and Babylonian mythology and such esoterica. I did delve into this and IMO it beats the pants off all the other ideas on the subject I have seen.
However as I said my purpose is not to wax astronomical. Rather it is to raise the notion that this is another instance of Matthew referring to scripture to bolster his narrative, if only obliquely. The otherwise confusing star narrative introduces the possibility that Matthew came across some record of these events by wise men from the east who really came to Jerusalem for the stated purpose, and thought it a perfect addition to his gospel.
The Tower of Babel passage has God punishing the people, apparently of Babylon, for using their Tower to contact heaven just as the ziggurats were used. It would be intriguing if Matthew has a subtext going on about the ziggurats being used for observing stars to be a means for the people of Babylon to recognize the real God come to earth and go to worship him.
An idea anyway …