The prophecy of Balaam

We live in a small world.  With modern transportation we can easily travel to almost anywhere.  We read and share traditions from around the world in our stories, merchandise, and food.  We enjoy furnishings from the orient, art from Italy and carvings from Africa.  We eat at Chinese, Italian, German, and Mexican foods.  We tell stories from Greek, Roman and Norse mythology, and we share the tales of King Arthur and Shakespeare.

The sharing of stories, merchandise and food between nations is not new. World empires of Babylon, Persia and Greece began a mixing process.  People in the Middle East and also in Europe gained a taste for products from India and even China.  Stories, pottery and foods were also shared from the west to the east via Hellenistic culture.  

In the middle of the world both in ancient times, and now, is the land of Israel.  Israel is the link between east and west, north and south.  The via Maris is the main road to Egypt.  The King’s Highway is the main road to the sea which leads to Africa.  All armies and cultures in times past have passed through Israel.

And Israel has given to the world its stories and its God.  The stories came at first through bondage to Egypt and as the people of Israel were conquered by Assyria and Babylon.  Through the passing of time and the mixing of cultures stories were shared by people on three continents.

One of the stories which successfully passed from one culture to another was the prophecy that a king would come when an unusual star was seen in a certain constellation.  The story springs from the prophecy of Balaam (possibly from Ammon) which states: “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth.” (Nu. 24:17)

It is thought that the Hebrew prophet Daniel who was born in Israel, lived in Babylon, and possibly died in Persia, informed the magi of Babylon and Persia of this prophecy.  He also shared a connection between this prophecy and Genesis 49:10, “The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his.”

Strabo the geographer writes about the time Jesus was born: “the prophets too were held in so much honour that they were deemed worthy to be kings, on the ground that they promulgated to us ordinances and amendments from the gods, not only when they were alive, but also when they were dead, as, for example, Teiresias, ‘to whom even in death Persephone granted reason, that he alone should have understanding, whereas the others flit about as shadows.’ Such, also, were Amphiaraüs, Trophonius, Orpheus, Musaeus, and the god among the Getae, who in ancient times was Zamolxis, a Pythagoreian, and in my time was Decaeneus, the diviner of Byrebistas; and, among the Bosporeni, Achaecarus; and, among the Indians, the Gymnosophists; and, among the Persians, the Magi and the necromancers, as also the dish-diviners and water-diviners, as they are called; and, among the Assyrians, the Chaldaeans; and, among the Romans, the Tyrrhenian nativity-casters. Moses was such a person as these, as also his successors, who, with no bad beginning, turned out for the worse.” (Geographica XVI, ii, 39)

Our Bible tells us Magi saw movements or changes in a star in the east (possibly Aldebaran) and put it together with prophecies from the west they understood a new king was to be born.  They gathered gold, frankincense, and myrrh and traveled down what is called the silk road in search of the king foretold in their prophecies.

This week we will travel with the Magi in the book Advent Journeys. I hope your reading is going well, and spending time with the people of the Christmas story is bringing joy to your Christmas.