three wise men

Ade

A while back i posted on a story found in the watchtowers childrens bible concerning the three wise men going to visit Jesus, in the childrens bible the word is rendered "worship" him, as most are aware in the NWT the words are rendered "do obeisance".This post doesnt directly cover that, i wanted to find out whether these so called wise men were sent by God or not.

The reason for this is that Someone pointed out that this was because the three wise men were (by JW's accounts) sent by Satan.I decided to search through the scriptures to decide for myself whether there was an adequate reason for them to make such a statement. if this has been covered before many apologies.

To cut part of the story short we all know they followed the star, after Herod secretly called them to him , he requested of them to determine the time they had seen the star and they should search carefully for the child so he may also worship Him.They found the child and worshipped Him.Now comes the part where i have a problem with the JW spin on it .

Matt 2:12 "Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed to their country by another way"

The question arises here , if Satan sent the wise men to find Christ why didnt God stop it in the first place, Why didnt God stop them at the last minute, and ultimatley why do we find the wise men have been given a DIVINE warning from GOD not to return to Herod.All of these occurences would appear to point out that the wise men were actually sent by God.

After researching the meaning of "wise men" i discovered that in many instances it was the equivalent of the word "magician" another reason why certain translations actually point towards them being "Magi"/"maji", therefore i cam to the conclusion it would be awkward for the WTBTS to admit they were "magicians" sent by God, as we all know how they feel about magic / sorcery etc.

One rendering of the words "wise men" says "Workers of wonders beyond what is human" it also equivavlates wise men with magicians.

Now we come to some interesting scriptures which in terms of being a JW could become seriously problematic.I will share with you some verses from daniel Dan 2:20 "Then the king gave the command to call the magicians, the astrologers , the sorcerers , and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king"
between these verses they obviously couldnt reveal any meaning to the king
Dan 2:12 "For this reason the king was angry and very furious. and gave the command to destroy the wise men of Babylon"
Here we find Sorcerers, astrologers, Chaldeans and magicians described as wise men.
Dan 4:8 tells us that Daniels name was changed to Belteshazzar
Dan 4:9 nebuchadnezzar says "Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, because i know that the spirit of the Holy God is in you....."
Here we find Daniel being referred to as the "Chief of magicians"
Dan 5:7 "The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, and the soothsayers.The king spoke , saying to the wise men of Babylon....."

So to cover it briefly,

The wise men could have been viewed as magicians and still been from God
It doesnt seem theoretically correct to presume the wise men were sent by Satan, when they were given "Divine" warning by God not to go back to Herod.
If the Star was sent by Satan surely he would have given Herod a dream to tell him what the star meant so he could indeed remove the Messiah.
If Daniel was/can be classed as a magician or was by the Babylonians, Does that mean as a JW you cant accept Daniels prophecy - because if you can it seems illogical that you cant accept the wise men as being sent by God.

all the best
Ade

Leolaia

Daniel was not only trained in Babylonian magical arts, but he also worked in government AND received higher education. Go figure....

headmath

Men wrote the bible and the stuff they wrote was folklore that is stories handed down from one generation to the next. It is no wonder that the bible remains such a mystical text

plmkrzy

It does seem to be a catch 22 with the society and their views on magic etc. Just the same with war and any involvement with government.

It doesnt seem theoretically correct to presume the wise men were sent by Satan, when they were given "Divine" warning by God not to go back to Herod.

I may have understood the reasoning wrong but as I understood this, God caused the magi to get lost. In a nutshell.
The magi were doing as ordered and weren’t being sneaky about it as King Herod was.

Honesty

***

w02 12/15 p.32 "TheThreeWiseMen"—WhoWereThey?***

In view of all the troubles caused by their visit, it is reasonable to conclude that the star that they saw and the message about "the one born king of the Jews" came from God’s enemy, Satan the Devil, who wanted to do away with Jesus.—Matthew 2:1, 2.

I have asked JW's a question about Joseph and Mary's trip to Egypt that they have no answer for:

How did Jesus' parents fund their trip to and from Egypt and how did they survive in a country where they would not be allowed to work because of their Jewish heritage?

Wasanelder Once

Could this description of Daniel be based on the title he was given by his captors and not his true nature or ability. Wouldn't they see his backing by God as magic? We read too, that God would protect the messiah, or maybe that was just some wacky JW reasoning? If he did protect him, he would have kept Satan from giving Herod a dream that would lead to the child's death? Of course the magi had to report to Herod first in order to cause the slaughter of the children of Israel. I think the worst part is that slaughter of children that jehovah had part in causing. He can ressurect them of course.

On top of all that, I don't believe any of it. LOL

W.Once

OnTheWayOut

IMO, the entire gospel account was written in such a way as to make it seem that Jesus fulfilled many Old Testament prophecies, and written in such a way as to elevate their claim that he was the Christ.

Narkissos

When you realise that one key message of Matthew is "What the Jews missed the Gentiles got" (cf. 21:43), and that this message is emphasised throughout the Gospel (from the genealogy which highlights Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bath-Sheba, all considered to be non-Israelite by contemporary exegesis, down to the positive role of Pilate and his wife or the centurion in the Passion story, via the Roman centurion or the "Canaanite" woman whose faith can't be found in Israel, etc.), it appears that the Eastern Magi fit perfectly well into the Matthean pattern, and that the WT interpretation is completely wrong.

Even without resorting to such broad contextual analysis the text is perfectly clear. I can still remember, in my very last weeks as a JW, leading a "Bible study" with a very uneducated family, together with a fellow pioneer. I had already dropped the use of WT literature and we just read and commented the Gospel. We read that passage and the "students" naturally got it right: it's a beautiful and powerful narrative which makes its point perfectly, and transforming it into a devilish plot is completely artificial. So, to the surprise of my fellow pioneer, I didn't "correct" them.

three wise men

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