JD: Well lets now turn our attention to Jerusalem and the encounter between Herod the great and the wise men from the east. Obviously one of the big questions that many don’t usually think about is how these Persian priest came to know about the prophesied King of the Jews.
DJ: As we think about the Biblical account in Matthew chapter 2 what we find is after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea and the days of Herod the king behold wise men from the east came to Jerusalem. And as they went to Herod they asked Herod where is he who has been born king of the Jews. Now, Herod’s title as the puppet king of Rome his title was the king of the Jews as well. So this would have been an absolutely startling statement to have this group of men as you noted they would have been Persian priest.
In Daniel chapter 2, Daniel interpreted a dream both gave
the dream and interpreted the dream for the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar and
it talked about four kingdoms that would come and in extension of that fourth
kingdom the revived Roman Empire would be destroyed by the kingdom of God that
was depicted by the stone coming down from Heaven that would cause that statue
to topple. Which we understand will happen during the Tribulation period as
Jesus Christ sets up his kingdom.
Now, the reason this important is that in Daniel 2:48 we
read that the Babylonian king promoted Daniel and gave him many gifts and made
him ruler over the whole providence of Babylon and chief administrator over all
the wise men of Babylon. So, Daniel was set over all of the magicians, the wise
men, the priest in Babylon. And then when the Medo Persian Empire came in and
took over the Babylonian Empire Daniel continued in that role.
So, these
Persian priest from the time of Daniel he would have trained them and Daniel’s
legacy remained so that when the time came for Jesus to be born in Bethlehem
these Persians actually knew the Hebrew Scriptures. And it goes clear back to
Daniel’s legacy; an amazing story.
JD: David James with the story of how Daniel trained the wise
men to look for the King of the Jews, the Messiah Jesus Christ.
We report this information because it is setting the stage
for Bible prophecy to be fulfilled.
Daniel the ancient Jewish prophet foretold the time of the
Messiah here on earth, that’s Daniel 9:25 & 26. And the Bible tells us that
he even trained the wise men who traveled to Jerusalem to welcome the God men
to earth and having been instructed by King Herod to tell him where the new
born King of the Jews was located there in Bethlehem these wise men departed
another way, that’s the book of Matthew chapter 2.
