Monday of the Third Week of Advent
Today's reading from Numbers was an important source for Matthew when he crafted his version of the Christmas story (Luke would write a very different version years later).
At the risk of racing to the Epiphany (on January 5th of this liturgical year) and at the cost of keeping a good Advent, it is helpful to note that the author of Matthew relied on Numbers 22-24 when committing his reed stylist to papyrus in the story of the magi. Thus, he used images well known to his Jewish-Christian audience.
It would have sounded like a familiar carol heard many times before: a wicked king manipulating a magician from the east to bring harm to God’s anointed. But our magi, like Balaam of old, reject this sinister plan and they bless the child instead. The community for whom Matthew wrote would immediately connect this account to the one in Numbers.
Balak, the wicked king of Moab, wanted to bring harm to Israel as they trespassed on his land while traveling to the Promised Land. Balak hires Balaam the magician, a wise man from the East, to put a curse on the trespassers. But at every curse, God intervenes and Balaam speaks words of blessing instead.
As Matthew integrates this tale, wicked King Herod attempts to trick a different sort of “magi” from the east in a plot to discover where the Christ child is. Just as Magician Balaam rejected Balak’s scheme, so the Matthean magi refused the mad monarch’s blood thirsty scheme, worshipping the child and not revealing his location.
In Numbers, after three attempts to curse, Balaam finds God’s voice again, but this time, Balaam utters words far greater: “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near; A star shall come forth out of Jacob, And a scepter shall rise out of Israel.”
The scepter, a royal staff, symbolizes a king and a star that will be the King’s sign. This would make perfect sense to Matthew’s Jewish-Christian community—it’s just what Balaam had spoken long ago. The magi are successors to Balaam in that they seek the true ruler whom Balaam foretold.
The star still rises in the east and beacons Christians through the ages to seek the promised king. But be forewarned that this same sure star will rise where we least expect to find him — among the poor, the helpless, the destitute, the ignored, the hidden, the cold, those who have no advocate. So it was in the story of the magi in Matthew’s oft told tale. So it is for Christians in every time and place.
—Timothy J. Cronin