So I wrote the other day that this would not just be another useless BLOG site and I am making the effort today to not make it that.
While re-reading through the book of Matthew today, I was struck by a verse that made me ponder it's meaning a little. I could be way off with what I am about to layout before you but this is just a thought. If every word that is written in the Bible has a purpose and there was a meaning as to why the word was indeed used, then why in Matthew 2:9, when talking about the Maji going to visit Jesus, does it give the star that was guiding them a human quality. It says and I quote "...the star they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was."
May I give a new thought in the minds of others, the thought being that the star that went before them was an angel of some sort, so bright that they could not make out the features of the angel. That all it looked like to these Maji was a bright star. Multiple commentaries explain the star off as a meteor or an anomaly like Aurora Borealis.
"As to what is here called a star, some make it a meteor, others a luminous appearance like an Aurora Borealis; others a comet! There is no doubt, the appearance was very striking: but it seems to have been a simple meteor provided for the occasion." - From Clarke's commentary about Matthew.
But my case is that the writer would not give a human quality to an inanimate object unless it was something other than just a star.
Let me know what you think...
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3 comments:
I (at the present moment, who knows for how long) 100% believe it was an angel!
What is your reasoning or thoughts behind this? Just wondering.
I would like to post my brother's comments becuase he has refused to use the blog site to do anything.
Personification is a tool employed by writers to describe un-human things using human
characteristics in an attempt to make us--humans--develop a deeper understanding or
connection to these things. Matthew's diction might imply that all nature responds to its
creator. On the other hand, it may have been an angel. I don't know. It seems, however,
that any time an angel or 'heavenly host' plays a part in Biblical activities it is mentioned--
especially during that whole story of Christ's birth.
As for the blog: yes, you are a nerd. I was going to respond on your site, but it required
me to sign up for a 'blog account name,' and I refuse. I have no problem discussing these
things with you, though.
So there it is!
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