I am finishing up a unit on the book of Daniel with my 8th graders this week, and while studying the second chapter of Daniel something occurred to me this time around. I've taught the book twice before as part of the curriculum and never made this connection.
Question: How did the wise men (magi) who visited Jesus (Matthew 2) know about "the one born king of the Jews"? I'm sure there are many possible answers, but this one occurred to me while reading through Daniel 2 one more time: the wise men of Daniel's days in Babylon were intellectual ancestors of the wise men in Jesus day.
Here's how I got there. In Daniel 2 we read about King Nebuchadnezzar having a dream that frightens him into temporary insomnia. He summons all the magicians, wise men, and what the NIV translates as astrologers (though the ESV footnote points out the word is Chaldeans). These men cannot perform the task requrested by the king--to tell the king what he dreamt and what it means. After a rude awakening by the royal guards, Daniel comes before King Nebuchadnezzar and requests some time to implore the God of heaven to reveal the dream, meaning along with it. Nebuchadnezzar grants the request.
Daniel returns the next morning to tell the king the dream. If you'll recall, the dream involves a large statue made of various metals with feet of iron and baked clay and also a stone that rolls and smashes the statue only to become a mountain that fills the whole earth. I will focus on the meaning of the legs/feet of iron on the statue and the rock. Daniel tells the king that the legs of iron will be a fourth kingdom and a strong kingdom that will crush and break all the kingdoms that came before it. We believe this is the historical kingdom of Rome. Daniel then points out that just as the feet and toes were made of iron and baked clay (two elements that do not mix), so this kingdom (Rome) would not be fully united, having some brittle points. I believe this refers to the region of Palestine in the first centuries B.C. and A.D. where the Jews were living at the time. The Jews wanted nothing to do with Rome, for the most part. They were the part of the Roman empire that did not want to mix (the baked clay). In explanation of the rock that becomes a mountain, Daniel declares that "In the time of those kings" (referring to the kingdom of Rome and the brittle Palestinian region) "the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people." (Daniel 2:44 NIV) Naturally this refers to the establishing of the kingdom of heaven, one of Jesus' favorites topics of teaching (just read the Gospel of Matthew some time).
Recall that in the room with Daniel and the king must have been the astrologers (Chaldeans). Also there must have been a court reporter. Someone besides Daniel must have kept an account of the king's dream with interpretation, since this was such an extraordinary event. And as one kingdom passed to another (Babylon to Medo-Persian to Greek), these men from the east (Chaldeans) must have studied and re-studied the record books. Until the time when astrologers from the east notice a magnificent star in the west.
How did they know to come to the land of the Jews? How did they know to ask about the king of the Jews? I believe that God used Daniel to plant a seed in the minds of the Chaldean astrologers to bring them to Bethlehem to meet the one who would establish the kingdom that would have no end.
Perhaps this is a stretch of the imagination and not so scholarly founded. But I've seen and read and heard about God using crazier means by which to bring about His purposes, so I think this one is a pretty good theory.
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