Wisdom Truck 2

 

The second place the word Wisdom appears in the Bible surprised me at how far ahead it jumped; Genesis 41:8:

Gen 41:8  So in the morning his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was none who could interpret them to Pharaoh. 

God even helped me out here, because my physical Bible had a note that connected it to a New Testament verse:

Mat 2:1  Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, 

Mat 2:2  saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” 

If you are saying, "Wait, what?" Well so was I, at first.  So I went into researching "Egyptian wise men".  This led me to several obscure Egyptian gods, most of which even my quests into mythology never heard of.  Rather than hop down that bunny trail, the cut-to-the-chase was this:  the wise men were "magicians", they were called on to invoke gods who tapped into the creative force of the cosmos.  They were called mainly for three reasons: to ward off evil (which I believe was the function of our boys in this verse), Curative- invoking the correct god to add his/her touch to whatever illness or injury was being treated, or transformative- either changing a prospective lover's feelings towards you, or later easing the transition into the "next world."   

I had no idea what to do with this, until I got a "work with what you got" flash.  What was the difference between the wise men in Genesis and those in Matthew?  Those in Matthew, Bible scholars believe, were carrying on a tradition first taught them by Daniel when he was the lead wise man in Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon.  Otherwise, why would they even care about a newborn King of the Jews?  So now let's look at three sets of wise men- and here's the passage for that third set:

Dan 2:2  Then the king commanded that the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be summoned to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. 

Dan 2:3  And the king said to them, “I had a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.” 

Dan 2:4  Then the Chaldeans said to the king in Aramaic, “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.” 

Dan 2:5  The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, “The word from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your houses shall be laid in ruins. 

Now the Pharaoh trusted his wise men; he was a man, not yet a "god", and he was worried.  But they couldn't help; they were seeking a divine source of wisdom, but not GOD'S wisdom.  They might trip over an interpretation on other things, but God sent this dream, and only God- through Joseph- would interpret it.   

Nebuchadnezzar very much thought himself a god, and demanded results.  Like Eve, not considering that she had God and sought wisdom from a fruit, Nebuchadnezzar never considered the obvious thing:  if he WAS a god, and his magicians had to go TO a god to learn the dream and its interpretation- why didn't HE know the interpretation?  Truth is, he already knew the BS sleight of hand tricks HIS magicians used, and wanted a true interpretation.  Making it impossible would guarantee the truth.  But that very impossibility pointed away from him as god and dependance on the one TRUE God...

Dan 2:46  Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and paid homage to Daniel, and commanded that an offering and incense be offered up to him. 

Dan 2:47  The king answered and said to Daniel, “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.” 

But while this got it in his stubborn head there was only one god, it didn't cure him from trying to BE God, and that would lead him to trouble down the road.

The third set of wise men, they had been taught part of the story- but they didn't know the details.  Thus they did the exact right/wrong thing: They went to Herod to find out exactly where this child would be born.  The right thing, because Herod sent for his "wise men"- the scribes- and found that the child would be born "in Bethlehem of Judea".  The wrong thing, because Herod- another man who thought he was a "god"- would use the info to kill the children of Bethlehem to eliminate "his rival".

So where do we go with this? Pharaoh's wise men had an idea of divinity, but it was not complete enough to lead them to God.  That's like the spiritualists of our day, knowing there is a power, focused or unfocused, out there, but not knowing God's true nature.  Nebuchadnezzar's wise men were frauds, and seeing the true God opened his eyes.  Still, it had yet to change him at his core.  The wise men who came to Herod, had the right idea, but incomplete knowledge.

And for us, that means, 1) we have to seek the right God, the True God.  2) We have to internalize this, develop a relationship with the True God, so that we might be transformed in our minds.  3) We have to KNOW our scriptures, our Bible, so we don't depend on fraudsters and those with evil intent to guide us.