One of the so-called Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament reads: “There shall come a star out of Jacob” ([Num. xxiv, 17]). “Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the King, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, ... and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was” ([Matt. ii, 1, 2, 9]). This marvelous event at the advent of the Christian Messiah was a complete “fulfillment” of what had been predicted centuries before concerning the appearance of the expected Persian Messiah, the original of the expected Messiah of the Jews.
Graves says that the language of Matthew clearly betrays the astrological origin of his story: “The practice of calculating nativities by the stars was in vogue in the era and country of Christ’s birth, and had been for a long time previously in various countries. ‘We have seen his star in the east, and have come to worship him.’ Now mark, here, it was not the star, nor a star, but ‘his star’; thus disclosing its unmistakable astrological features” (Sixteen Crucified Saviors, p. 53).
After referring to the prevalency of astrology at the beginning of, and anterior to, the Christian era, Strauss says: “When such ideas were afloat, it was easy to imagine that the birth of the Messiah must be announced by a star, especially as, according to the common interpretation of Balaam’s prophecy, a star was there made the symbol of the Messiah. It is certain that the Jewish mind effected this combination; for it is a rabbinical idea that at the time of the Messiah’s birth a star will appear in the east and remain for a long time visible.... In the time of Jesus it was the general belief that stars were always the forerunners of great events.”
Jesus in the Apocalypse declares himself to be “the bright and morning star” ([xxii, 16]). He “had in his right hand seven stars” ([i, 16]). “The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches” ([20]). His second coming will be heralded by “signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars” ([Luke xxi, 25]).
The star of the Magi which pointed so unerringly to the cradle of Christ points not less unerringly to one of the sources from which Christ came.
4. Worship of the Elements and Forces of Nature.
The elements and forces of nature, Volney believes, inspired the first ideas of God and religion:
“Man, reflecting on his condition, began to perceive that he was subjected to forces superior to his own, and independent of his will. The sun enlightened and warmed him, fire burned him, thunder terrified him; the wind beat upon him, and water drowned him.”
“Considering the action of the elements on him, he conceived the idea of weakness and subjection on his part, and of power and domination on theirs; and this idea of power was the primitive and fundamental type of every idea of the Divinity.”