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Show Fact And Myth In The Nativity Story V 11 Aw ' There is a great deai of misunderstanding about the facts of Christ's birth. t The evangelists .had limited their preaching to details of Christ's public life, beginning with his baptism in tne Jordan. (In fact, the style of Greek in the beginning of St. Luke's gospel is so different mom the rest, scholars wonder if the nativity narratives were an afterthought, added much later.) We are not certain of the year. Our calendars supposedly date from the Messiah s birth. Dionysius Exiguus made these calculations in the eighth century. He was at east four years off because Christ was bom during the rule of King -ferod, who died in 4 B.C.! We are equally unsure of the day. December 25 is in the middle of the rainy season injudea, which begins in the first part of November. It is very improbable that Joseph took his pregnant wife on the long journey to Bethlehem in the pouring rain. According to St. Luke, Christ was bom while the shepherds were in the fields with their flocks. In Judea, shepherds spent days and nights in the fields during the warm weather between the Passover and die rainy season. Thus the Son of God must have become man some time during the summer. Tradition laments that Mary was forced to give birth to her Child in a cave used to stable animals because there was no room in the inn. The privacy of the stables, cleaned and emptied of animals, was just as pleasant and much more appropriate for a woman in Mary's state. Irnamnative believers have developed many legends about the animals who supposedly shared the stable with the fibly Family. For eating the hay on which the Christ Child lay, the horse was round forever to the service of man and given an insatiable hunger. The ox allowed Marv to use his hay in the marker and warrned the chpd his breath. The cow ottered her new-bom calf as a gift. Mary blessec them both. The cow was promised a new calf each year, and they would both relish earing so much that they would chew their food over and over again. The mule and the goat were cursed for waking up the sleeping babe with their rude noises. Legend also holds that animals were able to talk like human beings on Qiristrms Eve. Soirc said that only the pure of heart could hear their messages. Others warned that one who tried to umerstand the talking animals would witness the prophesy of his own impending death within the. next year. It is said that St. Francis of Assisi promulgated the legend that ox and ass stood by the newborn Child because of this passage from Isaiah 1:3 - "The ox knows his owner, and the ass his master's manger: but Israel does not know me, my people have not understood' ' . Yet Judean cattle were in the fields ana the stables were vacant of animals during the surrirerTirne. Our hearts go out to the shivering Infant with nothing but .strips of cloth to cover him This oral legend also dates from the Middle Ages. If it is true that Christ was bom in the heart of summer, he would have been more comfortable with litde dothing. Also we have no reason to think that Joseph was very poor. Since carpentry was an excellent trade in Palestine, Joseph would have had the means to clothe his heir properly. Many of our Chnstrnas cards depict three degandy dressed kings coming from different continents to see the promised King. But there is no proof that the magi were kings and no way of knowing how many or them came to Bethlehem. The number of magi was probably assumed from the number of gifts - gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Their names, Kasper, Mdchior, and Balthasar--were the whimsical creation of a monk in the ninth century, who also dedded it very appropriate to make one black in order to have the black race represented at Christ's manifestation to the world. They were called kings because of this passage from Psalm 71:10 - "The kings of Tharsis and the islands shall off presents: me kings of Arabia and of Saba shall bring gifts". The magi might nave been priest-astrologers from Babylon. It was to Babylon that Daniel was taken in exile. There he gained great influence. m His prophesy that the Messiah would De bom in Bethlehem in seventy (prophetic) weeks (in 490 years) coindded with armjorsteUarconjunaicflmtheyear7B.C Babylonian astrologers considered this conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn the star of a king. This could be the star that marked the Messiah's birth. Armed with an education in astronomy and their belief in Daniel's prophesy, mese Chaldean scholars could have made the long journey along the fertile crescent. Today we picture a large searchlight star pointing out their path along the sand dunes. This idea was spread by a medieval Church who nad little understanding of astronomy. f of dlixUtmai. 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