The Wise Men's Ass

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The star pointed the way to Christ.

The Wise Men’s worship of him pointed to the greatness of their faith.

After our children’s Christmas Pageant this Advent, I sat on the altar with the cast members and answered their questions at random, a tradition I like to call “Midrash in the Moment.” This season they posed to me a surprising number of questions about the Wise Men.

One such question:

“I know they rode camels, but did the Wise Men have donkeys too?”

Like Leo McGarry, I did not accept the premise of her question and pivoted. Only later did I discover that the church father Origen interprets the passage assigned for Epiphany by way of Balaam and his talking ass in the Book of Numbers.

In Homily 13, Origen proclaims:

“If Balaam’s prophecies were introduced by Moses into the sacred books, how much more were they copied by those who were living at that time in Mesopotamia, among whom Balaam had a great reputation and who are known to have been disciples of his art? After all, it is reported that from him a race and institution of magicians flourished in parts of the East, which possessed copies among themselves of everything that Balaam had prophesied. They even possessed the following writing, “A star will rise out of Jacob, and a man will spring from Israel.” The magi had these writings among themselves, and that is why, when Jesus was born, they recognized the star and they understood, more than the people of Israel, who despised hearing the words of the holy prophets, that the prophecy was being fulfilled. Therefore, based only on these writings that Balaam had left behind, when they knew that the time was near, they came looking for him, and immediately worshipped him. And to declare the greatness of their faith, they venerated the small child as a king.”

The star pointed the way to Christ.

The wise men’s worship of him pointed to the greatness of their faith.

In Homily 15, Origen preaches on Numbers 23.10, “And let my seed become as the seed of the just.” He proclaims:

“This could indeed be understood even about that Balaam, according to the fact that those Magi who came from the east and first worshipped Jesus seem to have been of his “seed,” whether by physical descent or traditional instruction. For plainly it is a fact that they recognized that the star that Balaam had predicted would “rise in Israel” (Numbers 24.17). And so they came to worship the king who was born in Israel. Nevertheless, it will correspond with that people according to the things that we have said above; for it is not so much themselves, as their seed that will become like the seed of the just, namely, of those who have been justified in Christ by “believing from the Gentiles.”

Finally, Origen sees in the Magi’s flight from Herod— as the Holy Family flees into Egypt— an allegory to the drama of salvation. Origen points this time to Numbers 23-24:

“After this it is written, still concerning Christ, that “God led him out of Egypt.” This seems to have been fulfilled at that time when, after the death of Herod, he is called back from Egypt. The Gospel indicates this when it says, “Out of Egypt, I have called my son.” To some these words seem to have been taken from this passage in Numbers and were inserted into the Gospel, but to others they seem to have come from the prophet Hosea. However, it can also be understood as an allegory, that after he went to the Egypt of this world, the Father led him and took him to himself, so that he could make a way for those who were to ascend to God from the Egypt of this world.

His glory, therefore, is like that of a unicorn.”

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