The Argyle Sweater by Scott Hilburn for December 12, 2023

Balthazar wasn’t his name. Melchior was just mispronouncing “Bah! The star.”

Stop and think about these directions a bit. Bethlehem is itself just barely to the east of the Mediterranean Sea. Where would these guys have to have started if they were heading east? Crete? Sicily? They should be riding dolphins, not camels!

The only way this makes sense is to put that prepositional phrase where it belongs — “We, in the east, have seen his star” — and then they proceeded to head west.

OH, I thought you said follow OnStar.

At least it wasn’t the 3 wise guys Curly, Larry, and Moe!

JPS: Jesus Positioning System

Where’s the rubber cigar they were smoking on?

Of course they wouldn’t ask someone for directions.

I like the hidden meaning in this one.

The word for star also meant a heavenly event, such as a grouping of the moon, planets and stars to form a pattern. This can be predicted well in advance, which allowed the wise men to travel. “Stood and rose before them…” The standing is where the Earth moves quicker and a planet appears to go backwards. The rising is rising with the Sun. The pattern they calculated seemed to mean that a king would be born in Judea.

There is a great Arthur C Clarke story that was adapted for TV as, IIRC, an episode of the new Twilight Zone show many years ago where in a space exploring mission from Earth comes across remnants of a great civilization that fell victim to its star going supernova. They tried burrowing underground and some tried to flee to space but to no avail. The ship’s chaplain was also one of the astronomers aboard and after careful calculations found that the supernova that had destroyed the incredible civilization was the same star that the three wise guts sae that guided their way to Bethlehem. And the story ends and you’ll have to read it yourself.

This is also close to the 30th anniversary of the implementation of the GPS, on 12/8/93.

I’ve been to Bethlehem (in Israel) just a stones throw from Jerusalem back in Dec. ‘84. Didn’t need a star, used a tour bus instead!

“Don’t Magus regret this trip!”

yeah, head west dudes

Just follow your nose.

He didn’t have it in camel mode anyway.

Early form of GPS.

Looks to me that they are heading west … reboot that darn thing.

“Hurry or we’ll miss the circumcision!”

♪♫ Highway to the Manger Zone! ♫♪

man, he really needs to wise up…