
A Star Shone Over Bethlehem – A Star of Joy
In the crumbling towers of Babylon
An ancient study continued on.
Nightly observers scanned the skies
Watching the heavenly bodies rise
And recording their data on tablets of clay
Just as they did on the long ago day
Before the kings of Persia held sway
Over all the Mesopotamian land.
Now Persian scholars lent a hand
Bringing new thoughts and a new kind of lore.
Sharp-witted, sharp-eyed Melchior
Was one of their number. With him he brought
Scrolls of the secrets the Magi had taught.
Daily he sought the knowledge they hold,
Nightly he pondered what stars foretold.
With two friends at school he had shared
Thoughts and ideas. The three compared
Their hopes and dreams and came to agree
The state of the world was about to be
Changed forever and gloriously.
But when it would happen they could not agree.
Now school days end as do all days.
The three good friends had parted ways:
Casper became an imperial clerk;
Balthazar went to Egypt to work;
To Babylon came Melchior.
There he studied and dreamed as before.
One day in a market his notice fell
On a scroll of a prophet of Israel.
His interest aroused, he brought it away
And read it amazed the rest of the day.
He learned from the prophet that someday a king
Would come with an army of angels and bring
Justice and mercy to all and peace
And the reign of this king would never cease.
Melchior from that time on
Carefully kept his attention on
The sector of sky which the ancients tell
Predicts the future of Israel.
For Melchior thought that before the king’s birth
A sign from the sky would tell the earth.
But many months passed without a hint.
Melchior’s hopes were almost spent.
Then one dull night when he’d let his eyes close,
He was suddenly jolted awake from his doze.
There in the sky where he thought it would be
Was the wondrous sign he had hoped to see:
A golden star whose steady light
Brightened the corners of the night.
“Messiah has come!” he cried, “I must go
To welcome him into his world below
The heaven which surely is his domain.
I must write my friends and clearly explain
All that I’ve learned and ask them to meet
And go with me to humbly greet
And lay at his feet all the gifts that we bring.
And welcome here the great young king.”
Melchior rose feeling lighter than air.
He ran to his rooms and began to prepare
The things he would need for the journey ahead:
Gifts and guides and camels instead
Of horses. Desert travel is steady and slow
And west to Jerusalem they must go.
It seemed like a year before they could start,
But at last the three friends were prepared to depart
To follow the star that led to the boy.
Melchior called it the “star of great joy.”
Guy Johnson