Fourfold Perspective Essay

1. The fourfold perspective is the impact of the newborn on four different societal groups, the Magi, Herod the Great, the chief priests, and a group of shepherds. To start, the child had a major impact on the Magi. According to David Prior, Magi were “men that had an interest in dreams, astrology, magic, books thought to contain mysterious references to the future, and the like” (pg. 18). The birth of Jesus had a major impact on these men because these men were pagan men that were guided to a star, based upon information from imperfect devices. When these men arrived they gave Jesus the most valuable gifts that they had; the newborn King, caused unreligious men to seek him out and adore him. The next man, Herod the Great, had a drastically different impact. Herod the Great rose to power through brutal take overs, killing his own sons to secure his power further. Herod, later, even killed a large group of …show more content…
The chief priests were very prepared for Jesus’s coming. They had all of the Old Testament prophecies and warnings. The magi went based off of unsure predictions and information, but the chief priests would not go even with the truth. The chief priests were instead lazy and did not go out of their way to worship their “long awaited” Savior. Instead, they claimed it as an inconvenience and did not do anything about the birthing of their Messiah. The final group is the shepherds. The shepherds were told by angels of a newborn king, and instantly they went. The shepherds were the social outcasts of society, and yet, when they were told they did not lethargically wait or make excuses. They instead went and adored and worshipped their newborn Messiah. The shepherds represent the future believers later in Jesus’s ministry. For it was not the Pharisees and religious officials that received the gospel, but it was the tax collectors, the poor, the fisherman, and the like that received God’s word and