The Wise Men of Christmas

The Christmas decorations are going up everywhere! Every manger scene this time of year contains three wise men bearing their gifts, along with shepherds, animals, and angels surrounding Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus. And of course the star of Bethlehem overhead. These displays are like an executive summary of the Christmas narrative, but the real story of the wise men is more interesting!

We hear the familiar and beloved carol, “We three kings of Orient are…” But according to my former neighbor and college professor Paul Maier in his book First Christmas, this first line of the song has potentially three errors in it! The Bible doesn’t say how many there were; they weren’t kings; and they weren’t from the Orient, or Far East as the people of that time defined it.

How Many Were There?

The Bible doesn’t mention how many wise men there were (there could have been three, but no one really knows). Three has always been assumed because there were three gifts. Legend has even assigned names and ethnicity to the three, Gaspar (Caucasian), Melchior (Asian or Middle-Eastern), and Balthasar (African) although these traditions arose 600 years after the fact and can’t be authenticated by earlier sources. There were probably more than three; their journey could have been dangerous for a few people, and they likely had servants and others to assist them.

Who Were They?

The wise men weren’t kings, but in the New Testament Greek, magoi apo anatolon or “magi from the East”. Magoi usually means wise men, astrologers, or magicians. “The East” in those days referred to the area from Palestine to Media and Persia. “The Orient”, as sung in the carol, referred to the Far East. Most scholars agree that the magi came from Mesopotamia, specifically Persia or Babylon, where they were considered important people, well educated in the sciences of the time.

Matthew’s Account

The story of the wise men is in Matthew chapter 2. Matthew is the only Gospel that records their role in the Christmas story. Verses 1-2: Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”

When Did They Arrive?

They didn’t appear at the manger with the shepherds! We see part of the timing right away, “after” Jesus was born. In Matthew 2:1: “After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother”. They also came to a “house”, not the original stable or cave. So it appears that after the census crowds subsided, Joseph was able to secure better lodgings. No one knows exactly how long after the birth the wise men arrived. When Herod gave his infamous order to kill male children in Bethlehem, he specified in Matthew 2:16, “…two years and under, according to the time he had determined from the magi”.

Their journey wouldn’t have taken that long, but Herod, in his paranoia about the possibility of another king, wanted to cover all the bases. He was very unstable in these, his last years, even killing his wife and some of his children. His timeframe may have been based on when the magi first saw the star rather than their travel. In Matthew 2:7 he determined from them the exact time the star appeared. Or he may have added more time than really needed to be more certain. If we assume that they came from Babylon or Persia (similar to Abraham’s journey), it may have taken them a few months to arrive in Bethlehem.

The Gifts

Many interpret the gifts that they presented as having prophetic significance in the life of Jesus.
Gold: a royal gift, representing the kingship of Jesus. When Pilate asked him, “are you a king then?”, Jesus replied, “my kingdom is not of this world”.

Frankincense: used in incense, representing the priesthood of Jesus. Hebrews repeatedly calls Jesus our “high priest, “great high priest”, “merciful and faithful high priest”, “our high priest forever”, and other descriptions, mentioned over a dozen times in the book.

Myrrh: an expensive spice used for perfume, anointing oil, medicine and embalming. The soldiers offered Jesus wine mixed with myrrh on the cross in Mark 15:23. They also used it in his burial in John 19:39. This gift represented his suffering and death to atone for the sins of all people.

Why Are They Important?

The magi were not Jews, but Gentiles. They were seekers of the true God, guided by the star, and when they found Jesus, they worshipped him. In a sense, they were a fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah 60:3 “Nations (Gentiles) will come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising.” (Maybe this is where “kings” came from in the traditional carol). Jeremiah 29:13 also comes to mind, a letter written to the Jewish exiles in Babylon, “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord…”

They were the first Gentile worshippers of Jesus, forerunners of those of us in the Gentile Christian world. We can admire their faith, their sacrifices in making the long journey bearing expensive gifts, and their extravagant worship of the Messiah, even as a baby! Their story is truly one of the most inspiring in the Christmas account.