THE WISE MEN

Matthew 2: 1 – 12 KJV
1Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
2Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
3When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
4And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.
5And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet,
6And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, art not the least among the princes of Judah: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.
7Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.
8And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.
9When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.
10When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
11And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh.
12And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.

Popular legend names these “wise men” as Melkon, Balthasar, and Gaspar, possibly from what is now Iraq in Arabia.

It was customary to check in with ruling authority when dignitaries visited a region so that is why they visited Herod. What is interesting is that when faced with a conflict between obedience to civil authority and the protection of Jesus Christ, they chose to protect Christ, they chose civil disobedience, deceived Herod, and went home another way to avoid him. They did this because they were “warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod.” In other words, God was in direct communication with magicians from another culture, a gentile or non-Jewish culture, they heard His voice, understood what He was telling them, and obeyed His instructions just as Balaam had done (Numbers 22 – 24).

Based on the original words in the text, it is highly unlikely that the three wise men were kings as is often believed.

Various articles that appeared on Wikipedia.org said the following:

“The word Magi is…a specific occupational title referring to the priestly caste of Zoroastrianism. As part of their religion, these priests paid particular attention to the stars, and gained an international reputation for astrology, which was at that time a highly regarded science.

“Their religious practices and use of astrological sciences caused derivatives of the term Magi to be applied to the occult in general and led to the English term magic.

“The KJV translation as wise men may be somewhat politically motivated: the same word is translated as sorcerer to condemn “Elymas the sorcerer” in Acts 13:6-11, and is translated sorcery to describe Simon Magus in Acts 8:9-13.

“In the Arabic Gospel of Youth, the three Magi who came to bear gifts to the child Jesus are identified as priests of the Zoroastrian religion, and Zoroaster, the founder of their sect and their first prophet, who had told to their people how to recognize the Savior at the right moment, is identified as Balaam.

“The Arabic Gospel of Youth was written in a geographical region where still Zoroastrian communities were present and well known by Christians, and Balaam was very fit as an identification of Zoroaster because he was considered as a more or less contemporary of Moses, as a non Jew, but also a believer in a Monotheistic religion, and, as so, as able to make true prophesies in the name of the only God.”

Furthermore, the Greek word for star is astera from which we derive the English word asteroid. In context it could well have been a configuration of stars and not just one though it could also have been just one unusual or retrograde star. Matthew 2:9 does imply that this star was miraculous or supernatural.

The Magi could not be scientists in the modern sense of the word; they could not have been astronomers, because the philosophy of science had not, at this time, been born. They were most likely practitioners of the magical arts in general and astrology in particular.

We assume there were three Magi because three gifts were given but there could have been more or less. The exact number is not revealed. The gifts themselves were not uncommon offerings of one dignitary to another, but in this case, these gifts had particular significance.

Gold represented royalty or purity.

Frankincense is incense that suggests deity among us; it is the presence or fragrance of deity in our midst.

Myrrh was also incense and, at the time, it was at least as valuable as gold. It had some associations as a royal perfume but was mostly associated with suffering because it was used in ancient funerals to mask the smell of burning corpses.

As a “type” for suffering, Myrrh suggests the kind of life Jesus would live and also the kind of death He would suffer. But the gifts were presented to the parents of Jesus and I suspect that Myrrh may have spoken more to a mother’s suffering than a Son’s. Mary would watch her offspring, her child, grow to a man. she would watch Him take His first steps, speak His first words, she would nurture and love Him as only a mother understands, and then she would watch her innocent Son suffer and die for crimes He did not commit. The suffering of Mary is often eclipsed by the suffering of her son, but it was no less real.

These gifts may have financed the passage to and stay in Egypt so God used gifts of astrologers to finance the protection of the Messiah, in fact His own protection as He Himself is fully manifest or incarnate in Jesus.

Assuming the magi were astrologers and/or magicians (and there is overwhelming evidence that this was the case), a question arises in my mind: If God is hostile toward practitioners of the magical arts (as a brief survey of Deuteronomy 18:10–11, Leviticus 19:26, and Isaiah 47:13–14 would suggest), then why did He invite practitioners to His incarnation?

The wise men used magical arts to find and then worship Jesus.
The Bible condemns the practice of such arts.
If the wise men practiced magical arts that are condemned in scripture does it follow that the wise men themselves will be condemned even though they worshiped Jesus?

My answer to this question is not that the New Testament in “endorsing” the magical arts or those that practice them, but I do think the New Testament in general, and Jesus in particular, is inclusive of all people, and this I believe is “good news” for our magical brothers and sisters.

It is not what we do or did that will save or condemn us, but what He did and who He is. The Bible curses magicians, but Christ took that curse upon Himself so that we could have peace with God.

“Wise Ones” still exist and some still look to the stars for guidance, but these early wise men allowed the stars to lead them to Christ. The path of a wise one is perhaps, at times, a broken one, but it is one that Matthew demonstrates can lead to Christ.

The apple of Eden is a metaphor for occult knowledge. There is always a loss of innocence whenever the apple of occult knowledge is bitten. But, the good news is that the seed of the woman has crushed the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15).

Much love on this Christmas, Yule, and always,
David Dellman