... these men from the east had very good reasons to journey to Jerusalem, the capital city of Daniel’s people, to find and worship the One whose birth the highly regarded prophet had predicted so long ago.

Of all the elements of the story of the birth of Jesus, the account of the magi or "Wise Men" as they are sometimes called, has always fascinated me. Who were these men? Where did they come from? They seem to just suddenly come on the scene of the Biblical narrative, do what it is they came to do, and then disappear as abruptly and mysteriously as they arrived. Surely their mention in the New Testament has some significance, or the Holy Spirit, working through the biblical writer would not have given 12 verses to report on their arrival. So what is there in the account of the visit of the Wise Men that God wants us to know?

The story of the visit is told only by Matthew.(1) It appears in the second chapter of his book. Please turn there with me in your Bibles. We’ll read the passage in its entirety first, to give us the overall picture, then we’ll go back and work our way through it, verse by verse.

Let’s go back now to the beginning of this passage where we read of:

Just who were these mysterious "magi?"

The magi appear first in history in the seventh century B.C. as a tribe in eastern Mesopotamia. Some historians believe they were descendants of Noah’s son, Shem, and thus were a Semitic clan. Some even believe they may have originated in Ur of the Chaldeans as Abraham did. They were the priests of their tribe and thus, had honor and notoriety among their people. They were versed in astronomy and astrology in a day when there was little or no difference between the two. They had a sacrificial system similar to that of the Patriarchs of Israel, but intermixed with it were various occultic practices, including sorcery and the interpretation of dreams. Our words "magic" and "magician" are derived from their name "magi."

It appears that in the sixth century B.C. the magi came under the influence of a Persian religious leader named Zoroaster. Fire was an integral part of their worship. Consequently, their religion was a mixture of a very dim recollection of the God of Shem along with some of the false religion of their day. Since they had extensive knowledge in science, agriculture, mathematics, history, and the occult, their influence grew to the point that they were considered to be very wise men – capable of advising kings. At the height of the Babylonian Empire, King Nebuchadnezzar gathered the wisest men from all the nations he conquered and, after a period of training,(2) elevated them to be his chief advisors. Among these wise men were the magi. It is in this role that we find them in the book of Daniel in our Old Testament. You might remember that King Nebuchadnezzar was troubled by certain dreams. According to Daniel 2:2, he called together "the magicians [magi], the conjurers, the sorcerers and the Chaldeans" to interpret his dreams. If you know the story, you also remember that when they could not tell the king his dream and its interpretation, Nebuchadnezzar ordered that they all be destroyed. That’s when God empowered Daniel to tell the king his dreams and to interpret them. When he had told the monarch what God revealed to him about the dreams,(3) the king was very impressed. Daniel took the opportunity to request that the wise men of Babylon be spared. The king honored Daniel’s petition and placed Daniel over all of the wise men of Babylon, including the magi. It is very possible that this interplay between the magi and the Jewish prophet caused at least some of the magi to revere Daniel and his writings, most notable of which was the prophet’s prediction of the time of the birth of Messiah in Daniel 9:20-27. The sparing of the wise men, the resultant respect some of the the magi would have for Daniel saving their lives,(4) and the possible subsequent study of Daniel’s writings which included a time table for the Jewish Messiah’s birth, may well have set the stage for the story we are reading today about the arrival of these particular magi to worship the king Daniel foretold! Some suggest that they might have been proselytes. Or it may be simply that they had been strongly influenced by Judaism.

There is probably more we could talk about in the subsequent years after Daniel regarding the interaction between the magi and the Jews but we’ll have to leave it for another time. Suffice it now for us to note that these men from the east had very good reasons to journey to Jerusalem, the capital city of Daniel’s people, to find and worship the One whose birth the highly regarded prophet had predicted so long ago.

It is often surprising for people to learn that contrary to most Christmas pageants, the magi were not present at the stable on the night when Jesus was born. In fact, they did not arrive for perhaps several months after His birth. The NASV reflects this in its translation of verse 1: "Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea… magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem…." While this verse alone does not verify a later arrival, several other things mentioned in the New Testament do. Verse 11 of this passage we are considering says that the magi "came into the house and saw the child…." It does not say that they came into the stable. Joseph and Mary were apparently living in a house in Bethlehem by the time the magi arrived. But beyond that, we will note later in this passage that the wise men brought some very rich gifts to Jesus in the form of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Yet later, when Joseph and Mary brought an offering after the 40 days of purification were completed as required by the law for a woman who had given birth, they brought the offering of the poor – a pair of turtledoves and two young pigeons(5) – rather than the normally required lamb.(6) This would not have been acceptable had they just received a rich gift such as the magi brought to them.(7) The gift must have come after the offering of purification.

While it makes for an attractive nativity scene on the front lawn, the presence of the "three kings" at the stable on the night of Jesus’ birth is not consistent with the Bible. In fact the "we three kings of Orient are" were likely not kings at all, but rather, magi - king advisors - or perhaps, in their advisory role, even king makers. Remember, it was the child’s status as a king that was the focus of their interest. Their question was, "Where is he who is born king of the Jews?"

And while we are correcting a few erroneous traditions surrounding the birth of Christ, it may also not be accurate for us to picture these wise men on our Christmas cards as three solitary riders on camels traveling across the desert with a star in the distance. The star is OK, but the fact is, we don’t know how many of them there were. Tradition says there were three, probably because of the mention of the three types of gifts offered – gold, frankincense, and myrrh. But Matthew does not tell us how many of them there were and the idea that they were alone is a bit difficult to imagine since it is probably not too likely that men of such stature would travel with such valuable cargo without some kind of escort from the kingdom they represented.

Let’s move on now to:

It looks to me like the magi did not come directly to Herod’s palace to ask their question about the birth of the King of the Jews. Look again at the text:

"All Jerusalem" would not have been troubled had these men gone only to Herod's palace. It looks to me like the magi just arrived in Jerusalem and started asking around, perhaps expecting that surely everyone would know about something as significant as the fulfillment of such an important prophecy. After all, these were the Jews, the people of Daniel! Surely knowledge of the birthplace of the Messiah would be known by all.

Perhaps what happened to the magi is similar to something that happens sometimes today. Someone who has been totally away from God his or her whole life and known absolutely nothing accurate about Him suddenly sees enough of the truth to get excited about it and be converted. They give God their whole heart with no reservation. They’ve never felt so good! God loves them and has accepted them! They’re born again! To them it is life from the dead – literally – and they understand that. And they just can’t wait to get with other people who understand what they have come to know. They come into the church expecting to find people as excited about their faith as they are. And then they encounter the local church fire department. You know which one I mean. The one that specializes in putting out the fire of new converts. The ho-hum, yawn-yawn, you’ll-settle-down-like-the-rest-of-us crowd whose fire went out a long time ago if it ever burned at all. Surely no one among us is a member of that pyrosuppression crew, right? Right! I just thought I’d check.

My point, before that little digression, was that the magi probably didn’t go straight to Herod’s palace. There would be no need from their perspective. Surely everyone would know about the birth of the king! Only "when Herod the king heard it," that is, when he was informed of their arrival and their question, did he become troubled. Given Herod’s paranoia over any threat to his kingship, it isn’t likely that he would have spread the word of the magi’s arrival in Jerusalem and their question.

Why was "all Jerusalem" troubled about the arrival of the Magi? Some suggest that since these men came from a region to the east of Israel that was controlled by the Parthians, who had already invaded Palestine once, they may have considered their appearance to be some kind of military challenge or threat. Or maybe they were troubled at the thought of what kind of rampage Herod might go on when he found out that someone important was walking around town talking about another king.

Why then would Herod be troubled? The military issue is certainly one possibility. But look again at their question: "Where is he who is born king of the Jews?" Herod would be troubled by such a question asked by such distinguished visitors, and now being voiced in the streets of Jerusalem, because at present he was king of the Jews! And now he hears that someone out there is saying that a new king has been born.

The "Herod" mentioned in this passage – and there are several Herods named in the New Testament - was Herod the Great – the son of Herod Antipater, the first Herod in the "Herod" dynasty.

Herod the Great had been appointed prefect of Galilee through the influence of his father, Antipater. In that capacity this Herod had pleased the Emperor when he quelled some of the violence of the Jewish zealots of the time who hated the Roman occupation. Then the Parthians invaded Palestine and Herod fled to Rome. In due time he was declared by the emperor and the Roman Senate to be king of the Jews. The following year he led Roman troops in an invasion of Palestine and retook it from the Parthians, whom he drove out. This made him a hero with Rome and his subsequent dealings with the Jews made them more willing this time to accept his rule. In order to be more acceptable to the Jews whom he ruled, he married a prominent Jewish woman, Mariamne. During a time of economic hardship, he returned some tax money that had been collected from the Jews. During a famine he melted down some of the gold in his treasury and sold it to buy food for his starving people. He built amphitheaters, race tracks, and even began reconstruction of the Jewish temple in 19 B.C. – the same temple in which Jesus would later preach and teach. He also built the fortress of Masada that is so famous in Israel to this day.

All of this sounds like Herod was a good ruler for the Jews, but sadly, he also had a dark side. Herod had a lust for power and a paranoia over losing it that led him to be cruel and merciless at times. Having seen his own father die when he drank poison in an assassination plot years before, Herod was suspicious or jealous of everyone around him, even those closest to him. He perceived threats where sometimes there were none. At one point he had the Jewish high priest, the brother of Mariamne the Jewish woman he had married, drowned when he suspected him of an overthrow plot. He then murdered Mariamne herself, her mother, and two of the three sons he had by her. Five days before he himself died, he had the third son executed. It was said in hushed tones in his day that it was better to be born Herod’s hog than Herod’s son. By the end of his reign, the people hated him. On his deathbed he rightly feared that no one would mourn for him when he was gone so he ordered the imprisonment of some of the most distinguished citizens of Jerusalem, then gave orders to have them slaughtered at the moment of his death so that there would be sadness in Jerusalem at his death. The order was never carried out.

Of course most of us know of the slaughter of the infants of Bethlehem that Matthew describes later in this chapter we are studying. This cruel deed was done by Herod as a result of the visit of the magi with the intent that he would destroy this one who was reported to have been born king of the Jews. During that time even Joseph and Mary were warned by God to flee to Egypt in order that Jesus’ life would be spared.

Now that we know Herod the king a little better, let’s return to our text where we see him interacting with the magi.

If the people believed that a new king had been born, the paranoid Herod would need to locate him as quickly as possible and neutralize him.

Question: Did Herod’s consulting with the chief priests and the scribes mean that he believed Jewish prophecy?

It’s possible, but I sincerely doubt it – or if he did believe it in any way, he certainly didn’t believe it enough to submit his life to it. Herod was no dummy. He knew that the people believed the prophets, and if they perceived that some special child was born to take his place, they might rise up against him and overthrow him. The Jews were never more fierce or hard to govern than when they perceived a religious cause for their actions.

I’ll have more to say about the role the Jewish religious leaders played in all of this in my next message from this passage. Lord willing, I plan to finish this section next Sunday. For now, notice that the birthplace of Jesus was foretold by the Old Testament prophets.

"For out of you [Bethlehem] shall come forth a Ruler,
Who will shepherd My people Israel.' "

Bethlehem was a small town five or six miles south of Jerusalem. It still exists today and, as I understand, it is still a tiny place. The town came to be known as Bethlehem after the conquest of Joshua. The word Bethlehem means "house of bread." Jesus would say years later during his earthly ministry, "I am the Bread of Life."(8) How appropriate that the birthplace of the Bread of Life be the foretold-in-prophecy "house of bread."

God is always appropriate in what He does. So many of the fulfilled prophecies of Christ appear as though God sat down one day and wrote out the whole story of His people so that it all fit together.

And indeed, that is exactly what He did. I know it is hard for finite creatures like us to relate to this. I also know that it gives pointy headed theologians fits when they can’t fit it into their preconceived systems, but its still true. God laid out the whole plan ahead of time.

Peter says in 1 Peter 1:1-2, that Christians are "chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father…."

In Acts 2:23 Luke tells us that Jesus was "delivered up [to be crucified] by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God…."

And here in our text we see the principle again. The birthplace of the Messiah was foretold in this passage that these leaders quoted from Micah 5:2. And as if God wrote the whole thing ahead of time - which He did in prophecy - it happened exactly as God intended.

By the way, why didn’t the magi know about Micah 5:2? I suspect it is probably because they didn’t have it. As we saw earlier, their main influence may have been Daniel’s writings, which foretold the time Messiah’s birth, but not the place.

Do you know what has always been amazing to me about the birthplace of Jesus being Bethlehem? Joseph and Mary lived in Nazareth, not Bethlehem. Mary became pregnant by the Holy Spirit in Nazareth.(9) She and Joseph were in the wrong city. Big problem if Jesus were to be born in Nazareth instead of Bethlehem! But such a location problem is nothing for God. He just put into the heart of a pagan emperor, Caesar Augustus, the most powerful man in the world at the time, to take a little census of the entire inhabited world. And in that census, to require that all male citizens across the entire empire must return to the place of their birth which, for Joseph, was Bethlehem. It is 70 miles as the crow flies from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Given the scarcity of roads at the time, the trip was probably more like double that – say 140 miles. It was a great inconvenience for Joseph to move his pregnant wife to Bethlehem. Under different circumstances I can imagine him putting the trip off for a year. Yet there was that command from the emperor. You have to go to Bethlehem, Joseph, and you have to go now! Joseph didn’t know he was moving to fulfill a prophecy. He just knew he had to obey that awful, inconsiderate, command that probably, to him, didn’t make a lick of sense. You see, moving people around and managing their schedule is no problem for God. Fulfilling prophecy is no problem for Him, either. He can move heaven and earth if He needs to, even if it means moving the most powerful man on the face of the earth and everyone in his entire kingdom to insure that His Son is born in the right place!

Back to Herod’s response.

Why would he need that information? Well remember, he’s a paranoid king who fears that someone might take away his throne. And right now he is being the calculating tyrant that he is – literally. He’s calculating how many children he is going to need to kill so that he is sure he gets this one who is born king of the Jews!

But alas, he can’t let the magi know about that or they won’t be the unwitting pawns of his murder plot. So he does what he does best. He gives them a load of goods. He feigns a desire to join them in their welcome and worship of the new king. They didn’t know Herod, so they bought it.

We need to stop right there. We’ll finish this passage next time by talking about that remarkable star, looking at the humble worship of these magi, and seeing how God intervened in a dream and sent them out another way rather than return to Herod.

I found the following statement in a magazine this past week. I’ll close with it.

If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator;
If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist;
If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist;
If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer;
But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior.

And we are glad for that!

Footnotes: Please use your back button to return to your place

1. Matthew’s gospel was written to present Jesus to the Jews as their king. The question of the magi, "Where is he who is born king of the Jews?" fits this purpose.
2. See Daniel 1
3. See Daniel 2
4. The later plot against Daniel that landed him in the lion’s den was planned and carried out by various commissioners and satraps, among which the magi are not mentioned. See Daniel 6:4-9.
5. Luke 2:24
6. Leviticus 12:6-8
7. Matthew 2:11
8. John 6:35, 48
9. Luke 1:26

Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.

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All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.

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