Who remembers the Christmas song “We three kings of orient are, bearing gifts we traverse afar, field and fountain, moor and mountain following yonder star?” Have you ever stopped to wonder who these men were that came to pay homage at the birth of Jesus?
There appear to be differing opinions on who these men were and where they came from. Matthew 2:1-12 says the same things in various versions such as The Message, the NLT and the NKJV, calling them “wise men or scholars from the East”, and the NIV calls these men “Magi” from the East.
So at least one thing can be agreed upon: they came from the East!
Magi, from the Greek magos meaning, referring to one of a learned and priestly class. The Magi were advisors to kings and we can see them mentioned in Daniel 2:2, “so the king summoned the magicians, enchanters and sorcerers and astrologers to tell him what he had dreamed”. The Magi were learned in mathematical calculations, astronomy, medicine, astrology, alchemy, dream interpretation and history. They would have come from the area of Media, Persia, Assyria and Babylon at the time of Jesus’ birth.
These men seemed to be the only ones who saw the star of Bethlehem. The thing with stars is that they rise and set and don’t sit in the sky in a stationary position, because of this you cannot follow them from one place to another, e.g., from Bagdad to Jerusalem. This then says to me that the Lord made this star visible to these men and used it to guide them to Jerusalem on purpose and not Bethlehem as the actual place where Jesus was born, so the prophecy in Micah 5:1 could be fulfilled, “marshal your troops now, city of troops”, Jerusalem would have been filled with soldiers as it was the residence of the king. King Herod and his advisors only knew about the star because the Magi brought it to their attention. They had not noticed it at all.
As per the customs of the time, the men first visited the reigning king, who was Herod. When he heard about the purpose of their visit, their news disturbed him, and so was all of Jerusalem. He called his chief priests and teachers of the Law to determine where the Messiah was to be born. They found the answer in Isaiah 9:6 and Micah 5:2. The scripture in Micah gives the location as Bethlehem, King David’s family hometown.
Another opinion as to the origins of the “wise men” is that these men were followers of Daniel. Daniel could be considered a Magi as he interpreted King Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams, yet he was a believer in Yahweh and served him only. This speculation also suggests that the Magi could have had Hebrew roots and may have followed in Daniel’s footsteps, knowing of the Messianic prophecies of the scriptures and being familiar with the Torah, historic texts, and the Prophets.
This theory raises a question: if these men were familiar with the Torah and the teachings of the Prophets, would they not have known that Bethlehem was the prophesied birthplace of Jesus? Whoever these men actually were and wherever they came from, they did not just happen upon the star.
What does this tell us about God’s plan?
Isaiah prophesied the coming of the Messiah, Jesus, while he was living in Jerusalem about 700 years before His birth. This tells me that the Lord makes known His plans and purposes through His prophets, Amos 3:7, “Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets”.
The Lord had His plan for our salvation worked out long before these prophecies were even spoken, and only later had them recorded, long before the creation of the world. There has never been a Plan B. John 17:24 says, “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory and the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.” This tells me, because our rescue had been planned long before the creation of the world, that God is a God of great love, compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in faithfulness.
Quoting from www.fh.org.blog, “God, the Father committed history’s most powerful act of Love, by sending His son, Jesus Christ, to live among us, to die for us, and to forgive us.”
He is:
- Omniscient – all-knowing; this goes beyond what we can imagine as humans.
- Omnipotent – all-powerful; his words create planets.
- Omni-benevolent – supremely good; full of love, grace, mercy, and patience.
- Omnipresent – present everywhere at the same time, he is not confined by time and space.
Isaiah 9:6-7, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulders; and his name is called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace, there will be no end.”
Consider how amazing our God is, that He brought wise men, or magi, to come and honour our King Jesus, and if wise men could follow a star to Jesus, what would it take for us to follow Jesus?
– Nicky Dell