People Of The First Christmas-The Magi Or Wise Men Series

Introduction: the shepherds of Bethlehem were the only recorded visitors to go see Joseph, Mary, and Baby Jesus on the night He was born. Sometime later, Matthew recorded that “wise men (KJV)” or magi (several other translations) came to Jerusalem. The purpose of their visit was to worship the One born “The King of the Jews”. Even though they probably didn’t get to Bethlehem on the actual night of Christ’s birth, they could still be considered people of the first Christmas. They came to worship, visited the newborn King where He was staying, and were smart enough to listen to God’s message they received in dreams. They were truly wise men!

1 The Wise Men arrived in Jerusalem

Text, Matthew 2:1-8, KJV: 1 Now 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, 2 Saying, 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. 3 When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. 5 And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, 6 And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel. 7 Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. 8 And 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.

The King James Version of the Bible calls these men “wise men” but several other versions call them “magi”. They were from the “east” which is a very indefinite term: this could be any region from Arabia to Babylon or Persia, perhaps even further. Apparently the wise men had knowledge of various things, ranging from astronomy to theology and even geography. They were able to trace or combine something in the sky (a “star”) with a prophecy (which one is not specified, but could be Daniel’s prophecy of the “70 ‘weeks’”) in a land far away, Jerusalem.

Nothing is mentioned about the logistics of their journey. We not only don’t know where these wise men came from, we also don’t know how many of them came to Jerusalem or their true status. A popular Christmas carol refers to them as “We Three Kings of Orient Are” but the song writer may have taken some liberties with Matthew’s text. It’s true they brought three kinds of gifts (the gold, frankincense, and myrrh) but it’s probably also true they didn’t come alone. The risk of having their treasures plundered or stolen, long before they ever reached Jerusalem, might well have been on the minds of each wise man!

Whoever they were, and wherever they were from, they knew something special had happened. They took action to prepare for the journey and set out for Jerusalem. Digressing for just a moment, there weren’t that many good ways to get to Jerusalem from anywhere else. As Israel was basically a strip of land between the Mediterranean Sea on the west, and desert to the east, any traveler from the East would probably follow the so-called “Fertile Crescent”, or taking the path of the Euphrates River. This river had its source near the Black Sea and emptied into the Persian Gulf (using current-day terms), flowing generally south to south-east. Abram, for example, could have followed this river easily from Ur of the Chaldees all the way to just south of Haran, where he stayed for a period of time before heading on to Canaan (Genesis 11-12).

Eventually they arrived at Jerusalem and began asking questions. This would have created at least a little bit of a stir because, for the people, the only king they knew was Herod, and he was certainly no infant! How many of the people saw, or even remembered, or even heard of the events at Bethlehem some time before is not certain; maybe none of them knew anything about the heavenly hosts and shepherds going to the manger to see the Baby.

The wise men or magi had been in Jerusalem for at least a little while, apparently, because word came to Herod about their questions. Herod decided to find out for himself about this “king of the Jews” so he called the chief priests and scribes. Why there was a distinction between priests and the chief priests is nowhere explained; in the Old Testament, there was the high priest and the other priests. Every priest had to be able to prove he was a direct descendant of Aaron or he would not be able to serve as priest (example, Ezra 2:61-63 and Nehemiah 7:63-65 describe how some of the priests who, after the Exile, returned to Jerusalem with other Jews but were disqualified from the priesthood).