Why The Wise Men? Series

The why’s of Christmas. That has been our sermon series this Christmas season. "Why Christmas" in the first place Why did Jesus come? We looked at why 2,000 years ago. We considered last week, why Mary.

Today we will examine why the wise men. Why did these astrologers from a far country seek out the King of the Jews. What is up with that? Consider that all they saw was a star. Why seek out a Jewish King? Why take the risk and expense and time for a long and dangerous journey to seek out a Baby?

This morning we will just be considering the actions of the wisemen. We understand King Herod was part of that story, especially what came later with his attempt to eliminate all threats to his throne, but we will restrict ourselves to a look at the wisemen.

Matthew 2:1–12 (NKJV)

Author, pastor and one of my favorite commentator, Dr. Warren Wiersbe, he makes an interesting observation in considering the story of the wise men:

The magi were seeking the King; Herod was opposing the King; and the Jewish priests were ignoring the King. These [Jewish] priests [and scholars] knew the Scriptures and pointed others to the Saviour, but they would not go to worship Him themselves! They quoted Micah 5:2 but did not obey it. They were five miles from the very Son of God, yet they did not go to see Him! [However] The Gentiles sought and found Him, but the Jews did not. [1]

Why did the wise men seek out Jesus whereas the Jews did not?

Let’s examine who the wise men were. The word used in the Greek for “wise men” is “magoi” where we get the word magi (plural). As we know, the Bible says there were as least two and probably more. We get this from the plural of the word. Tradition gives us three wisemen, only because of the three gifts given.

Matthew 2:1–2 (NKJV) Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”

Magi were Gentiles, meaning they were non-Jews. “Wise men from the East” They were from the east of Judah and Palestine, possible from Persia. The were probably from a pagan priestly sec who advised kings and rulers, based on their observation of the stars. They were men of great learning, and study the natural sciences of the day. They were scholars and scientists in their own right.

“seen His star in the East” How can they see the star in the east then headed west to Jerusalem? The word for east in the Greek, Hebrew, as well as Aramaic, the language of the day, translated literally, means “rising” as in the rising of the sun. The sun does rise in the east. Their word for rising became the word for the cardinal direction. The phase may be better phrased “we have seen his star rising.” We are not going to examine the star, as there are many theories. However, regardless of the many possible natural phenomenon, it was a supernatural event. They did not see the star continually, but it did re-appear in their search for the Child Jesus.

Matthew 2:9–10 (NKJV) When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.

How did it go before them and how did the star stop over the Child, we don’t know and we must take it face value. But these wise men, magi, were probably familiar with Jewish writings and even perhaps had a copies of the Jewish scriptures, either in Hebrew that was left by the returning Jews from captivity some 500 years earlier, or a copy of the Greek translations (LXX – Septuagint) which were known to populate notable libraries. They were aware of prophecies such as those made by Balaam, the prophet (who tried to curse the Jews but could not):

Numbers 24:17 (NKJV) “I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near; A Star shall come out of Jacob; A Scepter shall rise out of Israel, And batter the brow of Moab, And destroy all the sons of tumult.

Perhaps they were familiar with the prophecies of Daniel about the Prince that was to come. Especially from the prophecy of the seventy weeks. they certainly understood time, weeks of years, and calendars.

Daniel 9:25 (NKJV) “Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times.