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Herod asked the Wise Men to find Jesus and tell him where he was, not so he could go and worship him as he said, but so he could kill him! He thought that Jesus sounded like a new King that could come and take his power away.
When the Wise Men found Jesus and Mary, they would have been living in a normal house in Bethlehem, because by this time Jesus would have been aged between one and two. Then they gave their gifts to him. The gifts seem quite strange to give to a baby, but Christians believe that they had the following meanings:. The gifts are also all things that come from east of Israel in Arabia. When the wise men were about to go to tell Herod where Jesus was, they were warned in a dream not to, so Herod could not carry out his horrible plan.
This is how they are often described: Gaspar or Caspar , who has brown hair and a brown beard or no beard!
He is the King of Sheba. Gaspar represents the Frankincense brought to Jesus.
The biblical Magi also referred to as the (Three) Wise Men or (Three) Kings, were , in the Gospel of Matthew and Christian tradition, a group of distinguished. After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, 'Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared.
Melchior, who has long white hair and a white beard and wears a gold cloak. He is the King of Arabia. Melchior represents the Gold brought to Jesus. Balthazar, who has black skin and a black beard or no beard! Our English word magician comes from this same root.
But these wise men were not magicians in the modern sense of sleight-of-hand performers. They were of noble birth, educated, wealthy, and influential. They were philosophers, the counselors of rulers, learned in all the wisdom of the ancient East.
The wise men who came seeking the Christ child were not idolaters; they were upright men of integrity. They had apparently studied the Hebrew Scriptures and found there a clear transcript of truth. In particular, the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament must have claimed their attention, and among these they found the words of Balaam: They certainly were acquainted with the prophecy of Micah: They probably also knew and understood the time prophecy of Daniel regarding the appearance of the Messiah see Daniel 9: They have assumed it was true in a historical sense, and if the scholars are skeptical, they are believers with blinders.
Because of their simple assumptions, neither the skeptical scholars nor the believers with blinders have bothered to look further and discover who the Wise Men might be and where they came from.
In fact, the discovery of the truth is a riveting story of detective work, and like most detective stories, the obvious answer is not the correct answer. To determine who the Wise Men really were, we first have to unpack the story as most people understand it.
The story Matthew tells has few details, but the details we have come to accept were added in the first three centuries of the Church. Gnostic writers of the day were similar to New Age believers today. They were enchanted by magic, esoteric theories and the occult. The Gnostics wrote expanded accounts of the birth of Jesus that highlighted the miraculous element and the exotic origins of the Wise Men.
Before long, the full-blown version of the story was circulating. Soothsayers and stargazers — kings from Persia, India, and Africa — followed a magical star across the desert sands on camels, finally arriving after a long and perilous journey to worship the infant Christ.
Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. They were of noble birth, educated, wealthy, and influential. Another tale has it being entrusted to and then misappropriated by Judas. When was Jesus born? Almost every Spanish city or town organises cabalgatas in the evening, in which the kings and their servants parade and throw sweets to the children and parents in attendance. Between Religion and the Empirical ".
They saw his star. They came to the court of Herod the Great. They brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Indiana Jones and the mystery of the Magi. But in fact the true identity of the three Wise Men is linked with Indiana Jones, because I believe they came from the city of Petra in Jordan. I began my investigation by asking if the Bible itself might yield any clues about the identity of the Wise Men.
The writings of the Old Testament prophet Isaiah pointed the way.
For the riches of the sea shall be poured out before you, the wealth of nations shall come to you. Caravans of camels shall cover you, dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; All from Sheba shall come bearing gold and frankincense, and heralding the praises of the LORD.
All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered for you, the rams of Nebaioth shall serve your needs Isaiah