Does the Bible mention the wise men?

Answer 1

We read about them in Matthew chapter 2. Of interest though, is that tradition calls them "wise men." In reality, the Greek word used was "magi," akin to the word "magic." They were astrologers, fortune tellers, or magic practicers, practicers of what The Bible condemns.-(Dueteronomy 18:10-12) Also, only the indefinate plural of the word "magi" appears. We really do not know how many there were. There could have been two, three, ten, etc. Again, tradition is responsible for distorting the account, by asserting that there were three.

Answer 2

Wise men and gifts are mentioned however this took place a t a house and Christ was a toddler by then. Which could explain why Herald after having spoken to the wise men put out an order to kill all children under the age of 2.

Answer 3

Answer

The "wise men" appear in Matthew's Gospel. Strictly speaking, Matthew called them magoi (Latin: magi, sing: magus), who were priests of the Zoroastrian religion. But later translations have removed the Zoroastrian context and repalced it by the simpler "wise men" or even "kings".

Answer 4

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The only scripture that mentions the wise men at all is Matthew's Gospel, which does not assign names to them. The names now associated with the wise men are of more recent origin, and Archbishop Rowan Williams has described the story of the three wise men as nothing but a "legend" and says there is little evidence that they existed. Matthew is said to have simply been writing Christian midrash.

Answer 5

They were priests from Persia, very learned men. A: They are not named in the Bible. In fact, we are not even told how many there were! Tradition has settled on three of them, because there were three gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh. But in the Bible, they are are completely anonymous--we don't even know what country they came from or returned to. You can see the whole story in Matthew 2:1-12.

A:

First, travel by land in those days could be quite dangerous from small groups seeking to profit from raiding travelers. As such, it seems quite reasonable that these travelling Magi would be in a large enough 'caravan' to make this trip.

Concerning the Magi's place of origin, Matthew uses two Greek expressions for areas east of Palestine. He first says the Magi are from "the East" (or "eastern parts"-Greek, ton anatolon ), or the distant East. Secondly he says the Magi saw the star in "the East" (Greek, te anatole )-west of the Magi's home, but east from Palestine's viewpoint, in the near East.

With this in mind, some biblical scholars believe that the Magi came from Parthia - a great empire east of the Euphrates-biblically "the distant east." This empire conquered the lands east of the Euphrates area, had Babylon as its capital and included the areas of Persia, Bactria, etc. It ruled the whole area and was the empire of the East-the land of the Magi.

The Parthians rose to power around 250 B.C. in and around the southern shores of the Caspian Sea. That was the very land into which the house of Israel-not Judah-had been taken captive by the Assyrians (see 2 Kings chapters 15,17, and 18 and here about the tribe of Reuben:

1 Chronicles 5:6 New King James Version (NKJV)

6 and Beerah his son, whom Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria carried into captivity. He was leader of the Reubenites.

Taken then to the next logical step, these 'Parthians' appear to have been the descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel who Josephus noted in the 1st Century AD that they were a massive group of peoples in the area north and east of Jerusalem. Wouldn't it have been quite proper for the children of Israel all - and not just Judah where Christ was born - to come and pay homage to their King? If this is the real story-line then the Magi were 12 in number representing each of the tribes of Israel bringing the three gifts to the child Jesus.

Answer 6

Matthew 2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi[a] from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him."

3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written:

6 "'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;

for out of you will come a ruler

who will shepherd my people Israel.'[b]"

7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."

9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

Answer 7

The story of the 'Magi' or Wise Men is found in Matthew 2. However, the number of men is never given. Traditions of men made their number 3 due to the three main gifts mentioned. Since these men came a long distance - probably Persia or current day Iran - they most likely travelled in large groups in a caravan. There were probably more than 3.

Answer 8

Matthew's Gospel does not actually call them 'wise men', but magoi (Latin: magi), which is also translated from the original Greek into English as 'magi'. The magi were priests of the Zoroastrian religion of the Persians. These priests were renowned in the ancient Near East for their wisdom and learning, so it became common to refer to the magi in Matthew's Gospel as wise men. From a literary perspective, the magi were a convenient means of bringing Jesus to the attention of King Herod, so that Matthew can draw parallels between Jesus and Moses.

Answer 9

The story of the Wise Men (Magi) can be read in Matthew 2.

Answer 10

The gospels that tell about the Magi, or wisemen, are Matthew and Luke. I hope this helps