Christmas pageants which are so popular at this time of year, even in churches, usually involve three fabulously dressed kings on camels, travelling at night as they follow a star across the desert. Yet there is so much in this familiar scene that is, at best, unlikely.
First, as we have already noted, these men were not kings. They were Magi – court astrologers and king makers
Second, we have absolutely no idea how many of these Magi there were. The familiar number of three is simply deduced from the number of gifts that they presented to the infant Christ, but there is nothing in Scripture to indicate how many of them there were and traditions that I have read, some going back many centuries, vary from two to twelve.
Added to that, however many Magi there were, they would have been accompanied by a considerable number of others. These men were dignitaries who would have travelled with huge caravans made up of armed soldiers, attendants, cooks, wagons and servants. There would have been a huge number of people making their way from Persia to Canaan; probably many hundreds. It would have been quite a sight and would have caused quite a stir when they finally arrived in the great city of Jerusalem, never mind the humble town of Bethlehem.
Third, it is most unlikely they would have travelled on camels. Partly given the distance they had to travel – and remember it was a return journey of around 1600 miles (2300 kilometres) – and camels are relatively slow on their feet. But also because, according to everything I have read, the Magi despised camels. They greatly preferred horses and were famed for being accomplished horsemen. Now, you may accuse me of inconsistency since my featured image for these posts is three men on camels! I readily plead guilty, but I could find no good pictures that involved horses which in itself tells you something.
Fourth, The journey of the Magi and those with them would probably have taken around 3 months. We know from Ezra 7:9 that it took Ezra and his large caravan of people four months to get to Jerusalem from roughly where the Magi would have come from, and the text clearly suggests that they made good time in doing that. Ezra 8 then lists those who accompanied Ezra, and the number of the men listed totals 1,496, in addition to the individuals named, and there were also a sizable number of women and children (8:21), plus about 40 Levites (8:18-19) and 220 “temple servants”. Given that huge number, and the fact that it included many women and children, I suspect that it is safe to say that the Magi made quicker progress over all, but it would probably be no less than three months.
All of that will play into my next two posts as we look at the star and the timing of their arrival in Bethlehem.
My problem with these fanciful depictions of these and other events surrounding the nativity is that they are presented as portraying the biblical record and they simply are not. Like so much else that happens at this time of year, they reflect cultural and historical traditions which are being ‘sold’ as biblical and that should cause us a problem.