It has become almost ‘the norm’ to suggest that the visit of the Magi to Bethlehem occurred some two years after the birth of Christ and, in support of this thesis, the following points are made: i. Herod’s edict to kill “all the male children… who were two years old or under” (Matthew 2:16) However,…
The star that is connected with the birth of Christ, as recorded in Matthew 2, features in just 12 verses of the gospel and yet has given to rise to acres of theories and speculations. So, before we look at what this star could have been, let’s examine the biblical text. First, Matthew tells us…
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…
In answer to the question where did the Magi come from, there is very little to help us in the text of Scripture itself. All Matthew says, important as it is, is “wise men from the east came“. (Matthew 2:1) At the time of Christ’s birth, the term east meant Media, Persia, Assyria and Babylonia;…
In my last post I somewhat took apart the traditional understanding of the place where Jesus was born, showing by the application of good hermeneutical principles that it certainly wasn’t in an inn. In the next few posts I am going to turn our attention to The Enigma of the Magi, those mysterious visitors from…