The Onymous November-December 2013, issue 7 | Page 15

- 15

Issue 7 November-December 2013

A Christmas Question:

When did the three wise men actually come?
By Jacob Timothy Lange

We’re all familiar with the story of Christmas. Around the world,
many people decorate for Christmas and set up nativity scenes in their
houses, in their shops, and just about anywhere in public. And part of
the traditional nativity scene are the proverbial three wise men. But
the question is: When did the three wise men actually come?

W

ho said there were three
wise men? Not the Bible.
The Bible never said how many
there were. Who knows, what if
there were a hundred? Or only
two? Here’s what the Bible does
tell us:

rael to conquer all it’s enemies.
Only those who understood t he
prophesies about the promised
Messiah (meaning anointed one,
or king) realized that Jesus
would be a man of peace, not
war.

Herod was the King in power at
the time Jesus was born. Matthew 2:1-3 says ‘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? We saw
his star in the east and we have
come to worship him.” When King
Herod heard this he was disturbed,
and all Jerusalem with him.’

Verse 7, in chapter 2, goes on to
tell us that ‘Herod called the
Magi secretly’ and sent them to
Bethlehem, ordering them to
find Jesus and report back to
him, so that he might ‘go and
worship him’. The real reason
was that Herod wanted to kill
Jesus.

Herod was afraid that Jesus
would overthrow him. Most
Jews believed that Jesus, the
promised king, would be a military leader who would lead Is-

The Magi arrived in Bethlehem,
where, when they saw Jesus,
they ‘bowed down and worshipped him’. Then they gave
him gifts of gold, frankincense,
and myrrh. An angel warned the
Magi (‘wise men’) not to return
to Herod after seeing Jesus