Wise men from the East

Michael Hardt

When the ‘King of kings’ (Rev. 19:16) came to His people, He received a cold welcome, especially from the religious elite in Jerusalem. Hardly anybody seemed to take any notice at all. Against this dark background, the faith and devotion of the wise men from the east shines so much the brighter. Let’s trace their steps based on the account in Matthew 2. 

‘Now Jesus having been born in Bethlehem of Judaea, in the days of Herod the king, behold magi from the east arrived at Jerusalem, saying, Where is the king of the Jews that has been born? for we have seen his star in the east, and have come to do him homage’ (Matt. 2:1–2).

When did this happen?

To understand the events related in Matthew 2, in particular the arrival of the wise men from the east, we may first have to unlearn what seem to be common beliefs perpetuated in Christendom (e.g. in popular Christmas carols or ‘nativity plays’). Let’s remind ourselves of the biblical account:

  1. No ‘three kings’: 
    1. there were not necessarily three (we are not told their number);
    2. they were not kings (we have no reason to assume so; rather, they are referred to as magi, or wise men — more on this below).
  2. No mingling with the shepherds:
    1. The events of Matthew 2 should not be confused with those of Luke 2 (the birth of Christ and its announcement to the shepherds). 
    2. The wise men from the east probably arrived around a year after the birth of Christ. They had seen His star in the east, when He was born. They would then have needed a number of months to prepare for and undertake the journey to Jerusalem. When they arrived, Herod ‘inquired of them accurately the time of the star that was appearing’ (v. 7). Note the word ‘accurately’. Herod would have been told what we do not know: how much time had elapsed since the birth of Christ. What we do know is that, later on, Herod commands all children under the age of two to be killed — no doubt because he suspected the age of the king to be in that range, probably between 6 and 18 months.
    3. The opening words of verse 1 do not prove the contrary. The phrase ‘now Jesus having been born’ (not ‘when Jesus was born’ as per the King James translation) indicates that the Lord’s birth had occurred (it does not prove that it occurred just then). 
    4. In Luke 2, there is no room in the inn and Jesus is laid in a manger whereas we read of a house in Matthew 2. 

This point having been cleared up, we can turn to the bright example of the wise men.

Who were the magi?

The wise men, or magi, should not be taken to be astrologers. They were more like astronomy professors, well educated people, perhaps comparable in some respects to the wise men at the court of king Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 1:20; 2:2; etc.). In any event, as we will see, they were marked by obedience to and reverence for God. 

These wise men travelled to Jerusalem because, they said, they had seen the star of the king to be born. This raises the question of what exactly they had seen and how they knew what it meant. They refer to the Lord as ‘the king of the Jews’ (v. 2), which indicates that they were aware, to an extent, of Jewish messianic expectations. 

But why did they connect the expected king with a star? Most likely they were aware of the prophecy of Balaam, who also came from the east: ‘I shall see him, but not now; I shall behold him, but not nigh: there cometh a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel’ (Num. 24:17). These wise men clearly expected the ‘Star out of Jacob’. When they saw an unusual star, they took it as a signal to start the journey. What a combination of little knowledge and great faith!

In the days of Herod

It is telling that, as verse 1 informs us, this happened ‘in the days of Herod the king’. These were dark days indeed. Herod was a godless man. The news of people having come from far away to seek a king in Jerusalem disturbed him greatly. Instead of welcoming the ‘great King’ (Ps. 48:2; Mal. 1:14; Matt. 5:35), he regarded Him as a threat to his own throne. He judged the Lord’s arrival by the impact it might have on his own position, honour and renown. Instead of welcoming the Saviour, he ‘was troubled’ (v. 3)! But what is really sobering is that the text continues to say: ‘and all Jerusalem with him’. If Herod feared for his position, should not Jerusalem have rejoiced in the coming of the new King?

Herod tried to gather all the information available — but with evil intentions. He asked the scribes where Messiah should be born, and promptly received a precise answer: in Bethlehem. But how sad and sobering it is that the scribes had knowledge but were not touched by it, while Herod intended to extract that knowledge from them only to abuse it by plotting to kill the child. To get even more information through the magi he tells them to go and find the child and bring word back to him. He has the audacity to suggest that he needed this information to come and worship the new king. His real plans were quite different (vs. 3–8). 

The magi divinely led

But let’s focus on the magi. Interestingly, the Bible does not state that they gave Herod any commitment but only that they had ‘heard’ him (v. 9). In any event, they started their journey — still having no address other than ‘Bethlehem of Judaea’. At this point, after they had set off from Jerusalem, the star, which they had seen in their homeland, re-emerged and ‘went before them until it came and stood over the place’ (v. 9). This clearly indicates a divine and miraculous intervention rather than anything that could be explained by natural phenomena. They acted in faith, and God did not disappoint them. 

What is beautiful is the description of the location to which the divine satnav had steered them: ‘the place where the little child was’, or, as the magi had referred to Him, ‘the king of the Jews’ (v. 2). Incidentally, it is striking that they do not refer to Him as a king-to-be or as an heir to the throne, but as ‘the king’. We read no word of the house at this stage, nor word of Mary as yet. First and foremost was the ‘little child’ who indeed was the great king. 

Verse 10 tells us that when the magi saw the star, they ‘rejoiced with exceeding great joy’. How appropriate their reaction! They realised that God was at work and leading them. They sensed that they were about to see, with their own eyes, a much brighter Star, the ‘Star of Jacob’, the long-awaited ruler who would, in a day to come, lift up His sceptre. 

The magi become worshippers

They arrive at the house and find — note the order — ‘the little child with Mary his mother’. Christ arrests their attention. Their reaction speaks volumes: ‘falling down [they] did him homage’ (v.11). What a contrast to Herod and ‘all Jerusalem with him’. We know from Luke’s Gospel that there were individuals — minor characters so to speak — who ‘waited for redemption in Jerusalem’ (2:38). No doubt prophetess Anna herself belonged to this group, as did Simeon and (outside Jerusalem) Mary and Joseph, Zacharias and Elizabeth, and others. But Matthew focuses on the ‘official’ welcome which the Lord received from the mass of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. What they had failed to do, the visitors from remote places did: they worshipped the Lord. 

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Textfeld: Food for thought How do we fare by comparison? Recently, a couple from Iran told me how surprised they were when they came to Europe and nobody they asked seemed to be able to tell them about Christ. ‘We thought people over here were Christians’, they said. In this respect, the Western nations once marked by Christian values hardly fare better than the inhabitants of Jerusalem 2,000 years ago.

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The treasures

Then the wise men opened their treasures. It was no mean load they had been carrying but items of great value (this is still the case today, just look up the price of gold!). They were bringing treasures, not leftovers. 

But what is even more instructive is the spiritual significance of their gifts: 

  1. Gold speaks of divine glory — the glory related to God’s essential being (in contrast to silver which speaks of His glory in redemption, and copper which speaks of His glory in judgment).
  2. Frankincense was what God required in the Levitical service, be it in the preparation of the anointing oil (Ex. 30:34) or in the presentation of the meal offering (Lev. 2:1, 2, 15). Frankincense speaks of the pleasure God found (at that time: would find) in the life of His beloved Son.
  3. Myrrh, the gum-resin extracted from a plant by incision, bitter in flavour but sweet in odour, speaks so vividly of the sufferings Christ would endure. 

Eastern astronomers would not have had an in-depth understanding of these typological details. Christ’s service and sufferings were yet future. Nevertheless, does not their choice of gifts reveal that they had received divine guidance in this matter as well — that is, not only as to the route to travel but also as to the appropriate presents to bring?

The magi depart

Once more, before departing, the magi receive divine instruction: ‘And being divinely instructed in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way’ (Matt. 2:12). In His grace, God preserved them from becoming an instrument in the hands of wicked Herod (and perhaps victims of his hatred as well). In any event, the magi recognised their dream as divine guidance[1] and did not hesitate to act on it, even though they could easily work out that Herod would become ‘greatly enraged’ as a result (v. 16). 

So the magi departed to their own land. But they left behind a wonderful testimony. The tribute they paid to the ‘great King’ has been included in the divine record and preserved, for our benefit, to this day. What level of appreciation of Christ does God see in our hearts? May the bright example of the magi — minor and unnamed as they may be — stimulate a richer response in our hearts to the person and work of Christ, with a consequential positive impact on our lives and worship!

[1] This phenomenon was not unusual in the days when the Holy Spirit did not yet dwell on earth and the Word of God was not yet complete. 

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From: Truth and Testimony, 2022