#Who Were the Wise Men? written by me - IG @devotionals_by_pareeeee

Were the Wise Men really wise? Why did God lead them to Christ? Where did they come from? What did they believe? We can get a fairly clear picture of these men from the Bible as well as some historical sources.

But before we can answer these questions we must first look at the Shepherds.

To start, let’s turn to Luke 2, verses 8-14:

“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.”

The Shepherds would have been Jewish men; likely uneducated in the worldly philosophies of the time. They would have lived a simple lifestyle in the fields and countryside. Being Jews, they would have been brought up learning the Tanakh (Old Testament), and were most likely followers of it. When the Angel of the Lord (Christ Himself in His pre-incarnate form) appeared to them “they saw the light” – they immediately believed and ran to Jesus.

The Gospel of Christ (or “Good News”) came to the Shepherds first - it came to Jews before the Gentiles. This is confirmed throughout the New Testament, for example:

“Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also:” - Romans 3:29

“But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: For there is no respect of persons with God.” - Romans 2:10-11

Now we’ll turn our focus to the Wise Men. Let’s turn to Matthew 2…

“Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came Wise Men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.” - Matthew 2:1-2

“...and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh.” - Matthew 2:9b-11

After Jesus was revealed to the Jews, it was time for Him to be revealed to the Gentiles. But being Gentiles was not the only thing that set the Wise Men apart from the Shepherds. Unlike the Shepherds, they were well-educated in worldly philosophies. They were also of a much higher standing in society, and, most notably, yet seldom acknowledged; they did not originally follow the God of the Old Testament. These were “sacred” (so called) astrologers, sorcerers, wizards…they were the Magi.

But how can we be sure of this?

The Greek word which became “Wise Men” in the English translation, is “Magoi” or “Magi” - the root from which the word “magic” comes.

Strong’s Concordance describes them as this:

Definition: a Magian, an (Oriental) astrologer, by implication a magician

Usage: a sorcerer, a magician, a wizard. mágos (plural, magi) – properly, belonging to "the Magoi, a Median tribe (so Herodotus); a Magian, one of a sacred caste, originally Median, who seem to have conformed to the Persian religion, while retaining some of their old beliefs.

Now we will take a detour for a moment. Let’s switch to the Old Testament because “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:” - 2 Timothy 3:16.

We travel back to ancient Babylon to the wicked king, Nebuchadnezzar. He was a prideful idol-worshipper who persecuted the Jews who chose to worship God instead of the Babylonian idols. When he had a dream which troubled him, he sent for a certain sect of people to help.

“I Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in mine house, and flourishing in my palace: I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled me. Therefore made I a decree to bring in all the wise men of Babylon before me, that they might make known unto me the interpretation of the dream. Then came in the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers: and I told the dream before them; but they did not make known unto me the interpretation thereof. But at the last Daniel came in before me, whose name was Belteshazzar, according to the name of my god, and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods: and before him I told the dream…” - Daniel 4:4-8a

Daniel interpreted the dream that Nebuchadnezzar's “wise men” (the magicians, astrologers, and soothsayers) could not. The king would be taken into the wilderness to live like an animal, eating grass like an ox, and His kingdom would be taken from him for a time. He would be shown that God rules over all, including Nebuchadnezzar. The proud and wicked king would be put in his place.

When he had learned his lesson, and his kingdom was finally given back to him, he believed on the Lord:

“And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation:” - Daniel 4:34

“Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.” - Daniel 4:37

After Nebuchadnezzar believed, Daniel’s name became even more well-known in the land. He had much fame in Babylon, and when the Medes and Persians conquered Babylon, King Darius set up Daniel as a leader.

Because of Daniel, the Wise Men that visited Jesus would have had access to the Old Testament. God had set this in motion hundreds of years before Christ came so that they would have His Word to guide them to Christ.

Historical records also confirm that the Magi originated from the area of Media and Persia. Commonly, they were magicians and priests who followed a combination of Zoroastrian and ancient Persian religions.

They would have been considered among the wisest individuals in their homeland – but all of their accumulated wisdom would soon be revealed as foolishness in the presence of the Saviour (“Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil.” - Proverbs 3:7).

We are not told from how far in the east they came, or how early the star appeared to them. We can surmise from historical records of the Magi caste, however, that the most likely area was from somewhere within the Persian Empire, and that the star would have appeared early enough to give them time to study what they had seen.

Being astrologers, the Magi would have been well-acquainted with astronomy – they would have known the names of stars and constellations (and their movement in the heavens), the times of comets’ appearances, the alignment of the planets…and so on. There is little doubt that when astronomical events occurred, the Magi noticed – and they believed them to be for signs or omens. The Magi of the Persian Empire would use their skills in the occult to interpret these signs.

Then a new star appeared. A star they could not explain. Despite all of their knowledge they could find no answers. What they thought was wisdom had become foolishness.

In order to find answers they would have needed to search texts and beliefs outside of their own – grasping for the meaning of this new and unknown star, because to them, every star meant something.

Being as educated as they were, we can assume that they would have first looked into the texts of western nations (since the Wise Men’s home was in the east, and the star appeared to them pointing west toward Jerusalem).

Eventually they discovered the ancient prophecy of Numbers 24:17-19 that says “I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel…” Further study of Old Testament prophecy would have caused them to conclude that this prophecy was speaking of a coming Messiah of the Jewish Faith; the only One who was worthy of worship.

These were the Devil’s men – but God is more powerful than the Devil! God used the Devil against himself to lead these wicked men to Christ.

A question remains: why did God send The Angel of the Lord to the shepherds, but a star to the Wise Men?

The Shepherds, being Jews of the Old Testament faith, would have already known who God was; they would have known a Messiah would come some day. They just needed direction to Christ, which is exactly what the Lord provided.

The Wise Men, however, did not grow up in the Hebrew faith. The Magi had worldly knowledge, and their faith was in the stars, not the God of the Old Testament. God used something they were familiar with to lead them out of their own religion. But they did not simply see the star and immediately follow it to Jesus (which would have caused contradiction in the Scriptures); they were first led to the Word of God, which in turn led them to Christ.

“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” - Romans 10:17

“So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” - Isaiah 55:11

Isaiah 60:13) "The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious."

And for those who use the Jeremiah 10 argument - no, Jeremiah isn’t talking about Christmas trees, that’s massive incorrect reading of the context, it is clearly talking about making idols with mouths, hands, feet and covering them in gold and silver and carrying them around - cross reference this with Psalms 135:15-18, Psalm 115, and Isaiah 40

Notice when you break Jeremiah 10:2-6 down word by word that it is speaking of actual idol making - V2 learning the way of the heathen, V3 working and crafting out of a tree, V4 plating/decking with gold and silver and fastening it so it can't move, V5 they can't speak, they can't move, but are carried about the people, V6 there is not like thee (no other gods that are like the Lord God). It's not Christmas trees or anything like that, it's literal making of false god idols. All people see is the “Tree” wording, and they cherry pick that passage and create conspiracy theories about it to try to find a way to condemn the decorating of trees (trees are plants, plants are not bad, decorations are not bad, putting decorations on plants is not bad - making idols and worshiping them is).