Were the wise men three kings from the orient?

In the book of Matthew, the Bible states that "Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem," Matthew 2:1. From this one verse various legends have arisen, among them that the visitors were kings from the Orient.

The verse merely says "wise men from the East" so there is no mention of these men being kings. There is no statement that there were only three, although the gifts mentioned were three. Gold, frankensense, and myrrh were the three gifts and these three gifts were exceedingly costly so the reasoning is that that only kings could have given them.

The Orient is also the same reasoning. "The East" is vague because east of Jerusalem is still in the Middle East by today's standards. Exact places are not mentioned so what we call "the Orient" today, meaning the Asian countries, is a possibility. The Bible simply does not say which countries these men came from.

Given that the arrival of these visitors caused an uproar in Jerusalem, it is possible that there was a large group of men who came. Certainly all Jerusalem knew that they had arrived, so a caravan of people is not unreasonable to postulate.

First answer by Doditov. Last edit by Doditov. Contributor trust: 233 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 12 [recommend question]