In what country do the three wise men bring gifts to?

Answer 1

Theologians have been debating this issue and will probably continue to do so always. They also cannot agree if the Wise Men were together or from the same country. It is generally agreed it could have been from one or if they came separately, three places. Persia, Arabia or Babylon.

Another answer Matthew: "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea 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" (ii, 1, 2).

By the "East" was meant Persia, Arabia or India, and from one of these countries the Magi are popularly supposed to have come.

If they came from Persia, India (?) or Arabia, they came not from the East, but from the South.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, magi is the plural form of magus, a member of a hereditary priestly class among the ancient Medes and Persians; one of the traditionally three wise men from the East paying homage to the infant Jesus

Another answer

According to Matthew 2:1, it states, "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem.

The east is Sephar a mount of the east

The word 'magi' refers to the ancient Zoroastrian priests, so they would most likely have come from a country where the Zoroastrian religion was widely practised. This would be either modern Iran or modern Iraq.

The practice of giving gifts to newborn infants has never been practiced among the Priests of the Zoroastrian religion. This practice is done in India and according to Patristic teaching the Magi were from India.

Mandate of Israel: Since the context of the New Testament is Jewish, the word "MAGUS" translated as wise men should be define in Jewish terminology. The wise men (magicians) of the countries east of Israel were worshipers of pagan gods and goddesses. They have no business, kowtowing to a future Redeemer of Israel or any relations with the G-D of Israel.

On the other hand, most of Israel's exiles stayed behind in Babylon and Persia. Amongst those exiles are Jews who have devoted their entire lives studying the TANAKH. They are considered as "cachamim" (wise men in Hebrew).

It was the Jews 2,000 years ago who were expecting their Maschiach. Herod was a gentile. This is why the wise said to him "the King of the Jews" instead of saying "our King".

Another answer

The truth is that the "Magi" were real people who did come from no other place but India. The relevant facts are as follows:

1. The Jews have been living in the south-western part of India since before the time of King Solomon, to this day(today's Cochi in the state of Kerala). They came to India (Cochi) to buy spices, myrrh, frankincense, gold, precious stones etc. for the temple and settled down there and have always enjoyed full rights and freedoms unlike in any other part of the world.

2. The knowledge of stars and planets and their courses have been very well studied, recorded and known to scholars (wise-men) in India for over six thousand years. That included astrology, which predicts with 100% accuracy of the birth of special individuals who would make history. Even to this day, if the wise-men (the real ones not the fake ones) are told the exact birth-time of a child they can predict with great accuracy all the important aspects of that child's life. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that the wise men of India saw 2000 years ago the bright star that announced the birth of the Messiah and this child's true identity (a royalty and a King of the Jews).

3. Not all ancient Indians were pagans, they knew the creator and worshiped him without images/idols before idolatry and spiritism crept in and over took the TRUTH. Even today, vast majority of Hindus know and acknowledge the CREATOR who is above all the pantheon of gods, demigods they worship. He is known as PARAM ISHWARA (Supreme God, the Almighty). That is the reason when Apostle Thomas came to India the first Indians converted to Christianity were BRAHMINS who were educated in all fields of sciences, influential and affluent (they were from the state of modern day Kerala), to this day we are known as Nasranies (Nazarenes) or the followers of Yahshuah of Nazareth and we are also known as Surianies (Syrians) because we use/d Syriac language in the Church. All other Christians in India were converted to Christianity 1600 years later, in last 300 hundred years or so and they are all from the lowest and poorest of the population, by the Spanish, the Portuguese, the French and mostly by the British (please note: Europeans became Christians almost 400 years after us the original/first Indian Christians in India).

4. Use to myrrh and frankincense is a very old tradition in all special ceremonies (birth) and celebrations (birth), that is practiced to this day.

5. So also use of gold is a very old tradition and very common in all special ceremonies and celebrations to this day. We grind gold with honey and give the mixture to a new born child before we feed the child anything, even before the breast milk is fed.

6. We Indians take gold as the gift for a new born child to whom we are closely related or to the child who is born to a king/leader or to a child who is to be a king/scholar/ wise-man (as per the position of stars at their birth). This has been the tradition for thousands of years before the birth of Messiah. We still cover our sweets (desserts) with gold leaf and silver leaf and we eat them. We still use real gold thread for embroidery on our clothes used for special occasions. The rich used real gold vessels for dinners/lunches on special occasions. The British came and robbed us of all our wealth and plundered all our Natural Resources for few hundred years and left us struggling to survive, but we are rebuilding from nothing again and we have by the grace of God Almighty done quite well so far, with all social problems/evils that we never had before the British came to India.

These men being wise would have deliberately hidden the fact about this special child being the "way of salvation for the entire mankind" and about his life and death; for they would have surely known from their study of the special star that appeared and that led them to the exact location of the Child. It is indeed amazing that God warned them in a dream to avoid Herod and go back to their country by another route. Please note that Matthew 2:12 says that they went back to their own country (singular; not to their own countries), which means that they were all from one country.

Answer 2

A:When the author of Matthew's Gospel wrote the story of the wise men, he had in mind the magi, or priests of the Persian god Ahura Mazda ('Wise Lord'). In the original Greek, the gospel actually says magoi, but most translations into the English language say 'wise men'. Zoroastrian priests, could be found throughout Iran, as well as Babylon, where many of the people had also adopted Zoroastrianism.

We need not attempt to identify the exact location from which the magi came, simply because New Testament scholars say the story is not really true. The author of Matthew's Gospel was simply seeking to show that even the priests of this great religion would want to come and worship Jesus.

Answer 3

Matthew uses two Greek phrases to describe the East with far East being the place of origin of the Wise Men's journey. The predominant Empire in this area at that time was the Parthian Empire which included the modern nations of Persia and Iraq today.

Answer 4

The author of Matthew's Gospel did not use the term 'wise men', he said that magi followed a star from the east.

The magi were the hereditary priests of the Zoroastrian religion which the Jews had encountered during the Babylonian Exile. So, the 'wise men', or magi would have come from Persia or Babylon (Iran or Iraq in modern terms) where Zoroastrianism was practised.

John Shelby Spong (A Bishop Rethinks the Birth of Jesus) says that among people he knows in New Testament circles, the universal assumption is that Matthew's magi, or wise men, were not actual people. Matthew, by having the priests come to worship Jesus, wanted to show that even the priests of this great religion looked up to Jesus.

In more recent times, the Zoroastrian connection became less important, and the priests began to be called wise men. So, historically, the wise men were a literary fiction and did not really come from anywhere.

Answer 5

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