Where did the three wise men come from?

Answer 1

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 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, 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. Biblically, they came from Persia or Babylon.

Answer 2

The three wise man was MAGI, according to Bible they came from East,exactly how far from east, they came from different countries, there are three possibilities

1. Persia

2. Arabia

3. Babylon

Answer 3

There has been so much fantasy written about these men, but The Bible story is very different. 1. Nowhere does say there were three of them! This misconception came from the Bible account that tells us they brought three gifts. There were probably many more than three bringing the three gifts between them. 2. Nowhere dooes it give their names as Melchior, Caspar and Balthazzar. This is a medieval invention. 3. They were not kings. The Bible says they were 'wise men' who studied the stars, not kings. 4. No one knows their colour or race. it iis likely that they came from Persia but this is also speculation. 5. They did not arrive at the stable along with the shepherds. The crib scene was an invention of St Francis of Assissi one Christmas to tell the Christmas story, but the idea that the wise men came to the stable is wrong. The Bible account tells us that by the time they arrived Jesus was already living in a house in Bethlehem. 6. The likelihood is that the wise men arrived when Jesus was a toddler - around 18 months to 2 years after his birth. This can be inferred from the Bible account that Herod decided to kill all boys 2 and under to ensure that he killed Jesus. Why do this if Jesus was newly born? The answer is that he wasn't - he was at least 18 months or around 2. So the wise men must have taken around 2 years after the birth of Christ to find Jesus. Sorry to destroy the romantic myths about the kings around the manger scene - Although the crib scene reminds us of the wonderful miracle of Christ's birth, it never really happened like that. The Bible makes that very clear.

Answer 4

Yes. Matthew's Gospel actually referred to magi who came to visit Jesus. Matthew was familiar with the Zoroastrian religion of the Persians, and his story of the virgin birth is suggestive of the virgin birth of the Zoroastrian Saoyshant. By having the magi, priests of the Zoroastrian religion, wish to visit Jesus and bring expensive gifts, he was showing that even the priests of this great religion would have wanted to worship Jesus.

In time, the Zoroastrian connection became less important, and they became referred to simply as 'wise men'. This is the translation we see in most modern English Bibles. They are sometimes even referred to as kings, although this is a description that magi would never have accepted. The idea that there were exactly three wise men or kings derives from the number of gifts they were said to have brought.

Answer 5

A:The three wise men from theeast were not kings , but Zoroastrian priests from the east. A:Their names in western christian tradition are;

Melchoir or Melichoior the Persian scholar,

Caspar (Gaspar, Jaspar, Jaspas, Gathaspa) an Indian scholar, and

Balthazar (Balthasar, Balthassar, and Bithisarea) an Arabian Scholar.

Answer 6

A:

The author of Matthew's Gospel describes them, in the original Greek, as magoi.(Latin: magi). The magoiwere priests of the Persian god, Ahura Mazda ('Wise Lord'), known throughout the Near East for their wisdom and learning. They were all members of a single tribe, originating in the north-west of the region we now call Persia. Matthew was seeking to show that even the priests of this then great religion would want to worship Jesus, as well as drawing a parallel between the virgin birth of Jesus and the anticipated virgin birth of the Saoshyant.

Answer 7

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.

Answer 8

In the King James version,

Matthew chapter 2 says that "there came wise men from the east."

It is traditionally believed that they were Magi, a sect of priests from Persia.

Answer 9

to find baby Jesus so that they could praise him

Answer 10

o do not know this