There is this time of the year after Christmas and New Year when a special holiday is also celebrated and commemorated. What we are talking about here is the day of The Three Kings or The Three Wise Men. Because of Christmas stories, many people learned about these three kings or wise men who followed the star that led them to the manger where the infant Jesus was born.
Did these three wise men really visit Jesus after Mary, his virgin mother gave birth to him? If you are going to read the Bible, you cannot find the names of these men. What you will only find in the verses are gifts that were presented and offered to the Messiah.
Look at all the Christmas decorations. Listen to Christmas hymns. From these pieces, you can find a multitude of references to the three men who came all the way from the east to visit Baby Jesus with gifts to offer.
Who actually were these men? Were they kings or wise men? What were their gifts?
Did they visit Jesus for real?
The Bible is the best way to learn about the birth of Jesus and this can be found in the books of Luke and Mathew. But if you want to go straight learning about the magi or the wise men, Matthew wrote about it in detail. It starts with the wise men who traveled from the east to Jerusalem to see the birth of the Messiah. Take note that Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem at that time to follow a tax order.
According to experts, the wise men or magi that were mentioned in the bible were astrologers. On their way, they saw a bright star and followed it until they found Baby Jesus, the newborn king. The birth of a new king cannot be kept so it spread quickly until the news reached King Herod’s ears and caused him to become threatened.
To cut the story short, King Herod contacted a group of teachers and priests to locate Jesus. With the available prophesies and records they found; they figured out that the birthplace of the new king is in Bethlehem. Because of this information, King Herod made a deal with the wise men. The wise men were ordered to go first and then return to King Herod to inform him of Jesus’ exact location so he can go and worship him too. This was all a lie though.
If you noticed, the tale didn’t mention how many wise men were there. So, why is it that almost everyone says that there were three wise men or magi? It’s the gifts! The moment the wise men found Jesus, they offered the newborn king three gifts: myrrh, frankincense, and gold. With these three varying gifts, most people assumed that there were actually three wise men at the scene. However, this can’t make us so sure because there are no exact records that support this assumption.
Do they have names?
Read the Bible from the first to the last page and you won’t find the names of the wise men. But with the passing of traditions, the wise men got their names: Persian name Melchor, Arabian name Balthazar, and Indian name Gaspar.
Whether these wise men were magi or kings, it is evident to note that they were Jesus’ visitors who came to see him with gifts to offer. Unfortunately, no one knows the exact number of wise men whether they were actually three or even more. Whatever you have in mind, these men remain a substantial part of all Christmas celebrations.
