The Wise Men or Magi Lesson

Wise Men, Magi or Chaldeans
Let’s talk about the wise men for a little while. The wise men are
part of our Christmas traditions. All of us have seen images or
displays of three wise men worshiping baby Jesus in the manger in
Bethlehem surrounded by the shepherds, animals and Mary and
Joseph. But most Bible scholars insist that the wise men were not
there on the night of the birth with the shepherds. So, what does
the Bible say about them and when they visited Jesus?
Matthew Chapter 2 Verse 1 says, “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.
We have most of our ideas about this fascinating group from

Christmas cards, artworks, plays and movies.
Many traditions and guesses have found their way into our popular
beliefs and into Christian art throughout the centuries. They are
said to be kings; three in number; one scholar says that they were
said to represent the families of Shem, Ham and Japeth and for that
reason one is pictured to be an Ethiopians. They were given names
of Caspar, Balthazar and Melchior but I could not find where
exactly that started. Exactly though, the only REAL information is
in Matt 2:1. Unfortunately, from the Bible, we don’t actually
know their names, how many there really were and on the exact
date they visited Jesus, Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem.
I would like to examine here with you in depth though what we

can discern from the Old and New Testament, and the writings of
Herodotus and other historians. Here is the story of the Magi.
This is not going to be preaching but an historical discussion. The

wise men are believed to have been members of an Eastern priestly
group descended from a group priests of the Medes.
In history there have been four major world empires: The
Babylonian Empire from the fertile crescent area east of Israel.
The second great world empire that Daniel talks about was known
as the Medo-Persian Empire, Medo being Medes a very large and
powerful people. The third great world empire was the Greek
Empire under Alexander the Great and finally the Roman Empire
which is who was in power at the time of the birth of Christ.
Even while the Babylonian empire was in existence, there were

Medes and Persians. They are a very ancient people. Some
historians believe that the origin of the Medes goes back to when
in Genesis Chapter 12 Abram was called out of Ur of the Chaldees.
They are the people we see in the book of Daniel. They existed
through both the Greek and Roman empires and were still in
existence when Jesus was born.
Depending on which translation of the Bible you read Matthew

Chapter 2 verse 1 from, you have “wise men”, kings or magi. In
this case all three are correct which does not happen when
comparing our KJV with the other versions. That is because of the
translation of the Greek word magos and magoi which is not a
translatable word but is the name of a certain tribe or group of
people, magi. They were a priestly line of Medes who were skilled
in astronomy and astrology which occupied much of their time
studying these sciences. Basically there were originally pagan but
during the time of the Babylonian empire, they were very heavily
influenced by the Jews. Remember, that one of the things that
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon did was take Judah into
captivity. These magi were very high-ranking officials and
advisors to the king. Remember, still that at this time they came
into contact with a very specific Jew by the name of Daniel, who
was elevated in the Babylonian Empire. Now the magi were
according to Herodotus a tribe within a larger tribe, Medes. There
were a hereditary priesthood tribe. In other words, like the Levites
of Israel.
Now remember that we said that some historians trace them all the
way back in Ur of the Chaldees. During the Babylonian Empire
they were significant, during the Medo-Persian empire they were
significant, during the Greek empire they were significant and also
during the roman empire they were significant. In all of those
empires they maintained a place of tremendous prominence in the
Orient in the East. They were the key people in the government of
the East in the Fertile Crescent area. They were a group with
tremendous political power because of their rather unique powers
of divination, astrological and astronomical knowledge and
knowledge of the occult. This is where they get the name Wise
Men.
Now looking at them in Daniel Chapter 2 of the Old Testament we

are in the court of Nebuchadnezzar. The king commanded to call
the magicians, astrologers and the sorcerers and the Chaldeans for
to shew the king his dreams. When they could not tell the king the
dream he had forgotten, verse 12 says that he was very angry and
commanded that all the wise men be destroyed. In verse we see
that Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah his companions were
grouped with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. It may not be
but it seems from the verses in chapter two of Daniel that
magicians, astrologers, sorcerers and Chaldeans and wise men are
all synonymous, we are talking bout this priestly tribe. They were
known to be able to interpret dreams. In Chapter 4 verse 7 we see
that in came the Magi, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the
soothsayers. They are mentioned repeatedly in the Book of Daniel.
In Daniel 5:11 There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the
spirit of the holy gods and in the days of thy father light and
understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found
in him, whom the king Nebuchadnezar thy father the king I say thy
father made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans and
soothsayers; at the end of verse 12 we see that King
Nebuchadnezar named Daniel Belteshazzar master of the Magi.
As the master of the Magi grouping them all together that puts
Daniel in a unique position to be able to dispense toe all these wise
men all of the Old Testament knowledge which without a shadow
of a doubt is exactly what Daniel did. We know that Daniel was a
man of god who was totally devoted to worship and expressing his
faith because he would up in a lion’s den because of it. When the
final decree of Cyrus of Persia or the Mede who came to power at
the end of the interpretation of Belshazzar’s dream by Daniel when
he was slain by the Chaldeans that night, that the Jews could go
back to their own land, the majority of them did not return. They
stayed in Babylon, intermingled, intermarried and throughout the
remaining history of Babylon and Medo-Persia were people in the
noble families, held high-ranking offices. In Esther 1:13 we have
the indication that the royal bench of judges was all chosen from
the Magi. I believe that there were some God-fearing Wise men in
that eastern part of the world who had studied all the Judaiac
prophesies of the Messiah as we see in Matthew Chapter 2, had
seen the star and came to worship the King of the Jews.
I love studying this don’t you? Fast forward to the time of the
Birth of Jesus, we see historically 4BC. Rome was scared of the
Eastern Empire known as the Parthian empire made up of Medes,
Persians and Babylon. They fought in 55BC, 40BC and always
met in battle in the little no man’s land known as Israel. In verse 3
of Matthew Chapter 2, we see that “When Herod the king had
heard these things, he was troubled”. He heard from the Magi, the
Parthian kingmakers who had just arrived in Jerusalem that there
was a new King of the Jews just born.
At this time, there was a ruling body of Magi called the

Megistanes. They were the kingmakers in the Parthian Empire.
They made a kin called Phraates the Fourth but he was a real loser.
The Megistanes were looking for a new king of the east who could
challenge the Roman Empire. When the Magi or Wise men
arrived in Jerusalem, Herod was fully aware of this and he had the
kingmakers wandering all over Jerusalem where is this new king of
the Jews? Is it any wonder Herod panicked? The Wise Men did
not ride camels but Persian horses with all t he regal trappings.
They did not travel alone but with their Persian cavalry for security
and safety on the roads. Picture Herod peeking out his palace
window when these powerful men ride into his courtyard and his
army is out of the country on a mission. Our Bible says Herod was
troubled, the Greek word means agitated and shaking. Herod had a
title given him by Caesar Augustus who crowned him King of the
Jews. His life-long dream was to get this little buffer state of Israel
under his power but he was old and dying. Secondly, Caesar
Augustus was old and dying. And since the retirement of Tiberius
the roman army didn’t even have a commander and chief. All the
signs pointed to this being a good time for a war by the Parthian
empire. Is there any reason Herod was troubled???
That is all the political background to this event. The Bible does
not get into any of this and that may have been the farthest thing
from the minds of the Wise men. I think that they were not
looking at this as a political opportunity but exactly as it says in
Matthew. When they got to the house in Bethlehem, they
worshipped him. They saw more than a king; they saw the
Messiah that they had heard about since the days of Daniel. I think
that they were God-fearing gentiles who were searching for the
Messiah. They may have been thinking that this is the Saviour the
Anointed One which is a term that describes a king. Not only the
Saviour the Messiah but he might be the one to gather all this
people of the east together and go against the oppression of Rome
because they knew that Israel was on their side not Rome’s. They
thought that the people of Israel would be as excited as they were,
but instead the people of Israel were blinded by their unbelief.
I think that this is so fascinating how God controls history. Long
before the birth of Jesus, he picked out a man named Daniel from
his captive people in Babylon put him in a place of influence. He
shares his knowledge with the wise men of the time as their leader.
Then the descendents of these wise men come and worship the
new-born King of the Jews, but instead of the Jews being excited,
they keep trying to kill him from the beginning. As Paul said, To
the Jew first and also to the Gentiles. And the Bible says, if we
don’t praise him, the very rocks will cry out.
Tomorrow I am going to delve into when these wise men came to

Jerusalem based on different information and also what was that
star that led them here.
Father, it’s beyond us to see how you work and just when we think
we understand, we find a world of information and insight that
expands our minds and we see your incredible greatness, your
unequalled power and wisdom. God, I thank you for the wise men
however many there were and whatever their names were who
came seeking the King. I pray Lord that in our fellowship this
Christmas season if there are those who have turned their back on
the King that you will convict their hearts and that they will fall
down on their knees and worship the Lord and Savior. We’ll give
you praise Lord for all you have done to show us the working of
your mighty hand in our lives. In Jesus holy name. Amen

The Wise Men or Magi Lesson

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Wise Men or Magi Lesson

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Wise Men or Magi Lesson

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Wise Men, Magi or Chaldeans

Matthew Chapter 2 Verse 1 says, “Now when Jesus was born in

We have most of our ideas about this fascinating group from

I would like to examine here with you in depth though what we

This is not going to be preaching but an historical discussion. The

Even while the Babylonian empire was in existence, there were

Depending on which translation of the Bible you read Matthew

Now looking at them in Daniel Chapter 2 of the Old Testament we

At this time, there was a ruling body of Magi called the

Tomorrow I am going to delve into when these wise men came to

You might also like