1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying,
Matthew frames Jesus’ birth within in the reign of Herod the Great. Although popular opinion puts an end to his reign in 3BC there is evidence his reign actually ended in 1BC. So the latest this event can be is 1BC and Jesus has already been born before the”wise men from the east” arrive. This already corrects a few assumptions we have have of the pop-culture nativity scene.
They are not there at the birth of Jesus, there are not three of them and they are not kings. The Greek word is Magi. Magi were something akin to the Levite priesthood for the Persians, They were a priestly caste from the Persian Empire. This is not the first appearances of Magi in the Bible. In Daniel 2:2 King Nebuchadnezzar has a troubling dream, he summons his advisors, including the Magi. They were astronomers and interpreters of dreams. Daniel will eventually be placed in charge of these wise men which is likely how the Persians had knowledge about Jewish Prophecies. Persia is east of Jerusalem and Bethlehem so it fits.
2 “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and have come to worship him.”
Matthew does not tell us to who the question is addressed but we can assume its likely the local authorities and townspeople. The magi ask them where is the king of the Jews that has been born because they’ve seen his star and have to pay him homage. Jesus is likely approaching a year old at this point, the Magic live about 1000 miles away and the journey would take many months.
The Magi as astronomers are keenly aware of the stars and planets and their meanings. Although a lot of this may seem odd, there was some universality on particular interpretations. One of these was a conjunction of Jupiter and Regulus, when this occurred it was perceived by the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians and Persians to be a sign that a king had been born. It is highly speculatory but Daniel was placed in charge of the wise men of Persia about 500 years before the birth of Christ and he was the prophet who received the timeline of the years of weeks from Gabriel that told him when the Messiah would arrive. It is actually rather plausible that this was passed down through the hereditary Persian priesthood and when the universal astronomical signs arrived they were like “Uh, guys its here.” All God would have to do is use his own creations as signs, which he actually does all the time anyway.
3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him;
King Herod hears of the questions that the Magi have brought to Jerusalem and he is troubled along with the rest of the city. Why would they be troubled? Herod was not a king by his own right, he was a client king of the Roman Empire. He marked a moment of reasonable stability for the Judeans. Before this was constant warfare and infighting, for all of Herod’s problems, he did bring a type of ease to the region. The people had gotten use to this even though they weren’t particularly happy about the Roman occupation. A New King would mean war and upheaval,
4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
Herod, wanting to pinpoint the location of the Messiah’s birth, consults the experts in the matter. He acquires the help of the Chief Priests, these were most likely members of the Sanhedrin the Mosaic governing body of the Jews and the lead actors in the Temple ritual cult. He also gets the scribes, these are legal experts, they are Mosaic lawyers and they would settle disputes regularly as pertaining to the Law of Moses.
5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it is written by the prophet:
6 ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will govern my people Israel.’ ”
The legal advisers and priests give Herod an answer. They quote Micah 5:2
“But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.”
An interesting detail is that last part of the quote “Whose origin is from of old, from ancient days” this marks out the figure to arrive as a divine figure. This language “from of old” and “from ancient days” is a euphemism for eternal, something from the beginning.
7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star appeared;
8 and he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.”
Herod summons the Magi secretly so he can try to harvest information from them about the Christ Child for nefarious purposes. He asks when the star appeared, this information will be key for his age-range of execution of the Holy Innocents that occurs later. He tells them that Bethlehem is the location, sends them there but asks that they send word back to him once they find him.
9 When they had heard the king they went their way; and lo, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came to rest over the place where the child was.
After King Herod instructed the Magi to go to Bethlehem, they leave and the star appears again before, resting directly over the place where Jesus was.
10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy;
Why would foreigners be so excited about a foreign king being born? This is why I am so inclined to believe that Daniel’s work in Persia during the Babylonian exile may be of extreme importance. Aren’t they a little too happy about this that has nothing to do with them? Unless they do know it has something to do with them. The Hebrew prophecies are not insular, they relate to the uniting of all peoples under God.
11 and going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.
Upon arriving at the house that the Holy Family is staying in the Magi see Jesus with his mother, Mary. They fell down on their knees and worshipped. These are rather large actions for homage to a foreign baby king, unless, again, they have some information passed to them from Daniel.
They bring gifts from the Christ Child. It is here that we get the idea of there being three magi. Three gifts are given, Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. This leads people to assume there are three magi, literally that’s it. The idea of them being kings comes from the first gift that is mentioned,
Psalm 72, a Royal and Messianic Psalm reads:
May the kings of Tarshish and of the isles render him tribute,
may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts!
May all kings fall down before him,
all nations serve him!
Long may he live;
may gold of Sheba be given to him!
May prayer be made for him continually,
and blessings invoked for him all the day!
People see this as being more literally fulfilled by the Magi if they are considered Kings but I don’t think it is necessary to put words into the text that aren’t there. This psalm is fulfilled without it. Gold in itself is a sign of wealth and royalty.
They also offer Jesus Frankincense which is a liturgical type of incense used universally in cultic rituals in the Near East. This adds a priestly layer to the gifts offered to Jesus. The oddball, on the surface level, of the gifts offered to Jesus is the Myrrh. This a very expensive oil used for burial rites. This foreshadows Jesus death but is perplexing as to why you would give this to a baby, unless you knew something about the suffering servant and that the messiah would be “cut off’ a euphemism for being killed in Daniels prophecy.
12 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.
After seeing the Christ Child with their own eyes, the Magi are warned in a dream. It does not specify an Angel or even if it’s Gabriel again, just that a dream warned them to not return to Herod. So instead of returning to Herod as he had directed them to do they go back to their own country using a different route so as to avoid bring calamity, unfortunately Herod just uses this as an excuse to hurt even more people.
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