Christmas in the Hallman household always comes with an abundance of some of my favorite things, including my mom’s holly candy, incredible Christmas light displays, and, of course, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
One of TSO’s lesser-known songs is this fun tune [link no longer available] about “what really happened” when the three wise men showed up looking for the baby Messiah. It’s obviously a work of fiction but is bound to make you smile knowingly and say, “That’s creative, but we all know that’s not what actually happened!”
Image courtesy of Vectorportal.com
Do we?
Let’s take a closer look at what Matthew records in his gospel to see how our nativity traditions measure up! First, refresh your memory by reading over Matthew 2:1-18. Okay, ready for a quiz?
How many kings were there?
If you guessed “three”, you might be right, but that’s the most we can know. Matthew never tells us how many there were; he only tells us that there were at least three kinds of gifts offered (gold, frankincense and myrrh.) In fact, since these guys could obviously afford to offer some nice presents to young Jesus, they probably also traveled with a large company of servants and/or guards.
Were they actually kings?
Matthew doesn’t call them “kings”. Some translations call them “wise men”. The best word is probably “magi”, but there are many theories about who “magi” actually were.
One possible clue to their identity is way back in Daniel 2:48: “Then the king gave Daniel high honors and many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men (magi) of Babylon.” It’s entirely possible that Daniel went on to teach these Babylonian magi all about Yahweh and His coming Christ such that generations later, wise men in the east were expectantly watching for the star of the promised King.
When did they arrive?
If your favorite nativity characters happen to be our magi friends, I have sad news for you: they weren’t there!
We know from Matthew 2:7 that Herod asked the magi when the star had appeared. We also know from Matthew 2:16 that Herod, in his rage when the magi do not return to him, has all children under age 2 killed “according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.” It seems likely therefore that the magi had noted the star two years earlier but hadn’t made the trip for some time. By the time Mary welcomed these foreign visitors, Jesus was probably a toddler! Also, Joseph’s little family had upgraded to a house during that time (Matthew 2:11).
Application… sorta
So, consider this blog post your permission to have a new “nativity” where 2-year-old Jesus is getting piggy-back rides from a couple dozen Babylonian decedents. It’s at least as Biblical as the traditional nativity scene, and perhaps a bit more fun.
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