Did Three Wise Men Really Visit Baby Jesus?


Christmastime lore from South America to Eastern Europe to Asia depicts a Nativity scene with three kings, or wise men, bearing precious gifts for the babe Jesus. Is this story true? Does it line up with the facts? Let us see.

Two Gospels, Matthew and Luke, chronicle the birth of Jesus. These accounts show that only lowly shepherds from nearby fields visited Jesus at his birth. The so-called kings, or wise men, were in reality astrologers, not royalty, and they are not numbered. The astrologers did not journey to the side of a newborn in a manger but arrived when Jesus was a child and was living in a house. Their presence even jeopardized the life of Jesus!

Look closely at the account of Jesus’ birth by Bible writer Luke, and you will find that it says: “There were . . . shepherds living out of doors and keeping watches in the night over their flocks. And suddenly Jehovah’s angel stood by them, and . . . said to them: ‘. . . You will find an infant bound in cloth bands and lying in a manger.’ . . . And they went with haste and found Mary as well as Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger.”​—Luke 2:8-16.

Only Joseph, Mary, and the shepherds were present with baby Jesus. No one else is listed in Luke’s report.

Now examine the account at Matthew 2:1-11 from the King James Bible: “Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem . . . And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother.”

Notice that the account states just “wise men,” not “three wise men,” and that they first traveled from the east to Jerusalem, not to the birth city of Jesus, Bethlehem. By the time they finally reached Bethlehem, Jesus was a “young child”​—no longer a baby—​and no longer in a stable but in a house.

Also, while the King James Bible uses the words “wise men” in describing these visitors, other translations use “Magi” or “astrologers.” According to A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew, the expression “wise men” translates “a Greek noun which originally referred to Persian priests who were experts in astrology.” And The Expanded Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words defines the word as “a wizard, sorcerer, a pretender to magic powers, a professor of the arts of witchcraft.”

Although astrology and witchcraft are still popular today, the Bible warns against their use. (Isaiah 47:13-15) They are forms of spiritism and are practices that Jehovah God abhors. (Deuteronomy 18:10-12) That is why no angel of God announced the birth of Jesus to the astrologers. However, by means of divine intervention in a dream, they were warned not to report back to wicked King Herod, since he sought to kill Jesus. So “they withdrew to their country by another way.”​—Matthew 2:11-16.

Would true Christians want to perpetuate a fabled Nativity that distorts the truth surrounding the birth of Jesus? Surely the answer is no.

Cc: lalasticlala, dominque, seun

From your post: Did wise men visit him? Yes. Did shepherds visit him? Yes. What are you disputing? Numbers!
A mountain out of a mole hill.

it doesn't matter

9jamustchange:
From your post:
Did wise men visit him? Yes.
Did shepherds visit him? Yes.
What are you disputing? Numbers!

A mountain out of a mole hill.

Read again. Ogogoro no bi talent.

foreverme1225:
it doesn't matter

Spiritual things matter.


Have a nice century. You are welcome.

They were four, I was the fourth person

It doesn't matter if there were three wise men or ten, all we know is that wise men from the east were led by God to where Jesus the King lay at his birth.

And they did not only visit him but they fell down and worshipped Him as the Igwe of igwes!

All hail King Jesus!

God bless.

Op, your write up reeks of a logical fallacy called 'cherry picking', and you are no different from other christians... For one, the birth and life course of the man Jesus or Yeshua ben Yoseph was cooked up, embellished and given a mystic aura. If you belief a virgin gave birth to him, that he was unmarried, that he rose up from the death after 3 day in a tomb and that he flew into into heaven then you have no call to single out any page in the man's biography to argue against.

FAITH is the assured expectation of what is hoped for, the evident demonstration of realities even though we can't see them {Hebrew 11:1} but the truth is FAITH itself is not a possession of all people {2Thessalonians 3:2} so don't expect everyone to take it that serious to the extent of verifying everything like the Beroeans {Act 17:11} 99.9 % of people around us aren't interested in verification of whatever was handed over to them!

chatinent:


Spiritual things matter.

Have a nice century. You are welcome.

It doesn't matter, neither is there anything spiritual there.

Find discussions that has salvational value, not some how-many-lion-did-samson-kill topics.

foreverme1225:
it doesn't matter

Good answer!

Hmmm, wise men, astrologers, wizards, magi....

You mean the three guys Mary had an orgy with?
This whole Jesus Christ bullcrap was just an attempt to cover up a secret. That's why Mary lied that a spirit impregnated her when it was one of the supposed wise men who got her pregnant.
Poor Joseph.

The answer you seek is in the bible

THE IMPORTANT THING IS THAT WISE MEN VISITED HIM, DESPITE THE FACT THAT THREE GIFTS WERE PRESENTED TO HIM, THE BIBLE DID NOT SAY HOW MANY THEY WERE.

The bible does not say the number of wise men that visit Jesus when He was not a baby. Now therefore, JW is the only true group worshipping God. We are very happy and have beautiful pictures.

kingxsamz:
You mean the three guys Mary had an orgy with?
This whole Jesus Christ bullcrap was just an attempt to cover up a secret. That's why Mary lied that a spirit impregnated her when it was one of the supposed wise men who got her pregnant.
Poor Joseph.

This one is confused as to whether to be an atheist or agnostic. It depends on where the devil decides to use him and play pingpong.