Characters at the Cradle: The Wise Men, The Magi

by David Chadwick

This week, we wrap up our Characters at the Cradle series by looking at the Wise Men, or the Magi, as they are sometimes called.

If you have ever heard the Christmas carol “We Three Kings,” you have heard of the Wise Men.

An account of the Wise Men’s story is only found in Matthew 2, not in Luke’s gospel. So, we are going to take a break from our verse-by-verse study of Luke and turn to Matthew to understand the significant role these characters played at the cradle. It would be an oversight to not acknowledge the Wise Men’s place in God’s story.

Turn with me to Matthew 2:1-6. Verse 1 tells us that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the city where King David was born, which is about 6 miles from Jerusalem. As Anna said in Luke 2:38, Jesus would be the redemption of Jerusalem.

But why Bethlehem? What is so important about this little city from which King David also came? Well, it is important because God made a covenant in 2 Samuel 7:12-16 that Jesus was to come through David’s kingly heritage. Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords.

Matthew also points out that these were the days when Herod was king. He reigned from 37 B.C. to 4 A.D. From the tribe of Edom, Herod was known to be hostile to the Jews. If you have read the book of Genesis, you should remember Jacob and Esau. A family feud existed between Esau, the head of the Edomites, and his brother Jacob, the one God chose to found the Jews. Eventually, birthed through this lineage of Edomites, came King Herod, and he was evil and wicked in every possible way.

The Wise Men came from the east to Jerusalem. Biblical historians think it was probably around two years after Jesus’s birth. It probably took them a couple of months to arrive from Babylon, which was 800 miles away. Once they got to Jerusalem, they went to ask King Herod where they could find this king. Herod was “troubled” hearing this because he saw this king as a threat to his throne. He assembled his chief priests and scribes and asked the Magi where this child was born. They respond, “In Bethlehem,” which perfectly fulfilled the prophecy in Micah 5:2, given 700-plus years beforehand.

As astrologers and wise men, do you think the Magi studied the Old Testament prophets, perhaps even back to the days of Daniel? Did Babylonian “wise men” initially learn about the coming of this Messiah through the Hebrew prophets in captivity there? The Bible says they followed a star. Maybe a supernova? Could it have even been an angelic appearance that looked like a star? Or a conjunction of planets? Wherever this bright light came from, it led them precisely to a house with the King of the Jews, the baby they had come to worship. So, while technically not at the manger’s cradle, they still saw the Christ child in his younger years.

The providence of God, hundreds of years after being spoken by Daniel in Babylon, was perfectly fulfilled in that moment Jesus was born. What a mighty God we serve!