How did the wise men know the new king Jesus was born in the house of David?

Answer 1

A:In ancient times, the appearance of a new star was thought to herald an important event, which could be the birth of a king. The wise men (magi) in the Gospel of Matthew followed a star all the way from Persia, but it did not take them direct to Jesus. First, the star led them to Jerusalem, ensuring that King Herod knew of the birth and had a reason to kill Jesus, then it turned back and led the magi to Bethlehem. They were able to follow the star with such accuracy that it identified exactly which house in Bethlehem was the home of Jesus. Thus, Matthew tells us that the magi knew Jesus was born to be king of the Jews and they knew exactly where he was born. The view of John Shelby Spong (Born of a Woman: A Bishop Rethinks the Birth of Jesus) is that this story does not contain any historical truth.

What the magi in this story did not know is that Jesus was descended from King David. We are told this separately, in a genealogy found in Matthew chapter 1. Compared to the Old Testament list, this genealogy omits Kings Jehoash, Amaziah and Uzziah because the author wished to use numerology to show that Jesus was destined for greatness. We see this in Matthew 1:17, which says that there were 14 generations from Abraham to David, 14 from David to the carrying away to Babylon and then 14 more generations to Jesus. Raymond E. Brown (An Introduction to the New Testament) dismisses Matthew's genealogy as unlikely.