When did the wise men arrive in Bethlehem?

Answer 1

three wise men saw Jesus as a baby

ANSWER:

Reading the Scripture in Matthew, one will be surprised that no number of Wise Men is given and they entered a house (not a cave or barn) and saw the young child - not an infant which is probably why Herod killed the all males under 2 years of age.

Matthew 2

The Magi Visit the Messiah

1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi[a] from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him."

3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written:

6 "'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;

for out of you will come a ruler

who will shepherd my people Israel.'[b]"

7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."

9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

Travelling the vast distances across desert, like today, is not a safe trek. If you were to do it, you would insure you had a fairly large contingent of people with you to protet against vandal. Some have suggest the number was 10-12 Magi representing the Lost Tribes of Israel. These Magi brought 3 kinds of gifts mentioned in the Scripture befitting a king. Doesn't mean just 3 people.

Answer 2

By the figurines in nativity scenes, many believe it was 3 wise men. It has been traditionally assumed there were three, because they carried three gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. However, The Bible does not say how many wise men there were. Matthew 2: 1Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, 2Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.... 11And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh. This question, no doubt, refers to the wise men that the Gospel According to St Matthew says followed a star to see the baby Jesus. The author of the the Gospel According to St Luke did not mention the story of the wise men visiting Jesus, but had poor shepherds visit him instead. Luke did not even write about the flight to Egypt or the Slaughter of the Innocents, events which, if they occurred, were closely associated with the visit of the wise men. From these important omissions, we can reasonably assume that Luke knew nothing of the visit of the wise men. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, leader of the world's Anglicans, has described the story of the three wise men as nothing but a "legend" and says there is little evidence that they existed. He does, however, assert that his approach is to stick strictly to what the Bible says. So we have it on at least one good authority that there may have been no wise men who visited the baby Jesus. However, it makes a wonderful Christmas story for children. If we use the gentile definition of "wise", the answer would be none. On the other hand, if we recognized that the Bible is Jewish ( OLD and NEW ), then the answer would be unknown. At the very least, there could have been two, with several combinations of how many each had brought as gifts. For further notes on this please refer to my contribution at the discussion area.

Answer 3

The account at Matthew 2:1-11 from the King James Bible says: "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.

Answer 4

We do not know how many wise men came to see Jesus. We are not told. Many people assume there were three because three gifts are mentioned. But we can not assume this. To be true to the Word of God we can only go by what we are told in His holy Word. "Wise men came from the east".

Answer 5

A:The wise men, or magi, form part of Matthew's nativity account. We have two clues that tell us how soon after the birth of Jesus the wise men arrived.

Matthew 2:1 says: "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem," a strong clue that the wise men arrived very soon after his birth.

On the other hand, Matthew 2:16 say: "Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men." Here, Herod was not certain how long ago Jesus had been born, but believed it must have been less than two years previously.

It has been noted that Matthew's nativity account is irreconcilable with Luke's nativity account and some conservative Christians attempt to harmonise the two by saying that Luke's story occurred first and that Matthew's account of the flight to Egypt occurred later, up to two years after the birth of Jesus. This is not a credible solution to the discrepancies between the two accounts, since Luke makes it clear that the young family left Bethlehem forever just 40 days after the birth. This gives us no reason to believe that the wise men arrived close to two years after Jesus was born.

Perhaps the real answer is provided by Bishop Spong. In Born of a Woman: A Bishop Rethinks the Birth of Jesus, he says neither birth story contains any historical truth. Moreover, he says that among people he knows in New Testament circles, the universal assumption is that the magi were not actual people, and that Matthew was simply writing Christian midrash. This tells us that the magi did not really go and worship the baby Jesus.

Another Answer:

As Matthew uses two Greek terms for 'the East' we must consider their meaning in Scripture.

The Old Testament, which Matthew was quite familiar with, has two expressions for the East. With Israel as the reference point, the term 'what is BEFORE means near East or on the east side of Israel. Anything FAR to the east or distant as the sunrise is expressed in the term 'rising of the sun.'

Matthew follows the Hebrew very closely in every way. Matthew says the Magi are from 'eastern parts' (ton anatolon in Greek), or distant east. He tells us the Magi see the star IN 'the east' (te anotole in Greek) being west of the Magi travels but still east of Palestine's view, in the near east.

The only great empire ruling at this time east of the Euphrates, biblically the 'distant east' was the Parthian Empire (250 BC - 226 AD). This is predominantly Persia today and would have taken many months of hazardous travel to come to Bethlehem. For safety, this would have been a very large caravan with many peoples.

Now Matthew speaks of their seeing the 'CHILD' and not the babe or newborn as does Lukes account. From other hints like Herod killing all males under 2 yrs of age, we can infer that this child is between 6mos and 2 years of age. Luke only mentions the circumcision then skips over this event of Matthew to their going to Nazareth and then skips ahead to age 12 of Jesus. Matthew alone tells of this slaughter of innocence, the trip to Egypt and the return to Nazareth after Herod's death. Totally reconciled.

AnswerAccording to Christian legend, the wise men came 12 days after Jesus's birth.

The days are not specifically mentioned, but many believe that the wise men came couple of years after the birth of Christ and found Jesus' family living in a house, with Jesus now a young child.

Answer 6

3

Answer:

The account in Matthew 2 does not mention the number of Wise Men (Magi) or their names. Travelling great distances across dangerous areas would suggest a caravan type travel with many more than 3 men.

Secondly, the account of their visit is when Jesus was a toddler and not an infant and they saw Him in a house they were then living in.

Answer 7

A tradition that there were actually three wise men has developed because they brought three gifts for Jesus, but Matthew's Gospel does not say how many wise men there were.

John Shelby Spong (Born of a Woman: A Bishop Rethinks the Birth of Jesus) says that among people he knows in New Testament circles, the universal assumption is that the magi were not actual people. if all these theologians are right, then there were no wise men at all; Matthew was writing Christian midrash.

Answer 8

No one knows for sure. At least two since the Bible says "men". It is traditional assumed to be three since there were three gifts brought to Jesus. But there could have been more or less.

Answer 9

I believe three. I'm not quite sure though...

Answer 10

The Scripture never states their number only the three types of gifts they brought that were mentioned - could of been more.