Were the wise men kings

Answer 1

AnswerThe magi written of in Matthew's Gospel were actually priests of the Persian, Zoroastrian god, Ahura Mazda, and believed that one day the Saoyshant would return, born of a virgin mother. By having the magi want to visit Jesus, the author wanted to demonstrate that even the priests of this great religion would want to worship Jesus. In time, the Zoroastrian connection became less important, and the magi began to be referred to as 'wise men' rather than as priests, and this is the translation used in most English Bibles today. Matthew described the magi as bringing expensive gists that only the wealthy could afford, so a tradition has also grown up around calling them kings.

John Shelby Spong (Born of a Woman: A Bishop Rethinks the Birth of Jesus) calls Matthew's story Christian midrash and says that among people he knows in New Testament circles, the universal assumption is that the magi were not actual people. But if they were actual people, they would have been priests, not kings.