Were there only three wise men?

Answer 1

The actual word used in Matthew is magoi or, in Latin, magi (sing: magus), which really refers to priests of the Zoroastrian god, Ahura Mazda ("Wise Lord").

Matthew was portraying the priests of this great religion as regarding the birth of a Jewish Messiah as a momentous event. By having them wish to worship him, Matthew was probably demonstrating that Jesus had dominion over even the Zoroastrians. In later centuries, the Zoroastrian connection became less important and the term "wise men" tends to be used in English translations. In tradition and nativity plays the priests are sometimes portrayed as kings.

John Shelby Spong (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. Matthew was clearly writing Christian midrash.

Answer 2

The three wise men did exist in Bibical times. The wise men where philosphers and astrologers. In Bibical times, they believed that when a new star appeared it signaled or told of the birth of a king. The three wise men knew the prophecies about the coming Messiah and when they saw the star they went to find him and worship him.

Answer 3

Yes, the wise men who were recorded as visiting Jesus when he was small is true. The Bible, however, does not record how many of them there were, nor their mode of transport. These extras have grown up outside of the biblical account.

Answer 4

No.

Jesus was born in a stable, but the astrologers visited him in a "house". So enough time had passed for his parents to move him into more comfortable quarters.

Immediately following the astrologers' visit, Joseph was disturbed by a dream in which an angel told him that there was a plot against Jesus' life. So he got up immediately and took Jesus to Egypt.

Yet Jesus was still in Bethlehem when he was a week old and Joseph took him to be circumcised. So this must have happened before the visit of the astrologers.

We conclude that Jesus must have been at least a week old when the astrologers visited him, and perhaps even several months of age.

Answer 5

The scriptural record in Matthew does not give an actual number. There may have been two, or there could have been many. Many myths surrounding the wise men have been propagated through art and oral traditions. The number three was likely meant to match the three gifts mentioned in the scripture. However, there is no evidence that these men were either mystics or rulers. Nor did they arrive in Bethlehem at the birth of the child. In fact, they didn't arrive until the Christ child was at least two years old, based on Herod's edict to kill all males of two years and younger.

None of which, of course, prevents us from putting up our very traditional nativity scenes, wise men and all.

Answer 6

I will let two senior churchmen speak on this:

Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury and 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.

John Shelby Spong (Born of a Woman: A Bishop Rethinks the Birth of Jesus) calls Matthew's story of the magi, or wise men, Christian midrash and says that among people he knows in New Testament circles, the universal assumption is that the magi(wise men) were not actual people.

Answer 7

There is no evidence