Christmas Chronology: Matthew 2:1-12

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.”

This event only takes place in Matthew’s gospel. Some undetermined amount of time passed from the time of Jesus’ birth till the events of this chapter. I’ve heard many times that the Wise Men actually came about two years after Jesus’ birth. That assumption comes mostly from the fact that Herod ordered all boys under age two killed (v. 16). It’s also assumed that if the star appeared when Jesus was born, it would take the Magi time to prepare for and make the trip. They probably came from Babylon (modern day Iraq), Persia (modern day Iran), or Arabia. But the two year time span is the maximum amount of time that could have passed. Herod was simply covering his bases. The Magi probably actually arrived sometime between one and two years after Jesus was born.

Who were the Magi? They were not kings, as tradition later supposed. They were astronomer/astrologer/priests. They kept track of the motions of the stars and planets in order to predict important events for kings, such as whether there would be a good harvest. Astronomy and astrology were the same thing in the ancient world. The school of Magi in Babylon went back centuries, to before the time of Daniel. Daniel was made head of the Magi in Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar because he was able to interpret the king’s dream (Daniel 2:48). Jewish tradition holds that Daniel instructed the Babylonian Magi to watch for the Messiah. Daniel also predicted the exact time of Jesus’ birth (Daniel 9:25-27), so it seems likely that these Magi, if they came from Babylon or Persia, were following Daniel’s instructions. They knew the date of the Messiah’s birth, and they were watching for signs in the heavens. All around the region that we would call the Middle East today, there was an expectation that some important king was about to be born in Judea.

What was the star? That’s been the subject of much debate over the centuries. I am interested in astronomy, so I’ve read up on this some. I can tell you what it wasn’t. It wasn’t a comet or a meteorite. They don’t behave like Matthew describes. Comets were seen as portents of doom in the ancient world, not as symbols of good news. I’ve also heard that it may have been a nova, or an exploding star. But none of those appeared in the skies during that time, and whatever the “Star of Bethlehem” was, it went unnoticed by Herod. Herod would certainly have noticed a comet, meteor, or nova. No one could have missed any of those things. The most plausible explanation, to me, was that it was a conjunction of planets that indicated to these learned men that a king had been born among the Jews. If you’d like to read further on this, I recommend Wikipedia’s article on it, and there is extensive investigation of it from a Christian scientific perspective at bethlehemstar.net. But it may not have been a natural phenomenon at all. It may have been entirely supernatural.

When the Magi arrived, they went to Jerusalem, probably expecting that this new king had been born to the royal house on the throne at that time, or at least expecting that everyone there would be aware of the new king’s birth, and would be excited about it. But they would turn out to be mistaken about that.

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]”

Herod was not of the royal line of David. In fact, he was not even Jewish. He was an Edomite. He would certainly have been aware of the expectation that the Messiah would be born soon, though. So when this impressive caravan of foreign officials showed up at his palace asking about it, of course he would be disturbed. The chief priests and teachers of the law, familiar characters in the rest of the story of Jesus, make their first appearance in the gospels here. They were the ones who told Herod where the Messiah was to be born. The verse they quote (or misquote, or paraphrase) is from Micah 5:2-4.

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.”

As I mentioned earlier, it’s unlikely that the star was anything obvious to the untrained eye, since Herod was unaware of it. He had to ask the Magi when it appeared. But Herod had learned where the Messiah was to be born from the chief priests and teachers of the law, and now he learns when the child was born from the Magi. He has the where and the when. Now all he needs is the who. So he tells the wise men to report back to him after they find the child, under the pretense of wanting to pay homage to this new king himself.

Here is where one possible conflict between Matthew's account and Luke's comes in. Luke says that after Jesus’ circumcision ceremony, eight days after Jesus was born, Joseph, Mary, and the baby Jesus moved back to their home in Nazareth (Luke 2:39). So they would not still have been in Bethlehem more than a year later when the Magi came. Verse 8 of this chapter says that Herod sent them to Bethlehem. But Matthew doesn’t say that the Magi actually went to Bethlehem, or that they found Jesus there. He only says Herod sent them there, which he would have done, based on the prophecy. Look at what Matthew says in the next verses.

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. ¹² And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

In verse 10, the star that had first alerted them that the new king of the Jews had been born reappeared and guided them to where the child was. In verse 11, Matthew talks about the Magi coming to the house. As we all know from Luke, Jesus was not born in a house. As I talked about in my post on Luke 2:1-7, Jesus was born in lambing cave, because there wasn’t room for them in the Bethlehem caravansary that was owned by Joseph’s family. Bethlehem was a small village just outside of Jerusalem. I don’t think the Magi would have needed the star to guide them if the baby Jesus was still in Bethlehem.

So here is my personal theory. The “star,” when it first appeared at the birth of Jesus, was actually a natural phenomenon that had meaning for astronomers expecting the Messiah, but would not have been noticed by the uninitiated. That sent the Magi on their journey to Jerusalem. This “star” did not continue to appear for the entire time of their journey. If it had, they could have followed it straight to the Christ child. It would not have been necessary to inquire of Herod as to where to go. Once they found out where the baby was to be born, suddenly the star reappeared to guide them. I believe that, at this point, the star was actually an angel. No natural celestial body could go ahead of travelers and rest over a specific location. They’re too high in the sky for that. I also believe that this “star” guided them to Nazareth, not to Bethlehem. That was the reason for its reappearance. Herod told them to go to Bethlehem, and the star appeared to show them where they really should go.

When the Magi came to the house where they found Mary and the Christ child, they bowed down and worshiped him. This was the way to address royalty. They made themselves prostrate before him. They weren’t necessarily worshiping him as God, they were paying homage to him as a ruler. Their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh were the most precious products of their country. They were also standard gifts to present to a royal person. Of course, these gifts had a spiritual meaning and practical value. Many speculate that the gold was used by Mary and Joseph to support their family during their time in Egypt. Frankincense was used as incense by the priesthood, symbolic of Jesus as our High Priest. And myrrh was used for embalming the dead. Many believe that Mary carried this myrrh to the tomb on Easter morning to embalm Jesus’ body. But she never got to use it, because he was already risen!

In verse 12, God warns the Magi in a dream not to report back to Herod, so they went home by another route. Since the wise men arrived after Jesus’ first birthday, I don’t believe that they really belong in the story of Jesus’ birth. Sorry to ruin your Nativity scene, but they weren’t there with the angels and shepherds. But God’s timing is more important than our traditions. God sent these men to a poor, obscure family in Galilee to confirm again to them who their young son was, and to provide gifts that would help them. The wise men went to a lot of trouble and expense, and took months, if not years of their lives to give to Jesus and bow down to him. How much trouble are we willing to go to for Jesus? How far does our worship of him go? How much does it cost us?