We three kings of Orient are; Bearing gifts
we traverse afar,
Field and fountain, moor and mountain, Following
yonder star.
O star of wonder, star of light, Star with
royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding, Guide us
to thy perfect light.
https://hymnary.org/text/we_three_kings_of_orient_are
Most everyone has heard the story – Three wise Men come to
the babe, following a star, to worship him. You may have ever heard their
names, Melchior, Gaspar, and Balthasar. You see them in most manger scenes. So
what do we really know?
1. The only mention of them in Scripture is Matthew 2.
2. The number of Magi is never mentioned. People just assume
that since there were three gifts, there were three Magi.
3. They did not visit the manger (sorry for those who like
them in the manger scene). It says they came to the house where He was staying.
4. They were from the East, possibly Persia, but we can only
guess.
5. They were Astronomers/Astrologers that watched the skies.
They mentioned “His star”. They saw something unusual in the heavens or the
constellations that caught their attention.
6. They know something of the Messiah. Matthew 2:2 “Where is the one who has been born king
of the Jews? Why would they travel so far for just another king? They came
to worship Him.
7. They were men of character. They saw through Herod’s plan
and trusted the dream given them to not reveal anything to him.
8. They brought gold as a
symbol of kingship on earth, frankincense (an incense) as a symbol of deity,
and myrrh (an embalming oil) as a symbol of death. (It is interesting to
note that the gold would also be God’s provision for the journey to Egypt to
flee from Herod.)
The constellations are very old. Jewish tradition says that Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah, was the one
to lay them out as a story of the coming Redeemer. In the constellation Virgo,
the virgin, there is a star named Comah, “The desired one”, that is part of a
sheave of wheat. The Messiah was also called “the seed of the Virgin”. It is
possible that some event, unusual brightness, a planet conjugation, or other
things, could have drawn the attention of the Magi.
The star associated with "the desired one" in the context of
the constellation Virgo (Coma Berenices) is often identified as Coma (Comah),
an ancient constellation within Virgo, representing the "Desire of all
nations," linked to prophecies of a coming Messiah, the "Branch"
or "Seed," sometimes named Ihesu (Jesus) in ancient texts, the infant
held by the Virgin in traditional depictions. (AI Overview)
It must be noted that while the star the Magi saw that
alerted them about about the birth of the Savior was probably an astronomical
event, the star that lead them to Bethlehem seems to be more of a miraculous
event. It led them and stayed over the house where they were staying.
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. Matthew
2: 9
The Magi, rich, and educated, travelled very far at their
own expense to check out an event in the skies. If Enoch was the one who created
the star map we call the constellations, then it makes sense that there would
be knowledge of the coming Messiah. Not only did they come to see, but they worshipped
him, men of honor - men of faith.
On coming to the house,
they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.
Matthew 2:11
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