We Three Kings of Orient Are...
We all know that familiar Christmas carol, but we often don't know much about the wise men themselves or the perplexing part they played in the Christmas narrative. For example, according to historian Paul Maier, by the time we've finished the 1st line of the song, we've probably already made 3 mistakes! First, Scripture never says there were 3 of them. We simply guess that there were three because that's how many gifts are mentioned. Some traditions hold that there were 12 in the entourage. We simply can't be sure. Second, they almost certainly weren't kings, but wise men (much like the wise men King Neb turned to in the book of Daniel). Third, they weren't from the Orient, which usually refers to Eastern Asia, but were almost certainly Persian (or perhaps Babylonian). But the rest of the song is great!
3 comments:
I wouldn't let it bother me any more than the fact that in most manger scenese all the characters are practically albino
We really don't know how soon the wise men got there. It could have been very early on. Or it could have been 2 years later. I've seen arguments on both ends.
What we really don't know is exactly where Jesus was born, whether it was in a 'barn' (of sorts) or a grotto/cave or whatnot, or even if there was an 'inn' so to speak (I think not)
In any case, manger scenese and Christmas plays use dramatic license to get all the symbols into 1 shot. Consider it a collage of sorts!
I really enjoyed doing a thorough study of the Magi passage in Matthew for Gospels class in my sophomore year with Dr. Gonlag. I remember some things jumping out to me that I thought were so cool. Like the different responses to Jesus. The Magi worshiped. Herod got hostile. Scripture doesn't really show the chief priests and teachers of the law to have much of a response except to offer the information asked of them. The only indicator is that all of Jerusalem was disturbed, which I didn't get...was it because word was out that the king was upset about something? Anyways, the priests and teachers perhaps were indifferent, but they certainly were not indifferent when it came to the passion story. I wonder how many of them were the same individuals and if they could remember the events surrounding Christ's birth.
yeah, the statement that all jerusalem was disturbed seemed odd to me too. it could very well be that they were stirred up b/c Herod was a bit of a mad-man. It's no fun living in the land of an angry king.
Also, I think sometimes we put too much of a negative connotation on the word 'disturbed'. It can simply mean perplexed, curious, anxious
it would be cool to know how many of the same individuals were at both events
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