Matthew is the only one of the four canonical gospels to mention the Magi. They are said to have visited Jesus after his birth, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. The word magi is the plural of Latin magi, used in the original Greek text of the Gospel of Matthew.
About Biblical Magi in brief
Matthew is the only one of the four canonical gospels to mention the Magi. They are said to have visited Jesus after his birth, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Most western Christian denominations have traditionally assumed them to have been three in number, based on the statement that they brought three gifts. In Eastern Christianity, especially the Syriac churches, the magi often number twelve. Their identification as kings in later Christian writings is probably linked to Isaiah 60: 1–6, which refers to \”kings to the brightness of your dawn\” The Magi are popularly referred to as wise men and kings. The word magi is the plural of Latin magi, used in the original Greek text of the Gospel of Matthew. The term magus is derived from the Old Persian maguŝ from the Avestan evestan, iô eô, which means “wise man” or “king” in Persian and means “man” in English. They were also known as the “Wise Men” or the “Kings of the East” because they were distinguished foreigners who came from the east to worship the king of the Jews. They visited the infant Jesus on the night of his birth in a manger accompanied by the shepherds and angels, but this should be understood as an artistic convention allowing the two separate scenes of the Adoration of the Shepherds on the birth night to be combined for convenience. They left for their own country by another path, having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, but later traditions varied, with the visit taken as occurring up to two winters later.
The Star of Bethlehem has become the traditional name for the star which followed after their earlier meeting after which they followed the star of Bethlehem. The Bible does not specify an interval between the birth and the visit, and artistic depictions and the closeness of the traditional dates of December 25 and January 6 encourage the popular assumption that the visit took place the same winter as the birth. The text specifies no interval between their visit and the Massacre of the Innocents, but some commentators, not tied to the traditional feast days, suggest a variety of intervals. The bible does not mention the number of Magi in Matthew 2: 16–18, in reference to their avoidance of Herod after seeing Jesus, and what Herod had learned from their meeting with Jesus, which they had earlier learned from the wise men. The biblical account in Matthew simply presents an event at an unspecified point after Christ’s birth in which an unnumbered party of unnamed ‘wise men’ visits him in a house, not a stable, with only his mother mentioned as present. The New Revised Standard Version of Matthew 2 : 1–12 describes the visit in this manner: “We observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” They told him where the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem of Judea, and they told him, “In Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel. ”
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This page is based on the article Biblical Magi published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 31, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
