The Magi, or the Three Wise Men, or the Three Kings, who brought gifts to the Christ Child were the first to begin journeying to Bethlehem. Daniel, a prophet of the Old Testament, had prophesied their appearance 700 years before after being told by Gabriel Himself. We hear how these things were prophesied many years before they happened, but too often we fail to understand how God works all things to accomplish His will in the world.
Daniel himself was made a Magi while the Jews were held captive in Persia. This was a royal priesthood of that country – now Iraq – who put kings on the throne and ruled with their wisdom. It was through Daniel’s prophecies that the Magi at Jesus’ birth knew where to look for him and that His sign would be a new star in the heavens. A long-standing conflict between Rome and Persia was culminating in the time of Christ, and Judea was caught in the middle of this conflict. Herod, not a Jew and king only because he had bribed Augustus Caesar, knew how perilous a real Jewish King would be to his throne.
The Babe in Bethlehem had been expected for centuries by the Jewish people and it did not take the scribes and Pharisees in Herod’s palace long to find the information their King demanded.
The gifts the Magi brought to the Christ Child were not only costly, but they were symbols of what the newborn King was and would become. Gold was symbolic of His kingship; Frankincense had to do with his duties as a priest; and myrrh was used as an embalming spice, signifying his death and burial. Scripture tells us that in the new Heaven He will be given Gold and Frankincense, but not Myrrh; for he will have no need of the third gift!
We call them the Three Kings only because there were three gifts, but there may have been more and they most certainly were traveling with a large and powerful retinue of servants and armed men. They would have been an impressive and daunting sight to the people in Jerusalem, to say nothing of the impact they would have had on the little town of Bethlehem.
They did not join the shepherds around the manger in back of the inn. The Bible says they came to the ‘house’ where the ‘young child’ was. Because of Herod’s order that all baby boys two years of age and under were to be killed, we believe they came to Bethlehem when Jesus was about two years old. Their coming caused the terrible slaughter of little boys in Bethlehem and all of Judea.
Balthasar, King of Arabia; Melchior, King of Persia; and Gasper, King of India, as they became known are much more than three fancy kings who found Baby Jesus. If you would like to read further about them and their place in history, look up the following website: http://ldolphin.org/magi.html
The Magi made a long and difficult journey to worship the Christ Child. Our journey must be only as far as our hearts and our gift to Him is the sanctuary of our heart.
