The Wise Men in the Bible: The Real Story From Matthew 2

A group of strangers from the east reaches Jerusalem and asks where the newborn king of the Jews can be found, and the whole city, king included, is troubled. These are the wise men in the Bible, and Matthew tells their story in twelve verses. Much of what people picture about them comes from carols, plays, and Christmas cards. Who were they, where had they come from, and what did Matthew actually record?

Who Were the Wise Men in the Bible?

The wise men in the Bible were Magi: learned men from the east, a group known for reading the stars and interpreting dreams, who came to Jerusalem to worship the newborn King of the Jews (Matthew 2:1-2). Matthew gives their home only as “the east,” and he never calls them kings. That leaves a good question: how did stargazers from a distant land end up kneeling before a child in Judea?

What the Word Magi Means

Matthew’s Greek word is magoi, the plural of magos, and the Latin form is magi. The word began as the name of a priestly group in Persia. The Greek historian Herodotus, writing about 440 years before Christ, lists the Magi as one of the tribes of the Medes, and he says no Persian sacrifice could be offered without one of them (Histories 1.101, 1.132).

By the first century the word had stretched to cover anyone who practiced occult arts. That is why the same word family describes Simon, who “used sorcery” in Samaria (Acts 8:9), and Elymas, called “the sorcerer” (Acts 13:6-8). Matthew’s Magi are different in what they do: they study the sky, travel to a foreign king, ask for the child of promise, rejoice, and worship.

Read also: 13 Incredible Lessons From Acts 13 Plus Summary Of Acts Chapter 13

A reader may fairly ask why God would draw astrologers with a star, since the law lists “an observer of times” among practices that are “an abomination unto the LORD” (Deuteronomy 18:10, 12). Scripture does not explain it. It does record God speaking to foreigners through the tools they knew.

He showed Pharaoh his future in a dream (“God hath shewed Pharaoh what he is about to do,” Genesis 41:25) and told Nebuchadnezzar what would come in a dream that his own wise men could not read (Daniel 2:10-11, 28). A star and a dream fit that pattern.

The Story of the Wise Men in Matthew 2

“Where Is He That Is Born King of the Jews?”

“Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him” (Matthew 2:1-2).

Jerusalem was the capital, so it was the natural place to look for a newborn king. Herod, the king already on the throne, heard about it: “he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him” (2:3). Matthew gives no reason for the city’s fear.

Herod’s reaction fits a ruler with a title to defend, and Dan Doriani’s commentary in the ESV Expository Commentary notes that Herod was known for killing family members he saw as threats. The title the Magi use returns at the end of the Gospel, on the sign over the cross: “THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS” (Matthew 27:37).

The Scribes Who Knew and Stayed Home

“And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born” (2:4). They gave him an answer, and it was right: “In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel” (2:5-6). They were quoting Micah 5:2.

Bethlehem lay about five or six miles south of Jerusalem. Matthew records no priest or scribe walking there. The strangers had a star and a question, and the scribes had the Scriptures and the answer. In Matthew’s account only the strangers set out.

Jesus later said to a group who searched the Scriptures, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life” (John 5:39-40).

Read also: The Book Of Micah Summary By Chapter (1-7): Very Concise And Comprehensive

“They Fell Down, and Worshipped Him”

Herod called the wise men in private and “enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.” Then he sent them on with a request: “Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also” (2:7-8). Matthew shows what he meant by it: “Herod will seek the young child to destroy him” (2:13).

“The star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh” (2:9-11).

The Greek word for “worshipped” can describe a bow of respect before a ruler or the worship that belongs to God. Matthew leaves open how much the Magi understood, and the text shows what they did: they came into the house, saw the young child with Mary, fell down, and gave him what they had brought.

Warned in a Dream, They Went Home Another Way

“And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way” (2:12).

Matthew tells this part of his story through dreams. Joseph is told in a dream to take Mary as his wife (1:20), to flee to Egypt (2:13), to come back (2:19-20), and to turn aside into Galilee (2:22). God warns the Magi in a dream between the first and second of those. Five times in two chapters God speaks in a dream, and each time someone is told what to do next.

Read also: 23 Life-Changing Lessons From Matthew 1

The warning changed the Magi’s road. They had come in through Jerusalem and the king’s court, and they left by “another way.” Matthew says Herod, “when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth” (2:16). The text records the Magi doing nothing except obey God’s warning, and Herod’s anger followed from his own plan failing.

Matthew then ties the rest of the chapter to the Old Testament: “Out of Egypt have I called my son” (2:15, from Hosea 11:1) and Rachel weeping for her children (2:17-18, from Jeremiah 31:15). Those passages belong to the flight to Egypt and to Herod’s order, and the Magi are gone from the story before either begins.

Read also: 15 Life-Changing Lessons From Matthew 2

How Many Wise Men Were There?

The Bible does not say how many wise men came. Matthew writes “wise men” in the plural, which means at least two, and he lists three gifts: “gold, and frankincense and myrrh” (2:11). The number three most likely grew out of the three gifts. Christian art and lists from later centuries do not agree on a count.

One clue suggests the company was easy to notice: Herod and “all Jerusalem” were troubled by their arrival (2:3). Some readers take that to mean a large group. The text does not say, so it stays a guess.

Were the Wise Men Kings, and Do We Know Their Names?

Matthew calls them wise men and never calls them kings. They do appear to be people of standing, since they gained an audience with Herod and carried costly treasure (2:7-11).

Where the Idea of Kings Came From

The idea appears to have grown from two Old Testament passages that early Christians read beside Matthew. Psalm 72 pictures a coming king and says, “The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before him” (Psalm 72:10-11). Isaiah 60 says “the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising,” and that visitors “shall bring gold and incense” (Isaiah 60:3, 6).

The gold, the incense, the bowing, and the distant lands fit Matthew’s scene, and over time the visitors were crowned. Tertullian, writing about the year 200, is credited with calling them “almost kings.” By about the sixth century many Christians took them to be kings. The Bible itself calls them wise men.

Why the Names Are Not in Scripture

Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar are the names most often given, and none is in the Bible. They appear in writing centuries after Matthew, with the earliest known names in a sixth-century chronicle, and different Christian traditions gave the visitors different names. The carol “We Three Kings,” written by John Henry Hopkins Jr. in the nineteenth century, helped fix the picture of three crowned men in many minds. Matthew gives no names, and his story works without them.

Where Did the Wise Men Come From?

Matthew says the wise men came “from the east” (2:1) and went back to “their own country” (2:12). That is all the text gives. Three origins have been proposed, each with a reason.

• Persia fits where the Magi began as a priestly group. Clement of Alexandria, around the year 200, held this view, and many Church Fathers followed him.
• Babylon fits Daniel, who was made “chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon” (Daniel 2:48), and the Jewish communities that stayed there after the exile.
• Arabia fits the gifts, since gold and frankincense were traded from there. Justin Martyr, around the year 160, said the Magi came from Arabia.

Scripture does not choose among them, and what matters in the story is that they came from outside the land of Israel, a long way from Jerusalem, to see a child.

What Was the Star the Wise Men Followed?

Matthew gives few facts about the star. The Magi say, “we have seen his star in the east” (2:2). Many modern translations render that phrase “at its rising,” which would mean the star came up over the horizon.

Later, after the meeting with Herod, “the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was” (2:9). That is the whole description.

Writers have offered a comet, an exploding star, a meeting of planets such as Jupiter and Saturn, and an act of God with no natural cause. Each has been argued, and none can be proven from Matthew, who does not say which it was. The date of Jesus’ birth is itself disputed, so the sky cannot settle it either.

Many readers link the star to a prophecy by Balaam, the seer hired by Moab: “there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel” (Numbers 24:17). Scholars point out that Jewish writers before Jesus, including the community behind the Dead Sea Scrolls, read that verse as a promise of the Messiah. If the Magi knew it, it could explain why they asked about a king of the Jews. Matthew does not quote the verse, so this remains a reading and not a statement of the text.

The star began their question, and the Scriptures named the town (2:5-6).

Read also: Numbers 24 Summary And Study Guide

When Did the Wise Men Visit Jesus?

Matthew opens with “Now when Jesus was born” (2:1), so the visit came after the birth. When the Magi arrived they “were come into the house” and saw “the young child” (2:11).

Luke’s shepherds found “the babe lying in a manger” (Luke 2:16). The Gospels use different words for different scenes. A nativity set that places the Magi beside the shepherds joins two visits that the Gospels tell separately.

How long after the birth did the Magi come? The Gospels do not say. Mary’s days of purification lasted forty days in all (Leviticus 12:2-4; Luke 2:22). Herod killed boys “from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men” (2:16).

Some read that to mean Jesus was nearly two when the Magi came. Others think Herod added a margin, and the gap was shorter, perhaps weeks or months. The text allows either. Many churches remember the visit on Epiphany, 6 January.

Read also: 28 Essential Lessons From Luke 2

What Do Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh Mean?

Matthew says, “when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh” (2:11). These were costly gifts, and visitors in that world brought treasure when they came before a ruler. Gold was wealth, frankincense was incense, and myrrh was a costly perfume.

Christians have long heard more in them: gold for a king, frankincense for worship, myrrh for death. Matthew gives no explanation of the gifts, so those meanings come from tradition. They have some support.

Myrrh appears at the burial of Jesus, when Nicodemus “brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight” (John 19:39), and Isaiah 60:6 speaks of visitors who “bring gold and incense.” Some readers add that the gifts could have helped the family on the road to Egypt. The Bible does not say how the gifts were used.

Why Only Matthew Tells the Story of the Wise Men

Luke tells of shepherds. Matthew tells of the Magi. Each Gospel gives the part of the birth that fits the story it is telling. Matthew opens with “Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (1:1), presents Jesus as the promised King, and keeps showing that the King’s reach goes past Israel.

The pattern runs through the book. Rahab and Ruth are in the genealogy (1:5). Jesus marvels at a centurion’s faith and says, “many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven” (8:10-11). The Gospel ends with “teach all nations” (28:19).

Most readers take the Magi to be Gentiles, since they came from “their own country” and Matthew never calls them Jews. On that reading, the first people recorded as seeking Jesus in Matthew are foreigners, while the court and the scribes stay put. Isaiah’s picture of the nations coming to the light (Isaiah 60:3) matches the scene.

Read also: 25 Life-Changing Lessons From Matthew 8

The Other Wise Men in the Bible

The phrase “wise men” appears 44 times in the King James Version, and most of those are not about the visitors to Bethlehem. Thirteen are in Daniel, five are in Matthew, and the rest are scattered through Genesis, Exodus, Esther, Job, Proverbs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and elsewhere.

Pharaoh “called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men thereof,” and “there was none that could interpret them” (Genesis 41:8). Later his wise men copied Moses’ signs “with their enchantments” (Exodus 7:11). In Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar’s wise men said, “there is none other that can shew it before the king, except the gods” (Daniel 2:11), and the king ordered “all the wise men of Babylon” destroyed (2:12).

God used Daniel, who said, “there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets” (2:28), and the king made him “chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon” (2:48). A Persian king asked his own wise men, “which knew the times” (Esther 1:13). Jesus said, “I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes” (Matthew 23:34), and Paul wrote that “not many wise men after the flesh” are called (1 Corinthians 1:26).

In Egypt and Babylon the wise men could not answer, and God’s servants Joseph and Daniel had to. In Matthew the wise men come to God’s King and kneel.

Matthew leaves that contrast unstated, and it sits on the page for any reader to see. Some readers suggest that Daniel’s prophecies reached wise men in the east. Scripture does not say so.

Read also: The Book Of Daniel Summary By Chapter (1-12): Very Concise And Comprehensive

What the Wise Men Teach Us

God reaches people from outside the places anyone would expect. The Magi were given a star and a warning in a dream, and nothing in Matthew says they earned either one. Scripture says the same of salvation: “by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Knowing Scripture and going to Jesus are different things. The scribes knew where the Christ would be born, and Matthew records only strangers making the trip. A person can know the Bible well and still stay home.

Worship takes effort, and it brings joy. The Magi came a long way, carried treasure, and walked into the court of a king who, as it turned out, wished the child dead. When they saw the star again, “they rejoiced with exceeding great joy” (2:10).

Meeting Jesus can change the road a person takes. Matthew says the Magi went home “another way,” and that detail is about a route around Herod. A reader may also hear in it what happens when anyone meets Jesus and cannot go back the way they came. That is a reflection and not Matthew’s own comment.

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Related Articles to Read Next

• 24 Life-Changing Lessons From Matthew 28 follows the Gospel to its closing command to teach all nations.
• 34 Definitive Lessons From Isaiah 9 follows the prophecy of the child who is born and the son who is given.
• 29 Proven Lessons From Luke 1 follows the announcements that come before the birth.
• The Book Of Matthew Summary By Chapter (1-28): Very Concise And Comprehensive gives the whole Gospel in one view.
• 17 Essential Lessons From 1 Corinthians 1 covers God’s wisdom and Paul’s words about the wise men of this age.

Back in Jerusalem, a king and a city were troubled by a question: “Where is he that is born King of the Jews?” The scribes had the answer in their hands and stayed where they were. The strangers took it and went to Bethlehem. This Christmas, read Matthew 2:1-12 and compare it with the carols and nativity scenes you know, to see what the text has and what the tradition added. Then ask the Magi’s question for yourself, and go where the Scriptures point.