Who were the Magi of Matthew 2.1-11?
On the one hand, it is possible that they are literary invention of the Evangelist, but that seems quite extravagant for purely fictional characters. On the other hand, if the Magi were real people from the east they invite a lot of thought.
We have pagans finding Christ through their superstitions. God did not reject them because of their magical worldview. God used it to bring them to Christ.
The Magi are not part of the established people of God, yet they find themselves worshiping God’s Messiah.
The Magi disappear back to their homeland. We have no evidence that they came to know more of Jesus’ story later, yet they are framed positively. They are what some may call “righteous pagans”. They find Christ through another religious worldview, they know him in part only, they worship him and bring gifts, and they are remembered in a saintly way.
I wouldn’t establish a robust soteriology on this story, but it does make me stop before I declare knowledge of who is “in-and-out” of God’s Kingdom. Sometimes I think only the King himself knows. I am comfortable with that.
I am open to the likelihood that God may have more “Magi” in the world who come to the Feast of the Lamb from the east and the west, the north and the south. I’ll happily welcome them to the banquet.
the archives near Emmaus 
I dont believe that it shows them in a saintly manor, However I do believe that it shows that God is so great that scholars of spirituality from anywhere recognize that he is truley lord of all. It is an inescapable fact that cannot be hidden! Jesus is Lord of all!
Can you elaborate more on their traditions? How do we know God used their religious practices to help them find Christ?
Not really, we cant pin any specific practices on them because the scripture dosent declare any and in some study of the wise men you find the root of that being magi. It is a fairly unclear word that has greek and iranian definitions both being defined after the fourth century and being specific enough to point out the unclarity of a definition previous to that century. Saying they were involved in religious practices was mearly in reference to the fact that they were refered to as “wise men” in the scripture, and the article itself refering to them as pagan witch automatically infers an amount of mysticism and religious practices.
and you werent asking me you were asking the author…………………I hope you enjoy the commentary regardless.
Yea and amen, Brian. All who come, will come through Jesus. The means of coming are varied, mysterious, and strange.
@Jon: Why don’t you think they appear “saintly”?
@Justin: For Matthew to include the story of magi (μάγοι) from the east following a star to find a King seems hard to divorce from the Medo-Persian religious worldview of the east. Maybe they were a form of Zoroastrian? Do you have another proposal?
The Death of Abraham
1 Abraham had taken another wife, whose name was Keturah. 2 She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah. 3 Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan; the descendants of Dedan were the Ashurites, the Letushites and the Leummites. 4 The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanok, Abida and Eldaah. All these were descendants of Keturah.
5 Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac. 6 But while he was still living, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away from his son Isaac to the land of the east.
———-
After so many centuries, the stories of God that Abraham’s children took with them when they traveled eastward were most likely mixed with the Medo-Persian world views, but the seed of the knowledge of the one true God would still have been present and I would guess that this was what drew the “Wise Men” back to Bethlehem.
@nancy. I like your train of thought. There is also the idea that they were influenced by the babylonian captivity of the Jewish people, being influenced by daniel etc. which would have given them this knowledge also.
@Brian, Its not out of consideration that they might seem saintly, Its that in my limited knowledge of the definition of saintly, that It didn’t settle in my mind as something I would use to describe them. My imediate thinking of saintly deals with the infiling of the Holy Ghost, which ofcourse at the time of the wise men had not yet been poured out. yet wasent Moses refered to as a saint? ready, fire, aim. A bad habit of mine. Thank you for the question and not just “schooling me” hehe
@Jon: When I wrote saintly I meant more or less they were depicted as holy people seeking Messiah rather than misguided pagans. Does that clarify my nuance?
@Nancy: thanks for the important reminder of those Abrahamic roots and @Jon: good point and don’t rule out the possibility of a substantial Jewish community in Babylon (not everyone rushed back after Cyrus liberated the Captivity; there is after all a Babyonian Talmud etc.). Babylon counts for ‘east’ I think.
Also I checked on the Greek word for ‘star’ and there are senses which are not strictly astronomical (and related cognates associated with angels or mysterious lights. If we forget for a minute the reference to a star that was ‘followed’ (which is in the second part of the story) we shouldn’t rule out the possibility that “we have seen his star in the East” could refer a special annunciation by an angel to a small group of believers in Babylon or elsewhere east of Palestine who were devout (especially since an astronomical star ‘in the east’ would be seen from the west of Judea if it indicated an event breaking among the Jews).
Just don’t call them kings! 🙂
I preached on this text once and traced it to Jesus’ commission in Matthew 28. It is an obvious connection but the focus being mainly on Matthews intent to show Israel’s true vocation as being for the nations. Matthew does seem to show Jesus recapitulating all that Israel was to be. Foreigners are drawn to Jesus in ch. 2 and sends his disciples to them in ch. 28. It begins and ends with Matthews desire for the Messiah to be worshiped and obeyed.
@Casey : It seems that in part the Great Commission is a reminder that the people of God go to the world and that the world should not have to come to the people of God to hear of God.