Who were the Magi in the Bible?
Image above by the talented artist David Hayward aka The Naked Pastor
Cultural icons
The Magi are an inseparable part of our cultural celebrations of Christmas, ever present in nativities, carols, and pageants. And yet much of what we think we know about the Magi is likely inaccurate. Rather than the story of three kings coming to worship baby-God-incarnate, a closer look at Matthew reveals the Magi were more likely an unspecified number of magicians en route to pay homage to someone they foresaw to become an earthly ruler.
And whether you believe the visit of the Magi actually occurred, or you view the story as parabolic legend, there must’ve been a reason the author of Matthew included it in his Jesus origin story. In this post we’ll explore why having a better understanding of who the Magi were in the First Century can inform how we might approach our own faith today.
Who they weren’t
Many popular beliefs we hold today about the Magi aren’t actually found in the Bible, such as:
-They were kings.
-There were three of them.
-Their names were Balthasar, Caspar, and Melchior.
-They came to “worship” Jesus.
Who they may have been
Matthew says nothing about “kings” or how many were part of their group. Their names aren't mentioned.1 And as far as their purpose for visiting Jesus, a better interpretation of the Greek word proskuneo that some translations read as “worship” is more likely better translated as “honor.” The Magi seem to be searching for a king or leader, to honor, rather than a deity to worship.
The original Greek word used to describe these visitors is Magoi, which can mean a few things: sorcerer, magician, or astrologer. (Wow, I like these guys already.) And while there’s no mention of “wise men” in the list above, there’s good reason why this phrase has become such a part of our Christmas culture.
Magoi was first translated as “wise men” for the earliest English editions of the Bible produced in the 16th and 17th centuries. And there may be some merit to this description if we consider that in the book of Daniel, which the author of Matthew was very aware of and references several times, the Magoi seem to be a subset of a larger group of Sophoi, or “wise people.” It was much more recently, in the 1970s, that translations began to anglicize Magoi to simply read as Magi.2
Controversial figures
Interestingly the Magi were controversial figures in the First Century CE. The Book of Acts tells two stories involving Magi3 and both are presented as quite negative. This seeming contradiction in how the Magi are presented is a good reminder that the New Testament is not a single, coherent document, but rather it's a collection of individual writings penned over several decades, often competing to present their own specific version and vision of truth.
Pliny the Elder, a First Century Roman author, noted that the Magi practiced astrology and had the power to heal. How magic was perceived in the ancient world seems to have been a matter of perspective. Both magicians and miracle workers performed the same feats, and yet magic was considered bad while miracles were good. As Bart Ehrman has said “one person’s miracle was another person’s magic.”4
Curiously Jesus himself was accused of using magic during his ministry and after his death. Much of the evidence comes from the Gospels themselves. He’s accused of working on behalf of an evil spirit called Beelzebub. He physically touches the individuals he heals. He anoints others with a special type of oil5 and instructs his followers how to do the same. And he sometimes uses saliva or spit as part of his healing process. All of these practices could be associated with magicians and sorcerers of the time.
There’s also the incident involving the multiplication of bread and fish, and the turning of water into wine, which under any other context sure seem to be a bit magical. While the subject of Jesus and his association with magic is beyond the scope of this post we’ll likely explore this topic in the future, so be sure to subscribe.
Why does Matthew include the Magi?
The most likely reason Matthew includes the Magi is to legitimize Jesus as the rightful king of the Judeans. The Magi were often associated with power in the ancient world, serving as advisors to kings and rulers.
The question posed by Matthew’s Magi to King Herod of “Where is the one born King of the Judeans” implies that Herod was not born into kingship, but rather was a mere puppet regime put in place by the Romans.
Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan also make the compelling argument that Matthew works hard to present Jesus as the new Moses. There are many parallels between Matthew’s origin story of Jesus and the Exodus origin story of Moses.
Just as Exodus tells of a baby born under an oppressive leader (Pharaoh) who will one day bring freedom to the people who follow him out of Egypt, Jesus is born under the oppression of the Roman Empire and its puppet ruler Herod. Just as Moses will bring freedom and a Promised Land to the Israelites who follow him out of Egypt, Jesus will bring freedom and a new kingdom to all who follow him. Just as Pharaoh orders the execution of all Israelite boys in Egypt, so does Herod order the execution of all boys in Bethlehem.
Therefore it’s possible the inclusion of the Magi, who were known for their ability to perform magical feats, recall the “signs” that Moses performs before both Pharaoh and the Israelites. These “signs” in Exodus include turning a staff into a serpent, the healing of leprosy, and turning water to blood, and help establish Moses as a legitimate leader. And thus it’s possible Matthew’s intent is to show that the Magi help establish Jesus as a legitimate king.6
An emphasis on Gentiles
Scholars have often pointed out that the Gospel of Matthew has a special focus on Gentiles, and its final lines even command Jesus’s follower to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” The Magi being “from the East” provides continuity with Matthew’s focus on Gentiles, and so we see another potential reason for their inclusion in the birth narrative.
What about the star that led the Magi to Jesus?
It’s tempting to try and pinpoint the star as having been an historical astronomical event and there are definitely a few candidates. But as astronomer Bradley E Schafer states, such phenomena are, and always have been, quite regular occurrences within most decades of history.
The inclusion of a star is more likely symbolic, and recalls the famous star (actually a comet) that appeared in the sky following the death of Julius Caesar, which was interpreted to imply Caesar’s deification (his becoming divine).
The appearance of this Julian Star would therefore imply Caesar’s adopted son Octavian (soon to be Caesar Augustus) to be the son of God. The motif of the Julian Star was so prevalent in the First Century CE that it appeared consistently on Imperial coinage, even into the 80’s and 90’s CE, when Matthew was written.
And there’s another Julian connection. In Virgil’s epic poem Aeneid, about the founding of Rome, Aeneas is led from the doomed city of Troy to the safety of Italy by Venus, also known as the Morning (and Evening) Star. It is from Aeneas’s lineage that Julius Caesar eventually appears. This story would also be recognized throughout the Empire, and readers of Matthew would recognize the parallels to the Star that led the Magi to Jesus.
And so we see with both these examples the star signifies the author’s belief in the legitimacy of Jesus’s kingship, and perhaps also his connection to the divine.
So did the Magi really visit Jesus?
Did a group of clairvoyant astrologers actually visit the young Jesus of Nazareth?
I could imagine a pre-Mattheian tradition of a band of travelling magicians making a visit to Joseph and Mary at some point when Jesus was young. Or maybe there was a culture of magic in rural Galilee that’s been lost to history? Matthew and Luke record all sorts of angelic “visions” experienced by both Joseph and Mary prior to the birth of Jesus that some today might equate with psychedelic visions. And someone had to eventually teach Jesus how to access all those mystical experiences and perform all those party tricks. A connection to the Magi (or some other ancient magicians) could explain all of this. And taking something that society viewed as bad and using it for good seems like a very Jesus thing to do.
So while I don’t believe a group of Magi were inspired by a celestial event to visit an insecure King Herod, setting off a chain of events that led to the murder of the children of Bethlehem, all so the Magi could spend a few minutes with baby Jesus—I’m still open to the possibility that there’s some deeper connection that’s being alluded to.
So what do we do with this information?
The Magi were controversial figures in the First Century. Magic was perceived by many to be associated with evil forces, and the Romans even outlawed its use. Jesus himself was accused of being a magician and many of his miracles have similarities with First Century magic.
While Matthew includes the Magi most likely to legitimize Jesus as king (while also undermining Herod and possibly the Romans in the process) the author’s choice wasn’t without risk of controversy.
Maybe there was a connection between Jesus’s family and a group that some considered miracle workers and others considered magicians.
Perhaps it shows that the Gospel writer wasn’t afraid to allow a little bit of mystery into his theology, a lesson we might learn from even today.
And maybe these mysterious visitors from the East can give us the permission we need to be a little less rigid, a little less certain, and a little more open in our own journey of faith.
“Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.”
~ Rumi
Acknowledgements: much of the research for this post came from the writings of Eric Vanden Eykel and Marcus J Borg & John Dominic Crossan.
Looking for more great content? Jared Stacy wrote an excellent post about the Christmas Star and the Gospel author’s intention of including it in Matthew. Check it out…
Cool as they are, the names of the Magi came from much later legends and aren’t in the Bible. They likely originated around 500 CE. There are also many variations of the names depending upon which Christian tradition one references.
The Latin Vulgate, a Latin translation of the Bible produced in 382 CE, was the first to use the word Magi.
Simon Magus and Bar-Jesus. Simon, sometimes referred to as “The Bad Samaritan” by Christians, was quite the figure in antiquity, popping up not only in the book of Acts and some non-canonical Gospels but also in other ancient literature. His popularity persisted into the middle ages and even into today.
I can’t help but think of the hysterical Christian parents of the early aughts who feared their children might be harmed or (even possessed) by reading or watching the Harry Potter books and movies.
doTERRA fans will be disappointed to hear this probably wasn’t Citrus Bliss or Frankincense, but likely kaneh-bosem, which some have recently argued was a cannabis extract. This connection seems a little sensational but still fun to think about.
More evidence of Jesus being presented by Matthew as the new Moses would be Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount, which is seen as enhancing Moses’s original Ten Commandments.