Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
They quickened their pace hoping to find everywhere people talking about
the Messiah who was born...
Hello. Welcome to the "Bible Stories" section
of your channel "The Way to Emmaus". Today we will study the story of the visit
of the Three Kings in Matthew 2:1-11. If you want to see a specific section
of this video you can click any of the links to my left.
Before starting with the story, I want to clarify that this story is surrounded by
traditions, but traditions do not necessarily say what the Bible says,
and they often not even adequate to reality. Let's start with the fact that the
titles used for the main characters in this story are incorrect.
It is said that they were kings or magi but they were actually not kings, nor were magicians.
Nowhere in the Bible and no version of the Bible says that these characters were
kings, it is a tradition with no basis. And while in many versions of the Bible are
called "magi", they were not magicians in the sense in which the word is understood today. I.e.,
they were not engaged to perform magic, but a magus, rather, was that kind of people
who belonged to an influential class, who had much of the wealth of
their nation, and had too much knowledge that was in the Near
East. So the word that best fits this definition would be
"wise". Therefore, from now on we will not call them "kings" nor "magi", but
rather we will call "The Wise Men." Really the only reason why
I called this video "The Visit of the Three Kings" is because so it will be easier
for people to find the information they are seeking.
Two other interesting facts you should know about these characters is that although it is said
that they were "The Wise Men of the East", we should not think that they came from the Far East,
but any region to the east of Palestine, most likely came from somewhere
Mesopotamia, and in addition, even though the Bible clearly says that they gave three gifts,
nowhere does it say they were three, they may well have been many more..
"Magi from the east came to Jerusalem
and asked, Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw
his star when it rose and have come to worship him." The wise men who visited
Jesus were honorable people for his integrity and for his wisdom, which is dedicated to studying
the manifestations of Providence in nature. As they studied the skies
full of stars and the path of the planets, they looked the glory
of the Creator. Looking for broader knowledge of these things they went to the
Hebrew Scriptures. At that time in his country the Scriptures
we know as the Old Testament were available. There they found prophecies about
the coming Messiah and joyfully knew that time was coming.
The night Jesus was born these wise men saw in the sky a mysterious light, and when the
light faded appeared a very large and bright star. There are many theories
about what might have been the star, for example, some say that maybe it was
an alignment of planets or a special star as a supernova. However, none
of these natural phenomena has the characteristics of the star that the wise men
saw. Therefore, we prefer to think that the star was actually a set
of shining angels. When they saw the star they knew it was of great
importance to them, examined the Scriptures again and found a very significant
prophecy. "A star will come out of Jacob and a scepter
will rise out of Israel." A scepter was a rod of precious metal that kings used to
rule. So the meaning of "a star will come out of Jacob and a scepter will rise out of
Israel" is "a star will appear which will herald the coming of the King of Israel." Impressed
by the Holy Spirit, they correctly interpreted this prophecy, and as
Abraham left his home without knowing where he was going, these foreign wise men decided to
find out that the King was born. It was necessary to travel at night to see
the star, but during breaks they studied the prophecies and increasingly
became convinced that God himself was leading. Outside they could see the star that
gave them hope and within they felt the Holy Spirit that impressed their hearts. Although
the trip was long, was very happy for them. Arriving in Israel, the star went straight
to Jerusalem and stood over the temple. Wise men quickened their pace hoping
to find everywhere people talking about the Messiah who
was born, but what they found was something quite different. They did not find even
one person who seemed to know about King just born, and their questions
among the people caused surprise, fear and even contempt. Being foreigners
were treated as pagans by the Jews, but these wise men were not idolaters, and to the sight
of God occupied a higher position than those who said worship him.
"When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him." Herod was the king
who had been imposed by the Romans to rule over this region, and he knew
that as a foreigner, he was hated by the people over whom he ruled. Then he
suspected the priests and rulers of Israel were doing with foreign wise men
a conspiracy to overthrow the throne, and he decided to foil their plans
through cunning. "When he had called together all the chief priests
and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born." When
the wise men did their questions in Jerusalem they had mentioned the prophecies of the Old Testament,
so Herod had called to the main religious leaders of Judea. But
this research by the foreign king greatly angered Jewish
leaders, so they responded to his questions with much indifference as if they knew not
what he was talking about. But he ordered them with an authority that they could not
despise. "They replied, In Bethlehem in Judea, for
this is what the prophet has written." So they replied with the prophecy of
Micah 5:2 "But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel." Through this interview
with the leaders of Israel, Herod heard of the place where it was prophesied that the Messiah
would be born, and now he wanted to know the exact time of his birth,
so he called the wise men. "Then Herod called the Magi secretly and
found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem
and said, Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so
that I too may go and worship him." Herod argued that he had given them
information of birthplace of Jesus, and therefore he asked them to please
go to Bethlehem, where he told them, and examine the exact place where
the child was, to get him and worship him. But we know that his intentions
were very different, and the only reason it was not him personally to find out
the place of birth of the child was because if the wise men were in place, then
would not arise suspicion. "After they had heard the king, they went."
The wise men departed alone from that city. After the long journey, they were disappointed
by what they had found there, and left Jerusalem less confident than when
they entered. But "when the Magi saw the star, they were overjoyed." The star
reappeared and went straight to Bethlehem. "And the star they had seen when it rose
went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was... On coming to the house,
they saw the child with his mother Mary." Interestingly, at the time of the
visit of the wise men, the biblical account does not place Jesus in a manger, but in a house.
If we consider that the news of the arrival of the wise men disturbed all
Jerusalem, then it would have been impossible for Mary and Joseph presented peacefully
to the child in the temple. Therefore, the presentation of the child Jesus must have
happened before the visit of the wise men. From which we conclude that the time of the
arrival of the wise men, baby Jesus should have had at least 40 days old.
So from the birth of Jesus until the arrival of the wise men had spent long
enough for Mary and Joseph had moved to a house or an inn.
"They bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened treasures and presented gifts of gold, frankincense
and myrrh." How great was his faith! They had not received any indication of the lowly
estate of Jesus as the shepherds, but immediately recognized him
as the Messiah and were among the first to welcome the Savior of the world.
His present was first deposited at his feet. Also if we have given
our hearts to Jesus, put our donations to his feet. Our money, our
worldly possessions and even our mental and spiritual gifts will be dedicated
to Jesus. This was the story of the visit of the Wise
Men, a story that religious leaders should have been ready to
lead to the birthplace of Christ to these wise, but the wise men
came to draw the attention of the leaders the birth of the Messiah.
The priests and rulers of Israel were not as ignorant of the birth of Christ
as they pretended, they had already heard the news of the appearance of the angels
to the shepherds, but felt it was a report that did not deserve their attention. Thus,
for pride and envy closed the door to the light that God wanted to give them. They reasoned
thus: "It just cannot be possible that God has overlooked
us, to communicate with ignorant shepherds and pagans foreigners." And then
they decided to show complete disregard for the news had shaken Jerusalem
and Judea. So, since Jesus was small and defenseless child, these religious leaders
began to reject Christ. As God opened the door to the people of all
nations, the Jewish leaders were closing themselves. However,
foreign wise men were right attitude. So I leave you a question: What characteristic
of the wise men you like to emulate? May be their dedication to the study of nature
and Scripture, or faith in God on a journey without knowing where they were going, or their generosity
in put at the feet of Jesus valuable presents. Leave your answer in the comments and
a brief description of why you like to have this characteristic. Also, if you learned
new in this story, click on the "Like" that is below and if
you want receive more stories like this, simply subscribe by clicking this button.
Also do not forget to visit our Facebook page which is facebook.com/ElCaminoaEmaus.
Thank you very much for everything and see you in the next video.