Matthew 2:1f After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, in the time of King Herod, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem saying, “Where is the one who is born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

Did this happen?

For sceptical scholars such as Marcus Borg and Dominic Crossan, The story of the visit of the Magi is a ‘parable’, constructed out of OT texts in order to convey the true significance of Jesus:-

‘In our judgement, there was no special star, no wise men and no plot by Herod to kill Jesus. So is the story factually true? No. But as a parable, is it true? For us as Christians, the answer is a robust affirmative. Is Jesus light shining in the darkness? Yes. Do the Herods of this world seek to extinguish the light? Yes, Does Jesus still shine in the darkness? Yes.’ (The First Christmas: what the gospels really teach about Jesus’ birth)

Harper’s Bible Commentary confidently states: ‘The story of the Wise Men is like a “haggadah,” i.e., a story made up from biblical materials to make a theological point.’  The OT texts would have included Num 24:17, Ps 72:10–11, and Isa 60:1–7.  The same kind of process continued to elaborate the tradition beyond the NT period, adding details such the visitors being not merely wise men, but kings (and, we might add, giving them names).

Gundry, although claiming to be an evangelical who believes in inerrancy, thinks that Matthew has altered Luke’s story about the shepherds (which he thinks is historical) to this very different story about the Magi.  The Magi are then made to come to a ‘house’, not a ‘stable’ (as if Luke had specified that it was a stable!) because it would fit better with their distinguished status.  To have such insight into the Matthew’s fertile imagination is a truly wonderful thing.  See Carson, Exegetical Fallacies, p135, and this article in Christianity Today.

As Ian Paul remarks,

‘The approach presents problems of its own. For one, the stories are not presented as parables, but in continuity with the events Matthew relates in Jesus’ life later in the gospel. For another, if God in Jesus did not outwit Herod, on what grounds might we think he can outwit ‘the Herods of this world’? More fundamentally, Matthew and his first readers appeared to believe that the claims about Jesus were ‘parabolically true’ because these things actually happened. If none of them did, what grounds do we now have?’

Regarding the general plausibility of this account, Nicholl (The Great Christ Comet) remarks that

1. the massacre of the innocents matches what we know about Herod’s suspicious and cruel nature
2. the long journey of the Magi to greet a new king is in keeping with what other magi did, some 70 years later in the time of Nero
3. most devout Jews and Christians despised astrology; it is most unlikely that they would have fabricated this story
4. the fact that the star appeared about a year before the massacre of the innocents (Herod determining the age of those to be killed based on this information) is hard to account for otherwise

On the other hand, arguments against historicity (Herod would not have called the Sanhedrin together, he would have sent a spy along, the Magi already knew the way to Bethlehem, and didn’t need the star to show them the way, the slaughter of the innocents is not mentioned in other ancient sources) are weak.

France adds a further argument in favour of the historicity of this event, stating that ‘it is unlikely that a church which repudiated astrology and magic would have embarrassed itself by inventing such undesirable witnesses to the Messiah.’

So, where did they come from?

They could have come from Persia, Arabia, or Babylon.

Persia?  Among recent scholars, this is favoured by Blomberg.  It is in the east and was at some time a centre for astrology and astronomy.  The term ‘magi’ originated in this area, although by NT times it had expanded to cover a range of meanings and connotations.

Arabia?  Kenneth E. Bailey (Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes) says that to someone living in Rome ‘the east’ would suggest Persia, whereas from the perspective of the Holy Land, ‘the east’ would be the other side of the Jordan river.  The expression ‘would naturally refer to the Jordanian deserts that connect with the deserts of Arabia.’  The same writer adds that gold was mined in Arabia (cf. 1 Kings 9:28; 10:2; Job 28:16), and that frankincense and myrrh are harvested from trees ‘that only grow in southern Arabia.’  Early Christian writers, including Justin Martyr, Tertullian and Clement of Rome all attest to an Arabian origin from the Magi.  Bailey reports that ‘In the 1920s a British scholar, E. F. F. Bishop, visited a Bedouin tribe in Jordan. This Muslim tribe bore the Arabic name al-Kokabani. The word kokab means “planet” and al-Kaokabani means “Those who study/follow the planets.” Bishop asked the elders of the tribe why they called themselves by such a name. They replied that it was because their ancestors followed the planets and traveled west to Palestine to show honor to the great prophet Jesus when he was born.’  The reference to Arabia in Isa 60:6 might also support this suggestion.

Babylon?  Babylon is certainly to the east of Judea.  There was a sizeable Jewish diaspora in Babylon.  Dan 2:2,10 make it clear that magi had been associated with Babylon for a long time.  Josephus and Philo both attest to there being a sizeable Jewish population there.  The Babylonian Talmud has frequent references to the Jewish population being visited rabbis.  Babylon was a renowned of astronomy.  Putting these facts together, we might well expect magi from Babylon to be skilled in astronomical observation, and familiar with OT prophecies concerning the Jewish Messiah.  Important figures in the early church, including Origen, Jerome and Augustine, associated the magi with Babylon.  Mounce: ‘The astrologers probably came from Babylonia, where they would have had contact with the Jewish exiles and the opportunity to develop an interest in the coming Messiah.’  This is the location favoured by Nicholl, France, and others.

Kerry Magruder (Dictionary of Christianity and Science, art. ‘Star of Bethlehem’) states:

Babylon at this time was the leading center for magi who were not only astrologers but also proficient astronomers. Babylonian magi were historical, not legendary, and their astronomical knowledge was sophisticated, not trivial. These magi, the “scribes of Enuma Anu Enlil,” pioneered quantitative methods in ancient astronomy and could predict planetary cycles hundreds of years into the future (Swerdlow 1998). Few discussions of the Bethlehem star appreciate the capability of mathematical astronomy in this cuneiform tradition or delve deeply into the historical question of the magi’s astrology, that is, how they interpreted celestial events.