Epiphany on January 6 recalls the visit of Magi, or sensible men, to the infant Jesus. It falls on the twelfth day after Christmas and brings the Christmas season to an in depth. But who were the sensible men which can be remembered on this present day?
The sensible men in popular culture
The actual story of the sensible men visiting Jesus is simply present in Matthew 2:1-12. This account is lacking in details, and as often happens gaps within the biblical narrative are filled in by tradition.
We see this in Nativity plays, in crib scenes and on Christmas cards featuring the sensible men. Typically these depict three kings riding on camels, every one carrying certainly one of the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
The Magi appear in plenty of Christmas carols. In the carol “the First Noel” they’re called “three sensible men”. In the carol “We Three Kings” they’re imagined as a trio of oriental kings.
What does Magi mean?
In the Gospel of Matthew, it says that μάγοι (magoi) came around. The Latin Vulgate rendered this as ‘magi’ which is how the term got here into English. Magi is the plural of the singular word ‘magus’. Forms of this word are the origin of the English words ‘magic’ and ‘magician’.
The same word within the singular is utilized in the New Testament, for 2 men mentioned within the Acts of the Apostles. Elymas the Magus (Ἐλύμας ὁ μάγος) is mentioned in Acts 13:6-11, where he known as a sorcerer or a magician depending on the interpretation. Simon Magus (Σίμων ὁ μάγος) is mentioned in Acts 8:9-13, where he’s described as practising sorcery or practising magic, depending on the interpretation.
The word ‘magi’ got here into Latin via Greek, and into Greek via the old Persian word for a Zoroastrian priest ‘magush’. The same word, in Greek within the Septuagint and in Latin within the Vulgate, is used of King Nebuchadnezzar’s sensible men within the book of Daniel. Matthew was perhaps was making a link to the Babylonian court, where these men were known as ‘magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers’ (Daniel 2:2 NIV) and collectively as ‘sensible men’ (Daniel 5:7 NIV). Whether Matthew is implying that they got here from that region will not be clear, but his selection of word gives a sign of the style of men they were.
Actually the word ‘Magi’ could be very difficult to translate. The tradition of translating ‘Magi’ as ‘sensible men’ in English goes back to William Tyndale in his 1526 New Testament, which was kept within the King James Version (KJV). Most modern English translations equivalent to the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), English Standard Version (ESV), New Living Translation (NLT), and the Contemporary English Version (CEV) have followed this tradition.
Other translations have called them ‘astrologers’. This word is utilized by the New English Bible (NEB), J.B. Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English, the Amplified Bible and the Living Bible. In precedent days, many royal advisers included studying stars as a part of their methods, when the excellence between astronomy and astrology was fuzzier than it’s today. Other attempts to translate the term have included ‘mages’ in Young’s Literal Translation, and ‘band of students’ in The Message. The Good News Bible has ‘some men who studied the celebs’. Another solution is utilized in the carol “Angels from the Realms of Glory” where they’re called “sages” who leave their contemplations.
Some modern translations prefer to go away the paradox of the term Magi. So, the word ‘Magi’ itself is utilized in the New International Version (NIV), and likewise within the recent New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVue).
Who were sensible men?
Groups of sensible men are literally mentioned over and over within the Bible. Rulers used to assemble a bunch of advisers and counsellors to assist them make decisions. The idea carries on within the United Kingdom with the Privy Council.
In the Old Testament we read of sensible men being consulted by Pharaoh to clarify his dream in Genesis 4:18. Later one other Pharaoh calls his sensible men to satisfy Moses and Aaron in Exodus 7:11. In 1 Kings 4:30, King Solomon is alleged to be wiser than the sensible men of the East, or the sensible men of Egypt. In 1 Kings 10:1 we read of the Queen of Sheba who came around King Solomon with a bunch of attendants, able to ask difficult questions, so it seems she brought her sensible men along with her, and maybe she had some sensible women too. Wise men are then mentioned most frequently as being consulted by King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel (see Daniel 1:20, Daniel 2:2, Daniel 2:10, Daniel 4:7, Daniel 5:7 and Daniel 5:15). In the Old Testament the knowledge of sensible men is contrasted to the knowledge of God’s people equivalent to Moses and Aaron, King Solomon and Daniel.
Then within the Nativity story, we read that when the Magi first arrived on the court of King Herod, that King Herod consulted his own sensible men, who were the chief priests and scribes (Matthew 2:4). Here the Jewish sensible men of King Herod knew the Scriptures, implying perhaps that these Magi were Gentiles.
So, it is probably going that these sensible men were linked to the royal court, and weren’t Jewish. Stories of sensible men show that they were employed by a monarch. They probably worked for a King, but we all know from the stories of Queen Athaliah of Judah (2 Kings 11:3), the Queen of Sheba (2 Chronicles 9:1) and Queen Candice of Ethiopia (Acts 8:27), that in biblical times there have been also ruling Queens, in order that they may need worked for a Queen. The sensible men did their duty and alerted their monarch to the birth of a recent king in Judea, after which he (or possibly she) sent them on his (or her) behalf with suitable gifts from one king to a different.
Were they kings?
Sometimes the sensible men are called ‘kings’. Our idea is reinforced by the Christmas carol, ‘We three kings of Orient are’, written in 1857. This references Isaiah 60:3, 6 which reads ‘And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising … They shall bring gold and frankincense …’ (Isaiah 60:3, 6 ESV). Another verse with this concept is Psalm 72:11, which says ‘all kings shall fall down before him’. Wise men were attached to royal courts, so these sensible men probably had royal connections, and could have represented a king. However had they been kings themselves Matthew would little question have called them such, quite than as Magi. Most likely they got here as envoys of a king.
Did they know the Scriptures?
When the Magi came around Jesus they were following a star. The concept that a star heralded the Messiah comes from Numbers 24:17, which incorporates the phrase ‘There shall come a Star out of Jacob’. As such perhaps they knew the Scriptures. However, they first went to Jerusalem and never Bethlehem, and it was Herod’s sensible men who told him that the brand new king could be from Bethlehem from, citing the verse which reads ‘And you, O Bethlehem … from you shall come … one who’s to be ruler in Israel’ (Micah 5:2 ESV). So it will not be clear in the event that they knew the Scriptures or not, or perhaps they knew a number of the Scriptures but didn’t know the Minor Prophets.
What were their names?
In the carol ‘We Three Kings’ the Magi are assigned names Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar. These are traditional names, which have been used because the sixth century, however the sensible men aren’t named within the Bible, and we are going to probably never know what their names were.
How many were there?
In Europe, the concept there have been three of them comes from the three gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh mentioned in Matthew 2:11. The Early Church author John Chrysostom (c347 – 407 AD), the nice scholar and Archbishop of Constantinople, believed that there have been twelve of them, which remains to be the tradition in lots of churches within the East. The idea of twelve may need been symbolic of the twelve tribes of Israel.
If we read the Bible story, there is no such thing as a mention of the variety of sensible men in any respect. Magi is just plural. People travelling with gold, frankincense and myrrh, which were very helpful, were more prone to travel in a bigger group for safety, and a royal delegation was more prone to have been larger. Often within the Bible when there are a two of something they’re known as a pair, so it appears that evidently that there have been a minimum of three of them. It possibly that there was a bigger group and the precise number will not be given, just because Mary couldn’t remember the precise number when she related to the story to Matthew, or whoever he got the story from. So, it may need been three men, but it surely seems likely it was more.
Were all of them men?
They may not even have all been male. The Greek word Magi is a masculine plural, which suggests it is likely to be all males, or a combination of men and women. For example when Jesus told his disciples to be ‘fishers of men’ (Matthew 4:19) we assume he meant women too. So possibly the group of ‘sensible men’ included a number of women, or perhaps a number of brought their wife or female retainers. We cannot make sure. Perhaps as a substitute of ‘sensible men’ it will be higher translated as ‘sensible people’?
We don’t actually know so much concerning the sensible men, but we do know that sensible men sought Jesus, and that sensible people still do.
