Three Kings?
(Unwrapped: the Truth about Christmas #21)
What's in the series? Previous: Shepherds and Angels? Next: Follow that Star?
Matthew's account of the wise men who came to find Jesus is almost certainly based on real events:
At that time, there was a widespread belief that a ruler would arise from Judea. This is mentioned by the Roman historians Tacitus and Suetonius, and by Virgil and the Jewish historian Josephus.
Astrologers from Babylonia or Persia probably knew about this belief. And astrologers in the ancient world were eager to find links between signs in the sky and political developments on the earth.
There were large Jewish communities in Babylonia and Persia. So the wise men could have read the Jewish scriptures, and known about the promise of the Messiah. And they could have linked the star they saw to 'the king of the Jews.'
To find out more read Matthew 1:18-2:18
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