Magi

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Adoration of the Magi by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo.

Preach to the choir
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If you're looking for the Swiss seasoning, instant soup and noodle brand Maggi, you must be on the wrong wiki. But we do have an article on Maggi's parent company Nestlé.

“”Just to be perfectly clear, these gifts are for your birthday AND Christmas!

—The Magi

The Magi are elements of the Jesus birth myth who appear in the gospel of Matthew. Magi were real historical people who followed Zoroastrianism and the English word "magic" derives from their rituals.

## Contents

* 1 The Magi in the Bible myth
* 1.1 The story
* 1.2 The first Christmas gifts
* 1.3 Translation
* 1.4 How many Magi?
* 1.5 Other Magi
* 2 Notes

## The Magi in the Bible myth[edit]

### The story[edit]

The Magi who visit Jesus only appear in the Gospel of Matthew, specifically Matthew 2:1-16. They do not appear in any of the other Gospels or books in the New Testament. The story goes that The Magi believed that a baby would be born soon that would be king of the Jews. They told this to King Herod I, aka Herod the Great (not to be confused with Herod Antipas, which is the King Herod that grown-up Jesus dealt with), who told the Magi to find this newborn king so he could worship Him.

The Magi saw a star in the sky hovering over Bethlehem and figured something important must be happening there, so they followed the star to the town and to the very house where Jesus was being born. They then gave them gifts.

The Magi were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, so they didn’t go back to him or tell him where they found the baby Jesus. Herod responded to this in a mature and reasonable fashion, by ordering all two year olds and younger in the town slaughtered.

Fortunately, an angel told Jesus’ dad to spirit himself, Jesus and Mary off to Egypt to escape this massacre. Unfortunately, the angel apparently didn’t give any of the other parents in Bethlehem a heads-up, as this resulted in what became known as the Massacre of the Innocents.

### The first Christmas gifts[edit]

The Magi decided to give gifts to Joseph and Mary for their newborn, but instead of bringing useful stuff like diapers, bottles and baby formula, they brought gold, frankincense and myrrh. This was possibly to tie the Magi to Isaiah 60:1-6, which specifically mentions gold and frankincense, but not myrrh. The gifts were also probably meant for symbolic rather than practical value:

Gold is a precious metal, fit for a king, and therefore fit for the King of Kings, as Jesus is sometimes called.

Frankincense is a perfume or incense that was used in ceremonial worship, indicating Jesus’ role as a priest.

Myrrh is an anointing oil, used to prepare bodies for burial. This was meant to foretell the coming death of Jesus. (Because when you see a newborn, you want to remind their parents that their precious baby will die someday.)

What Joseph and Mary did with these gifts is unknown.

### Translation[edit]

The Bible sometimes translates the Magi as kings or wise men. Of the three various translations, the third translation is probably the most accurate, as the men appeared to be astrologers, not priests or kings. However, given the prominent place of astrology in several ancient Near Eastern religions, the distinction between an astrologer wise man and a priest would be less than clear cut. The main reason to render these Magi as The Three Wise Men™, rather than The Three Sorcerers as the term Magi is translated elsewhere (e.g in the case of Simon Magus mentioned below) is of course that the Bible tends to take a dim view of witchcraft, even though, in typical Biblical style, this attitude is somewhat inconsistent.[note 1] As Acts is particularly critical of ~~sorcerers~~ Magi, the more innocuous term "Wise Men" serves as a (wholly artificial and arbitrary) distinction between the good "Wise Men" and the bad "sorcerers". After all, we can't have a gospel which tells us that Magi honoring Jesus was a sign of his divinity while the equally canonical Acts tells us that Magi are all charlatans and crooks, can we?[note 2]

### How many Magi?[edit]

Don't believe what the songs say. The Bible never, ever, ever says how many Magi there were. There were three gifts, and tradition assumes one Magus per gift, but screw tradition. Clearly we need to teach the controversy and tell the children that there was a fourth Magus, who was a bit skint and had to chip in on the frankincense instead. Or perhaps there were only two Magi who happened to bring three gifts, or maybe even a half dozen Magi, for that matter. If we are to take the Bible literally, as fundamentalists insist we should, then we have no way to know how many Magi there were. Inferring one magus per gift would be interpreting the Bible, after all.

### Other Magi[edit]

In the Greek of the New Testament, the same Greek word (μάγος) identifies Simon Magus, a sorcerer named in Acts 8, who wishes to buy the powers of the apostles, as well as Elymas the magus (the King James Version here translates μάγος as 'sorcerer') struck blind in Acts 13.

## Notes[edit]

1. ↑ Generally, it's fine when the "good guys", like King Solomon, do it, but typically bad otherwise.
2. ↑ Early Church Fathers, such as saints Jerome, Origen and Augustine, were apparently less concerned with PR than with honesty and consistency in translation and thus used "magician" or similar words when translating "Magi", including in Matthew, but hey, what did the Church Fathers know, eh?

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Articles about the Bible

Old Testament: |  Goliath • Tamar • Tower of Babel • Abel • Joseph (Old Testament) • Firmament • Baal • Noah • Isaac • Ishmael • Amalekites • Curse of Ham • Jacob • Sodom and Gomorrah • Ezekiel's wheel • Lot • Nephilim • G'Tach • Joseph was Imhotep • Moses • Global flood • Cain • Gibeah • Abraham • Old Testament • Incubus and succubus myths • King David • Serpent seed doctrine • Leviathan • Messiah • Mark of Cain • Asherah • Nimrod • Sirach • Jezebel • Adam and Eve • Moloch • Book of Joel • Garden of Eden • Satan • List of actions prohibited by the Bible •
| Torah: |  Torah • Book of Exodus • Book of Genesis • Book of Leviticus • Book of Numbers • Book of Zechariah • Book of Deuteronomy •
| Old Testament History: |  Book of Esther • Book of Ezra • Book of Judges • Book of Ruth • Books of Chronicles • Books of Kings • Books of Samuel • Book of Joshua •
| Old Testament Wisdom: |  Ecclesiastes • Song of Solomon • Book of Job • Book of Proverbs • Book of Psalms •
| Major and Minor Prophets: |  Book of Daniel • Book of Ezekiel • Book of Isaiah • Book of Lamentations • Book of Jeremiah •
New Testament: |  Mary Magdalene • New Testament • Mary (mother of Jesus) • Joseph of Arimathea • Paul of Tarsus • Good Samaritan • Authorship of the New Testament • John the Baptist • Principalities and powers • Joseph (husband of Mary) • Nag Hammadi library • Messiah • Jesus • Gospel of Barnabas • Peter the Apostle • Pontius Pilate • Judas Iscariot • Book of Revelation •
| Gospels and Acts: |  Acts of the Apostles • Gospels • Q gospel • Gospel of John • Gospel of Mark • Gospel of Luke • Gospel of Matthew •
| Pauline Epistles: |  Corinthians • Galatians • Ephesians • Colossians • Epistle to the Philippians • Epistle to Philemon • Epistle to the Romans • Epistle to Titus • First Epistle to the Thessalonians • Second Epistle to the Thessalonians • Second Epistle to Timothy • First Epistle to Timothy •
| General Epistles: |  Epistle of Jude • Epistle of James • Epistle to the Hebrews • First Epistle of John • First Epistle of Peter • Second Epistle of John • Second Epistle of Peter • Third Epistle of John •
Bible analysis: |  Apocalyptic literature • Authorship of the New Testament • Bible interpolation • Biblical sexism • Bibliolatry • Documentary hypothesis • Evidence for the Exodus • Gospels • Horizontal reading • King James Only • Pesher • Q gospel • Septuagint • Skeptic's Annotated Bible • Ten Commandments • Torah • Bible translation • Word of God • Biblical literalism • Biblical contradictions • List of mistakes made by God • Abomination • Firmament • G'Tach • Arsenokoites • Genealogy of Jesus • Nag Hammadi library • Noah's Ark • Annotated Bible • Slavery in the Bible • Examples of God personally killing people • Herod • The Brick Testament • Evidence against a recent creation • EvilBible.com • List of actions prohibited by the Bible • Biblical scientific errors •
| Bible translations: |  Cockney Bible • Douay-Rheims • Jefferson Bible • King James Only • Septuagint • Vetus Latina • Bible translation • Annotated Bible •
| Apocrypha: |  Didache • Apocrypha • Nag Hammadi library • Book of Judith • 2 Maccabees • 3 Maccabees • 4 Maccabees • Books of Enoch • Books of the Maccabees • Gospel of Judas • Gospel of Mary • Gospel of Philip • Gospel of Thomas • Infancy Gospel of James • Infancy Gospel of Thomas • 1 Maccabees •
Biblical figures: |  Abel • Cain • Ishmael • Jacob • Joseph of Arimathea • Joseph (Old Testament) • Mary (mother of Jesus) • Noah • Paul of Tarsus • Mary Magdalene • Lot • Goliath • Nephilim • Moses • YHWH • Amalekites • Baal • King David • Joseph (husband of Mary) • God • Jesus • Asherah • Nimrod • Habakkuk • Adam and Eve • Herod • Pontius Pilate • Jezebel • Tamar • Judas Iscariot • Satan •
Bible woo: |  Jesus diet • Name it and claim it • Snake handling • Speaking in tongues • Spiritual warfare • The Bible Code • Gematria • Stigmata • Biblical longevity • Hanzi of Genesis • Dr. Bronner's Soap • Presidential Prayer Team • Trinity Broadcasting Network • Zecharia Sitchin • James Ussher • Creation Week • Zion Oil and Gas • The Drama of the Lost Disciples • Roman Piso • Jose Luis de Jesús • Prayer • Black Hebrew Israelites • Jonathan Otto • Benny Hinn • Presents Of God Ministry • Solfeggio frequencies • Ken Ham • Harold Camping • Institute for Creation Research • Steve Quayle • Kabbalah Center • Acharya S • Christian Identity • Peter J. Peters • Ezekiel's wheel • Creation Research • Biblical scientific foreknowledge • British Israelism •
| Scientific foreknowledge: |  Gaps between Science and the Bible • Scientific Facts in the Bible: 100 Reasons to Believe the Bible is Supernatural in Origin • Science Confirms the Bible • Eternal Productions: 101 Scientific Facts and Foreknowledge • Modern Science in the Bible • Biblical scientific foreknowledge •