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Why, in most all the Christmas nativity scenes, are three wise men always present at the manger, when we know from Scripture that the unknown number of wise men from the east didn't arrive in Jerusalem, until 4 B.C., The year in which Herod the Great died when the baby Jesus was almost two years old.
Why, in most all the Christmas nativity scenes, are three wise men always present at the manger, when we know from Scripture that the unknown number of wise men from the east didn't arrive in Jerusalem, until 4 B.C., The year in which Herod the Great died when the baby Jesus was almost two years old.
It was certainly after the shepherd's event which was supposed to be around the same time as the birth. While Herod's asking about what time the star appeared gives the cue for Herod targeting boys up to two years of age (thus the magi had been more than a year in arriving).
But that is 'just part of the story' and not to be taken any more seriously than Santa's flying sleigh, especially the mobile star tethered to the Phasael tower while the Magi are inside getting directions from Herod. Because after all, according to Luke they'd all gone back to Nazareth after the circumcision a few weeks later and they wouldn't be in Bethlehem at all.
Just enjoy your Christmas nativity - scene folks, and don't take it too seriously.
Matthew refers to them as Magi, not 'wise men.' Why does tradition say there were three? Perhaps because three gifts are mentioned in Matthew 2:11 . . .gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Matthew refers to them as Magi, not 'wise men.' Why does tradition say there were three? Perhaps because three gifts are mentioned in Matthew 2:11 . . .gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Correct Michael, the number of wise men who arrived in Galilee, in 4 B.C., shortly before Herod the great died after a failed suicide attempt, is believed to be three, because of the three gifts given to the young child Jesus.
The title "wise men" is translated from the original Greek word magos. The word refers to a priest of the Persian religion Zoroastrianism. These priests, or magi, frequently looked to the stars for signs of the future and gained an international reputation for astrology and revelation/divination.
It is more than probable that the "wise men" were in fact Zoroastrian priests from Persia. And as there was a sizable Jewish presence in Babylon at that time, they obviously studied the old Hebrew scriptures. (Historians estimate that there were about 6-7 million Jews living in the Roman Empire (plus another 1 million from Persia.)
Although the history of the Jews in Iraq in the 5th century BCE is largely unknown, we know that the exiles were allowed to practice their religion while in Persia, and that they would have established schools/colleges in which to teach the children born while they were in exile.
The Bible also states that when the magi found the child Jesus, they "fell down and worshiped him." This verse references or indicates bowing, kneeling or prostration, which was generally viewed by both the ancient Jews and Romans as undignified, and in Jewish tradition was reserved for their God alone. However, for Persians, bowing or kneeling was a sign of respect generally directed toward kings.
Why, in most all the Christmas nativity scenes, are three wise men always present at the manger, when we know from Scripture that the unknown number of wise men from the east didn't arrive in Jerusalem, until 4 B.C., The year in which Herod the Great died when the baby Jesus was almost two years old.
It was certainly after the shepherd's event which was supposed to be around the same time as the birth. While Herod's asking about what time the star appeared gives the cue for Herod targeting boys up to two years of age (thus the magi had been more than a year in arriving).
But that is 'just part of the story' and not to be taken any more seriously than Santa's flying sleigh, especially the mobile star tethered to the Phasael tower while the Magi are inside getting directions from Herod. Because after all, according to Luke they'd all gone back to Nazareth after the circumcision a few weeks later and they wouldn't be in Bethlehem at all.
Just enjoy your Christmas nativity - scene folks, and don't take it too seriously.
Yea folks, don't take the lies of Constantine's Roman church too seriously.
We know from the scriptures that the baby Jesus was circumcised when he was eight days old, and that 33 days later, Mary openly carried her child to the temple in Jerusalem, (No sign of any wise men yet) and there she performed the ceremony of purification according to the law of Moses, which was to be 33 days afther the child was circumcised, after which, they returned to their home in Nazareth, to where the wise men would come in 4 B.C.
After entering, not the manger in Bethlehem of Judah, but the ‘HOUSE’ of Joseph and Mary in Nazareth, the wise men paid homage to the child Jesus, That very same night, the wise men, who would presumably have travelled to Jerusalem across the Kings Highway, were warned in a dream not to reveal to Herod the child’s whereabouts, and they returned home by a different route from which they had come, which would, more than likely, have been up through the northern route of Damascus, and Joseph was also warned to get out of bed immediately and take the child and his mother and flee into Egypt.
Herod’s secret police had eyes and ears throughout the entire land, and when he realised that he had been tricked and the wise men were not going to return and reveal the child’s location as promised, he was furious and gave the order to kill all the male children in the district that Herod's spies had confirmed that the wise men with their entourage had travelled to, which was around Bethlehem of Galilee, who were two years and below according to the time that he learned from the wise men about when they had first sighted the star that had heralded the birth of the promised king and savour.
According to Josephus the historian, Sepphoris, which was only about 4 miles from Bethlehem of Galilee, and a few kilometres from Nazareth, had a population of around thirty thousand and he called it, "The Ornament of Galilee."
Around the time of Herod’s death in the spring of 4BC, just after he had ordered the slaughter of the innocents around the district of Bethlehem of Galilee, who were two years and below, according to the time that the wise men had seen the heavenly sign that had heralded the birth of Jesus in 6 B.C. there were riots among the peasants of the area in Galilee of which Sepphoris was the centre. Judas, the son of Hezekias attacked the arsenal of Herod in the city of Sepphoris in order to arm the peasants.
The Romans under Quintillius Varus of Syria, attacked and burnt the city, putting down the uprising in which many families died and others were taken prisoner and transported to Rome, where they were sold as slaves. But Joseph, with his wife and her child had escaped the slaughter by fleeing into Egypt.
After a failed suicide attempt, which I believe may have been an option given to him by Caesar Augustus, in the spring of 4 BC, Herod the Great died, then in the spring of 3 B.C., after the death of Herod his father, when Antipas returned from Rome where his father’s will had been ratified by Augustus, he chose and rebuilt the magnificent city of Sepphoris as his capital city for ruling over Galilee.
Helena was the mother of Emperor Constantine, who established his Universal church in 325 AD, some 300 years after Jesus had established his apostolic church in Jerusalem.
Constantine appointed his mother Helena as Augusta and gave her unlimited access to the imperial treasury in order to locate the relics of early Judeo-Christian times. And the church of the Nativity in Bethlehem of Judaea, was originally financed and built by Helena the mother of Emperor Constantine, who have both been deified as saints by the Universal church that was established in 325 AD.
According to the traditions of the Church of Constantine, Mary and her child [supposedly] rested in a cave, called the Milk Grotto (la Gruta de la Leche), near the place where today stands the Church of the Nativity (la Iglesia de la Natividad). There, (Or so it is said) their supposed Virgin Mary breastfed the child Jesus to keep it quiet, while the soldiers of Herod were slaughtering the innocent children in Bethlehem of Judaea. A drop of milk [supposedly] fell on a stone of the cave, and the stone was supposed to have magically turned white. During the early centuries, this white rock, diluted in water, took the appearance of milk and was used as a religious relic.
Both Christians and Muslims believe scrapings from the stones in the grotto boost the quantity of a mother’s milk and enhance fertility. Mothers usually mix it in their drinking water; would-be mothers place the MAGICAL rock under their mattress.
There is also an old tradition which originated from the universal church of Constantine that identifies this as the burial site of the young victims of Herod’s Slaughter of the Innocents. There is a chapel dedicated to them in the caves beneath the Church of St. Catherine. None of this can be historically or scripturally supported.
According to the traditions handed down by their saint Helena, it was in 6 BC, in the first few days after the birth of the child that the wise men paid homage to the baby Jesus in the manger in Bethlehem of Judaea, and immediately after the wise men were supposed to have left, Herod’s men began killing all the male children in that district who were two-years and below, while Mary supposedly hid in the milk Grotto, after which, Joseph and Mary with the baby Jesus, fled from Bethlehem of Judaea into the land of Egypt, where, according to Helena, they must have remained for two years, until Herod died in 4 BC.
Anyone who would believe Constantine's mother, and who believe that the wise men were at the manger, have never read the scriptures.
Why, in most all the Christmas nativity scenes, are three wise men always present at the manger, when we know from Scripture that the unknown number of wise men from the east didn't arrive in Jerusalem, until 4 B.C., The year in which Herod the Great died when the baby Jesus was almost two years old.
Does it really matter? The Magi were part of the story, and the details of their visit are really immaterial in my opinion, as is their exact number. The stable in which Mary gave birth is also generally depicted as a wooden shack when it was more likely a cave of some sort. No biggie.
Does it really matter? The Magi were part of the story, and the details of their visit are really immaterial in my opinion, as is their exact number. The stable in which Mary gave birth is also generally depicted as a wooden shack when it was more likely a cave of some sort. No biggie.
What does it matter if Jesus was circumcised 8 days after his birth, let the church tell your children that before Jesus was even eight days old his parents fled with him to Egypt.
What does it matter that the holy scriptures reveal that his mother Performed the ceremony of purification in the temple in Jerusalem, according to the time prescribed by Moses, which was 33 days after the circumcision ? let the church tell your children that was a lie, and she could not have performed the ceremony of purification in the temple in Jerusalem, because she fled from Bethlehem of Judah, straight into Egypt where the family was supposed to have remained for two years.
What does it matter that the scriptures reveal that the wise men visited the child in 4 B.C., shortly before the death of Herod the Great? Let the church teach your children that the scriptures lie, and that the wise men were at the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem of Judah, in the year of 6 B.C., when the star that had heralded the birth of Jesus, was supposed to have hovered over that manger in Bethlehem.
In fact, let the church teach your children anything they want to, which is not confirmed in the holy scriptures, because apparently, none of it matters to you.
How do you identify if some church is lying to your children, when none of it matters to you?
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I saw 'nativity..and couldn't resist it...
and don't take it too seriously.
