The Three Kings, or were they?

5th January 2020
Epiphany 
Readings: Matthew 2:1-12

Let me first concentrate on the "Wise Men". Certain readings go together and so with Matthew, you also need to read:

• Isaiah 60:1-6 - because it introduces us to gold and frankincense;
• Psalm 72 - a description of the ideal king. In verse 11 it says "may all kings fall down before him";
• Micah 5:2 - tells us the king will come from Bethlehem;
• Numbers 24:17 - tells us about the star;
• Hosea 11:1 - tells us that God's son would be called out of Egypt;
• 1 Kings 10:12 - the visit of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon where she brings gifts of gold, spices and precious stones. 

This one reading of Matthew brings together all these Old Testament readings to prove Jesus is the Messiah of the Jews. 

Nowhere do we have the number of visitors from the east but because there are three gifts, we assume there were three. Nowhere does it say they were kings and nowhere does it say they were wise men because, I believe, magi actually means astrologers. I read that magi is the plural magoi, which in Greek means Zoroastrian Priests. These priests prepared horoscopes. 

Zoroaster was Persian, living in the 2nd millennium BC, although there is no concrete evidence on when he lived and was one of the first rulers to follow a single god. This god's name was Ahora Mazda, meaning "wise lord". He believed in one universal god who was all good, uncreated and a supreme deity. Zoroaster was born from a 15-year-old Persian virgin, therefore, miraculously conceived, and started his ministry at 30 after defeating the temptations of Satan. He predicted other virgins would conceive prophets and the Zoroastrian Priests believed they could foretell by reading the stars when these prophets were born; they were star-gazing with a purpose. Matthew's text, therefore, was not only for Jews and Gentiles, because the Magi were Gentiles, but also for the Zoroastrian religion. 

As an aside, when I was researching, I wondered who was the first ruler to espouse a monotheistic religion. It was none other than Akhenaten, the father of Tutankhamun, who reigned 1353-1336 BC. Akhenaten was a Pharoah during the 18th dynasty and worshipped the sun god Aten, however, he was disliked and subsequent pharaohs tried to write him out of history and reverted to polytheism. Around the same time, Zoroaster and Akhenaten were looking at the possibility of there only being one god. 

The three kings, which we will call them for simplicity's sake, appear to have been given names from a Greek manuscript dating around 500 AD. The more I read, the more confusing the various attributes of the three kings became. Over time, various characteristics and traits have been given. The three kings cover the three ages of men as well as come from three geographic areas, showing they are representatives from the known world at that time. With no sense of certainty, I offer the three kings names and their gifts:

• Caspar - aged 60, had a long beard and offered the gift of Gold. He was the king of Tarsus;
• Melchior - aged 40, who offered Frankincense was from Arabia;
• Balthasar - aged 20, offered the gift of myrrh. From around the 12th century AD, art has depicted him as black. 

So, gold expressed kingship, frankincense was a costly incense and myrrh was a prized perfume, also used in embalming. Gold, therefore, represents the baby as a king, frankincense because he was to be a priest and myrrh foreshadowed his death. 

The story of the three kings is said to happen two years after the birth of Jesus, so them coming to the stable is poet license. In Matthew, Jesus is a child and the kings visit a house.

What of the three gifts? King Herod was going to kill all children under the age of two in Bethlehem and so, for the reading of Hosea to come true, the Holy Family goes to Egypt so that they can be called back out. It may well be the money needed to live in Egypt was financed by these three gifts. 

My normal caveat to my sermons is that any new information I find, I offer to you in faith for you to take on board or not. I just thought I would let you know these are some of the thoughts that surround the story of the three horologists.