The birth story of Jesus is familiar enough for a lot of us. But if you had never heard it before, it would probably seem a little weird—more like an epic poem of ancient times than a real historical event. In addition to the virgin birth, the heavenly host, and the upside-down portrayal of a king born in an animal pen, throw in a star and some wise men.
The wise men seem like a bit of an oddity, even for a story as strange as this. But as it turns out, the backstory of the “wise men from the east” (Matt. 1:1) probably makes them both weirder and more significant to the storyline of the Gospel than we’ve typically cared to admit. For today’s post, who were wise men? And next time, what significance does it hold that they were “from the east?”
Scripture is often written with a dense brevity. Narratives often leave out plenty of details that we moderners might like to have, but the details that it does include are always important and typically loaded with insider information. It’s like someone saying, “I am your father,” and expecting you to upload the entire backstory of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. In Scripture, a single word or phrase in one verse often connects to an entire world of ideas from elsewhere in the Biblical storyline, and the “wise men from the east” are no different.
In the ancient world, wise men were a thing. They weren’t kings (sorry Christmas carolers), but it was a rather prestigious job. Wise men appear in two prominent Old Testament stories, the first being the Exodus. When Moses and Aaron went before Pharaoh, Aaron threw down his staff, and it became a serpent (Ex. 7:10) by the power of Yahweh. Now, get ready for the weirdness.
Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts. For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents.
Exodus 7:10-12 ESV (emphasis mine)
What? Sorcerers are in my Nativity scene?
That’s right. Wise men are part of a group that includes sorcerers and are collectively called magicians. By the way, this same group also replicates the first two plagues: water to blood (Ex. 7:22) and frogs (8:7).
Wise men also show up in the story of Daniel. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has a dream and calls for the “magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans” to not only interpret his dream but also tell him the content of the dream (Dan. 2). Interpreting a dream is one thing. Telling the content of a dream to the dreamer is quite another—something only the gods are capable of (2:11). A little unfair, even for magicians and sorcerers, as they themselves protested.
But in spite of the unfairness, King Nebuchadnezzar throws a fit and declares that “all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed” (emphasis mine). So, by the time of Daniel, “wise men” included magicians, enchanters, and sorcerers. These men were advisers to the king, called upon to interpret dreams, to animate inanimate objects into serpents, and to do other magical tricks.
Now, lest you think this is just sleight of hand, the Exodus narrative clearly portrays the narrative as a judgment of Yahweh on the gods of Egypt (Ex. 12:12, Nu: 33:4). Sorcery is darker than card tricks, and enchantments are more sinister than pulling rabbits out of a hat. The power these “wise men” wielded came from the supernatural forces of darkness (see “Yahweh is a Man of War” in The Epic Gospel We’ve Forgotten). Exodus is clear that when Moses and Aaron, by Yahweh’s power, performed the first several miraculous acts before Pharaoh, the magicians of Egypt also “did the same by their secret arts” (7:11, 22; 8:7).
Now, back to the Christmas story: the wise men who visited Jesus in Bethlehem had seen His star. While the Old Testament doesn’t give us explicit references to these magicians, sorcerers, and enchanters studying the stars, we know the stars were of incredible importance to the ancient world and to this type of person particularly.
In the ancient world, stars were closely associated with gods. The stars were studied and worshiped (e.g. see Deut. 4:19-20) because they were believed to represent the gods and their activity and to communicate messages from the gods. Lest you think that’s just incredibly superstitious, the God of gods did this Himself with the Christmas star. And kings were often thought to be divine (e.g. Pharaoh was believed to be the incarnation of several gods), so the stars were incredibly important to the kingship and the wise men.
What makes the weirdness of sorcerers, magicians, and enchanters in the Christmas story so powerful is this: the God of gods was laying claim to His rightful place as King in this Baby. And while Jesus was still a baby—before He ever began His ministry, or died and rose again—He was being honored and worshipped as the rightful “King of the Jews” (Matt. 2:2) by non-Jewish “wise men” who formerly served the gods of the pagan nations (called “demons” by Paul in 1 Cor. 10:19-20).
Before the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20) was ever given, the demons were already losing ground to the power of Jesus. And it all started with these magicians, enchanters, and sorcerers—collectively called “wise men”—traveling to worship Him.
Epic Gospel 