MANGER DANGER: NO WISE MEN PRESENT AT THE BIRTH OF JESUS!

Did Jesus say, “thank you” to the wise men?  He could have, because He was about two years old when the wise men presented their gifts to Him.  That’s the biblical truth of the matter!  I just this week attended a local church production of the “The Nativity Story”.  It was well done and a beautiful scene, just like it’s depicted in countless church plays, TV programs, and on millions of Christmas cards.  There is just one problem, it’s not true.  This blog may shock you or even irritate you.  I remember being bummed out when I was told that Pluto was no longer a planet. Well, get ready to be bummed out: Not a single wise man was ever present at a Bethlehem manger the night Jesus was born! The Bible never says that they were kings, it never gives us the number of wise men-they could have been three, ten, or thirty-three.  Let’s look at what the Bible actually says:

Matthew 2:1-3 (NKJV)

1  Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem,

2  saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”

3  When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

Notice that Jesus was born already when the wise men arrived in Jerusalem and that King Herod had not even heard about His birth.  These wise men were asking Herod where He was.  Then the Bible tells us the star they had seen, lead them to the place where the “YOUNG CHILD” (not a babe) was.  I’m not even going to talk about the “star”.  I will tell you that there is no indication the Bethlehem star hung in the sky like a Hollywood flood light.  No one probably noticed it except the three or six or ten Wise Men who were trained in astronomy – among other things.  A star as big as the one we like to imagine would have been visible from the North Pole.  And Herod wouldn’t have had to ask where the Child was because he would have seen the beacon himself.

Matthew 2:11-14 (NKJV)

11  And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

12  Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.

13  Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.”

14  When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt,

Notice that they came into the HOUSE (not a manger, not a stable, not a barn) where they saw the “YOUNG CHILD” (not an infant, not a babe, not a newborn) with His mother Mary (not Joseph, not cows, not sheep and camels) and they worshipped Him.

But here’s another crucial part of the story that most miss and never talk about.  Here in Matthew it says that when the wise men departed that “Behold” an angel of the Lord told Joseph to take the “young child and His mother and to flee to Egypt because Herod in Jerusalem wanted to kill the young Child.  Yet in Luke, we see that Joseph and Mary went to Jerusalem thirty-three days after Jesus was born!  Anyone see a problem?

It is because Matthew and Luke are describing two different time periods and two different ages for Jesus.  In Matthew – the account involving the wise men – Jesus’ mother and father are fleeing with their son for their very lives to Egypt.  But in Luke, Joseph and Mary are shown taking the baby Jesus into Jerusalem where Herod himself lived.   We also see that when Herod realized that the wise men were not coming back to tell him where Jesus was, that he became enraged and slew all the male children that were in Bethlehem, from two years old and under.  This proves that Herod believed that Jesus was not a newborn babe, but that He was around two years old when the wise men encountered Him.

Another important truth that I never hear mentioned is that the Bible commanded the parents of a first-born male child to bring to the priest a lamb as a burnt offering (Leviticus Chapter 12), but if they cannot afford a lamb, then they could bring a young pigeon or a turtledove as a sin offering.  Joseph and Mary brought the offering of the poor, per scripture this offering was to be brought thirty-three days after the male child was born.

Luke 2:22-24 (NKJV)

22 Now when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord

23 (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the LORD”), 24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, “A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”

To believe that Joseph and Mary were given gold, frankincense, and myrrh the night Jesus was born and yet thirty-three days later they refuse to spend any of it to obey the law of God and buy a lamb, is to believe they were liars and cheaters.  It says that they were too cheap to use any of those valuable gifts to buy a lamb for sacrifice and therefore, brought the offering of the poor.  This in fact proves, by their offering a month after Jesus’ birth that they were poor.  This proves that the wise men had not yet visited them, and given them these very valuable and costly gifts.

If people would just read their Bibles, they would realize that what they’ve been told all these years is simply not what happened.  There’s much proof in the Bible that this myth is not true, yet millions of people and most of the church are under the impression that such a birthday scenario is recorded in the Bible.

Some of you may be thinking, “what does it matter”, that I’m making too much of this.  It matters because it’s not true!  It matters because the Bible matters.  If I can say that the clear facts of scripture about the birth of Jesus doesn’t matter, then what does matter?   I mean no disrespect or arrogance in exposing this myth, but I hope that this is a wake-up call to some.  If we could get the facts of Jesus’ birth wrong, I wonder what else we have wrong?  What other things have been preached to us that are simply myths and are not true?  Today in the church we need a theological reformation, we don’t need revival as much as we need RE-BIBLE.  We need to open our Bibles and to receive the revelation of God’s amazing grace. It’s time to return to the Bible facts and put away the myths of religion once and for all.  Merry Christmas!