2006-06-05 17:59:16 · 15 answers · asked by reggaekid 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
The bible actually says "wise men bearing gifts of gold frankincense and myrrh". Is it because there were three gifts why we assume there were three wise men? Could have been two ur four.
2006-06-05 18:08:35 · update #1
Three Kings from the east (Magi)
Nothing says the shepherds weren't wise.
2006-06-05 18:03:12 · answer #1 · answered by JG 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The whole idea is rather silly. You can't follow a star, because doing so would cause you to go back and forth while drifting either north or south. The idea of a star heralding an important event or person was part of many myths of the time. Note that the gospels disagree on when and where Jesus was born. Matthew (which contains the magic star and maji story) has him born in the Bethlehem home of Joseph, during the reign of Herod the Great (who died in 5 or 4 BCE [Before Common Era]). Luke thinks he was born in a stable during the census conducted by Quirinius in 6 CE — a difference of at least 9 years. All reliable evidence points to Jesus Christ being just a myth. There is no reliable evidence that Jesus even existed, and significant evidence that he didn't. The evidence is in the Bible, the other religions of the time, and the lack of writings about Jesus by historians of the time. The story of Jesus can be shown to be just a myth cobbled together out of prophesy and stories from the Old Testament and previous gods and myths -- created in the 40's and 50's by Paul of Tarsus (who exhibited symptoms of epilepsy and had delusions of Christ talking to him), the other apostles, the unknown authors of the gospels in the 70's or later, and many other people. The reliable evidence for this is overwhelming. For the evidence, see the links. -
2016-03-27 04:11:07 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Bible doesn't say exactly how many were in that group. From history we know that these men were most likely from Persia which had some centuries before conquered Babylon and that they probably came in a large group that included soldiers for guards. Some scholars think that they knew about Jesus because they had teachings passed down to them from the time of Daniel.
Daniel 2:48 Then the king gave Daniel high honors and many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.
King Herod who was an Idumean and not a true member of one of the 12 tribes was upset about these visitors because they had the power to authenticate a person as a king and so when they asked him ""Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?" he saw this as a threat to his position which is why he was so intent on finding and killing Jesus.
Matthew 2:16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.
2006-06-05 18:34:51 · answer #3 · answered by Martin S 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Greek word for the wise men is plural, therefore, it was more than one.
Then in Matthew 2:11, it says that *they* opened their *gifts." So, plural is used again for the number of wise men, and plural is used for the gifts. It then lists the gifts as three gifts.
So we know there are two or more wise men and three gifts.
The thought that there were three is based on the number of gifts. But we *do* know there was more than one.
Lawrence
http://www.truebiblesermons.com
2006-06-05 19:06:32 · answer #4 · answered by JohnsonWriter 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In the two gospels that talk about Jesus birth, Luke says there were shepards from Bethlehem. He doesn't specify how many.
Mathew has three wise men from the east (Persia, the Orient and Africa are the traditional locations, while Bathazar, Melchoir, and Caspar are the names given them). They came 12 days after Jesus birth, which is why we now celebrate epifany on January 6.
2006-06-05 18:11:38 · answer #5 · answered by magicwriter65 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is no number spoken...just wise men...
Matthew 2:1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
2006-06-05 18:08:06 · answer #6 · answered by soldier612 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Based on Monty Python's Life Of Brian, there were 3 wise men.
2006-06-05 18:04:26 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It doesn't actually say how many. Many people use three so they can show the three types of gifts. As far as we know, there could have been a hundred or just a few.
2006-06-05 18:14:44 · answer #8 · answered by braleygirl 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
None. The legendary three magi are the 3 stars of the beslt of Orion.
2006-06-05 18:06:00 · answer #9 · answered by lenny 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It says neither that they were three nor kings.
The ONLY reason people think there were three is because they gave gifts of
1. Gold
2. Myrrh
3. Frankinscence
Two or twelve magii could have done this.
Check it out!
2006-06-05 18:05:00 · answer #10 · answered by ThatGuy 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋