What was the purpose of the Magi?

Question

The Judeo-Christian God is anti-magic (although the exception could be argued about the Witch of Endor in the OT). Yet the Bethlehem "star" was shown only to them in the East (it is believed they were from Persia) and the shepherds in the Bethlehem area. What would cause Magi to come to a distant land and how would they know of Jesus and that he was a king to worship and give gifts to simply by following the celestial body? Unlike everyone else in the Bible, God never commands them to repent of their ways. He even warns them against Herod. What makes them special that they escape his wrath and instead win his favor for something that would cost anyone else their life?

The Magi were astrologers. The term "wise man" is where Wicca comes from which is a religion that incorporates witchcraft, astrology, etc.

According to the New Compact Bible Dictionary, Magi were religious fortune tellers who studied astrology in Persia. By the 1st century, Magi was a term used for a fortune teller.

Answer 1

The Magi were not magicians. They were distiguished visitors from far countries, supposedly Persia or Asia Minor, and they were the "scientists" of that time and place. They studied the the planets and the stars and were probably followers of the Zoroastrian religion. In those days it was believed that the birth of an important person was heralded by signs in the heavens (comets, supernovas) and like almost everyone else alive at that time, they probably believed in astrology.

In the narrative as story, their purpose is to show the gentiles recognizing Jesus as the Messiah.

Answer 2

Throughout the bible, God uses non-believers to show believers things. Throughout the bible God gives his gifts to non-believers for the same purpose. I believe these wise men, or kings had the gift of prophecy. And that they were the first Gentiles to come and worship Our Lord.

It is a recent theory that the magi were astrologers. Christian tradition holds them as kings. The same BBC program that theorizes they were astrologers - states that modern astrologers found a wonderful planetary alignment that would have hailed the birth of a super king.

However, they neglected to explain how it was that the magi came along when Jesus was around three years old. Not at his birth when this miraculous alignment supposedly took place. Such an alignment would not last three years.

That same BBC program shows a recreation of Jesus with short hair. Looks a lot more like Peter, to me than Jesus. They totally missed the part that Jesus had taken the Nazarite vow, which meant he was celibate and forbidden to cut his hair. He was thus consecrated to God.

See Numbers chapter 6.

Answer 3

You are correct that the Magi didn't follow the "christian-judeo" God.
As astrologers, they were servants of false gods and were, wittingly or unwittingly, led by what appeared to them as a moving “star.” They alerted Herod to the fact that the “king of the Jews” had been born, and Herod, in turn, sought to have Jesus killed.
God did not provide that star that they followed - it was their own "demon God's" that led them there to be a pawn in Satan's hand at an attempt to kill Jesus before he could become the Christ. The Bible never says what they did was good or bad, nor does it say that they "won God's favor".
Something to remember is that God doesn't desire anyone to be destroyed. Being that they didn't go back to Herod because of their "divine warning" shows that they obeyed the true God over man. This would show some repentance that they felt in trying to get back to their land without running into Herod. The Bible doesn't go into details about the rest of the Magi's lives. But there are other examples of people in the Bible who were able to win God's favor with heart-felt repentance for any wrong-doing they may have committed, knowingly or unknowingly. Ex: King David and then also Saul/Paul.

Answer 4

They weren't special. God did, at least in some way, try to accommodate those born before the foundation of the new covenant; there is mention, after all, of at least a small number of those born before Christ entering heaven. The Magi, like everyone else living in the world at that time, were simply struggling to some grasp of a right relationship with God, even if they didn't believe in him, and so God's toleration is completely understandable. Furthermore, whether the Bible is or is not against magic, it does say that the sky is for, among other things, signs, and this would've totally been the Magi's thing, so their practice of astrology would not, in and of itself, violate perceived doctrine. Lastly, hey, God had to have had some way or other for those born too early or too far away from Jesus to receive the Holy Spirit, otherwise a whole lot of Indians, Africans, Aboriginals and Orientals needlessly went to hell. Somehow, I just can't picture God doing that.

Answer 5

Magi means wise man. You should play less D&D.

Answer 6

The three holy kings were not magicians but astronomers, they were the first pagans who believed in Christ.