my two children were obviously in their x mas play and came home asking one of those DADDY questions and i was completely stumped! help!! please and give me some peace!!!!
2006-12-18 06:33:13 · 20 answers · asked by K O 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Cultures & Groups ➔ Other - Cultures & Groups
Caspar, Balthasar, and Melchoir
2006-12-18 06:35:21 · answer #1 · answered by gymspirit 5 · 3⤊ 3⤋
Historians generally are not sure if there were actually three wise men, but the scriptures have it so. However they were not Kings. The traditional names given them are Gaspar, Balthazar and Melchior. If true it seems likely that they were from Persia and seeking the foretold coming by following a new star (Nova?).
2006-12-18 15:00:27 · answer #2 · answered by WINGER 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Christmas carol "We Three Kings" tells the story of the Wise Men from the East who brought gifts to the baby Jesus. But who were the Three Kings, otherwise known as the Magi or Wise Men, and were they really royal?
According to tradition dating back to medieval times, their names were Balthasar, Gaspar (or Casper), and Melchior. They are often depicted as representing the three races. The Bible says they came from the East, but exactly where is not known. Arabia, Babylon, and Persia are popular choices. According to one tradition, Balthasar was king of Arabia, Gaspar was king of India, and Melchior was king of Persia.
An 8th century saint, Bede the Venerable, described the kings this way: "The first was called Melchior; he was an old man, with white hair and long beard; he offered gold to the Lord as to his king. The second, Gaspar by name, young, beardless, of ruddy hue, offered to Jesus his gift of incense, the homage due to Divinity. The third, of black complexion, with heavy beard, was called Baltasar; the myrrh he held in his hands prefigured the death of the Son of man."
The Bible, however, does not describe the kings or reveal their names. In fact, it does not call them kings at all, but simply Magi, or Wise Men.
2006-12-20 18:24:00 · answer #3 · answered by Chill_Out 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Mathew 2:1 tells us:
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 . . .
That's it. Matthew doesn't say how many wise men came from the east, doesn't mention their names, and doesn't provide any details about how they made their journey.
It has generally been assumed that the wise men (or magi) were three in number because Matthew 2:11 makes mention of three gifts: " . . . they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh." The number of wise men is not specified in the Bible, however, and some Eastern religions have claimed up to twelve of them made the journey to Bethlehem. The names of the wise men, Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, do not come from the Bible and did not appear in Christian literature until over five hundred years after the birth of Jesus. Nothing in the Bible says the wise men rode camels (or any other animal); they may have made their journey from the east on foot for all we know. And despite the familiar lyrics of the Christmas carol "We Three Kings," no biblical source depicts the three wise men as kings. (They were most likely learned men, perhaps astrologers.)
However many wise men there were, and however they got to Bethlehem, the Bible tells us they arrived just after the birth and found the baby Jesus in a manger, right?
Not quite. Matthew 2:11 states:
And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him . . .
The wise men came "into the house," not the stable, and they saw a "young child," not a newborn. This passage indicates that the wise men didn't arrive until quite some time after Jesus' birth. (According to Luke 2, it was shepherds, not wise men, who visited the infant Jesus in the manger.)
To sum up: we know from the Bible that wise men came from the east, that they followed a star to Bethlehem to find the Christ child, and that they brought him gold, and frankincense and myrrh. We must look to sources external to the Bible to find the origins of any of the other familiar details, however.
2006-12-18 14:44:49 · answer #4 · answered by Brite Tiger 6 · 2⤊ 2⤋
Lots of people said something about Gaspar, Balthazar, and Melchizen or something like that, but the actual account of the story of Christmas doesn't give their names. G, B, and M were just made up a long time ago to better illustrate the story. We aren't even sure if their were three wise men or 100! We only know that there were three GIFTS.
2006-12-18 14:43:42 · answer #5 · answered by L-dog =) 3 · 1⤊ 2⤋
In the West the names have been settled since the 8th century as Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar.
2006-12-18 15:59:30 · answer #6 · answered by Nobody 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Gaspar , Baltazar, and Melchor. In the Bible it doesn't state that there was three wise men, it only states there were three gifts given. The wisemen are also called Magi, which comes from the term magic.
2006-12-18 14:44:30 · answer #7 · answered by sluggo1947 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Sean Connery
Eddie Vedder
James Earl Jones
2006-12-18 14:35:59 · answer #8 · answered by Barrett G 6 · 1⤊ 4⤋
Tradition has it they were named Gaspar, Balthasar, and Melchior.
2006-12-18 14:49:45 · answer #9 · answered by S 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I certainly do! The names of the Three Magi were Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar
2006-12-18 14:41:05 · answer #10 · answered by kosmikgirl05 2 · 0⤊ 3⤋