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What are Magi? - YouTube
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[Music]
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welcome to beneath the bible where we're
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helping you dig deeper and
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uncover the world beneath the sacred
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book christmas is just around the corner
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so we're going to finish out season one
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on our youtube channel
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with a couple of christmas themed videos
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next week on christmas day we'll have
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our season finale about the star of
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bethlehem
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today we're going to look at who saw the
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star and came to bethlehem
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the wise men or vagi who were they and
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how did they know what to do
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and where to go when they saw this
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mysterious star rising
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we're going to look at those questions
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now
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the gospels of matthew and luke are the
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only two gospels which tell the story of
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the birth of jesus
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notably as we see throughout these
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gospels they each highlight different
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elements in the story that they think
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are important for their audience
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for example matthew tends to highlight
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the kingship of jesus throughout his
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gospel
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in matthew chapter 2 we find the story
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of the magi and the star of bethlehem
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a story that only appears here in
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matthew
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for such a famous story it only takes up
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12 verses
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this is a really peculiar passage that
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has led to a lot of questions about who
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the magi were
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to answer that question let's start by
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looking at our source
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the gospel of matthew in the story as
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matthew tells it
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after jesus was born in bethlehem and
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judea during the time of king herod
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magi from the east came to jerusalem and
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asked
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where is the one who has been born king
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of the jews we saw his star when it rose
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and have come to worship him now herod
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who we know was already predisposed to
[112]
paranoia
[113]
was predictably upset he consulted the
[115]
scribes and priests in jerusalem and
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they
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citing micah chapter 5 told him the
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messiah would be born in bethlehem
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herod relays this message to the magi
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and after asking about the star they saw
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asks for them to tell him after they've
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found the messiah presumably so he can
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go worship as well
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the story concludes with the magi
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visiting the christ child
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giving him gifts of gold frankincense
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and myrrh
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and returning home by a different way
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rather than reporting back to herod
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to start let's clear up a couple of
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common misconceptions about this text
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at first we don't know how many magi are
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in this story
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matthew uses a plural noun so we know he
[155]
is saying there is more than one
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and we often assume that there are three
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magi based on the fact that they give
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three gifts but this is just an
[163]
inference from the text
[164]
matthew doesn't say that there are only
[166]
three magi anywhere in the story
[169]
next there is no indication that the
[170]
magi were royalty so the song we three
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kings while a fantastic christmas song
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doesn't accurately describe them but
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don't let that stop you from singing it
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and enjoying it this christmas season
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with those questions out of the way
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let's dive into the heart of the matter
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what can we know about the magi based on
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sources
[189]
outside the bible
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[Music]
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we've already said that this passage in
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matthew these 12 verses
[200]
are the only place in the bible where
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the story of the magi's visit is
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recorded
[204]
later writers like the early church
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fathers discuss this story
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but we don't have any other records or
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commentaries that are close to
[210]
contemporary with matthew's account
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even so there's plenty we can learn
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about the magi from other sources
[216]
particularly other textual sources from
[217]
the greco-roman world
[220]
before we dive into all of this though i
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want to make an important note about
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historiography or the study of the
[226]
writing of history
[227]
this is when scholars look at the
[229]
different ways history has been written
[230]
over the years
[231]
and ancient historians wrote history
[233]
differently than we write history in our
[235]
day
[236]
while all history writing both ancient
[238]
and modern involves
[239]
at a fundamental level recounting events
[241]
from the past
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we have to understand ancient history
[244]
writing needs to be critically evaluated
[246]
for us to read it as
[247]
we understand history for example
[249]
herodotus was a greek historian and is
[251]
sometimes called the father of history
[253]
because
[254]
he was among the first to compile
[255]
sources and even from different cultures
[257]
and organized them into a narrative that
[259]
sought to answer a particular question
[261]
in his case he wrote about the origin of
[263]
the wars between greece and persia
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but herodotus for all his greatness
[270]
includes a lot of details in his
[272]
histories that we don't think of as
[274]
historical an extreme example comes from
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his work the histories
[278]
in which he describes fox-sized furry
[280]
ants that live in india and unearth and
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collect gold dust
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now this is obviously something we don't
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take at face value when we read it today
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and herodotus said he was just reporting
[290]
what travelers told him
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but particularly when they write about
[294]
things from other cultures
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ancient sources aren't always what we
[297]
would consider to be reliable narrators
[300]
this is not to denigrate ancient history
[302]
writing only to note that the
[304]
conventions of what should
[305]
and should not be included in history
[307]
writing are different when we look at
[308]
ancient history writing compared to
[310]
modern history writing
[313]
so when we look at the magi we have two
[315]
things we can consider
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first is who they actually were and we
[319]
can do this through looking at
[320]
archaeology and historical sources but
[324]
we can also look at how the magi were
[325]
understood in the greco-roman world
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and the important rhetorical functions
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they often play when they appear
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what can we know about the magi on both
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of these fronts
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first the greek word magus comes from a
[341]
persian word
[342]
magu when magus the greek word is used
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it generally has one of two meanings
[348]
it's either a magician
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or more accurately some kind of ritual
[351]
specialist
[352]
ort is referring to the hereditary
[354]
priests of the zoroastrian religion
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which was centered in modern iran
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during matthew's day this area was the
[360]
kingdom of parthia another possible
[362]
identity for the magi is a tribal group
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of the medians a people group who united
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politically with the persians in the 6th
[368]
century bc
[368]
and what became the yakimina empire in
[371]
this interpretation magi is an
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ethnic or tribal term rather than a
[375]
functional or occupational term
[377]
and while this ethnic designation may
[378]
have been the origin for the word magi
[380]
most scholars now
[381]
do not think that this most references
[383]
to magi
[384]
are used in a tribal or ethnic sense
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it's that it's a class designation that
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of priests or ritual specialists
[390]
it's generally agreed that this is how
[392]
matthew uses this term
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now these zoroastrian priests had a
[396]
well-developed theology and mythology
[398]
that included expectations of a
[399]
virgin-born savior called
[401]
the sailshiant it's not entirely clear
[404]
when that teaching developed within
[405]
zoroastrianism and some suggest it began
[408]
with their prophet zora raster
[409]
while some scholars suggest it came a
[411]
little bit later there's a lot we could
[413]
get into here but we will save that for
[415]
a future video
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it's noteworthy that this zoroastrian
[418]
belief aligns so closely with the nature
[420]
of jesus birth as told by matthew and
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luke
[423]
now if we're going to look at a few
[424]
images we can see here a few depictions
[427]
of zoroastrian priests or ritualists
[429]
from sites mostly in modern iran and
[431]
iraq
[432]
at the site of persepolis in modern iran
[435]
which was one of the capitals of the
[436]
accommodated empire we find a large
[438]
structure often called the apadhana
[440]
this site has incredible reliefs and
[442]
depictions of people and objects from
[444]
around the persian empire
[445]
here on the northern stairs of the
[447]
apadana we can see the people
[449]
approaching the academic king
[451]
behind the king here this figure might
[453]
be identified as a magi or priest
[456]
he is part of the imperial court and is
[458]
very close to the king
[459]
now unfortunately we are missing the top
[461]
part of his hat which is significant
[463]
because oftentimes things like status or
[465]
ethnicity are indicated by
[466]
among other things an individual's
[468]
appearance like their clothes and
[469]
headgear
[470]
for example here we see a group of
[472]
medians all with the same headgear
[474]
and here we see a group of syrians these
[476]
are all clearly meant to be seen as
[478]
different people
[479]
so when we see the courtiers with the
[480]
king how each person is represented will
[482]
help us understand who they were and in
[484]
this case
[485]
a magi next in what
[488]
is now modern iraq there are a
[490]
collection of tombs carved into a
[492]
mountain
[492]
inside one of these tombs we see several
[494]
carved reliefs
[496]
this tomb is of particular interest to
[497]
us so in this room we can see several
[500]
images that are likely representations
[501]
of ahara mazda
[502]
the benevolent deity of zoroastrianism
[505]
here we can see two ionic style
[508]
plasters flanking the entrance of the
[509]
tomb and is seen between them
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this scene shows two figures standing
[513]
beside an altar
[514]
the half circle on the altar may
[516]
represent a fire the two figures
[518]
flanking the fire are wearing typical
[520]
median headgear and are holding bows and
[522]
raising their hands in a gesture of
[523]
reverence or blessing
[525]
if this is in fact a fire on an altar
[527]
this may be a depiction of a zoroastrian
[529]
ritual
[529]
and the depictions of haramaza and the
[531]
team support this
[533]
the figures are even wearing a kind of
[534]
veil over their faces and this kind of
[536]
veil was worn over the face of magi and
[538]
zoroastrian priest so to not contaminate
[540]
the sacred fire
[541]
with the breath of the magi we can see
[544]
something similar in this statue
[546]
this is actually from china and dates to
[548]
the tang dynasty while some suggest it
[550]
is a central asian man writing a camel
[552]
others have suggested this is a central
[554]
asian zoroastrian priest who is feeding
[556]
the sacred flame
[557]
there are a lot of unusual things about
[559]
this figure so the identity
[561]
of who this person is is not generally
[562]
agreed upon the idea that this is a magi
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is one of several more or less equally
[567]
plausible interpretations
[569]
we can be certain however that there
[571]
were zoroastrian priests in central asia
[573]
this clay and alabaster statue fragment
[576]
date into the second or third century bc
[578]
depicts a bactrian man recognized as
[580]
such by his hat who is a zoroastrian
[582]
priest
[584]
now going back to the tomb release we
[586]
may suggest that these are also magi who
[588]
are tending the sacred flame and this
[590]
scene is
[590]
of one or two magi attaining the sacred
[592]
flame is recognized elsewhere
[594]
and we can see here a few drawings of
[596]
those scenes
[600]
well we have numerous depictions of magi
[602]
and persian and central asian
[604]
archaeological sites there are also
[605]
depictions of magi or at least
[607]
zoroastrian priests in greco-roman
[609]
literature
[610]
in greco-roman literature magi were
[612]
understood in particular ways that don't
[613]
necessarily align with how we see them
[615]
depicted in archaeology
[618]
one noteworthy example is that in
[620]
greco-roman literature
[621]
magi were experts on royal matters at
[623]
persian style courts
[625]
obviously this applies to the persian
[627]
and parthian courts but also to kingdoms
[629]
like pontus in modern turkey and armenia
[631]
in these courts the magi advised the
[633]
king based on their knowledge of ritual
[635]
and their capacity as priests
[637]
they were also considered king makers
[639]
they exhibit specialist knowledge about
[640]
all things royal including and
[642]
especially the future of the throne
[645]
herodotus for example recounts a story
[647]
about the median king astiagis
[649]
who had a dream which was interpreted by
[651]
magi in his court
[653]
they interpreted the dream and told
[655]
astiagi that a young child would replace
[656]
him as king
[658]
as the story unfolds this child becomes
[659]
the persian king cyrus the great
[663]
the historian plutarch tells how on the
[665]
night alexander the great was born
[667]
the great temple of artemis in ephesus
[669]
one of the seven ancient wonders of the
[671]
world
[671]
was burned to the ground since ephesus
[674]
was part of the persian empire at the
[676]
time
[676]
the magi were naturally nearby and
[678]
concerned about what this could pretend
[680]
they interpreted the sign as signifying
[682]
the birth of a great king who would come
[684]
and take over asia
[687]
a roman historian recounts magi greeting
[689]
alexander the great in babylon with
[691]
burnt
[691]
with burnt frankincense to recognize him
[693]
as the foretold king
[695]
we see a pattern then in these greek and
[697]
roman stories that the magi can
[699]
interpret signs and see the future and
[701]
they often foretell the coming of new
[702]
and great kings
[704]
now keep in mind that these are all
[705]
greco-roman sources not eastern sources
[708]
so we may not want to take them as what
[709]
we would consider historical
[712]
they do however help us see how
[714]
greco-roman authors and their audiences
[716]
understood magi
[721]
now a final way of looking at magi is as
[723]
hellenized astrologers which is the way
[725]
most modern scholars view them
[728]
magi are considered to be astrologers
[730]
because one way of reading the future
[731]
in the ancient world was through
[733]
watching the stars
[735]
we should note that in the ancient world
[736]
the distinction between astrology
[738]
and astronomy as we know it didn't exist
[742]
to study the stars was to know and
[743]
understand how they shaped events in our
[745]
world
[747]
the center of these astrological studies
[749]
in the ancient world was in mesopotamia
[751]
particularly babylon the magi were
[754]
persian priests
[755]
not exactly mesopotamia but nearby in
[758]
greco-roman sources though this
[759]
distinction wasn't always made so as
[761]
wise men
[762]
and sages from the east they were
[763]
naturally seen as practitioners of
[765]
astrology
[767]
again keep in mind that ancient sources
[770]
are not always the most accurate about
[771]
the
[772]
intricacies and nuances of foreign lands
[775]
even now we have difficulty sometimes
[776]
understanding cross-cultural
[778]
interactions
[779]
nevertheless many scholars today
[781]
understand the magi as practitioners of
[783]
what they call hellenized astrology
[785]
which is a mixture of mesopotamia's
[786]
sophisticated astrological tradition
[789]
and the greek astrological tradition
[791]
introduced to mesopotamia via alexander
[793]
the great's conquest
[795]
again herodotus tells a story of the
[797]
persian king xerxes witnessing a solar
[799]
eclipse
[800]
he calls on the magi in their capacity
[802]
as astrologers to interpret its
[803]
significance
[804]
they erroneously say that the sun had
[806]
set on the greeks
[808]
so all of this adds up to show us that
[810]
for matthew if anyone would notice an
[812]
astrological sign signaling king
[815]
it would have been the magi
[823]
examining the background of this text
[824]
helps us understand that matthew is
[826]
writing within a wider greco-roman
[829]
historiographical tradition matthew like
[832]
all ancient historians is writing from a
[834]
particular point of view and with a
[835]
particular purpose
[836]
to convince his readers that jesus is
[838]
the messiah of israel
[840]
and that his arrival has ushered in a
[842]
new age in which membership in god's
[844]
people
[845]
is available to all people through jesus
[848]
the stories matthew tells about jesus
[850]
and the details he includes
[852]
all serve to drive home this central
[854]
point
[855]
matthew doesn't want to just convey
[857]
facts as we would call them about jesus
[860]
he wants to help us understand why jesus
[862]
is so important
[864]
the inclusion of the magi's visit in
[866]
matthew's gospel is just
[867]
one example of matthew's rhetorical
[869]
technique throughout his gospel
[871]
the magi are significant because in the
[873]
ancient near east they were considered
[875]
both king makers
[876]
and astrologers matthew is showing us
[878]
that these men are the right ones to
[880]
recognize jesus
[881]
as king and their association as king
[884]
makers
[885]
makes their visit to jesus one of royal
[887]
significance
[888]
in their astrological studies magi also
[891]
interprets signs around regime change
[893]
so their visit first to herod to inquire
[895]
about a newborn king
[897]
then to jesus to pay him homage and
[899]
offer gifts fit for royalty
[900]
tells us right at the beginning of
[902]
matthew's gospel that in jesus
[904]
the powers of the world have lost power
[907]
and a new kingdom has been ushered in
[909]
through jesus death and resurrection now
[912]
finally it's significant that these magi
[914]
recognize who jesus is
[915]
as outsiders on god's history with the
[917]
jewish people
[919]
from afar they understand who jesus is
[921]
but those who are part of god's people
[924]
herod the chief priests the scribes do
[926]
not
[927]
this is another signal from matthew
[929]
early in his gospel that jesus will be
[931]
rejected by his own people
[932]
but that he can be received by all
[934]
people who believe he is the messiah
[937]
this is especially significant because
[939]
we think matthew's gospel is
[940]
particularly written for a first century
[942]
jewish audience
[944]
it also may be a commentary on the
[946]
ambivalence of many first century jews
[948]
about the true
[949]
jewishness of herod but that's a topic
[951]
for another video
[953]
there is however a larger interpretive
[955]
problem that we've raised in this video
[958]
what if the visit of the magi isn't an
[959]
historical event but simply a plot point
[962]
that matthew adds to his narrative
[964]
should that shake our faith in jesus
[966]
does our faith hinge on every detail of
[968]
the gospel as being historically
[970]
accurate
[971]
well as a pastor i want to assure you
[973]
that we can still place our faith in
[975]
jesus even if we aren't sure about every
[977]
detail of his life
[979]
unless on a smaller scale there are
[980]
differences in the details of many
[982]
stories we see
[983]
shared in the four gospels and these
[985]
small differences
[986]
simply reflect the fact that the gospel
[988]
writers were drawing on oral traditions
[990]
about jesus
[991]
that existed long before the gospels
[993]
were written down
[995]
the details may have been fuzzy or
[997]
different from community to community
[999]
but the heart of the stories is the same
[1002]
the visit of the magi however could pose
[1004]
a larger problem
[1005]
it's an entire story that has become a
[1007]
beloved part of our christmas traditions
[1009]
and it seems like we should be able to
[1011]
answer a simple question about it
[1013]
did it happen or did it not but the
[1016]
answer is
[1017]
there's really no way for us to know
[1019]
none of us were there at the birth of
[1021]
jesus
[1022]
matthew wasn't there either if the
[1024]
magi's visit did happen matthew probably
[1026]
only had one source for it
[1027]
jesus mother mary now if it didn't
[1030]
happen that means
[1031]
matthew is drawing on the culture and
[1033]
traditions of the world around him
[1035]
to convey something important about
[1037]
jesus by choosing to include these
[1039]
particular details
[1041]
so where does that leave us here's what
[1044]
i want to propose
[1045]
what's most important about the magi's
[1047]
visit is the things matthew wants to
[1049]
communicate to us
[1050]
about jesus and those things don't
[1052]
change based on whether or not the visit
[1054]
of the magi was an historical event
[1057]
the things matthew wants to communicate
[1059]
to us about jesus kingship
[1061]
his cosmic significance his
[1063]
revolutionary life
[1064]
are true and what matthew is telling us
[1067]
through this little story is
[1069]
true even if it's not historical the
[1072]
lordship of jesus
[1073]
the way he upended the powers of this
[1075]
world and established a new kingdom
[1078]
that's available to us isn't based on
[1080]
this story about his birth
[1082]
it's based on his life death and
[1084]
resurrection events that happened
[1086]
in history and that transcend history
[1089]
when we read backwards from jesus death
[1091]
and resurrection to the infancy
[1093]
narratives
[1094]
we see that what matthew is trying to
[1095]
communicate to us
[1097]
through the visit of the magi is true
[1099]
because of who we know the risen jesus
[1102]
to be
[1105]
thanks for joining us for this beneath
[1107]
the bible video if you're interested in
[1109]
learning more about this topic we've
[1111]
included some references and resources
[1113]
in the description below
[1114]
if you enjoyed this video and want to
[1116]
see more content like it be sure to
[1118]
subscribe to our youtube channel and
[1120]
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