Through discussion with my Dad, I was able to talk him into joining me for a quick discussion on the journey the Magi (3 wise men) would have taken to come from the “East” to worship the Christ child. My dad spent two years in Asadabad, Iran, while in the Peace Corps and it was heavily rumored from not only accounts of Marco Polo’s family travels through the area to China, but the locals, at least one of the wise men originated in Saveh, Iran.
Many people have the idea that the 3 wise men saw the star in the sky, and showed up in quick order. The traditional ‘manger’ scene with the wise men surrounding the family in the barn is rubbish. If you read carefully the account in Matthew 2, you’ll notice that the word describing where the wise men visited Jesus is not the same word mentioned when He was birthed. They had moved from the barn to a house, for lack of a better way of explaining it in English. And we know the journey took a long time, as Herod demanded all the 2yr old children and younger ones killed upon the Magi leaving without telling him Christ’s location. Thus, from the time the star appeared in the sky, the journey for the Magi from the East, and their arrival, took 2 years or less, which is calculated as the age of Christ or slightly less.
Here’s a quick video of my Dad and me that I’d prepared for an Adult Sunday School class, as walking through the possible route of the Magi and some other considerations:
Please, my friends. Be salt and light.
