Nowhere In The Bible Does It Say That Three Wise Men Visited Jesus after His Birth

Text Version:
You’ve probably heard about the 3 wise men who visited Jesus, just after his birth. However, it was Bible scholars who came up with the number 3. Nowhere in the Bible does specify the number of wise men who came to visit Jesus. The scholars came up with 3 because of the number of gifts that were given to Jesus. The gifts of Frankincense, gold, and myrrh.

In the book of Matthew, chapter 2 verse 1 it says, “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.” Reading down further in the book of Matthew, chapter 2 verse 11, it says, “And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshiped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.”

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26 comments

  • It’s all fiction!

  • They were first named as such in a document found in Alexandria around 500 AD that, when translated in to Latin from Greek, is titled “Excerpta Latina Barbari”. This is the first written instance of their names from oral history. We accept the texts of Josephus as fact, why not this? Anyway, it doesn’t bear on one’s salvation–but readers need to bear in mind, the Bible is inerrant.

  • The Bible has been translated into many languages from the biblical languages of Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. Indeed, the full Bible has been translated into 518 languages, and 2798 languages have at least some portion of the Bible (Wikipedia).
    It is translated how many times before it gets to the average American reader? And yet it is inerrant and exact translation? Which version are we talking about?

    • Yes the Bible has been translated many times. But each of these are translated by scholars from the original languages. I myself did Greek and Hebrew at seminary and when I do word studies I’ll go to the original text.

      • I’ve studied foreign languages and if you read a book in the original language it is often extremely different to the translation. I even asked a translator why her translation was so different from the original and she said she FELT that was what the author intended!!?! Translators can’t help themselves, they always add their own interpretation and any book that has been translated multiple times doesn’t reflect the original accurately.

  • Look in Psalm 72:10-12, read it and figure out how many kings were prophesied. Then you may understand why the number three is used to describe the magi.

    The trouble with those who strive to deny God is that they will often only eat the fecal matter that other atheist spoon feed them.

    • Daven Hiskey

      @Jim: Good reference: “The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.” However, all three of those are plural implying more than three kings or wise men. Though that’s, as you say, perhaps how the “three” got its start, implying from three regions.

  • Whatever it may be , But JESUS is the true living and the one and only God.

    • D. Prem Anand,

      According to Catholic Oral Tradition, “…JESUS is the true living and the one and only God.”

      According to the Bible, Jesus is NOT the true living and the one and only God. (Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus stated that His Father sent Him and that His Father is the only true God. Also, Jesus stated that the Father is His God. Furthermore, Jesus stated NOT to call Him good because only God is good.)

      • Prof. Aladegbami

        Please, your knowledge about Who Jesus is can be defined as inadequate. Go and read Isaiah 9:6; 43:10-17; and John 14:6-17.

  • Bible Scholars did NOT make anything up! (By the way, a Bible Scholar may or may not be a Christian, which means that a person does NOT have to be a Christian to be a Bible Scholar.)

    According to Catholic (Roman Catholic and Orthodox Catholic) Oral Tradition, it was and is 3 wise men.

  • I am not a christian because I am a bible scholar.When you learn the truth it will open your eyes as well.The bible is against astronomy. But the wise men were astrolagers.Seems legit.Christmas is paganism.Jesus was born in March.

  • everyone needs Holy Spirit, he is the teacher of all unknowing truth, whether you are a bible scolar or from Catho
    lic oral whatever, go back to pray, seek the Holy Spirit n he will teach you the truth through JESUS CHRIST. the truth you know shall set you free.

  • Whether two, three or hundred wise men, that is not the subject matter of the story. What is important is that Jesus the messiah is born and that the wise men came to worship and present gift to him. So be wise also and make him your personal lord and Saviour that you should worship in spirit and truth.

    • And where did they go after that?? There’s a huge gap until Jesus reappears as a carpenter. Did these wise men just ‘forget’ about him? This is a problem in the story, because the implication is that everyone knew he was the Messiah from the point of his birth (or at least the wise men did) but then had more important stuff to do?

  • You have to read the Bible facts for yourself. That’s why the Bible was written. When you do, you will find that it is a fact and fulfillment of prophecy, that Jesus Christ the Messiah, God’s only begotten Son, our Savior, was born in a manger. The Bible says “astrologers” came from the East. It never says how many came or that Jesus was still wrapped up in the manger. In fact, Matthew 2:11 states, they saw ‘the young child IN A HOUSE with Mary his mother’…and gave him the presents, etc. Understandably why, enraged King Herod wanted any male child 2 years old and under to be put to death. You will also discover in your fact-finding search that Christmas is not from the bible. It is a man-made tradition said to “honor the birth of Jesus” but introduced more than 300 years AFTER his death. But, because its roots stemmed from a pagan celebration, early Christians refused to celebrate it and would not take any part of the sweetened mixture of paganism and Christianity. If some were caught joining in such celebrations they were heavily fined. Times changed, but Jesus requirements didn’t. As a Christian, following Christ is based on Fact and NOT man-made tradition. You must honor Jesus in Spirit and Truth and not fantasy and fables. Honoring and recognizing Jesus not for just one day, but everyday. Remember, Jesus is not Baby Jesus, as some still picture him. He is a Mighty and Powerful King! God’s Son!

  • Jesus was born in September….sheep were not in the fields with the shephards in december…very cold…the stars were aligned perfectly in september….read Luke….

  • If it was, why was the number 3 not specified in the Bible? We don’t know how many wise men were at the birth of the baby Jesus. It could’ve been 4 or 2 or 7 for all we know. We just know that there was more than one wise man at the birth of Jesus, otherwise, it wouldn’t have said wise *men*.

  • Why is it that everything that is or could be good , mankind has turned foul, even now we wander into darkness with our eyes open.
    Even now you will read these words and scoff , because you believe you are beyond truth