Who were the wise men? Well, traditions around the wise men seem to have filled in a lot more of the story than we actually hear in scripture. The Bible calls them “magi” meaning magicians or astrologers. The idea of them being “we three kings” came about 500 years after their lives and is influenced by our Old Testament reading in Isaiah 60:3 “And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.” They fulfill the roles of these kings of nations who were to come bow to the promised Messiah as prophesied in the Old Testament. It was not until another couple hundred years that they were known as “wise men,” on account of being pious and godly rulers who come and worship Jesus. We can also say that we don’t actually know if there were three, there are three gifts, but that’s all we know. That’s ok, scripture doesn’t give all the details about everything because it is not written to give a detailed step by step account or police report, but to teach us from true history about Jesus.
