The Three Wise Men

Regarding the three wise men that followed the star of Bethlehem to the manger that Jesus was born in...
Did they actually exist? Who were they? What was their story? Why did they go to the manger to see Jesus anyway? How did they know previously what Jesus was all about? How did they know to go see this baby, and bring him gifts?

They were astrologers from the East who knew every exact star in the sky. There was an order by King Herod to kill all baby infant boys because of a prophecy that a great king would replace him who would be born in his country. The location of Jesus birth was secret because of this order but there was a powerful spirit who wanted this infant to be found by the authorities and be killed as well. Satan appeared as a ball of fire over the homeland of the astrologers and moved toward Bethlehem enticing them to follow the strange anomoly. When the fire-star came near to King Herod's residence the astrologers inquired of him and told them of the occurrance and the prophecy. He lied to them of his intentions. When they went out the fire=star continued and led them to the manger where Jesus was born and everyone knows the rest. Satan's plans were foiled just as King Herod's were.

Melchor Gazpar and Baltazar were the names- celebrated January 6th

I cant remember much more

Originally posted by IronDogg
How did they know to go see this baby, and bring him gifts?

Remember reading when the Babylonians conquered Israel? And you might also remember the Jew Daniel who was considered one of the greatest prophets. After telling king Nebuchadnezzar the meaning of his dream he was made the chief wise man in the kingdom. We know that Daniel foretold the time when the Messiah would come(Daniel 9), but it's also possible that there were other prophecies about the guiding star that we don't know about.

I Don't know if this is just legend but the third wise man was named Balthasar.

Well, no one knows how many wise men there were. The three wise men is assumed, as the bible does not state how many there are. Some people may misread Matthew 2:1 "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," and accidently there for three, or they may assume there were three because of the gifts. "gold, and frankincense, and myrrh" were given.

The names are not stated, but Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar are often cited as the names of the wise men. Problem with this, is that it does not appear untill about 600 years after Jesus's death. This comes from Excerpta et Collectanea written by St. Bede around 650 A.D.

These dates are off a little, but if anyone wants to push it, I can research a little more.

Satan appeared as a ball of fire over the homeland of the astrologers and moved toward Bethlehem enticing them to follow the strange anomoly. When the fire-star came near to King Herod's residence the astrologers inquired of him and told them of the occurrance and the prophecy. He lied to them of his intentions. When they went out the fire=star continued and led them to the manger where Jesus was born and everyone knows the rest. Satan's plans were foiled just as King Herod's were.

Not being sarcastic here, but, I'm confused. Satan was trying to alert who to the birth of Jesus? Herod or the wise men? If he was trying to alert Herod, why didn't he just appear to him instead of to the wise men? I gather from the story that they told Herod, he lied about wanting to kill Jesus, but didn't do anything...? Please elaborate. Also where did you hear/read this story? Very interesting.

As far as the guiding star is concerned, I like the aliens'/angels' spacehip theory myself.

[edit on 2005/1/20 by wecomeinpeace]