Magi

The Magi (Greek magoi; rendered "wise men" in the KJV) were learned men from the East who came to Jerusalem following a star to seek the newborn "king of the Jews" and worship him (Matt. 2:1–12). Matthew's account does not specify their number or their names — the tradition of three Magi, and the names Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, are later developments of Christian tradition. In the OT the Hebrew term from which magi derives appears primarily in Daniel, where the Babylonian magicians are distinguished from Daniel's God-given wisdom (Dan. 1:20; 2:2–13). By the first century, the term was associated with Persian Zoroastrian priests who studied astronomy and astrology. Their arrival in Jerusalem confirms Herod's murderous intent and leads to the slaughter of the innocents, which Matthew reads as fulfilling Jeremiah 31:15. The gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh have been interpreted symbolically as signifying kingship, divinity, and mortality (burial ointment). Their worship of the infant Christ and return "by another route" to avoid Herod has made the Magi a symbol of Gentile recognition of Israel's Messiah.