Matthew2:1

Some scholars (e.g. Abbot & Smith) say the “magi” were certain wise counselor-astronomers who were of the Magian or Median tribe, most of whom seem to have had a religion that was partially Median and partially Persian. Other scholars (like Thayer) say the term “magus” was a name given by Babylonians, Medes and Persians to any magicians, sorcerers, astrologers, priests, teachers, physicians, seers, soothsayers, interpreters of dreams, etc. in that part of the world irrespective of nationality. They gave this term to anyone the king or someone of power or wealth might call upon for knowledge, wisdom or counsel. The people of Jerusalem most likely knew the word “magus” as a general description for someone with specialized knowledge of any topic, not a term describing people from one tribe. Thus “wise men” fits quite well. We know their area of expertise was in astrology.

In English the term “Magi” is useless because we don’t know what it means apart from careful research into the origin of the word. To call them “kings” is very far off the mark as well. They could have been advisors to kings, but not kings themselves. Thus the general term “wise men” is probably best.  Notice we are not told how many there were.

The “east” was revered throughout the Ancient people of that region because that is where the sun comes up, the sun gives life, thus life itself comes from the East. In fact everything important and good was thought to come from the East. Their maps were oriented toward the East while ours are oriented toward the North. In Ezekiel’s vision of the temple, the glory of God departs toward the East (ch 10), and much later returns from the East (cg 43). The fact that these wise men came from the East got people’s attention and gave credence to their mission.

Much speculation has been made as to the country of origin for these sage/astronomers. Edersheim writes that the earliest written opinion on the matter says they hailed from Arabia, and in its favor is the fact that from about 120 B.C. until the sixth century A.D. the kings of Yemen professed the Jewish faith. But we cannot be sure of anything. If God wanted us to know He would have included it in the text, but since it is not stated we can assume that these foreigners were intended to represent all Gentiles. In order to represent people groups from all over the world, they would not need to come from different ethnic groups; coming from a distant place was enough to convey that idea.