As Christianity today celebrates the birth of Yahshua, there are two facts that are almost completely lost to history.  One) His birth was 3 1/2 months prior to the day that’s called “Christmas”.  Two) The Wise Men who came from the east to bring him gifts did not arrive until almost two years after his birth.  So, why do modern nativity scenes almost always include the wise men at the manger along side the newborn baby?

Mostly, it is because those who have created this fiction are theological illiterates.  A cursory understanding of scripture would reveal the actual manger scene and its actual attendees–and certainly, this would NOT include the wise men from the east.  We need to look no further than the books of Matthew and Luke to know which people came to see Yahshua at various times.  Here is how Luke describes the moment of Yahshua’s birth:

Luke 2:7–“And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.  ⁸ And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.  ⁹ And, lo, the angel of the Master came upon them, and the glory of the Master shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.  ¹⁰ And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  ¹¹ For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is the Anointed the Master.  ¹² And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.”

At this moment, the only persons at the manger were Mary, Joseph, Yahshua and the shepherds who had been in close proximity to this manger.  Also, we know that he was just a newborn baby because the Greek word for “babe” in verse 12 is μωρό, or “brephos”, or literally “baby”.  He was such a newborn baby that he had not yet been circumcized, as that event does not happen until verse 21:

Luke 2:21–“And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called Yahshua, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.”

Before this 8th day had arrived, the shepherds had already returned to their previous location and had begun making known to others the miraculous event that they had witnessed.  Thus far, we have had no wise men involved in the nativity story.  What purpose did they serve and when did they arrive?  Matthew describes it very well:

Matt. 2:1–“Now when Yahshua was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,  ² Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.”

Clearly, the wise men were not in close proximity to the newborn baby.  They had to travel a much greater distance than the shepherds to see the child and bring him gifts.  Also, two geographical locations are revealed in those two verses.  The wise men CAME from the east and traveled TO Jerusalem.  In other words, their homeland was further EAST of Jerusalem.  This is important to understand the next geographical item.  It says that they saw his star IN THE EAST!  So, while they were in a country that was already to the east of Jerusalem, they saw a star that was even FURTHER to the east.

To make this image clear, the wise men, probably astrologers, were likely standing in modern day Iraq.  The star that they viewed was to their east, so they would have been looking in the direction of modern day Iran.  At no time did they look to the heavens and see some celestial phenomena that was situated over Jerusalem or over any part of Israel.  The star was a sign to them and it told ABOUT the birth, but it did not shine above the place of his birth.  Every Christmas card you’ve ever seen that shows a radiant, bright star shining like a supernova above the town of Bethlehem is a hoax which has been passed down to us for many centuries.  If this were true, then the wise men would have seen the star to their WEST, as that was the direction that Bethlehem was to their location.  But, didn’t they arrive to see him while still in the manger?  Not by a long shot–or in this case, not by almost two full years after his birth.

Also, if this celestial event was some bright phenomena, the wise men would not have to have been “wise” to see it.  They would just have to have been awake at that time of night.  Millions of people could have seen the same event, and that would not have made them all “wise”.  No, to understand this celestial sight, they would need an understanding of the planets, stars and their movements in the heavens.

Matt. 2:11–^“And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh.“

In this verse, notice that Matthew did not refer to Yahshua as a “babe”, as Luke did, using the word “brephos”.  Instead, Matthew identified him as a “young child”, or the Greek word μικρό παιδί pronounced “paidion”, literally meaning “little-boy” [or “little-girl”].  Matthew makes it clear that we are no longer talking about a newborn baby.  Rather, we are talking about a boy that could now be almost two years old.  How do we know his age?  Easy–all we have to do is understand Herod’s reaction and WHY he reacted the way he did.

When the wise men first visited Herod, he insisted that they return to him and tell him the location of the young child’s birth “so that he could also go and worship him” [paraphrasing verse 8].  But the wise men disobeyed Herod’s instruction:

Matt. 2:12–“And being warned [of Yahweh] in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.”

Herod was furious that the wise men did not return to him.  He had no intention of going to see this young child and worshipping him.  He had every intention of killing him.

¹⁶ Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, FROM TWO YEARS OLD AND UNDER, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.”

Clearly, a great amount of time had transpired between the time that the shepherds were in their fields (very close to the manger) and the time the wise men journeyed to Bethlehem to see him (from far away).  In the first instance, the child is a newborn baby (a brephos).  In the second instance, he is a young boy, up to two years old (a paidion).

So, any time you see a modern depiction of the manger scene, you can be certain that if it shows anyone other than the shepherds, it is either from ignorance or it is from someone believing that “artistic license” allows them to juxtapose these two completely different events, morphed into one.  Other manger scenes depict both the shepherds and the wise men, as if they had all arrived together at the same moment in time.  This is just silly.

To others, it might seem like a minor point, but I would argue that those are the same people who put little effort into actually understanding the truth of any part of the Bible.  It’s either worth the effort to understand the facts or it’s not.

To me, it’s always worth it.