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Does The Book of Mormon Solve A Christmas Mystery?
(Expanded 2nd Edition)
By Book of Mormon Explorer
George Potter
(link edited)
Since I was a child, I have wondered about the story in the gospel of Matthew of the wise men. Traditionally it is thought that there were three Magi, but the actual number the Bible does not tell us. All we know is that some time after the birth of Jesus Christ the wise men from the east (Matthew 2:1) came to Jerusalem, and then continue following a star until they eventually found the Christ child, presented him gifts, and worshiped Him.
Perhaps you also found that this story raises many questions in your mind. Matthew wrote that the wise men saw his star and came to worship him (Matthew 2:1). Note carefully! The story does not say an angel visited them and announced that the star indicated that a Messiah had been born. Nor does the account say that they had a revelation or a dream, as when they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod (Matthew 2:13). Wouldnt you think that if the wise men had had such divine interventions that Matthew would have recorded these miracles?
Instead, we are simply told that they saw the star and came to worship the King of the Jews? For the sake of this discussion, lets assume that they did not receive this knowledge in the form of divine inspiration, but inherited this information from the oral and written traditions of their forefathers. The LDS dictionary states of the wise men: Their knowledge was precise and accurate. (see Magi) If so, what was the source of their precise and accurate information?
Knowing where the wise men came from could help us find the source of this knowledge. There are seven clues text that can help us pinpoint the origins of the magi with a high degree of certainty.
First, they came from the east. In the Bible, east did not mean a land to the east of Jerusalem, i.e. central Asia or China or any other land in a eastward direction from Jerusalem. Rather, it was the name of a place, Arabia. In the Old Testament the Arabs were called the Children of the East (LDS Bible Dictionary). Perhaps this is the reason the wise men are traditionally associated with camels. Several of Abrahams sons and grandsons by his concubine wives established kingdoms in Arabia (Ishmael (Mecca), Kedar, Dumah, Dedan, Sheba, and Tema. Genesis 25:6 states that Abrahram sent away the sons of his concubines eastward to the Land of the East. History tells us that all these ancient kingdoms were found in Arabia (see LDS Bible Maps, Ancient World at the Time of The Patriarchs).
Second, throughout history, the Israelites held in high regard the business skills of the Arab merchants, and thought of these businessmen as wise. Biblical scholar James Montgomery writes:
If Edom is specially singled out as a home of wisdom, we have to remember that it lay across the great trade-routes of northwest Arabia and so could have enjoyed a privilege in culture such as that possessed by Edoms successor, the Nabatean folk, and its ancient neighbor, the North-Minaean coly in Midian. In addition to these allusions to the Wise Men of the East there are two biblical passages which one tradition of interpretation assigns to an Arabian home, namely, Proverbs 30, and 31:1-9. By a different construction the title of the latter can be made to read, more sensibly than by the Masoretic construction, the words of Lemuel the king of Massa,: i.e., the latter word as the name of the Arabian tribe to the east of Palestine.http://www.nephiproject.com/Christmas Mystery.htm#_edn1
Montgomerys belief that the Isrealites considered the Arab merchants as possessing wisdom seems to be confirmed by the Biblical words of Job, when he describes his friend the Temanite Elizphaz. (Tema is located in northwest Arabia, and was a key trading center along the important incense trail). Job wrote that the Temanite received traditions from wise men and their fathers (Job 15:18). Eliphaz the Temanite seems to have taught that in ancient times there was a perceived relationship between wisdom and business success: Eliphaz the Temanite, said, Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind? Should he reason with unprofitable talk? (Job 15:1-3). Indeed the Bible declares that the Arab merchants of Tema Is wisdom no more in Teman? Is counsel perished from the prudent? Is their wisdom vanished? (Jeremiah 49:6).
Even Solomons divine gift of wisdom seems to be in part a result of God blessing him in his clever trading relationships with the Arabs? Recall how Solomon established his kingdom as the principle middleman for the overland incense trade. 1 Kings Chapter 10 tells of his dealings with the Queen of Sheba, the ruler of the wealthy southern Arabia frankincense kingdom. She came to Solomon on what we call today a trade mission. As a result of this meeting, both Solomon and Arab kingdom of Sheba prospered,
And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices very great store, and precious stones: there came no more such abundance of spices as these which the queen Sheba gave to king Solomon. (1 Kings 10:10)
And king Solomon gave unto the queen of Sheba all her desires, whatsoever she asked, beside that which Solomon gave her of his royal bounty. So she turned and went to her own country, she and her servants. (1 Kings 10:13)
And what was the bottom line of Solomons trade relations with Arabia? So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom (1 Kings 10:22).
Third, the wise men followed a star. In other words, they knew stellar navigation. This clue definitely ties the wise men were Arabs. Stellar navigation was not common knowledge in the ancient world. The first to learn this skill were the Arab caravaneers who used the stars to guide them through the featureless wasteland of the Arabian deserts. This knowledge was later utilized by the Arab ship captains to navigate the open seas, the first to do so using the stars to guide them[ii].
Fourth, the oral tradition of southern Arabia holds that the Magi were from that land. The British Explorer Barbara Toy studied of origins of the Magi and retraced their journey from a monument in southeastern Yemen where by tradition the Magi began their journey to Jerusalem. She writes:
It was from here that the Three Wise Men began their journey to follow the bright star to Bethlehem with their tributes of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And it was around here also it is believed, that three hundred years later the emissaries of the Empress Helena came searching for Sessania Adrumatorum the Azzan of today. They found the bones of the Magi and took them to Constantinople where they stayed until later taken to Constantinople where they stayed until later taken to Milan, and finally in the twelfth century to Colonge.[iii]
Fifth, the wise men brought gold with them. The wise men must have been wealthy tribal leaders with stores of gold. During that period of history, it is widely believed that the Frankincense trade had made southern Arabia the wealthiest region in the world. Gold, probably traded by Indians for Frankincense, was abundant in the region. Isaiah talks of great wealth of the southern Arabs (Sheba) noting that they bring with them, gold and incense (Isaiah 60:6). Daniel Peterson writes:
The great wealth of Arabian merchants is mentioned in several places in the Bible. Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant? Asks the Song of Solomon (Songs of Solomon 3:6) Ezekiel refers to Sabaeans from the wilderness, which put bracelets upon their hands, and beautiful crowns upon their heads (Ezekiel 23:42). Arabian merchants are routinely linked by the Old Testament with gold and silver, incense, spices, and precious stones (2 Chronicles, Isaiah 60:6, Jeremiah 6:29, Ezekiel 27:22).[iv]
Sixth, the wise men brought precious incense with them, specifically frankincense and myrrh. In antiquity the exclusive source of these incenses was southern Arabia. The incense was usually carried on the backs of camels to the north. In Genesis we read how Joseph was sold by his brothers to an Ishmaelite (Arab) caravan bearing spicery, balm and myrrh (Genesis 37:25). LDS scholar John Tvedtnes writes:
Some have speculated that the wise men came from Arabia because two of the gifts they brought to Bethlehem, frankincense and myrrh, derive from the sap of trees that grow in southern Arabia[1], and are known to have possessed gold and other precious goods earned from the incense trade.[2] This was the view of early Church fathers such as Justin Martyr (Dialogue with Trypho 77-78), Tertullian (Against the Jews 9), and Epiphanius (Exposition of the Faith 8).[3]
Seventh, the LDS Bible Dictionary states that the wise men were likely...representatives of a branch of the Lords people (see Magi). This would seem to imply that the wise men were Jews, or at least Hebrews (as are most Arabs). Assuming the former, historical records indicate that several sizable Jewish settlements were located in Arabia dating back at least to the time of Jeremiah. Of course, the Jewish diaspora had started long before the birth of Christ, thus Jewish communities existed in other locations in the Roman Empire; however, the Arabian Jewish communities were large and had existed in Arabia for centuries before the Lords birth.
I believe it is possible to conclude with a relatively high confidence level that the wise men came from southern Arabia. Knowing this, we can now return to our question, How did the wise men obtain a precise and accurate knowledge of Christ birth? Lets start by reviewing information we know they possessed.
1) When they saw the star the wise men knew it was a sign, indeed, it was his star (Matthew 2:2). Since they were the only people who apparently saw the star in the old world, they must have known when to look for it. Indeed, it seems they had been waiting a great time for the sign, for when the saw it they rejoiced with exceeding great joy (Matthew 2:10).
2) They knew that a King would be born to the Jews (Matthew 2:2). Thus they came to Jerusalem and Herod the land of the Jews.
3) Although they knew the Christ child was to be born to the Jews, they didnt know the exact location in Judah. Thus we read of them asking Herod , Where is he that is born King of the Jews? (Matthew 2:2). They finally ended up following the star to the location of the child (Matthew 2:9).
Prior to the coming forth of the Book of Mormon in the modern era, Christendom had no explanation of how Arab wise men could have obtained this knowledge. However, the Book of Mormon provides a simple explanation of how this knowledge could have reached southern Arabia, or at least the Jewish communities in the peninsula. We know that Lehi was in route to Bountiful for eight years (1 Nephi 17:4), and undoubtedly spent a few more years in southern Arabia while Nephi built his ship. During this time Nephi, and probably Lehi, taught the gospel (D&C 33:7,8). Possibly they preached exclusively to the Jewish communities in Arabia, but this is not necessarily the case since the gospel seems to have been found among the Arabs as will as the Jews. For example, Jethro, a Midianite (northwest Arabia) held the Holy Priesthood (D&C 84:6) and Arabs were present at the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:11). Thus, there were no shortage of Hebrews, Jews and Arabs, to whom Nephi and Lehi could have shared the gospel.
So what new knowledge did Lehi and Nephi carry with them into southern Arabia? In the valley of Lemuel, Lehi received a revelation containing information on the Saviors birth: Yea, even six hundred years from the time that my father left Jerusalem, a prophet would the Lord God raise up among the Jews even a Messiah, or, in other words, a Savior of the world (1 Nephi 10:4). Certainly, Lehi and Nephi would have transferred this exciting and profound information to the people they converted in Arabia.
Next, we see from the above verse that Lehi knew where the Messiah would be born -- among the Jews. Think of it! The star would have only provided the direction which was toward the land of the Jew, thus confirming that the Messiah Lehi had prophesied had been born.
