You are probably familiar with the account of the Wise Men's visit to the infant Jesus as recorded in Matthew 2:1-12:

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, Wisemen from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we saw his star in the east, and are come to worship him. And when Herod the king heard it, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ should be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written through the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, land of Judah, Art in no wise least among the princes of Judah: For out of thee shall come forth a governor, Who shall be shepherd of my people Israel. Then Herod privily called the Wisemen, and learned of them exactly what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search out exactly concerning the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word, that I also may come and worship him. And they, having heard the king, went their way; and lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. And when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And they came into the house and saw the young child with Mary his mother; and they fell down and worshipped him; and opening their treasures they offered unto him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.

Though this event is widely known by many - believers and nonbelievers in Messiah alike - several misconceptions have arisen based on this passage. In fact, because the Scriptures tell us that the Wise Men were led to Yeshua by the appearance of a star, some Christians have actually ascribed validity to astrology. Some have even attempted to develop a doctrine of biblical astrology.

The nativity sets erected every Christmas season generally include the following: a baby Jesus in some type of manger or on the lap of Mary, who is near Joseph; three shepherds on one side of the family and three kings on the other side. This scene, however, is totally and biblically invalid. In actuality, the story of the shepherds and that of the Wise Men are distinct from one another, separated by approximately two years. The shepherds were present at the precise time of Yeshua's birth, as they found the baby in a stable lying in a manger. The Wise Men, on the other hand, only saw the star when Jesus was born, and it took them some time to get to Jerusalem. When they did finally find the infant, the setting was in a home rather than a stable. The Wise Men and the shepherds never actually met, with the Matthew account making it clear that the child was about two-years-old by the time the Wise Men appeared.

Another popular misconception is the notion that there were precisely three kings. There's even a popular Christmas song, of course, that begins with the words, "We three kings of orient are." But we must notice that Matthew does not tell us the number of kings. We know only that there must be at least two because the word is in the plural. But the Bible does not specify that there were three. There may have been two, there may have been 20, perhaps 200 or even 2,000. So, why do most assume that there were three? They do so because Yeshua was given three different types of gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh. Obviously, this is hardly adequate rationale, as 10 people may have given gold or 20 given frankincense or 30 given myrrh, i.e., the number of gifts does not mean that there were only three Wise Men.

Furthermore, Matthew never says that these men were kings. On the contrary, we know that these were not kings because the specific title given in the Greek text is "magoy" or magi, which means "wisemen," or more specifically, "astrologers." In the Matthew description, then, we have an unknown number of astrologers from the east. The east in the Scriptures is always the region of Mesopotamia, where ancient Babylon and Assyria were located (modern Iraq). It was Babylon that was noted for magi or astrologers. So we know that we have at least two astrologers from Babylon.

They arrive in Jerusalem asking the question, "Where is he that is born King of the Jews?" The magi knew that Messiah had been born, leaving us wondering, again, how did the Wise Men know anything about the birth of a Jewish king? Did they gain this knowledge through astrology? And even knowing about the birth of a Jewish king, why would Babylonian astrologers - who did not worship other Jewish kings - want to come and worship him?

To answer these questions, we must break the passage down and begin looking at it point-by-point keeping in mind the basic rule of interpretation, according to Dr. David L. Cooper: When the plain sense of Scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense. Therefore, we should take every word at its primary, ordinary, usual literal meaning unless the facts of the immediate context studied in the light of related passages and axiomatic and fundamental truths indicate clearly otherwise. We should take the Bible exactly as it says unless there is some indication in the text and in the context that tells us we cannot take it literally.

Let us first focus our attention on the issue of the star . . . certainly, no ordinary star. It is referred to as "his" star, the "King of the Jews" star, in a way that cannot apply to other stars. This star appears and disappears. This star moves from east to west. This star moves from north to south. This star hovers over one single house in Bethlehem, pointing out the exact location of the Messiah. It is very evident that this cannot be a literal star, as we know that any such star hovering over a single house would, in fact, destroy the entire planet.

Obviously, this star is something different, but what? The Greek word for "star" simply means "radiance" or "brilliance." With this star coming in the form of a light, we have the appearance of the Shechinah Glory - the visible manifestation of God's presence. Whenever God became visible in the Old Testament, such a manifestation was referred to as the Shechinah Glory. This manifested most often in the form of a light, fire, cloud or some combination of these three things. And, so, in Babylon appears a light, a brilliance, a radiance that may look from a distance like a star but has actions and characteristics that no star can or does. What these Wise Men actually saw was the Shechinah Glory, and they deduced that it was a signal that the King of the Jews had finally been born.

Still, the issue remains, how did the Wise Men know? For this, we must look to the Old Testament. We must note first that the only passage in the Old Testament dating the Messiah's coming is found in the famous 70 weeks of Daniel 9. The Book of Daniel was written not in Israel, but in Babylon, much of it in Aramaic, the language of the Babylonian empire.

There is more. Daniel was always associated with Babylonian astrologers (Daniel 1:19-20; 2:12-13, 47; 4:7-9; 5:11-12). Nebuchadnezzar, not realizing that the source of Daniel's ability was not the stars of the heavens but the God of Heaven, made Daniel the head of all the astrologers of Babylon. As Daniel eventually also saved the lives of these astrologers - by interpreting Nebuchadnezzar's dream - there is little doubt that he was able to lead many of them to turn away from the worship of the stars to begin worshipping the God of Israel.

So, then, a line of Babylonian astrologers spanning generations worshipped the true God, and having Daniel's prophecy, looked forward to the coming of the King of the Jews. We can conclude from the Book of Daniel, then, that Babylonian astrologers did know the time Messiah was to be born. However, Daniel says nothing about a star that would herald Messiah's birth. Again, how did the Wise Men know?

To find the answer, we must go back even earlier in the Old Testament to the prophecies of Balaam. Balaam was hired by the king of Moab to curse the Jews. He attempted to do so four times, and each time God took control of his mouth so that he ended up blessing the Jews instead. In the course of these blessings, he sets forth four key Messianic prophecies. One of these is found in Numbers 24:17:

I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not nigh: There shall come forth a star out of Jacob, And a sceptre shall rise out of Israel, And shall smite through the corners of Moab, And break down all the sons of tumult.

Much to his own regret, Balaam was forced by God to prophesy of the coming of the Jewish Messiah, which he related to a "star." But this is not a literal star, because it says, "And a sceptre shall rise out of Israel." The star and the sceptre in this text are one and the same. (We know this because the prophecy is in the form of Hebrew poetry, which is not based on rhythm or rhyme but on parallelism.) And the term "sceptre" is a symbol of royalty or kingship. This star, that would rise out of Jacob, is himself a king.

Furthermore, Balaam's occupation was that of an astrologer. Even more significant is that he came from Pethor, a city on the banks of the Euphrates River in Babylonia (Numbers 22:5; Deuteronomy 23:4). With the Book of Daniel and the prophecy of Balaam, we have a double Babylonian connection here. Hence, the revelation of a star in relation to Messiah's birth came via a Babylonian astrologer who, no doubt, passed the information down to his colleagues. Centuries later, Daniel was able to expound to the Babylonian astrologers as to the time that "the star of Jacob" would come.

How then did the Wise Men know? Not by gazing at the stars through the pseudoscience of astrology, but by revelation of God as contained in the Scriptures through the prophecies of Balaam and Daniel. The story of the Wise Men gives no validity to astrology whatsoever.

Interestingly, the three types of gifts given to Jesus by the Wise Men are full of Old Testament symbolism. Gold is the symbol of royalty or kingship, emphasizing that Jesus is a king. Frankincense - part of the special scent burned on the altar of incense within the holy place as well as the smoke penetrated into God's presence in the Holy of Holies itself - was a symbol of deity. Frankincense affirms Jesus as God. Myrrh was associated in the Old Testament with death and embalming.

Finally, while the opening line ("we three kings of orient are") of that traditional Christmas song is not biblically accurate, the last line ("God and King and sacrifice") certainly is. By giving these gifts to the family of Joseph, Miriam and Yeshua, the Wise Men provided the income allowing the family to fulfill prophecy by escaping to Egypt. There, they lived for about two years - allowing them to escape the murderous reign of Herod the Great - and then returned to Nazareth after Herod's death.