The Three “Wise” Men
Folks, yours truly decided to take a closer look at a Christmas event. This will probably take a series of post to break down each of the known Wise men....

1) The Gospels of the New Testament in the Bible do not give the names of the Magi (Kings), or even how many there were, but their traditional names are ascribed to a Greek manuscript from 500 AD translated into Latin and commonly accepted as the source of the names.

2) The word "Magi" is in the trilingual inscription written by Darius the Great, known as the "Behistun Inscription". Old Persian texts, pre-dating the Hellenistic period, refer to a Magi/Magus (singular) as a Zurvanic, and presumably Zoroastrian, or high priest.

3) In Western tradition, Balthasar is often represented as a "King" (Magi) of Arabia, Melchior for Persia, and Caspar for India. A tradition or local custom in the ancient Silk Road city of Taxila, is that one of the Magi passed through the city on the way to Bethlehem.

4) Magi: Ordinarily this word is translated as  "magician" or "sorcerer" in the sense of illusionist or fortune-teller, and this is how it is translated in all of its occurrences (e.g. Acts 13:6) except for the Gospel of Matthew, where...

5).. depending on the translation, it is rendered "wise man" (KJV, RSV) or left untranslated as Magi, typically with an explanatory note (NIV). However, early church fathers, such as St. Justin, Origen, Augustine, Jerome, did not make an exception, kept it as "magician".

6) Saint Caspar (otherwise known as Casper, Gaspar, Kaspar, and other variations) along with Melchior and Balthazar, represents the wise men mentioned in the Bible in the Gospel of Matthew, verses 2:1-9.

7) Caspar/Casper is derived from Gaspar which in turn is from an ancient Chaldean word, "Gizbar", which means "Treasurer". The form "Gizbar" appears in the Hebrew version of the Old Testament Book of Ezra (1:8). In fact, the common Hebrew word for "Treasurer" is still "Gizbar"

8) Caspar is traditionally portrayed as a young, beardless man who brought frankincense to the Jesus acknowledging him as a God. Caspar became a martyr. Some consider that the other two Magi also met with the same fate. The relics of the Magi were found in Persia by St Helena.

9) These were later brought to Constantinople and then to Milan in Italy. From there they reached Germany, where they are now housed in the Cologne Cathedral. At the time of Caspar travels from modern day India, India was under rule of one King...

10) Book of Exodus (30:34-38) states frankincense, blended with equal amounts of three aromatic spices, is to be ground and burnt in the sacred altar before the Ark of the Covenant in the wilderness Tabernacle, where it was meant to be a holy offering to God, not for fragrance.

11) The King of India, Zeionises, was an Indo-Scythian Satrap for southern Chach (Kashmir) for king Azes II. He then became king, and ruled in parts of the India around 10 BC – 10 AD, but apparently lost his territory to the invasion of the Indo-Parthians.

12) How and when Caspar was martyred is unknown but the legend of Caspar traveling through the silk road on his way to Bethlehem is still celebrated to this day in the city of Taxila. Was his martydom due to worshipping Jesus as the King of ALL Kings?

13) Melchior was described by St Bede in the 8th century as being "an old man, with white hair and long beard." Melchior is also commonly referred to as the King from Persia. Following the Star of Bethlehem, the Magi first travelled to the palace of King Herod.

14) Harod asked for the Magi to find the Child Jesus and report back to him. Upon arriving at the house, the Magi worshipped him and opened their gifts, with Melchior giving the gift of gold to signify Jesus' Kingship over the world..

15) Phraates V, was the King of the Parthian Empire from 2 BC to 4 AD (Modern day Iran) . His mother, Musa (Italian slave who became queen) ruled with him as Queen. Under Phraates V, a war threatened to break out between the Parthian and Roman empires..

16) The war was over the control of Armenia and Mesopotamia. Although Augustus (r. 27 BC – 14 AD) had sent his adopted son Gaius Caesar to invade "Iran", in 1 AD the two sides agreed a peace treaty, by which once again Armenia was recognized as being in the Roman sphere.

17) Phraates was only wanting to be recognized as "King" and signed the treaty allowing him and his mother to escape into the Roman Empire shortly after. The Magi giving gold to Jesus was a slap in the face to the wanna be King, which acknowledged Jesus as the true King.

18) Balthazar, traditionally referred to as the King of Macedonia and gave the gift of myrrh to Jesus. Balthazar was described in the 8th century by Saint Bede as being "Of black complexion, with heavy beard" with the "myrrh he held in his hands prefigured the death of the King.

19) Balthazar gave the gift of myrrh, which symbolized the future death of a King, as myrrh was an expensive item at the time and only reserved for Royalty.
The tree Burseraceae is one of the primary trees used in the production of myrrh, a resin made from dried tree sap.

20) The tree is native to the Arabian peninsula (Oman, Yemen). At the time of Balthazar's travel from the Arabian peninsula, there were only a small number of urban trading settlements, such as Mecca and Medina, located in the Hejaz in the west of the peninsula.

21) Although there were the existence of many civilizations in pre-Islamic Arabia (such as the Thamud), especially in South Arabia. Including the Sheba, Himyarite, Awsan, Ma'in, and Sabaean Kingdoms as all these areas actively produced myrrh at the time of Balthazar's travel.

22) Merry Christmas everyone!
I hope you are all blessed today!