Where do the Three Wise Men go? Map of your route

There is less time for the Three Wise Men to come to our homes to bring us a gift. Surely the children are already thinking about writing their letter and that the older ones cross the fingers so that they get that long-awaited possession that has come out so many times in conversations spouses.

For the latter, the older ones, you know: it never hurts to verbalize what we are really excited about being given to us. You will avoid many disappointments. And if not, you know, you can always change the gift using the purchase receipt (don't be ashamed to ask for it, we already know that mothers-in-law usually have bad taste).

What is the journey of the Magi?

Either way, the tradition of the Magi comes from afar and they too. We all know that they come from the East, but what was their route to worship the baby Jesus? The truth is that there is no unanimity and the historians of the Bible debate between four possible routes. The investigation revolves around a painting, Chinese astronomers and the Gospel of Saint Matthew.

If you wonder what is the route that the kings undertake every year. His pages prevent us from revealing it because in his secret is his magic and we do not want them to bring us coal. What we can do is tell you how was the first trip that these bearded men with a crown undertook.

• We recommend you read: "The 9 gifts for Christmas with which you will never fail"

Saint Matthew gives us some clues

The only biblical reference to this magical event, it seems, is summarized in several verses from Saint Matthew. In one of them, he narrates the following: “When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, `` Where is the king of the Jews who has born? Because we have seen his star in the east, and we come to worship him ”.

In these lines it is explained that there were three kings who came from the East and that thanks to a great star, which was acting as a guide, they had been able to find their way to the king of the Jews, an act that required great worship. For this reason, they brought gifts such as gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

“Then Herod, secretly calling the magi, diligently inquired of them the time of the appearance of the star; and sending them to Bethlehem, he said: Go there and find out diligently about the child; and when you find him, let me know, so that I too can go and adore him ”. It seems that Herod asked them for a small favor because he wanted to know the whereabouts of the child Jesus since he also wanted to venerate him. However, his intentions were rather the opposite, as he wanted to end the life of the offspring that had just been born. Luck of an angel, who fallen from heaven, warned the Magi of Herod's evil intentions.

Everything ended well and Melchior, Gaspar and Baltasar delivered their gifts without notifying the evil king. Having worshiped the child, they quietly returned to their kingdoms. Legend has it that there was a fourth Wise King, Artabán, who did not get to meet the other three because of charity work. In fact, if we refer to Matthew, it is not possible to know how many kings there were since he is not referred to. Popular culture has ended up saying that there are three by the number of gifts they made (gold, frankincense, myrrh). However, there are those who say that there were many more, up to the number of twelve kings. Luckily, if so, the rides would be endless.

But were these lords really magicians? The truth is that we have a somewhat different perception than what they were. The term Magician, in ancient times, was given to those people who had great knowledge in science and our charismatic characters were astronomers. If the answer has left you a bit cold, try to make a visualization of space and the stars and it will surely seem like a magical phenomenon too. Kings were indeed since they reigned in the lands of Persia, Arabia and India, places that were pioneers in science and astronomy.

Continuing with Matthew's explanations, his great journey culminates in Bethlehem and it is possible that he was not found in a stable, as he describes a house. In addition, some theologians also deduce that the stay of Joseph and Mary could have been longer than we understand today. This deduction arises from the fact that King Herod ordered the slaughter of all those children who were under two years of age. This raises the question whether Jesus was just a newborn. That Mary and Joseph were for a longer period in Bethlehem could have facilitated the visit of these three wise men since the journey was long and by camel.

Where did they come from?

There are two theories that clash again when it rambles about its possible origin. It is well understood that they came from the East, but this can be very big. There are positions that defend that they were Persian while there are others that think that they were Arabs.

There are theologians who are convinced that they came from Persia since "Arabia" was previously understood as the ancient Nabataean kingdom in which Damascus was located east of Perea and Judea. However, the historical detail that makes the balance tip towards its Persian origin is the next: In 614, the Persians during their invasion of the Holy Land did not destroy the church of Bethlehem. It seems that what made them recoil was that in it they found a nativity painting with three wise men (the three kings adoring the child Jesus) dressed in typical costumes of their country.

What was your route?

Once the kings glimpsed the star, they set out on their way. Today it is estimated that they may have taken three different routes. In addition, in 2000 a test was carried out that proposed a fourth route.

The unusual verification arose from a group of 60 expedition members of different religions who recreated an itinerary that the Magi could have followed. They took neither more nor less than 83 days and traveled the distance of 1,600 kilometers. On their way, they crossed Iraq, Syria, Jordan and the West Bank. With this they showed that with correct preparation the trip of the three wise men was possible.

Leaving aside the verifications, it was thought that the Kings had been able to choose the Route of the Incense, a commercial route that served to transit between Egypt and India through the peninsula Arabic This theory makes them start from the north of present-day Yemen from a city called Hadramaut. They crossed the Arabian peninsula to reach Egypt, a point they used to enter Judea as far as Bethlehem. It was a safe route that was commonly used.

The second theory indicates that they could have departed from Persepolis, in present-day Iran and had directed to Babylon, more specifically to the city of Mosul which is located in Iraq. Later they crossed Syria, Lebanon and Palestine until arriving at Bethlehem. This route totals 2,000 kilometers and has gained many followers in recent years.

Finally, there is the third route that contemplates that they had left ancient Babylon and that they embarked on a path where They followed the Euphrates River and crossed cities such as Tadmur, Damascus, Amman and Jerusalem to reach their desired destination: Belen.

The star of Bethlehem

The first explanation for this phenomenon that guided the Magi was given by the German astronomer Kepler who determined a series of 105 conjunctions of the planets Jupiter and Saturn (which happens very infrequently) during the year 7 before Christ. Kepler related this fact to the star of Bethlehem. However, later calculations have shown that these two planets did not get close enough to give off as much starlight.

Another theory says that what lit its path was not a comet (hence the star has a tail), but a very bright star that Chinese and Korean astronomers found to be in the sky in 5 BC. C..

This is where Grant Mathews comes into play, a scientist who has been studying this enigma for more than ten years. Mathews has done an analysis of historical, biblical and astronomical records and indicates that said star could be the product of a very strange planetary alignment that occurred in the sky in the year 6 a. C. This hypothesis rules out that it was a star and bets on a visual phenomenon that could cause such planetary alignment.

In this alignment, the Sun, Jupiter, Moon, and Saturn were in the constellation Aries. The presence of Jupiter and the Moon signified the birth of a leader with a special destiny. Also, that the alignment was in Aries could give information that someone very special had just arrived. It may be that the magicians will visualize this phenomenon and recognize that it signified the birth of a great leader in Judea.

Be that as it may, whatever the star was and regardless of its route, the wise men come to the houses every year to give gifts to the little ones. Surely they are already fantasizing about the big day and there is nothing better than seeing a child smile. Let's see what next January 6 has in store for us.

Bibliographic references

• Mark Kidger. (1999). "The Star of Bethlehem." Princeton University Press.