When Did the Magi Visit? (And does it matter?)

==We don't know how long after Jesus' birth the magi visited. What we are told is that Herod, based on when the star appeared to the magi, ordered the deaths of all little boys under two years of age "according to the time which he had determined from the magi" (Matt 2:16). What that means is that the star appeared to the magi about two years earlier. Did the star appear to them on the day of Jesus birth? Before? After? We just can't answer that question. What we do know, however, is by the time the magi arrived Jesus was living in a house (Matt 2:11) and he was a child. Matthew does use a different greek term than Luke does. Luke's term means "infant" while Matthew's simply means a young child. How old was Jesus at this point? Clearly any age below two. However trying to say he was a month old, or less, is taking things too far. We don't even know how long Joseph and Mary stayed in Bethlehem.

==Actually Scripture "states" that his timing was based on the magi (Matt 2:16). I suppose he had a good idea when the star appeared to them but, as stated above, we don't know when the star appeared to the magi in relation to Christ's birth. All we know is that they arrived some time after Jesus' birth (Matt 2:1). How long after he was born? We don't know.

==Source?

==I have no problem with that but we don't know how long they were in the house before the magi came. We are not given a time table.

==The fleeing to Egypt happens "after" the magi depart (Matt 2:13) so that does not help us time their visit. Luke does not require that Mary and Joseph left Jerusalem and went directly to Egypt and then to Nazareth. Luke only states that "when they had performed everything...they returned to Galilee to their own city of Nazareth" (Lk 2:39). That statement does not require that they left Jerusalem and went straight to Nazareth.

Why do I say that? Because we "know" that before they return to Nazareth they flee to Egypt and Matthew seems to indicate that that go to Egypt from Bethlehem (Matt 2:11-13) and not Jerusalem. So it is likely that they left Jerusalem, returned to Bethlehem for a time, fled to Egypt for a time, and then returned to Nazareth.

==Actually I am not interested in band wagons and don't care what everyone else on this board has to say. I am basing my views on the text. However I admit that, since we are not given a clear and direct outline, I could be wrong.

==I doubt Paul had this historical point in mind.

 

I don't think it matters, but...I believe the key is Luke 2:29 And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.
Not "after" but "when". Compare to Matthew who says that "after" Jesus was born the Magi traveled to Jerusalem and we can all agree that this was not immediately. Most of us who don't get our theology from a Christmas card anyway.

The requirements of the law would have required 41 days to pass after Jesus' birth for Mary to visit the temple after which I believe they went directly to Nazareth without being visited by the Magi.

But why would they return to Bethlehem again?

Luk 2:41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover.

I believe the most logical scenario was that Jesus was born, his parents went home,exactly as Luke records, then returned to Jerusalem/Bethlehem some time later, possibly at the Passover, from whence they fled to Egypt after the visit of the Magi, returning again to Nazareth after Herod's death.





I believe the star seen in the East was seen at the time of His birth and quite some time passed before the Magi arrived.
Quite enough time for Mary and Joseph to go to Nazareth and return for a passover in March/April.

MR