Did the Magi visit the stable?
This is a tough one…most nativity scenes have them at the stable…and in a sense it probably doesn’t matter much, but if you want to be pedantic, probably not. If we look at the passage in Matthew 2: 9After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the eastwent ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. ====== the first word used is the general “place” (v 9) but the second is the wod “oikian” meaning house. What I suspect happened is that, seeing as it was high season when Joseph and Mary arrived (necessitating their stay in the stable), by the time the magi came, they had moved up to the house that owned the stable ie the inn. christians have long celebrated the “Epiphany” (“showing”) on Jan 5/6, 12 days after christmas (hence the famous Carol), probably because of a memo
In addition to Singwell’s answer, there is also the fact that Harod order the murder of all of the male children under the age of two in Bethlehem. Some have speculated that this age range indicates that the Magi may have arrived quite some time after the birth of the Savior. Obviously, Harod wanted to make sure that he got the new King. Thus, he would have set a large enough age range to make sure that he got Him, but if the Magi had arrived just a few days after the birth, then there would have been no need to extend the age range to include toddlers. This is the speculation anyway.
Good question and I e-mailed Pastor Vern at Bethany Lutheran, in Vacaville, CA. He replied, “No where does it say there were only three kings. The proper term is Magi from the east. Many assume there were only three because of the three gifts mentioned. Also, it is correct to say that they were not there at Jesus’ birth but came later. Epiphany is when the Church focuses on the arrival of the Magi who followed the light of the star to come and worship the light of the world. The Christmas celebrations include the Magi because most churches don’t celebrate Epiphany.
