Wise Guys

In a few days the twelve days of Christmas will be over. Many churches will be talking about the wise men who came to see baby Jesus this week.

Actually, the Bible says the wise men came to see Jesus in a house when he was a young child, not an infant. They never saw him in a manger. And, while they brought three kinds of gifts we have no idea how many of them came.

They were magi, or astrologers who had seen a star in the sign of the "house of David "and assumed that meant a new heir to the throne was born. Today astronomers say that was a configuration of several planets so close together they looked like an extremely bright star. And the constellation, Pisces, was supposed to be a sign representing the royal line, or house, of King David.

Pisces is the Latin word for fish, and it's interesting that early Christians used the fish as a symbol of their faith.

But if the the magi followed the star didn't it move across the sky? Well, maybe the magi thought it must be moving since they could always see at night it no matter how many miles they traveled each day.

This was thousands of years ago and those men were the closest thing to scientists around back then.  That's why they were considered wise.