Friends,
When i was an unbeliever, have been invited to a Christian home for Christmas.
They were different and friendly and happy, and when happened to look at the display in their house, i see a manger, a man and woman with a baby and shepherds with staff.
Another house and another Christmas, i see a man and a woman with a baby, and magis this time.
Another time, a man and a woman with a baby and shepherds and majis this occasion.
Now based on Biblical account which is the 'truth'?
Thank you and shalom in the name of Lord Jesus Christ
I would say the first one. The shepherds were told by the angel that they would find the Baby lying in a manger, and they did. By the time the wise men got to Bethlehem, it was up to two years later:
(Mat 2:16 NKJV) Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and
killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.
So Jesus was no longer a Baby in a manger, but a toddler in a house:
(Mat 2:9-11 NKJV) After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.
The magi or wise men did not see Jesus in the manger, and did not visit Jesus at the same time as the shepherds.
Incidentally, two other things that are often assumed about the wise men which are not found in the Bible are 1) how many of them there were. It is often assumed that there were three, because they brought three gifts, but two men, ten men, a hundred men could bring three gifts. 2) that they followed the star all the way from their home in the east to Bethlehem. That is not what the Bible says. It says that they saw the star when they were at home, but that it only started going before them after they had left Herod's palace in Jerusalem:
(Mat 2:9-10 NKJV) When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.
"The star which they had seen in the East," not "The star which they had followed from the east." If the star had been leading them all the way, why did they stop off in Jerusalem and ask where the King of the Jews had been born?
