I have never seen any evidence — in Scripture or otherwise — that there were exactly three Magi.
You are correct. There is no evidence that Mary traveled to Bethlehem on anything but her on two feet either.
We assume that because the magi brought three gifts, that there were three of them. It’s more likely that there was an entire caravan for safety.
Me too. The number is not given. Since they were bearing three gifts, I guess many have assumed there were three, each bearing one gift. But the bible does not say.
I recall having heard that Eastern churches have a tradition that there were 12 Magi.
Perhaps an Eastern Orthodox or similar FReeper could confirm.
I agree. They may have come with a small army, which is why Herod didn’t mess with them. Who knows for sure, but you are right. There is nothing anywhere, that indicates there were only 3 of them.
It was probably a group of magi 10,20 30, who knows. Wise men, support persons, drivers, food wagons...expedition type group complete with the means to defend themselves. The had seen his star “in the east” which means they came from the WEST to the East to see him!( perhaps from the south west or northwest...since the Mediterranean was due west) and there is nothing that says they didn’t sail partly on ships to get there as well. ( Unless the phrase “ saw his star in the east” meant “while dwelling in the east, the wise men saw the star to the west of them” (Hence, when they were in the east, they saw his star, only west of them?). I wonder how the greek or Aramaic translates the sense of “in the east”.
My sense was some wisemen some place west of Bethlehem looked up one night and saw a strange star to the east of them and due to their readings on cultures and history decided that they needed to investigatw this strange sight.
Being wise men they knew that the heavens moved with the seasons and that only the North star would seem to be fixed, so why was this strange star remaining fixed over Israel? They may have observed it for a number months before deciding that something was very unusual going on an decided to investigate.
That is why Herod had young boys 2 years and under killed because the star may have been apparently visible for 2 years from time it appeared, to the time the wisemen decided to investigate it (as the star was fixed and nonmoving in comparison to the rest of the heavenly bodies). The Bible says that the magi came “to the house where the child was”...not the “manger”. This was an unusual star as the Bible says that as the Magi left Herod to seek the child in Bethlehem, that the Magi rejoiced as the star appeared and “went before them” and “stood over the house where the young child was”. Apparently God loved old gentile wisemen as well as he teasingly wooed them from their westerly location and then doubled down once in Israel with the “star” actually physically moving in a way that they could follow to by then was a house in Bethlehem. The child was probably 2 years old by then!