Epiphany Revealed (Did the Wise Men Really Have Names?)

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[Salvation]

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Epiphany Revealed

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January 5, 2008

Caspar, Balthasar, Melchior.  These "three kings of Orient are" found, complete with crowns and camels, in every nativity scene.

Yet if you look closely at the gospel account of the Magi (Mat 2:1-12), you won't find these names.  Actually there is no mention of how many Magi there were or that they were kings riding camel-back.

This is a testimony to something some Bible Christians would like to deny: that all who read a text of Scripture do so in the light of some tradition, through some lens.  If it is the right lens, it magnifies the text and allows us to get at its true meaning.  If it is the wrong lens, we get a distorted image.

It just so happens that the lens the Catholic tradition uses to read the story flows from Scripture itself — to be precise, it flows from the connection between holy words written hundreds of years apart.  But despite the many years and different human authors, the texts were inspired by the same Divine Author, the Holy Spirit.  In chapter 60 of Isaiah (Is 60:1-6), it is predicted that at a time of darkness, the glory of the Lord will shine over Jerusalem.  The heavenly light will be a beacon to the pagan nations and even to their kings.  Here we find mention of camels whose job it will be to bring the wealth of these nations, including frankincense and gold, to the city of the Lord.  Psalm 72 agrees that far off kings will bring gifts to the Son of David.

The tradition of the Church has always seen the story of the Magi as a fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy and Psalm 72.  Hence the crowns and camels.

But hold on.  Isaiah 60 mentions only two of the gifts mentioned by Matthew: gold, fit for a king, and frankincense, for the worship of God.  So what about the myrhh — where does that come from and what does it mean?

Myrhh, an aromatic resin, was used in preparing the dead for burial.  Gold reveals that the babe in the manger is actually a king; frankincense tells us that is he God incarnate; myrhh tells us that he has come to die.  That someone would redeem God's people through suffering and death was foretold by Isaiah a few chapters earlier (Is 53).  This was the really hard thing for those living in Jesus' time to comprehend — that the same person who fulfilled all those prophecies about a glorious new king also fulfilled the prophecies about a suffering servant.

All three gifts of the Magi are necessary to convey the true revelation, the true epiphany of who this child is and what he is destined to do.  That's why for hundred's of years we've sung of three kings, not two or four.

OK, so where did the names of the three come from?

The ancient feast of the Epiphany actually celebrates three events, tied together by the meaning of the word epiphany as "appearance" or "manifestation."  Jesus suddenly appears as who He really is — messiah and God — to the Magi, at Cana when He works His first miracle, and when He is baptized in the Jordan.  In the early Church, Epiphany was therefore second only to Easter vigil as the time to celebrate the sacrament of baptism.  Blessed water from those baptisms were used to bless the dwellings of the faithful, and it became customary to write over the doorposts of blessed homes "C+B+M" meaning "Christ blesses this house (Christus bendicat mansionem).  Since the three kings were also remembered at the same time, someone decided to give them names, and to use CBM as their initials — Caspar, Balthasar, and Melchior.  The names stuck.

But the fact that Matthew gives them no names is telling.  They may be kings, but in this story they are merely supporting actors.  They follow the true Star, the King of Kings.  Only His name is important.  Epiphany is not about the Magi — it's all about Jesus.

 

Dr. D'Ambrosio studied under Avery Cardinal Dulles for his Ph.D. in historical theology and taught for many years at the University of Dallas. He now directs www.crossroadsinitiative.com, which offers Catholic resources for RCIA and adult and teen faith formation, with a special emphasis on the Year of the Eucharist, the Theology of the Body, the early Church Fathers, and the Sacrament of Confirmation.

(This article originally appeared in Our Sunday Visitor and is used by permission of the author.)

[Salvation]

Interesting article about the names of the Wise Men!

[Salvation]

Catholic Discussion Ping!

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[bill1952]

I always thought that the angel’s name was Harold. you know ....

[Salvation]

Michael, Gabriel, Raphael are the only angel names that we are aware of from the Bible..................but I know you are joking.

[bill1952]

>but I know you are joking

I am :)

You know, Hark the Harold angel sings...

(i know its herald)

[Tuxedo]

Actually Lucifer is also mentioned in Ezekiel.

[BlueDragon]

(i know its herald)

Well then, obviously that angel's name is "Hark", then!

You know..."Hark", the herald angel.

[Soliton]

Michael, Gabriel, Raphael are the only angel names that we are aware of from the Bible

2 Esdras 4:1 And the angel that was sent unto me, whose name was Uriel, gave me an answer,

[Iscool]

The tradition of the Church has always seen the story of the Magi as a fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy and Psalm 72. Hence the crowns and camels.

But hold on. Isaiah 60 mentions only two of the gifts mentioned by Matthew: gold, fit for a king, and frankincense, for the worship of God. So what about the myrhh — where does that come from and what does it mean?

Myrhh, an aromatic resin, was used in preparing the dead for burial. Gold reveals that the babe in the manger is actually a king; frankincense tells us that is he God incarnate; myrhh tells us that he has come to die.

And there you go...That's one of the reasons Matthew 2 has absolutely nothing to do with Isaiah 60...

First off, the Magi were magicians, not Kings...

Secondly, there is no myrh in Isaiah 60 because in that discourse, it is not speaking of the birth, suffering and death of Jesus...It is the beginning of his reign on the earth as Lord of Lords and King of Kings...He died ONCE for all...

And Psalm 72...You can't pick a single verse out of the chapter and make it apply to the 1st coming of Jesus...Every single verse in the chapter discusses the millenial reign of Jesus Christ on Earth...

So what is the motive for this biblical distortion??? I have no doubt that the motive is for your church to convince you Catholics that Jesus will not show up again to reign on the earth...

[topher]

The Three Wise Men had a special place of burial, and the Christians of that area knew of the Three Wise Men because of their place (or places of burial).

When Islam was founded, the burial places of the Three Wise Men were destroyed...

But there should be some sort of historical record of their burial.

[topher]

An interesting link is:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saveh

There are several aspects of Saveh in Iran that is interesting to Christians... It appears that according to Marco Polo that the The Three Wise Men were incorruptibles -- though they may have been preserved artifically.

Additionally, there was a lake near Saveh. It is legend that at the birth of Mohammed that the lake dried up...

Since this is a desert area, this would bode ill for the area...

Since the time of the rising of Islam is around 666 AD, it is in my opinion both the time of the rising of Islam (666 AD) and the drying up of the lake was a warning about Islam.

As mentioned before, the followers of Mohammed destroyed the tombs of the Three Wise Men...

[Biggirl]

Also the city of Colonge, Germany, it is said that the remands of the Magi were taken to and re-buried.

[Coleus]

I thought I read this story yesterday.

 

Epiphany Revealed (where's that in the Bible?)

[Salvation]

I believe I said according to Biblical accounts.

[Salvation]

I wasn’t aware of these facts.

[Salvation]

You are sos right. I didn’t do a search. My bad.

[Salvation]

The Epiphany of the Lord
Feast day: January 6th, 2008

The Church's celebration of Epiphany ("manifestation), the "twelfth night of Christmas," apparently originated in Egypt sometime during the third century, thus the Church's celebration of this feast predates even the celebration of Christmas itself.
Epiphany is traditionally celebrated in honor of Christ's birth, of the adoration of the Magi, and of the baptism of Christ's (also celebrated on the first Sunday following Epiphany), three manifestations of the Lord's divinity.
     Because the Magi came form the Orient, many of the traditional foods served on this day are spicy. Spice cake is often baked for dessert, and entrees may include curry powder or other pungent spices.
     Several lovely family customs are associated with Epiphany. It is on Epiphany that the Christmas crèche is finally completed, as the figures of the three wise men at last arrive at the crib. In many families, the wise men are moved a bit closer to the crib every day from Christmas Day until Epiphany. Also, recalling the gifts to the Infant Jesus, many families exchange small gifts.
     A time-honored custom (especially in France) is the baking of a cake with a bean or trinket hidden inside. The person whose cake contains the bean is made king of the feast. Processions of robed and crowned "wise men" to the manger are fun for little ones, and provide them with an opportunity to think of a good deed that they can offer as a gift to Jesus.
     The blessing of the home is also a popular Epiphany custom. using specially blessed chalk (your parish priest will bless the chalk, if you ask, or use the prayer of blessing), many households mark their entrance door with the year and with the inscription CMB, the initial Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar, the names of the three wise man in legend. The inscription also stands for Christus Mansionem Benedicat, which means "Christ, bless this home." The popular form the inscription takes is 20+C+M+B+08. It remains above the doorway until Pentecost.

[Soliton]

Uriel is sometimes called an archangel because the Apocryphal book 2 Esdras refers to him as the archangel of salvation. But 2 Esdras was dropped from the Catholic canon, and since 745 AD the Catholic Church has not officially recognized him as an archangel. But, the Coptic Church still includes the books of Esdras in their Bible and Uriel’s feast day is celebrated by the Coptic Church on July 28.

for 700 years Uriel was an arch angel and then he was voted out of existance by consensus kinda like global warming. You got rid of purgatory. Perhaps if you eliminate hell, we can raise enough money for the Church to pay the legal fees.

[RightWhale]

They have names all right. Different names in different communities.

[Salvation]

So are you a member of the Coptic Church or some other denomination?

I really had not ever heard of this archangel or a Biblical reference.