Were there more than 3 wise men? When did they visit the Baby Jesus? Was it at the stable?
I picked up a kids’ book at the library entitled The Fourth Wise Man Retold by Susan Summers but based on the story by Henry Van Dyke. It appears as well under the title The Greatest Gift: The Story of the Other Wise Man. This tells the story of a Fourth Wise Man named Artaban who did not make it to Bethlehem in time to see the Baby Jesus and spent his whole life searching for this teacher.
Along the way, he lives a godly-life, helping those who cross his path such as a sick man along the road. He sells his beautiful home in exchange for gifts to give the child. Slowly, he ends us selling everything he owns (including his beloved horse, Vasda) to follow the path of Jesus.
His last act came at the foot of the cross where Artaban gives his last precious gift he was saving for the King of Kings to a girl to save her from slavery.
He hears a voice at the end, saying, “As often as you did these things for the least of my children, you did them for me,” and he dies finding the King.
Great book promoting how to live a life full of God even through the disappointment of not finding what one is seeking right away. All through faith.
After reading this book, I wanted to find out where the wise men were listed in the Bible so I could read it to my kids. I found this website listed below that collaborates the story I had just read. I did not know most of this! Like most kids, I had grown up with the tale of Three Wise Men as popularized in modern culture. This website is fabulous!
Enjoy!
Another option is the star appeared to the wise men before Jesus birth and they arrived in Bethlehem when Jesus was born. We won’t know the real answer until we can ask Jesus or the angels.
What you also might not have known: in Germany is the Shrine of the Three Kings at Cologne Cathedral, which, according to tradition, contains the bones of the Three Wise Men. Their names were Balthasar, Melchior and Caspar. Reputedly they were first discovered by Saint Helena on her famous pilgrimage to Palestine and the Holy Lands. She took the remains to the church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople; they were later moved to their current resting place by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I in AD 1164.
Thanks for sharing the facts about the Wise Men.
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