Q. Wow! Interesting! And while we're still on the topic: is it true the Magi visited the baby Jesus 2 years after he had been born?
A. There is no way to tell for sure. It is however highly probable.
Firstly the Magi must have visited after Mary and Joseph had presented the Child in the Temple. The Presentation of firstborns was required by the Law of Moses 40 days after birth (Ex 13:2, 12-13: The Lord said to Moses, 'Consecrate to me all the first-born; whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine'). The Presentation had to be before the Magi arrived because the Holy Family was fleeing Herod after the Magi visited.
Luke - who makes no mention of the Magi or the flight into Egypt or the massacre of the Innocents or of the return from Egypt - from the Presentation jumps directly to the return of the Holy Family into Galilee. This return and stay in Nazareth must have been very brief. From where they probably returned to live in Bethlehem where the Magi found them "in the days of King Herod" (Mt 2:1), i.e. before the year of Herod's death in 4 B.C. This would make it a little more than a year after the birth of Christ. It would consequently make sense why the angered Herod, calculating from the information he had gathered from the Magi, would instruct that all the male children in Bethlehem and its surrounding district who were 2 years old or less be killed (Mt 2:16). Also, if you look at traditional art and archaeology only one early monument represents the Child in the crib while the Magi adore; all the others Jesus rests upon Mary's knees and is at times fairly well grown.
That besides, the 2,000km journey from Persia where the Magi are supposed to have come, to Jerusalem may have taken any time between 3 and 12 months by camel. Besides the time of travel, there were probably many weeks of preparation. The Magi could scarcely have reached Jerusalem till a year or more had elapsed from the time of the appearance of the star.
Q. Wow! I had always assumed the shepherds and the magi were all there on Christmas night!
A. Most people do...
More tomorrow!
9thJanuary 2016