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Re: Wise Men



When I went to look at Psalms 72:10, I unfortunately looked only at this
verse out of context.  This is like looking at the forest but not seeing the
trees.  That is a no, no.  Later in the day I began to read verses around it
and began to think that this sounded more like a description of Solomon's
time.   Then this morning I was looking at it again and turned back a page
to the beginning of the chapter and read the chapter notation that said "A
Psalm for Solomon".  Another Bible said "Messiah's glorious kingdom, A Psalm
for Solomon"
   After consulting others, it was evident that this chapter foretells that
high placed personages would come from long distances to worship the
Messiah.  The idea of kings and the named 4 countries or territories were
merely examples of personages coming from a long distance that Solomon and
the people of his day would have been acquainted with so that they could
understand the impact that this visitation would have in the future. So John
is so right, I was trying to be too literal.

Laurel

----- Original Message -----
From: "John S. Quarterman" <jsq@matrix.net>
To: <sinclair@matrix.net>
Sent: Saturday, January 06, 2001 10:12 AM
Subject: Re: Wise Men


> >But even in the earlier tradition did it name the wise men and have them
> >coming from different directions?  This is the point that I am discussing
> >not  the source of the Bible.  I am discussing what it says in the Bible
> >which is probably what most people use for the basis of this story since
>
> The three continent idea apparently comes from Psalm 72:10:
>
>  The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents:
>  the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.
>
> That's probably also the source of the idea that there were three kings.
> And that they were kings, for that matter, since the NT passage uses the
> Greek word magoi, which means wise man, not king.
>
> The names of the three wise men are only mentioned in much later
traditions,
> such as
>  ``A sixth-century Syrian source, cited by Zoroastrian scholar Dariush
>  Jahanian, names the Three Kings as
>  "Hormizdah king of Persia, Yazdegerd King of Saba, and Perozadh King of
>  Sheba," but those names are all Persian, not Sabaean or Arab.''
>
>  http://www.pyracantha.com/Z/3magi.html
>
> John S. Quarterman <jsq@matrix.net>
> [ This is the Sinclair family discussion list, sinclair@mids.org
> [ To get off or on the list, see http://www.mids.org/sinclair/list.html

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