Who were the Wise Men that brought the gifts to Jesus?

_ There recently seems to have been a lot of discussion on the radio about the wise men and the gifts that they brought to Jesus.

One of the first questions asked is what were their names?

There is no specific Biblical reference to any names but tradition seems to say that they were called Balthazar, Gaspar, and Melchior, also it is not clear as to who carried which gift.

So the second question asked was what were the gifts given to Jesus?

• Gold - the gift for a king;
• Frankincense - (an aromatic gum resin used in incense and perfumes) the gift for a priest
• Myrrh (another aromatic plant resin) -a burial ointment, a gift for one who would die

The third question is how many wise men were there?

It is sometimes assumed that there were three wise men as three gifts were given but nowhere does it say this. All it does say is that they were “wise men from the East” You can learn more about the wise men and the Christmas story here and read the story directly in Matthew 2