Wise Men
n 1: (New Testament) the sages who visited Jesus and Mary and
Joseph shortly after Jesus was born; the Gospel According
to Matthew says they were guided by a star and brought
gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh; because there
were three gifts it is usually assumed that there were
three of them [syn: {Wise Men}, {Magi}]
Wise men
mentioned in Dan. 2:12 included three classes, (1) astrologers,
(2) Chaldeans, and (3) soothsayers. The word in the original
(hakamim) probably means "medicine men. In Chaldea medicine was
only a branch of magic. The "wise men" of Matt. 2:7, who came
from the East to Jerusalem, were magi from Persia or Arabia.