Yahoo Answers is shutting down on 4 May 2021 (Eastern Time) and the Yahoo Answers website is now in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.

why do nativity scenes show astrologers at the manger when they didnt go to Bethlehem until 2 years later? Math chapt 2?

Update:

I wasnt questioning what you would call the visitors but the timing of their visit As they were guided by the star I assumed they were astrologers Whether George Washington cut the tree down or not has no effect on the eternal future of truth seekers 

11 Answers

Relevance
  • TeeM
    Lv 7
    4 months ago
    Favourite answer

    Thayer's lexicon calls the wise men:

    "The oriental wise men (astrologers) who, having discovered by the rising of a remarkable star that the Messiah had just been born, came to Jerusalem to worship him ; a false prophet and sorcerer"

    Proving the NWT to an accurate translation.

    These men were 'wise' in the way of false religion, practicing acts Jehovah stated were 'detestable'.

    (Deuteronomy 18:9-12) 9 “When you are entered into the land that Jehovah your God is giving you, you must not learn to do according to the detestable things of those nations. 10 There should not be found in you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, anyone who employs divination, a practicer of magic or anyone who looks for omens or a sorcerer, 11 or one who binds others with a spell or anyone who consults a spirit medium or a professional foreteller of events or anyone who inquires of the dead. 12 For everybody doing these things is something detestable to Jehovah, and on account of these detestable things Jehovah your God is driving them away from before you.

    Side point:

    If the 'baby Jesus' isn't to be placed in at the manger until Christmas day, then Mary and Joseph shouldn't be placed in the stable until December 24th.

    If the magi aren't added until January 6th, then they should be located in a house and not at the stable.

    I find it interesting how even those who claim to know their bibles get the Nativity scene wrong.

    Especially since the vast majority of biblical scholars know December 25 isn't Christ's birthdate.

    Thus there isn't anything accurate about this display.

    .

  • ?
    Lv 7
    4 months ago

    Poetic license.

  • ?
    Lv 4
    4 months ago

    Because a nativity scene is a traditional Christmas display. It's not meant to be some kind of dramatisation of what, according to The Bible, actually happened. 

    Christmas is meant to celebrate the birth of Christ and yet it is almost certain that he was not born on December 25th. Christmas celebrations are not meant to be a factual re-enactment of a specific set of events. 

  • 4 months ago

    Up to two years later - no-one knows when they actually came.  It might even have been that first night.  Any time over the next 2 years though, according to Matthew.

    Some call them astrologers, but others do not.  Astrology was something of a science in those days - calling them scientists is also accurate as is philosophers.  "Wise men" works best.

  • ?
    Lv 7
    4 months ago

    Well...

    A - Certainly the Bible does NOT teach that the magi went to Bethlehem two years after Jesus' birth! That conclusion employs VERY poor reasoning.

    B - But it IS true that, based on what the Bible teaches, that the magi *probably* did not visit Jesus until at least several weeks, and possibly several months, after his birth.

    C - SO: the reason that Nativity Scenes show "the three wise men" at the manger is because the magi visiting Jesus is part of the Gospel account of the birth and infancy of Jesus.

    And note: traditionally the magi figurines are not added to the Nativity Scene until January 6 (i.e. "Epiphany")

    Similarly: the baby Jesus figurine is not added to the Nativity Scene until Christmas.

  • 4 months ago

    No one knows when they arrived, moron.

  • 4 months ago

    Most people don't think about what they are doing. If a nativity scene is done properly, the three wise men do not get added until the feast of the Epiphany, twelve days after Christmas.

    I imagine part of the problem is that the secular world is out of step with the religious world. The twelve days of Christmas are from Dec 25th to Jan 6th, but most of the secular world seems to treat Christmas as if it started in Advent and faded out somewhere between 25th Dec and New Year's Eve, so they've packed their nativities away well before the Epiphany.

  • Carmen
    Lv 5
    4 months ago

    The whole modern nativity story is inconsistent with the Bible. 

    According to Matthew's account, they already lived in Bethlehem and just gave birth at home. Luke does the whole thing about being turned away at inns and giving birth in a shelter for animals. Likely he was trying to emphasise the lowlyness of Jesus' birth. 

    They would have almost certainly been traveling in a wagon, since Joseph was a contractor by trade, which for the record was a high paying job in those days, and still is today. They weren't dirt poor. And as you pointed out, the wise men didn't show up for a couple of years. We don't know how many there were, because the Bible doesn't say, nor does it name them. It only says they had three types of gifts. And one of those gifts was a burial perfume and another was camel dung incense which would be very inappropriate for a baby shower, even if God himself told you to bring it. The gold was a better gift, I guess. Gold always works. 

  • BJ
    Lv 7
    4 months ago

    Because most people do not read their Bibles to find the truth.

     Reminds me of time, talking to a lady at door, she said she read the Bible everyday, she went & got her Bible, there was so much dust on the cover you could see her fingerprints. 

    That's the way it is on YA, and elsewhere.

    It is true that a delegation from the East paid homage to young Jesus. These visitors, though, were really astrologers.  And did they find Jesus nestled in a manger? No; they visited him in a house. Evidently, they arrived some months after Jesus’ birth.  

    Matthew 2:11 says:  And when they went into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and falling down, they did obeisance to him. They also opened their treasures and presented him with gifts gold and frankincense and myrrh.

    By virtue of their long journey from the East, the astrologers did not arrive in time to visit Jesus in the stable. 

    Rather, after perhaps months of travel, they “went into the house” where Jesus was staying. There they saw “the young child with Mary its mother.”  Matthew 2:11

  • Harry
    Lv 4
    4 months ago

    maybe it is a lie

Still have questions? Get answers by asking now.