Revelation of the Magi: The Lost Tale of the Wise Men's Journey to Bethlehem

by Brent Landau

214. Cf. Gospel of Thomas 12.

  215. Cf. 30:5–6, 31:1. It is important to note that the Holy Spirit is feminine in gender here, as evidenced by the feminine form of the adjective holy. This usage, found in the second-century Odes of Solomon and the fourth-century writings of Ephrem and Aphrahat, indicates a probable date earlier than the fifth century for the Revelation of the Magi, since Syriac writers after this time generally understand the Holy Spirit as a masculine entity.

  216. This statement about infants lacking any blemishes of sin is intriguing, since it disagrees markedly with the Augustinian conception of original sin, wherein infants, like all of humanity, share Adam’s guilt (On Merit and the Forgiveness of Sin, and the Baptism of Infants 1.9.24). The assertion that infants lack sin occurs in a number of Greek Christian writers (cf. Aristides Apology 15, Syriac recension; Clement of Alexandria Miscellanies 4.25.160; Gregory of Nyssa On Infants’ Early Deaths, passim).

  217. I.e., the Father of majesty.

  218. Cf. 32:2.

  219. Cf. Rv 5:13.

  220. The appearance of Mary and Joseph at this point in the narrative is quite abrupt, as the Revelation of the Magi does not mention them earlier. It is not clear whether they “went

  out” of the cave or the village of Bethlehem with the Magi. This episode is also remarkable for the way in which it uses the misunderstanding of Mary and Joseph as the first occasion for the Magi to act as witnesses for Christ by proclaiming his true omnipresent nature. In Infancy Gospel X, it is also the Magi who convey to Joseph and his son Simeon the significance of Christ’s birth.

  221. The statement “the offspring of the voice of virgin hearing” (cf. also 24:3) seems to demonstrate a familiarity with the ancient Christian doctrine that Mary’s conception happened through auditory channels—i.e., through her ear. Although the doctrine becomes especially popular in the mid-fifth century and beyond, traces of it appear as early as the second-century Protevangelium of James. In its annunciation narrative, Gabriel tells Mary that she will conceive from God’s word (Protevangelium of James 11:5).

  222. Cf. 28:2.

  223. Cf. 4:8, 13:1.

  224. Cf. Mk 14:9.

  225. Cf. Mt 2:11.

  226. Cf. Ascension of Isaiah 11:8–9.

  227. Cf. Lk 1:42.

  228. The beginning section of this sentence is problematic, since it would be expected that the child is no longer in Mary’s womb. This statement may suggest that Christ is always with Mary, as he is always with the Magi—an indication of Christ’s omnipresence.

  229. I.e., “by the majesty of the Father of all.”

  230. This statement of the Magi to Mary strongly reflects the interest in universal salvation through the polymorphismand omnipresence of Christ (cf. 13:10 and corresponding note).

  231. It is unclear whether the Magi have accompanied Mary and Joseph to their house, since they are not mentioned again until 26:1. If they have not, then chapters 24 and 25 would be a rather jarring departure from the first-person narration that pervades the majority of the Revelation of the Magi. Since the location of the Bethlehem cave is described as a “homestead” (cf. 18:2 and corresponding note), this may indicate that there is very little space between the cave and the house of Mary and Joseph.

  232. Instances of Jesus laughing in ancient Christian texts are quite rare; however, the recently published Gospel of Judas has Jesus laugh on several occasions at the misunderstandings of his disciples. Infancy Gospel X also depicts the newborn Jesus as laughing.

  233. Cf. 22:2 and corresponding note.

  234. Mary’s misunderstanding here is intriguing: she apparently thought that the gifts brought by the Magi were a sort of bribe that they offered to the divine child so that he would accompany them.

  235. Cf. 13:1, 19:1, 21:2, 31:1.

  236. Cf. 23:1; Lk 1:42.

  237. Cf. Lk 1:48

  238. Cf. Gn 3:24; Lk 2:35. In linking the instrument that guarded the Garden of Eden with that which is said to pierce Mary’s heart, the Revelation of the Magi resembles to a certain degree an interpretation found in several Syriac texts, wherein the spear that pierces Christ’s side in Jn 19:34 reverses the sword in Genesis.

  239. Cf. Col 3:11; Gospel of Thomas 77.

  240. I.e., the sun.

  241. It is not clear who “all your believers” are, with whom the Magi have been witnesses to the star. The only other people who have seen the star are Mary and Joseph; however, it may refer to the statements made by Christ and the Magi that he has adherents in every land (13:10; 17:5).

  242. Cf. 16:5, 27:9.

  243. Cf. 14:3.

  244. Cf. 16:4 and accompanying note.

  245. This is the first instance in the Revelation of the Magi of indirect discourse being used to summarize a speech, as opposed to the regular pattern of directly quoting lengthy speeches. The only other such occurrences of this are in 29:3–4, where the Magi tell the Apostle Thomas about their journey and Thomas in turn relates to them his experiences with the earthly Jesus. Note also that by 27:9, the indirect discourse has evidently switched to direct speech, as indicated by the presence of “you.” Because of this shift back and forth between indirect and direct speech and also the parallels of this section with the Thomas material, it is likely that this section reveals editorial tampering designed to integrate the first-person testimony of the Magi with the new third-person ending featuring the Apostle Thomas.

  246. Sic. Cf. note at 12:3.

  247. It is unclear precisely what the meaning of this sentence is.

  248. Cf. 13:10.

  249. Cf. note at 4:7.

  250. Cf. 13:10.

  251. This phrase may be meant as a critique of Judaism, since “the prophets” are also mentioned in 13:10.

  252. Cf. 26:1.

  253. Cf. 16:5, 26:5.

  254. Cf. note at 27:3.

  255. Cf. 21:6.

  256. Cf. Jn 1:9.

  257. Cf. 23:4.

  258. Cf. 5:11 for the only other indication that not all the people of Shir choose to participate in the mysteries of the Magi.

  259. The visions of the people of Shir in 28:1–3 are related in the same basic form as those experienced by the Magi in 14:4–8. However, two features distinguish these visions from those of the Magi. First, these visions are facilitated simply by the eating of food, while those of the Magi resulted from the epiphany of Christ in the Cave of Treasures. Second, the visions of the Magi followed in sequence the order of events in Christ’s life, whereas here the order is less secure and the account of Christ’s life less complete.

  260. Cf. 22:3.

  261. Cf. 11:6.

  262. Cf. 4:8 and accompanying note.

  263. Cf. Jn 1:29, 36; Rv 5:6.

  264. Although the phrase “tree of life” appears in 6:2, here another Syriac word is used for “tree” instead. While this Syriac word can also designate Eden’s Tree of Life (as in Rv 22:2), in a number of New Testament texts it refers to the cross (cf. Acts 5:30; Gal 3:13).

  265. Cf. Acts 2:1.

  266. Cf. note at 28:6.

  267. Cf. 1:2. It is at this point that, for the first time since 2:6 or 3:6 (unless chapters 24 and 25 are an exception; see the note at 24:1), the narration is no longer in the first-person plural, but in the third person. This transition may have happened earlier, at 28:1, but the description of the Magi in the third person demonstrates unambiguously that they are no longer the narrators of the Revelation of the Magi.

  268. I.e., the nobles, the poor, the women, and the children of Shir.

  269. I.e., the Magi.

  270. Cf. Acts 17:19.

  271. This is the first use in the Revelation of the Magi of the title “Our Lord Jesus Christ,” a very widespread designation in Christian piety; its presence strongly suggests that a later Syriac writer tampered with the text. The portion of the text narrated by the Magi themselves (the overwhelming bulk of the Revelation of the Magi) never uses the name “Jesus” or “Christ” to describe the being whom the Magi encounte
r. In contrast, this terminology is used very frequently in the short Apostle Thomas section, where some combination of these designations occurs eighteen times. The sudden preference for this familiar Christian terminology is one of the strongest arguments (cf. also the switch from first-person to third-person narration in 28:4) in favor of the theory that the Apostle Thomas section is a later addition to the Revelation of the Magi. It is possible that whoever added the Apostle Thomas material was troubled by the fact that the first-person Magi narrative never explicitly integrates the Magi into the wider Christian Church.

  272. Cf. Acts 2:47.

  273. Judas Thomas is the same as the apostle known simply as “Thomas” in the Synoptic Gospels (cf. Mk 3:18; Mt 10:3; Lk6:15; also Acts 1:13) and as “Thomas who was called Didymus” in John’s Gospel (11:16, 20:24, 21:2). The Greek nickname “Didymus” means “twin,” and the Syriac name “Thomas” is also related to the Aramaic word for “twin.” The name “Judas Thomas” is found in two texts from Nag Hammadi (the Gospel of Thomas and the Book of Thomas the Contender), as well as in the Acts of Thomas. It appears that Judas Thomas was the chief apostolic figure in ancient Syriac-speaking Christianity, particularly in the environs of Edessa. In the Acts of Thomas, Judas Thomas is commissioned to preach the gospel in India, where he is eventually martyred, but the Revelation of the Magi either ignores or is not aware of this tradition in favor of placing him in the farthest reaches of the East. There are some later references to a mission of the Apostle Thomas in China, and it is possible that these traditions ultimately go back to the Revelation of the Magi.

  274. Cf. 21:5.

  275. Cf. Acts 9:19.

  276. Cf. 27:3 and accompanying note.

  277. Though the text changed to narration in the third person at 28:4, here it curiously breaks into the first-person plural yet again with “we are not able to narrate,” “appearing to us,” and “we were amazed.” However, the “we” in this case is certainly not the Magi, but instead the disciples of Christ, whose experience with the polymorphic Christ the Apostle Thomas is describing.

  278. The mention of doubt in connection with Thomas may allude to Jn 20:24–29.

  279. Cf. 21:5. Although in the earlier passage it was unclear precisely what the “seal” was, here it is obviously Christian baptism—terminology perhaps derived from Eph 1:13, 4:30.

  280. The order represented here of anointing with oil first, baptism second (cf. 31:1), is a practice particular to Syriac Christianity and is attested in other ancient sources.

  281. The prayer/hymn spoken here by the Apostle Thomas is unattested in any other ancient sources, but it appears to be quite archaic because of vocabulary not seen elsewhere in the Revelation of the Magi (“athletes,” “contest,” “partner of the firstborn,” etc.). These elements suggest that the prayer had an origin separate from the other sections of the Revelation of the Magi, most likely in a liturgical context. This hymn, particularly its invocations to “come” (cf. 30:7), finds its closest parallel in the prayers scattered throughout the Acts of Thomas. The similarity of this prayer to those of the Acts of Thomas and the failure to mention the Apostle Thomas’s well-known journey to India suggest that the Apostle Thomas section originated quite early in Syriac Christianity, even if it is only a secondary addition to the original Revelation of the Magi.

  282. I.e., the oil.

  283. Cf. Mt 28:19.

  284. Cf. 13:1,19:1, 21:2, 25:1.

  285. Cf. 21:1.

  286. Cf. Phil 2:19.

  287. I.e., God the Father. This speech of the Apostle Thomas is ambiguous in whether or not it believes that Christ suffered. 31:6 states that Christ “endured” everything that the crucifiers did to him, but also that he was “exalted above all sufferings” and “a kinsperson of that one who does not suffer.” However, 31:7 again states that Christ “endured everything and … suffered everything,” which seems, on its face, to be a clear belief in the suffering of Christ.

  288. Cf. Acts 2:47.

  289. Cf. Mt 28:19.

  290. It is unclear whether the Apostle Thomas joins the Magi in their preaching, since 32:1–2 never states specifically who “they” are. For the Opus Imperfectum in Matthaeum, it seems that the Magi follow Thomas in a subservient role. The reference to the Holy Spirit being poured out could suggest that it is the Magi alone who preach, since they have just received it in their baptism, but this statement in no way definitively excludes Thomas.

  291. Cf. 21:11.

  292. This is the first and only reference to a final judgment of fire that appears in the Revelation of the Magi, and it is not clear from whom the Magi received this information. The concept of a fiery end of the world exists in a number of ancient sources (cf. 2 Pt 3:7, 10). One related text is the reference of Josephus (Antiquities 1.68–69) to the descendants of Seth who live in the land of Seiris and transmitted a revelation from Adam that two catastrophes, one of water and one of fire, would overtake the earth.

  293. The use of my here is strange, if it is assumed that the Magi (and the Apostle Thomas?) are preaching together. It may indicate that the preachers are working separately in different parts of the land of Shir, but this is never stated explicitly.

  294. Cf. 1:1 and corresponding note. This final verse almost certainly derives from the eighth-century composer of the Chronicle of Zuqnin and not from the copy of the Revelation of the Magi that he used.

  295. Thomas Aquinas’s remarks on the Magi legend of the Opus Imperfectum appear in the third part of his Summa, question 36, article 5.

  296. It is not clear to me whether Calancha supposed, like Columbus, that the American continent was part of Asia, or whether he correctly recognized that it was a separate landmass. Explorers of the New World were remarkably adept at making their discoveries “fit” the biblical descriptions of the world.

  297. The “contentious house” is the house of Israel, as described in Ez 3:9.