Washington, Dec 24 (ANI): An ancient rediscovered text called 'Revelation of the Magi' tells a very different version of the Three Wise Men's journey to Bethlehem.
"It ends up being the most complex, richest, most strange, the strangest story of the Wise Men to come out of Christian antiquity. Until now, it had never been translated into English," ABC News quoted Brent Landau, an expert in ancient Biblical languages and literature, as saying.
1,700 years old and written by an unknown author, the text talks of the event from the point of view of the Magi themselves.
"So who the Magi are in this text is, they are descendants of Adam and Eve's third son, Seth. They live in this far eastern land. The text calls the land 'Shir' and from other ancient texts, it seems like the place it had in mind is the land of China," said Landau.
This version is very different from the one in Bible, he said. In the newly found text, the Star of Bethlehem not only led the Wise Men, but actually became the Christ child.
"The cave is filled with light. They're kind of hesitant about this, but eventually the star...its light concentrates and reveals the small luminous human being...a star child, if you will...it's Christ," he quoted the text.
The most startling difference is that the "star child" spoke to the Magi.
"Christ tells them, 'This is one of many occasions on which I have appeared to the peoples of the world'. So this text may even be saying that there are no non-Christian religions because Christ is the revelation behind everything," Landau said.
Shimon Gibson, a Biblical archaeologist, talked about the roads coming from the east that led up to Bethlehem.
"There is one road, which goes all the way to China, and it's called the Spice Route. [It] sort of came up through the desert and would have been a common sight, I think, at the time of Jesus, to see tradesmen coming along with their caravans," he said.
But he said it would be "impossible" to prove that the famed Wise Men actually travelled to Bethlehem.
Paul Wright, Biblical scholar and president of Jerusalem University College.
"There is something here," he added.
"Coming from the east, into this land of Canaan, of Israel, that brings people home, to the place they're supposed to be. Somehow they were coming to a place where they belonged." (ANI)
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