Word: magis
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...camels that pop up in many Nativities are relatively innocent. A passage from the medieval compendium of saints' lives called The Golden Legend tells how they solved a logistical problem for a perplexed church father: "Now it may be demanded how, in so little space of 13 days, [the Magi] might come from so far as from the East unto Jerusalem, which is a great space and a long way. S. Jerome saith, that they came upon dromedaries, which be beasts that may go in one day as an horse in three days...
...Dianne Shields understands this. Shields became a pastor at Arlington Heights First Presbyterian in 1991. She calls her religious politics "moderately liberal." She studied her New Testament at McCormick Theological Seminary and has preached her share of scholarly sermons on the Magi and the meaning of Mary's answer to Gabriel...
...Matthew. For some Jews it probably brought to mind a verse from the Old Testament book Numbers alluding to David's messianic status--"A star shall come out of Jacob and a [king] shall rise out of Israel." By making the star the object of the non-Jewish Magi's curiosity, Matthew showed that if he lacked Luke's detailed pagan background, he at least had some knowledge that stellar displays had meaning to non-Jews as well. In fact, stars were associated with the founding of Rome and the fall of Jerusalem, plus the birth of the usual suspects...
...MAGI...
Well, from where exactly in the Orient (which means simply "East") were they, anyway? Matthew's word Magi is a vague clue, since it can mean astronomers, wise men or magicians and was applied to people from all over. The gifts they bore--gold, frankincense and myrrh--hint at Arabia, since unrelated Bible stories describe camel trains of similar tribute emanating from Sheba and Midian, both on that peninsula. Their interest in stars suggests Babylon, famous for its astrologers. The happiest guess of all turned out to be the one made in the 4th century by the decorators...