wise men

2 definitions found

wise men - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  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 - Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary :

  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.