. . . the independence of the magi
story from Isaiah’s description of foreign kings and presents in Isaiah 60:1-6
can be attested as follows. According to this Isaiah passage, foreign kings (βασιλεις) and nations are said to start
walking “by the light” (τω φωτι) of Jerusalem (Isa 60:3) and has
now dawned (60:1). The author doesn’t say that these kings come to Jerusalem,
but that they follow its example. After he remarks that Jerusalem’s exiles will
return to Jerusalem (60:4), it is stated that, apparently in their wake, “the
wealth (πλουτος) of the sea and of nations and of
peoples shall change over “to Jerusalem” (60:5). Examples of this transfer of
wealth are then given, and consist in the arrival of herds of camels (καμηλοι) (60:5-6), which are probably
primarily the mode of transport used in this transfer, and the actual bestowal
of gold (χρυσιον) and frankincense (λιβανος), brought by people who come from
Saba (Σαβα) (60:6). (George van Kotten,
“Matthew, the Parthians, and the Magi: A Contextualization of Matthew’s Gospel
in Roman-Parthian Relations of the First Centuries BCE and CE,” in The Star
of Bethlehem and the Magi: Interdisciplinary Perspectives from Experts on the
Ancient Near East, the Greco-Roman World, and Modern Astronomy, ed. Peter
Barthel and George van Kooten [Leiden: Brill, 2015], 614)
