Scripture Journal

Contrary to what the chrismas movies show the wise men were not at the manger with the sheperds. According to Matthew 2:16 the wise men told Herod that the babe would be around two years old by the time they reached Judea.

Now assuming that the star appeared at Christ's birth and that the wise men left as soon as possible, we can then assume that it took them about two years to get to Bethlehem. Now a caravan can generally travel between 10 to 20 miles a day depending on if they are traveling on horseback or not. Assuming that they traveled on every day but the sabbath that is 313 days of travel a year. So assuming that they traveled between one and a half and two years, 10 miles a day. That makes for between  4695 to 6260 mile trip. What is that far to the east of Israel? The answer is China, and at the time of the birth of Christ there was an established rout for the trade of spices, silks and other riches from Israel to China. It was called the Silk Road and it was established from 100 BCE through the end of the Roman Empire. You can Google it if you want. This would have been the most likely route that the wise men would have taken. And guess what was the main stop for the spice route at the time? Egypt. Thus the goods that the Wise Men would have brought would have been highly traded in Egypt when Joseph and Mary brought the baby Jesus there.