In 1857 the Reverend John Henry Hopkins Jr—the rector of Christ Episcopal Church in Williamsport Pennsylvania wrote the now famous Christmas carol, We Three Kings of Orient Are. The problem is, practically everything in the Christmas carol is based on legends about the Magi and not the gospel of Matthew.
The magi did not come from a far away Eastern country like India, Persia or China. Matthew never says there were three of them and he doesn’t say they were kings. The idea that their gifts were symbols of Jesus’ status as King, God and Suffering Savior were preaching points added later. These and many other traditions like their names and their long trek following a magical star were legends that grew up around the mystical Magi story. As Galadriel in Lord of the Rings says, “History became legend and legend became myth.”
While doing the research for my book The Mystery of the Magi-The Quest to Identify the Three Wise Men I discovered why the story of the Magi, more than any other Biblical tale, was so encrusted with layers of legend and myth. Most Christians are unaware that in the early church there were many writings about the life of Christ. These apocryphal gospels and epistles were eventually weeded out as the canon of the New Testament was established.