By Rev. Phil Greetham. © Copyright 1996. This Version, 2012.

7: Which route did the Wise Men take? Several people have asked me which route the Magi would have taken. It is impossible to say for we lack even the basic facts. This then is pure guess work based on assumptions that are no means certain. It assumes that the Wise Men came from Arabia, possibly Sheba. I am guessing they would go by ship to Ezion Geber (Elat). From there they would take the safest and fastest route north - the King's Highway. The King's Highway was the autobahn of the Holy Land and stretched from Ezion Geber to Damascus. It does not go directly to Jerusalem but it would have been quicker than the mountainous direct route. At some point they would have left the King's Highway and crossed the Jordan before going south to Jerusalem and eventually ending up at Bethlehem. The Wise Men were warned in a dream not to go back to Herod in Jerusalem. So they went home by another route. The harder, mountainous route through Hebron and Beersheba would have been a direct route avoiding Jerusalem. However, there are many other possibilities.

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