Wise Men, Wise God

So I am making my way through the Gospels now. I stumbled across the coolest footnote when reading the first few chapters of Matthew...

As many people know, the wise men who traveled from the East to visit baby Jesus most likely did not arrive to the manger scene as nativities so often portray. Most likely they came 1-2 years after Jesus' birth, which is why Herod orders the killing of all boys two and under in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16). The funny thing about the wise men is that they most likely were quasi-pagan guys who were familiar with OT prophesy, and therefore came to find a long awaited Messiah of a belief system they probably didn't even closely follow. They were appropriate in their desire to worship Jesus, but they probably didn't truly understand His divine nature. However, God used the visit of the wise men, who "offered him gifts, gold and frankincnese and myrrh" (Matthew 2:11), to protect His son, Jesus. Soon after the wise wen visited (an because they refused to return to Herod to rat out Jesus' location), Herod ordered all the young boys killed and Mary and Joseph were forced to flee to Egypt to save their Son's life. As Joseph and Mary were extremely poor (as one learns when they go to the temple to dedicate Jesus with pigeons - the lowest form of sacrificial animal, only acceptable by poor worshipers), they were probably able to fund their esacape with the extravagent and expensive gifts brought by the wise men. God used the wise men to give an example of what it looks like to worship Jesus, and He also used their generous gifts to financially support Joseph and Mary, in order to perserve Jesus' life. This is just one small example of the wisdom of our great God!