The God Culture: Did the 3 Magi in the Gospel Come From the Philippines?

Did the three wisemen or magi in the Gospel account of Matthew sail all the way from the Philippines to visit baby Jesus? Timothy Jay Schwab of the God Culture says so. Let's take a closer look at the evidence Tim offers. Then we will take a look at scripture and see what it has to say. Tim has a few videos on this subject but we will be concentrating on his book Solomon's Treasure which he claims is "the monumental case for the Philippines no one can disprove."

The Search for King Solomon's Treasure pg. 229

Psalm 72:10-15 KJV

The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him. For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper. He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence: and precious shall their blood be in his sight. And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba: prayer also shall be made for him continually; and daily shall he be praised.

This is King David’s prophetic prayer of his coming lineage but he is far more detailed than given credit if one simply reads the passage. When you read this chapter in the Catholic Bible, it begins with brackets boxing in a false paradigm from the start reading “[Of Solomon].” We take major issue with such thinking as it is proven wrong multiple times in context easily. King Solomon never had all kings nor all nations serve him. Only the Kings of Arabia paid him tribute (1 Kings 10:15) not the whole world in any sense even the known world of his day. Solomon could not “save the souls” of the needy nor could he “redeem their soul,” those are Messianic qualities reserved exclusively for the Son of Yahuah God. Prayer is not being made for Solomon continually as he’s dead but Messiah and only Messiah is praised daily not Solomon. In other words, there is absolutely nothing about the passage which identifies Solomon. This is Jesus(Yahusha).

Where do these kings originate who will bring Messiah gifts after His birth? Tarshish, the isles (Ophir, isles of the East), Sheba and Seba. Seba has a derivative in Hebrew in Saba or Sabah now in Malaysia but formerly part of the Philippines or really, Sheba. By definition, Seba is assimilated as a territory, in this context, by Sheba. We now know where these lands are as all of them identify the modern Philippines. Ophir is Luzon, Sheba is Visayas with Seba as it’s territory or Sabah, and Tarshish is Mindanao. It was the Land of Creation named Elda, rebranded Havilah after Havah’s curse of childbirth and after the Flood, the land of gold. They brought gold, frankincense and myrrh just as the Queen of Sheba brought the same when she gave to the Temple project and these are the ancient elements used in Adam’s very first sacrifice which is why they matter specifically.

pg. 230-231

Tim's thesis is that the Philippines is Tarshish, Sheba, and Seba. Therefore the kings in Psalm 72 came from the Philippines. But because the Psalm is a prophecy of Jesus Christ that means this is a prophecy of the three wisemen in Matthew 2 who brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the young Jesus. According to this Psalm there were actually six kings who visited Jesus and not the traditional three.

This passage also addresses the number of Wise Kings, yes kings, who came after Messiah’s birth. With the list provided in David’s prophecy in Psalm 72, we know that there were more than three kings however. There were at least six kings total. So, why would Hopkins narrow that down to three in his song? Actually, this fits the precedent established in scripture as ancient Ophir was divided into three territories just as it is today – Ophir as Luzon, Sheba as Visayas with Seba/Sabah and thirdly, Tarshish as Mindanao.

pg. 239-240

Because these visitors were from the Philippines that means they brought back knowledge of Jesus Christ and thus Filipinos knew about Him before the arrival of the Spaniards.

Certainly, the lines sounded good as Magellan explained Jesus because the ancient Ophirian well- knew it was their ancestors who brought Messiah gifts after His birth. However, follow this through logically a little further and you will realize the Philippines already knew Jesus(Yahusha) long before the Roman Catholics or really, Holy Roman Empire came.

p. 242

That the magi came from the Philippines also explains why the focus of the Christmas season in the Philippines is not a tree but a star.

In fact, has anyone ever wondered why the Philippines has the longest Christmas celebration on earth at over three months? That, too, predates Catholicism as we already established Ophirians knew Jesus(Yahusha) personally and directly from the time He was two years of age as the Kings brought Him offerings. When one looks at the actual birthdate of Messiah which we prove to be the Feast of Shavuot/Pentecost known as the Day of Covenant Renewal in basically early June, you will notice a pattern here. That is the culmination of the Spring Feasts of the Bible which begin in the first Hebrew month with the Passover season and end in the Feast of Shavuot, the birth of Messiah. Though they are celebrating the wrong time of year thanks to Catholicism, Filipinos appear to continue this tradition of a three-month celebration ending with the Birth of Messiah when their ancestors observed the sign in the sky of the Star of Bethlehem. 

This is also why we believe this practice is likely rooted in the Spring Feast celebration of three months. Further support for this comes from the parol, a giant five-pointed star, which is the center of the Filipino celebration and not the Christmas Tree which Jeremiah 10 rebukes as pagan along with it’s six or eight-pointed star of Remphan. It would be no surprise the land of the Wise Kings would have the longest celebration of Messiah’s birth even commemorating the three kings in the very end.

This celebration may have been Catholicized over the years but it is not Catholic in origin and actually appears to have truly Biblical ancient roots. 

pg. 242-243

There is absolutely no evidence that Filipinos were celebrating a 4 month long celebration at the end of the year to honor the birth of Jesus Christ before the Spanish arrived. Notice that Tim makes that claim but offers no proof. Likewise the tradition of the parol does not pre-date the Spanish.

The word paról is the modern Filipino spelling of the original Spanish name farol, meaning "lantern". In the native languages, parol and lanterns in general are also known as paritaan.

The tradition of the parol dates back to the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. It is a local adaptation of the Hispanic tradition of carrying small light sources (like torches, candles, or braziers) during the nine-day Christmas Novena procession leading up to the midnight mass (called Simbang Gabi in the Philippines).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parol

All of this is dependent on Tim's interpretation of Psalm 72. Right away we can see that Tim has a wrong analysis of this Psalm. First of all the heading on the Psalm, For Solomon, is not an addition by the Catholic Church. It is an original part of the Psalm which is found even in the Septuagint. This is indeed a prayer by David for his son Solomon. It is also a prophecy of Christ. Solomon is a type of Christ. In fact the Catholic Church does teach that this Psalm is a prophecy of the 3 wise men.

It is unnecessary here to remark how foolishly this passage has been wrested in the Church of Rome. They chant this verse as referring to the philosophers or wise men who came to worship Christ; as if, indeed, it were in their power of philosophers to make kings all upon a sudden; and in addition to this, to change the quarters of the world, to make of the east the south or the west.

https://www.studylight.org/commentary/psalms/72-10.html#verse-cal

Writing in the mid-1500's Calvin tells us that the Church of Rome taught the same thing Tim is teaching. The one exception being that no mention of the Philippines is made. Calvin says they, along with Tim, are wrong because Tarshish, Sheba, and Seba are not to the East which is where the three wisemen came from. 

If it could be proven definitively that Tarshish is not the Philippines then Timothy Jay Schwab's system will come crashing down. Tim offers a lot of proofs that Tarshish is to the East and is identified as the same as Ophir.

The Search for King Solomon's Treasure pg. 118

2 Chronicles 9:21 KJV

For the king’s ships (Solomon’s) went to Tarshish (Ophir) with the servants of Huram (Hiram King of Tyre) EVERY 3 YEARS, once came the ships of Tarshish bringing gold, silver, Ivory and apes and peacocks.

Solomon’s navy traversed far to reach these precious isles of gold – Ophir. One of the other names for this same region of Ophir is Tarshish which is fully and indisputably equated with Ophir in many passages. Is this because the writers of Kings and Chronicles disagree with each other? Not at all for they are the same place generally. In addition to 2 Chronicles 9, there are several scriptures which identify Tarshish especially the ships of Tarshish and they equate it to Ophir. The ships of Tarshish go to Ophir for gold and Tarshish for silver but both in the same area.

pg. 118

It is factually wrong that Ophir and Tarshish are equated as being the same region. Let's compare two passages which seem to make that equation.

1 Kings 22:48 KJV

Jehoshaphat made ships of Tharshish to go to Ophir for gold: but they went not; for the ships were broken at Eziongeber.

2 Chronicles 20:36 KJV

And he joined himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish: and they made the ships in Eziongeber.

p. 118-119

The same story is being told in both chapters. But they are each radically different. Before we analyze these verses let's see what the scripture has to say about the location of Tarshish. The book of Jonah establishes that the route to Tarshish lay west of Israel. Here is what Tim has to say about that.

One of the first objections we hear from Pastors and scholars is that Jonah travelled West to go to Tarshish. However, they are lacking the full context of the time. The Red Sea port was broken by Yahuah just before Jonah’s time in the days of King Jehoshaphat who attempted to replicate Solomon’s trip to Ophir. No such trip occurred and with the port destroyed by Yahuah, there was only one route left for the Ships of Tarshish to return to Ophir from Israel – through the Mediterranean Sea. A much longer journey indeed, they were there and not Eziongeber none-the-less according to Jonah.

1 Kings 22:48 KJV

Jehoshaphat made ships of Tharshish to go to Ophir for gold: but they went not; for the ships were broken at Eziongeber.

Psalm 48:7 KJV

Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind.

Now with proper context we can read the story of Jonah and understand it. Jonah is very direct in supporting that Tarshish is in the East ultimately certainly not in Spain nor Britain which do not fit Tarshish on many levels. Tarshish is in the same place as Ophir, a 3-year round trip journey from the Red Sea to the East and they would both have to prove they are Ophir as well. Notice how deliberate Jonah is in this account. It will make one realize just how brilliantly the Bible is written in fact and how foolish man’s attempts at interpretation can be at times.

Jonah 1:1-3 KJV

Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

It is true Joppa is on the West Coast of Israel on the Mediterranean Sea and Jonah boarded a ship there which was headed to the Biblical Tarshish. However, since when does the Bible ever disagree with itself? We have found never. All such supposed contradictions are from those who are challenged in their understanding so let us not blame that on the Bible. They are all easily explained. This is one of those cases. Was Jonah seeking the most efficient route here? Was he a merchant? No. Jonah was running from Yahuah and he wanted to go as far as possible. So, he chose a ship heading to the Far East. Notice, he is going to a physical Tarshish as well and also remember, there is no Red Sea Port option in this era as it was destroyed. 

pg. 119-121

Tim's solution is that the port in Eziongeber was destroyed therefore the only route east was to sail from Joppa. Now, this presupposes that this ship was going to circumnavigate Africa to get to the Philippines. But that is impossible because there is no record of anyone ever making that trip. Ancient maps don't show a Southern Africa. There is one and only one account of such a voyage. It is recorded by Herodotus and they went the other way from east to west. I wrote to Frank Romer, whose translation of Pomponius Mela Tim uses, and asked him whether there was any proof that the Greeks circumnavigated Africa to trade in the east. Here is his response:

As to your question 2: I know of no such evidence on this question either. The earliest info about the circumnavigation of Africa indicates that the Egyptians under Necho II did it from East to West, but that’s it, with no indication that any kind of trade followed. There is no evidence, material or literary, known to me that the Greeks themselves circumnavigated Africa and traded directly with the Philippines.

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2021/05/the-god-culture-scholars-speak.html 

There simply is no record of anyone, let alone Filipinos in their balangays, circumnavigating Africa to trade with Tyre. 

This is a lie

Both Isaiah and Ezekiel tell us that Tarshish traded with Tyre.

Isaiah 23:1 The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish; for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in: from the land of Chittim it is revealed to them. 

Ezekiel 27: 1 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying, 

2 Now, thou son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyrus;

3 And say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the people for many isles, Thus saith the Lord GOD; O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty.

12 Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kind of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in thy fairs

Since no one was circumnavigating Africa to trade with Greece and Israel it means Tarshish must be located within the Mediterranean Basin. Now we can properly analyze 1 Kings 22:48 and 2 Chronicles 20:36. As I mentioned they both tell the same story but the details are different. Here are two commentaries which offer clarity on the matter.

To make ships to go to Tarshish.—In 1Kings 22:48-49, we read: “Jehoshaphat made ships (i.e., a fleet) of Tarshish, to go to Ophir for gold; and it went not; for the ships were broken (i.e., wrecked) in Ezion-geber. Then said Ahaziah the son of Ahab unto Jehoshaphat, Let my servants go with thy servants in the ships; and Jehoshaphat consented not.” There is no mention of a previous alliance and partnership in the ship-building with Ahaziah. Moreover, the expression of our text, “ships to go to Tarshish,” appears to be an erroneous paraphrase of “ships of Tarshish,” or “Tarshish-men,” as we might say; a phrase which really means, vessels built for long sea-voyages. According to Kings, the ships were built “to go to Ophir for gold;” in other words, to renew Solomon’s traffic with India from the port on the Red Sea.

To go to Tarshish. This clause, even if the text is not corrupt, yet cannot mean what it seems to say; but in the word "to go" (Hebrew, לָלֶכֶת) must mean, of the sort that were wont to go to Tarshish, i.e. that were used for the Tarshish trade. We are guided to some such explanation by 1 Kings 22:48, where it is said the ships were "ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir" (1 Kings 10:22; 2 Chronicles 8:18). That the ships could not be to go to Tarshish is plain from the fact of the place, Ezion-geber (2 Chronicles 8:17, 18; 1 Kings 9:26), on the Red Sea, where they were built.

https://biblehub.com/commentaries/2_chronicles/20-36.htm

I am under no delusion that the above comments will satisfy Tim. However if we take into account that Jonah was fleeing to Tarshish from the west coast of Israel, that Tarshish traded with Tyre, and the fact that there is absolutely no record of any robust trade route which circumnavigated Africa then it becomes clear that the two solutions are likely correct. Ships of Tarshish, meaning a type or class of vessel, were being built to go to Ophir not that ships were being built in the South to go to Tarshish in the East. Thus Tarshish and Ophir are not the same place.

I know Tim will bring up the fact that the Spanish were looking for Tarshish in East Asia. But so what? Just because they were looking for it there and just because Magellan thought he found it in the Philippines does not make it so. Our guide here is the scriptures and not the treasure hunting schemes of the Spaniards. 

The other two places mentioned in Psalm 72 and which Tim claims are the Philippines are Sheba and Seba. According to Tim Sheba is Cebu and Seba is Sabah. However, this is wrong. According to the Septuagint the proper designation of these places is Arabia and Saba.

The kings of Tharsis, and the isles, shall bring presents: the kings of the Arabians and Saba shall offer gifts.

https://biblehub.com/sep/psalms/72.htm

This is pretty much an agreed upon thing. It is only Tim who breaks the consensus and says Sheba and Seba, as well as Tarshish, are the Philippines. The fact that he thinks the Septuagint is a fraud is of no consequence because it was found at Qumran and it is the only text which preserves Cainan in Genesis 11.

The Septuagint is Egyptian, uh, frauds. They were not temple priests. There were no temple priests in Egypt at that time.

Answers in First Enoch Part 10: Bible History of the Garden of Eden. Affirming Enoch's Geography

Everything about that statement is simply wrong. The Septuagint was found amongst the Dead Sea Scrolls and represents an older form of the Hebrew text.

The discovery among the scrolls of Hebrew biblical texts that agreed closely with the Septuagint Greek also changed the way scholars viewed that translation. Certain books of the Old Testament, notably Jeremiah and 1 Samuel, had long been known to have some significant differences from the Hebrew Masoretic Text. Many suspected the Septuagint translators as being responsible for these differences. The Scrolls clarified, however, that the Septuagint translators had, for the most part, translated the Hebrew in front of them straightforwardly. The more significant differences between portions of the Septuagint and the Masoretic Text were due to differences in different Hebrew editions of the biblical books, not the activity of the translators.  

https://stpaulcenter.com/the-dead-sea-scrolls/

The Septuagint is also cited in the New Testament. Therefore calling it a fraud means the Gospels and letters of Paul are fraudulent.

What would natives of Sheba be called? The answer is Sabeans. We encounter this nomenclature twice in the KJV.

Isaiah 45:14 Thus saith the LORD, The labour of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine: they shall come after thee; in chains they shall come over, and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee, saying, Surely God is in thee; and there is none else, there is no God.

Job 1:15 And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

The Sabeans stole Job's livestock and they are described as being men of stature and are mentioned along with Egypt and Ethiopia. Are Filipinos men of stature? No they are generally short. Did Filipinos sail to wherever Job lived and raid his animals? Of course not.

Seba is mentioned with Egypt and Ethiopia, and must therefore have been a southern people. In Isaiah 45:14 we meet with the gentilic form, (csebha'im) (Sabaeim), rendered "Sabaeans," who are described as "men of stature" (i.e. tall), and were to come over to Cyrus in chains, and acknowledge that God was in him-their merchandise, and that of the Ethiopians, and the labor of Egypt, were to be his.

https://bibleatlas.org/seba.htm

It turns out the word Sabeans in Isaiah and Job is the same word as Sheba in Psalm 72.

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h7614/kjv/wlc/0-1/

A nation in southern Arabia? No kidding! Sheba is not in the Philippines. This pretty much seals the deal. And guess what? In Solomon's Gold Timothy Jay Schwab never investigates the meaning of H7614!

The absence of this word from his book shows he is not doing deep research. Tim had an agenda. He watched videos that claimed the Philippines is Ophir and then he decided those videos were not good enough so he wanted to strengthen the case. That is what he said in an interview.

Well you know the amazing thing was is my wife is Filipina and we travel to the Philippines rather often and being here I was looking into different channels on Youtube I believe is where I saw this first.  There was a video "Philippines is Ophir" and I thought wow I know what Ophir is and but I've never seen anybody prove the location of Ophir. So I look at it and of course it's like most videos. It's a good video, it's a great claim but you leave the video thinking, maybe. And we're at a point, because we're a research group it's not just me, and we're at a point in our lives where we want to prove things.  We want to see things proven out completely. And that's what we set out to do. 

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-god-culture-biography-of-timothy.html 

"That's what we set out to do." That is not how a researcher works. A real researcher lets the data shape his conclusions and not the other way around. What we see time and time again is how Tim twists everything to fit his preconceived notions. Now, I know Tim will bluster against this article and his fans, if they read it, won't care, but the fact is the Bible never locates Tarshish, Sheba, or Seba to the Far East in the Philippines. They are close at hand to Israel.