Balthazar (World of Sultans)

Amos Magi (Hebrew: עמוס האמגושים) or also Amos the Wise (Hebrew: עמוס החכם), Amos of Iraq (Hebrew: עמוס של עיראק) also known by his alleged native name Balthazar (Arabic: بالتاسار) was an Arabian-Assyrian scholar, poet and later became King of Saba.

He was one of the Three Wise Men who visited Jesus when he was born in Bethlehem, and Jewish recorders referred to and gave him by the name "Amos Magi", meaning "Amos the Wise" (Hebrew: עמוס החכם). Some Biblical sources also referred to him by "Amos Balthazar" and referred to his native language as "sounding similar but not too close to Hebrew", meaning his native toungue could have been Arabic or an Arabian language. Arab and Islamic sources refer to his name as Balthazar.

Amos was very involved in the church during his career. He allegedely visited Egypt and Sudan, paving an earlier history of the Arab presence in North Africa prior to Islam. He returned to his Arabian homeland, where he encountered Christian preachers. A native preacher by the name of Obadia Duwas recorded, "The man who called himself Balthazar is native to here and visited the Messiah at his birth before going to Egypt and returning here."

Lineage
Biblical and Islamic contexts record Amos was being a descendant of Jethro or Reuel, the Midianite priest who invited Moses in for an encampment. Arab nationalists believe him to be a descendant of Hobab through Gershom, the son of Moses, and Hobab's daughter Zipporah who married Moses. Balthazar had actually recorded his own lineage, he wrote predominantly in the Hebrew language since he spent most of his political career in Israel and no written record exists in his own toungue.

He wrote, "The Isrealites called me Amos, my home dwellers called me Balthazar. My ancestor helped Moses after he came from Egypt, gave him food and gave instructions of leadership."

Political Career Prior to Jesus Visitation
Many accounts state that Balthazar had worked as diplomat for King Herod. However, he was known to be extremely critical and of Herod's policies leading him not to kill the infant Jesus during his latter visitation.

According to a letter found in Jerusalem written in Hebrew regarding foreign diplomats in Israel, it reads "באשר ליושב המדבר, שיודע הוא בתעסוקתו של הורדוס הגדול, הוא בא לבוז הורדוס, והוא עייף מאוד של מקורותיו של המלך, השוכן במדבר שהורדוס בשם עמוס, היה מרחוק מזרח למצרים, ממזרח כוש רחוק מזרח לאדמות לאורך הנילוס, סביר להניח שישמעאל מגורים בין בני ישראל ..." which translates in English to "As for the desert-dweller, who know is in the employment of Herod the Great, he has come to despise Herod and is very weary of the king's origins, the desert dweller whom Herod called Amos, was from far off east of Egypt, east of Cush far east of the lands along the Nile, most likely an Ishmaelite dwelling among the Israelites....".