This prefigures what the Gospels lay out from start to end, the rejection of Jesus by Israel and his intention, born in Genesis , to take his salvation blessings beyond the borders of Israel to all nations. Gold is a rare and precious metal. Gold has always be immensely valuable, and until we get to heaven and tramp on it like bitumen , it always will be counted as immensely valuable.
Small holes are chiseled into the bark, and the sap seeps out in little tears, which are collected when they dry. The Egyptians used it for embalming. In the ancient near east Kings were commonly anointed with frankincense ointment, which was particularly expensive. In the desert God commanded Moses to make a sacred ointment with this rare aromatic:. Myrrh is used in perfumes and cosmetics and was one the ingredients in the sacred anointing oil used to consecrate Old Testament priests Exod.
This testifies to the great value of these items in the present world. The kings of Tarshish and of distant shores will bring tribute to him; the kings of Sheba and Seba will present him gifts. All kings will bow down to him and all nations will serve him verses With those gifts the Queen honored Solomon as a great King, and with their worship and costly royal gifts the Magi honored Jesus as their great Sovereign and King.
They showed him to be the fulfillment of Psalm Certainly Jesus is all of these things. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. Who Are Those Guys? Christmas—the Interrupter of Winter. Campbell Markham has been a pastor in the Australian Presbyterian Church for over twenty-two years and lives in Perth, Western Australia.
He blogs at Campbell Markham: Thoughts and Letters. Cart 0. Were they for the infant Jesus or for a much bigger purpose? Fact is we will never know for sure the truth about gold, frankincense and myrrh; nor why the Magi travelled half-way across the world to bless the Christ Child with them.
They were obviously astronomers of some sort, because it was the Star of Bethlehem that indicated the birth. When they made it into Jerusalem, they went right to Herod to ask where the Baby might be. Interestingly, Herod seems to know right away that the prophesies about the Messiah were connected, because he asked his scholars where Messiah was to be born. This is important to note when we look at the potential uses for the gifts in a moment.
Church history and tradition have expanded on the story to name the men who actually gave the gifts — Melchior bringing gold, Caspar with frankincense, and Balthasar with myrrh. It has also been suggested that, In addition to the honor and status implied by the value of the gifts of the magi, scholars think that these three were chosen for their special spiritual symbolism about Jesus himself—gold representing his kingship, frankincense a symbol of his priestly role, and myrrh a prefiguring of his death and embalming.
Because the Magi were coming to hail the new king, gold makes sense as an acknowledgement of royalty. Gold was valuable, beautiful, and long-lasting. Scholars generally agree that the gift of gold represented Jesus as a king with an everlasting throne. It was a treasure befitting royalty, albeit royalty in the home of a young, poor family. As an interesting theory that is somewhat on the fringe, some believe the gold was entirely different.
Instead of precious metals, the theory explains that frankincense and myrrh were both precious resins used for fragrance and were both derived from the same region — from the east.
Gold seems out of place — one of these things is not like the other — unless it was gold-en spice like turmeric , as some like to claim that it was.
In either view, the kingly connotations remain, and the message of the Magi is clear: this little baby was to be honored as royalty, no matter what the circumstances suggested!
Genesis , Ecclesiastes Because of its scarcity and immense value, gold was particularly associated with royalty and nobility, as is seen in 1 Kings 10 when the Queen of Sheba visits King Solomon bearing great quantities of gold as a gift. By bringing a gift of gold, the wise men showed that they did indeed consider Jesus a king. Under the Old Covenant, the Most Holy Place also known as the Holy of Holies was an inner sanctuary within the Temple where the priest would encounter the presence of God and offer a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people.
Likewise, the incarnation of Jesus heralded the presence of God—Immanuel—and the sacrifice of atonement he would make on behalf of his people when he went to the cross.
The wise men may have had this connection in mind because, as described in 1 Kings , the walls of the Most Holy Place and the altar within it were completely overlaid with—you guessed it—gold. Frankincense is an aromatic gum resin that is still widely used in parts of the Middle East and Africa today. It is produced by scraping the bark of certain native species of trees and then harvesting the beads of resin after they have dried.
When burned as incense, it creates a strong and beautiful aroma. In the ancient near east, the cost of frankincense precluded it from being used as a common household air freshener. Rather, the burning of frankincense was closely associated with ceremonial worship of a deity. In this way, the inclusion of frankincense as a gift for Jesus may have indicated that the wise men understood that the prophecy of the newborn king carried with it a claim of deity.
As with gold, frankincense may also have an implied connection with the Temple worship of the Old Covenant. Burning incense at the altar was a key part of the sacrificial system prescribed by God for use in the Tabernacle and, later, in the Temple itself.
According to Exodus 30 , however, not just any incense would do. Myrrh is a fragrant spice derived from the sap of a tree native to the Near East. Like frankincense, it can be used as incense, but in the ancient world it also had wider usage as a perfume, anointing oil, and was even imbibed as a medicinal tonic.
Isaiah
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