Christmas - No more myrrh...

No more myrrh...

On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh (Matthew 2:11).



We don't know much about the wise men. How many were there? (There were 3 gifts mentioned, but no mention of how many "wise men" brought them.)

Were they from the area of Babylon? Many think so. Others say, "No, because Babylon was a well-known location and would have been given as their homeland and so China, or some other exotic place is most likely." 

Kenneth Bailey reminds us that "from the east" was an expression used for many centuries, even today, to mean "across the Jordan," and so likely they were from Arabia, where frankincense and myrrh were found.

How long did it take them to get to Jerusalem?

We don't know. Maybe up to 2 years. We know Jesus was no longer a new-born baby, and He was in a house by the time of their arrival. Why did Herod ask that children under the age of 2 years be killed? Did he calculate that the little baby was now a small child? (It appears from the record that he did.) Did it take them that long to travel to Jerusalem?

And I have another question: Why did the wise men come to worship the child? Were they accustomed to worshipping Kings? Did they worship Herod? Or they could have gone all the way to Rome if they wanted to worship a famous king.

Who were these mysterious men and who gave them all the information? Maybe they had read the available Greek translation of the Old Testament and knew all the prophecies.

I guess all those answers are locked in a great safe somewhere awaiting a later time to be opened for us.

Anyway, I think about the gifts. We have all heard the symbolism: gold for the King; incense for worship; myrrh for burial needs.



Gold is easy. It's the precious metal of kings and has been for centuries.

Incense is significant because it was used in Temple worship. It was mixed with the oil that was used to anoint the priests. It was part of the meal offerings that were given for thanksgiving and praise to God. It gave the offering its pleasant odor.

Paul compared the gifts he received from the Philippians and praised them because  "they are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasant to God" (Philippians 4:18).

It was most important that incense was never mixed with sin offerings, which were meat and wine. Sin offerings never included incense. Only the offerings of thanks and praise were to have incense. Christ would never need to appear at the Temple with a sin offering. His offerings would always include incense.

What about myrrh? Much is made of this gift since it was used primarily for embalming. It was very costly. It was not  a typical baby gift. But for the wise men it was a gift of faith, just like their hazardous journey from the "east" to Jerusalem was a journey of faith.

We don't know what they knew about Christ's suffering. Probably they had the Old Testament scrolls and were familiar with the passages about the suffering Messiah.

Were they Jews who had been dispersed during the times of the Babylonians?

Or were they Gentiles who perhaps possessed some documents, oral and written,  that had been handed down from one generation to the next after the fall of Babel? Did their information predate Babel?

We don't know, but the ideas are certainly fascinating.

But what we do know is that myrrh was for embalming, not a gift for an ordinary baby.

What else do we know? Isaiah 60 foretells the second coming of Christ and His reign from Mount Zion. The text tells us...."The LORD rises upon you and His glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light and kings to the brightness of your dawn...and all from Sheba will come, bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the  praise of the LORD."

Gold and incense....no myrrh.....because the future coming of the Messiah will be a King reigning in glory....no suffering..no death...no need for myrrh.

WOW....DOXOLOGY!!!!