Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh:
Gifts of Wise MenStar-led, the Magi,
Christ their King adoring,
Gold, myrrh and incense at his feet bestow;
We on his birthday
Bring our hearts' oblation:
O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord. - verse 4 of Adeste Fideles (O Come All Ye Faithful) from The Westminster Hymnal, 1939
The Christmas pageants and Christmas carols include them in the Nativity even though they came into the house (Matt 2:11) and not into the stable or manger as did the shepherds. In the seldom sung fourth verse of "O Come All Ye Faithful," we honor them and their gifts.
The record of these Magi or wise men from the East is only 12 verses long (Matt 2:1-12). The Bible doesn't say where they came from or how many of them there were. Their mission was to witness and worship. Their effect was to begin the tradition of Christmas presents, as they presented the first gifts of Christmas while witnessing the greatest gift to the world.
These Magi are the literary subjects of legends and operas that build on the scant facts of these 12 verses.
Perhaps they were from Arabia or Mesopotamia. We guess there were three because of the three gifts they brought the Christ Child, and perhaps the real clues to their identity and mission are in their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. From the point of view of a family trying to nurture the true meaning of witness and worship at Christmas, these gifts are the center of the story and symbols that give these 12 verses context and meaning. The gifts remind us how to give, and the key to the wise men is in this detail. With all that is not mentioned and left to imagination, the gifts must be important because they are mentioned.
Looking specifically at the gifts of the magi should not detract our attention from the fact that these wise men were very different from the other witnesses that came the night of the Nativity. The shepherds were the simple local folks given a miraculous revelation as they tended sheep. The wise men were sophisticated foreign scientists of the day who had studied astronomy. The two groups of visitors offer witness to high and low, king and peasant, this Messiah is for both the simple and the intellectual of the world.
Based on the questions the wise men asked of Herod, "Where is he that is born King of the Jews"? the assumption is that they were not Hebrews, but all that is really known beyond the 12 verses is legend mingled with history. For example, Herodotus, writing about 450 B.C., suggests that Magi were of a priestly caste of the Medes that specialized in the interpretation of dreams. However, while Herodotus was writing, Magi were also known to be priests of Persia, Zoroastrian priests. Could these wise men have been priests of a foreign religion?
Other Magi in the New Testament and in New Testament times are not treated by the writers with the same favor as those who visited the Christ child. Simon (Acts 8:9-24), Elymas (Acts 13:6-11), and Atomos in Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews (XX.vii.2), are sorcerers or magicians. It is their sorcery that distinguishes them from the worshipping Magi. They lack the moral understanding and true principles that guided the wise men to the Christ child. The Magi of the Christ child were of a special quality. They understood things that the other Magi of the world do not. They understood prayerful study and the spirit by which they were led.
The passage in Matthew does indicate that the Magi were scientists who understood the stars to reveal wonders and even God's will. Other passages also make this point. In Genesis 37:9, Joseph dreams of stars that make obeisance to him; Joel 2 speaks of wonders in the heavens; the stars of heaven fall in Mark 13:25; there are wonders in heaven in Acts 2:17-21; behind the sixth seal in Revelations (6:13) the stars of heaven fall to Earth.
Matthew carefully writes his gospel in terms of the fulfillment of prophecy. As the events of the New Testament fulfill the Old Testament, we are reminded in Numbers 24:17 that "There shall come a Star out of Jacob, and aSceptre shall rise out of Israel. . . ." Old Testament prophecy notes that "Nations shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising" (Isaiah 60:3). But with these few words of fulfilled prophecy, there are still details missing about the visit of these wise men from the east.
With all that is missing, the key must still be in the gifts, gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
Gold has become a synonym for value. "Precious" is probably the best adjective for a metal easily refined that doesn't corrode or tarnish. In the Bible we read of pure gold, fine gold and choice gold. It comes from Nubia (Sudan) by way of Egypt. Nubia means gold in ancient Egyptian. Gold also came from Ophir (I Kings 9:28; 10:11; Job 22:24) and from Havilah and Parvaim (Genesis 2:11-12; II Chronicles 3:6).
What is important is not where gold comes from, although it may give a clue as to the home and the possible royal status of the wise men, but what gold means.
It is the precious metal of jewelry and a commodity traded on international exchanges where people watch by the hour for fluctuations in price. Gold may be a symbol beyond a pearl of great price.
Myrrh, a fragrant gum from the rockrose, was carried from Gilead to Egypt by the Ishmaelites in Genesis 37:25. It was carried with the balm of Gilead. Myrrh was one of the "choice fruits of the land" that Jacob had his sons carry to Joseph in Egypt (Genesis 43:11). Indications are that in biblical times it was sometimes in solid form and sometime used as an oil.
Esther used myrrh in its oil form as a beauty treatment (Esther 2:12). It was also an important ingredient in making anointing oil and was used in the anointing oil as Aaron and his sons were consecrated to minister in the priest's office (Exodus 30:22-30). Perhaps the most important use of myrrh was its apparent use in Egyptian embalming. It was prized as early as 2000 B.C., according to ancient Ugaritic records found at Ras Shamra. Herodotus, writing about 450 B.C., noted its apparent use in Egyptian embalming.
The reason this may be the most important fact to understand about myrrh is because it was not only offered and refused by Jesus as "wine mingled with myrrh" (Mark 15:23) to act as an anodyne to the suffering Jesus, but myrrh was brought by Nicodemus for Jesus' burial (John 19:39).
Frankincense is also a gum resin. It is a fragrant resin from trees belonging to the genus Boswellia and has a balsamlike odor when burned. Its first use was probably by the Egyptians in the 15th century B.C. It was at this time that Queen Hatshepsut sent an expedition to what is now probably Somalia to get some "perfume of the gods."
The trade in aromatics prompted Herodotus to write that "The whole country is scented with them and exhales an odor marvelously sweet." This was when Athens was at its peak of power. At the time of Christ centuries later the trade would have been no less. Production could have amounted to 3,000 tons a year. The amount didn't seem to depress the price in the time of Rome, when Nero spent the equivalent of a year's Arabian production on the funeral of Poppaea.
The recipe for an incense, a "Perfume which thou shalt make . . . unto the holy for the Lord," includes frankincense (Exodus 30:3437). This incense, or frankincense and oil, was added to cereal offerings and burned (Leviticus 2:1-2, 14-16; 6:14-18). It was not added to a sin offering (Leviticus 5:11) or to a cereal offering of jealousy (Numbers 5:15). It should also be noted that frankincense was with the Bread of the Presence in the Holy of Holies (Leviticus 24:7), and because of its use stores were kept in the Jerusalem temple (I Chronicles 9:29; Nehemiah 13:5,9).
Knowing what the gifts of the Magi were helps establish that they represent lessons for our day. Knowing the symbols, we are compelled to ask what the wise men knew that would prompt them to offer such valuable gifts to a young baby. The gifts first of all represent that which is valuable. They are also gifts often associated with death. This makes them unusual gifts for a young child. These symbols of sacrifice, death, authority, burial and preservation of the body tell us what the wise men may have known about the mission of the blessed baby.
These gifts can suggest to us that the real gifts of Christmas are the gifts of sacrifice. It isn't the gift that is important. It is what the gift represents. It is why time is a most sacred gift and why Emerson said that jewelry is a substitute for a gift.
These first Christmas gifts are the story of the wise men and the Nativity. They represent the hopes of wise men in the mission of a young child and they remind us that wise men and women still seek him. The gifts teach us as we give our Christmas gifts, that the real gift of Christmas is a golden gift of sacrifice that saves.
The Three Kings
Who are these that ride so fast o're the desert's sandy road,
That have tracked the Red Sea shore, and have swum the torrents broad;
Whose camels' bells are tinkling through the long and starry night
For they ride like men pursued, like the vanquished of a fight? - from "Hymns," edited by Frederick William Faber, first published 1848.
Roger G. Baker is associate professor of English/education at Snow College.