Matthew 2:11: “And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.”
(Commercial break)
I know it is ten weeks or 72 days before Christmas but hey, a big sale is going on for my book: Hebrew Word Study, Revealing the heart of God. This is really a simple devotional book with 90 devotional studies for 90 days. These are devotionals with a Hebrew word study in each which are so simple to read that even a child on up to a great grandparent can read them and understand. In other words now is the time, particularly with 30% off on the printed book and 40% off on the EBook to purchase some as a perfect Christmas for family and friends who enjoy a simple study of God’s word every day.
(Now back to our study)
We get the gift giving tradition for Christmas from the example of wise men that brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. The only problem is that when I read this story in the Aramaic, I am reading in the language that Jesus and the disciples including Matthew spoke. The syntax of the Aramaic seems a bit different than the Greek. The wise men gave the gifts to Jesus first and then worshipped him.
That word gift in Aramaic is qorben which is really rendered as an offering. I know what you are thinking, offering, gift what’s the diff? Well big diff in the Hebrew. A gift is just an expression of your love and caring for someone. An offering is not only a gift to express you love and care but also as a means of worship.
So what do the gold, frankincense and myrrh have to do with worship? I mean we all know Mary and Joseph used it to sell so they could pay their passage to Egypt. I doubt this, such expensive items would make them prey for bandits and it wasn’t safe to travel with anything of value. In that culture during that time period if you had something of value the bandits would kill you our right and take what you had. But if you had nothing they might take pity on you and give you money, especially a young woman with a small baby might pick up some donations. That is the way the culture ran and in fact the Arabic Gospel of Infancy actually tells the story of Mary and Joseph being attacked by two thieves but because they had nothing the thieves gave them money. The credibility of the story might be shot when it is revealed these were the same two thieves who died on the crosses opposite of Jesus. But hey, it could be. My point is that I doubt very much these gifts were used for transportation. Mary, Joseph and baby likely just joined with a caravan and offered services like the care of the animals in return for food, water and protection. Such arrangements were very common.
This word frankincense in the Aramaic is very interesting. It is the word levunta in Aramaic which is really the word for incense. I found in a study of Jewish literature that levunta is used for frankincense in the first century because levunta is a combination of fragrances that were used in the Holy of Holies and was forbidden to be mixed outside the Holy of Holies as it was to be used only for worship of God within the Holy of Holies and the priest had to purify himself with myrrh before entering into the worship. They called it by a general term frankincense by the first century because frankincense was the fragrance of kings and God was the King of Kings. The Wise Men wisely realized that they were worshipping God incarnate so they felt they had every right to burn the sacred fragrances of the Holy of Holies because they were worshipping Immanuel or God who is now with us. The Holy of Holies would no longer be that special place to worship God. The fragrances that were burned had to be burned on a gold platter which explains the gold. Perhaps they let Joseph have the gold plater as a gift or token, we don’t know.
So the gift given by the Wise Men was not gold, frankincense and myrrh but their worship. However I do like to think Mary and Joseph kept the gold platter as a gift.
So I have not destroyed the tradition of giving of gifts, but I am saying the gift you give should lead you loved one this Christmas should be one that would help to lead them into worship and what better way to lead your loved one into worship than to give them a gift to help them study the Word of God every day for ninety days. Ninety days of studies to lead into private worship of God. (See how slipped this commercial into my study, neat huh?) So I encourage you to buy many books for all your friends and family this Christmas while the sale is on. Make my agent, publisher and me very happy this Holiday season.
Also check out my other books while you are at it.
When you do you may spot my newest book For Whom My Soul Loves. It is a very short book and can be read in one evening. The printed edition should be available by the end of this month.
By the way Merry Christmas in Hebrew is pronounced: Chag Molad Sameach. It literally means Happy Festival of the Birth. However, I do not recommend you share that greeting with your Orthodox Jewish friends. They believe the Hebrew is a sacred language and would be very offended if you put a Christian spin into their sacred language. Stay with Happy Chanukah.
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