The Jesus Gifts :: More About Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh

More about Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh

They came into the house and saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell down and worshiped Him; and opening their treasures they presented to Him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. (Matthew 2.11 NAS)

And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger. (Luke 2:7 7 KJV)

The Magi brought sensational gifts while, from somewhere, Mary managed a meager wrap for the King of Kings. Obviously, swaddling clothes were something of a necessity and, because of that, they're usually omitted from the list of things Jesus received at His birth. We're not sure who the Magi were or why they brought such remarkable gifts, but with solid Bible study and some sincere reflection, we might arrive at some conclusions which illumine the mystery and honor God in the process.

Swaddling Clothes - and the need to be clothed at all - remind us that we are on a journey outside the Garden of Eden. We need physical covering to survive in the physical world and we will certainly need spiritual covering to survive in the spiritual world. The fact that Jesus was given clothes at His birth emphasizes all that He put aside to walk among us and share our world while making a way for us into His.

This study focuses on the gifts of the Magi - gold and frankincense and myrrh.

Gold represents wealth, power, singularity. It is something of enduring value. All things most closely “connected” with God are solid, pure Gold.

Frankincense represents spirituality, especially human’s prayerful connection with God.

Myrrh represents humanity, especially death. It is not surprising to find myrrh referenced so much in the Song of Solomon, enthusiastically referring to human sexuality.

We are reminded of the person of Christ in the great old rock song, Crown Him! Crown Him!, where we find this euphonious phrase describing Christ: “prophet and priest and king”.

The prophet was a human warning other humans of the frailty of humanity – so perfectly demonstrated by the fact that we stink when we die! This is well symbolized by MYRRH and the hope of hiding the odor.

The priest was the person who inspired and led the people to cherish their relationship with God. This is well symbolized by FRANKINCENSE and the hope of gaining God’s gracious favor.

The king was the KING. Earthly kings only rule as proto-kings, in the authority granted by God. This is well symbolized by GOLD and the hope of receiving something of enduring value – the love of the eternal God.

The gifts brought to Jesus underscore the breadth of His ministry and the great mystery of God With Us.

Jump to Gold

Jump to Frankincense

Jump to Myrrh

Discovering GOLD

Gold is mentioned 449 times in the Bible, more than any other metal. It is mentioned 108 times in Exodus and 123 times in Kings and Chronicles. Why? These books contain instructions / descriptions of the Tabernacle and the Temple – which are conspicuous in their use of gold.

First Reference:

The name of the first is Pishon; it flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good; the bdellium and the onyx stone are there. (Genesis 2:11-12)

Last Reference:

And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was a single pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. (Revelation 21:21)

What Is More Valuable Than Gold

"But where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? Man does not know its value, nor is it found in the land of the living. The deep says, 'It is not in me'; and the sea says, 'It is not with me.' Pure gold cannot be given in exchange for it, nor can silver be weighed as its price." (Job 28:12-15)

The law of Thy mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces (Psalm 119:72)

Therefore I love Thy commandments above gold, yes, above fine gold. (Psalm 119:127)

The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the LORD are true; they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. (Psalm 19:9-10)

How much better it is to get wisdom than gold! And to get understanding is to be chosen above silver. (Proverbs 16:16)

That the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ (I Peters 1:7)

Great Moments in the Biblical History of Gold

Plundering of Egypt

Now the sons of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, for they had requested from the Egyptians articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing; and the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have their request. Thus they plundered the Egyptians. (Exodus 12:35-36)

The Legendary History of the Golden Calf

What Aaron said: "For they said to me, 'Make a god for us who will go before us; for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. "And I said to them, 'Whoever has any gold, let them tear it off.' So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf." (Exodus 32:23-24)

What really happened!: “Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. And he took this from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and made it into a molten calf; and they said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.’" Exodus 32:3-4

What happened next?: And it came about, as soon as Moses came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing; and Moses' anger burned, and he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the foot of the mountain. And he took the calf which they had made and burned it with fire, and ground it to powder, and scattered it over the surface of the water, and made the sons of Israel drink it. (Exodus 32:19-20)

Why did God command that bizarre tonic?: "They would not accept my counsel, they spurned all my reproof. So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way, and be satiated with their own devices. For the waywardness of the naive shall kill them, and the complacency of fools shall destroy them. But he who listens to me shall live securely, and shall be at ease from the dread of evil." (Proverbs 1:30-33)

The Temple in Jerusalem

The outward face of the temple in its front wanted nothing that was likely to surprise either men’s minds or their eyes; for it was covered all over with plates of gold of great weight, and, at the first rising of the sun, reflected back a very fiery splendor, and made those who forced themselves to look upon it to turn their eyes away, just as they would have done at the sun’s own rays. But this temple appeared to strangers, when they were coming to it at a distance, like a mountain covered with snow; for as to those parts of it that were not gilt, they were exceeding white. On its top it had spikes with sharp points, to prevent any pollution of it by birds sitting upon it.

All the golden glory of the temple had its downside – a very bitter end. Remember Jesus prophecy about the Temple: And Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. And He answered and said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here shall be left upon another, which will not be torn down." (Matthew 24:1-2)

The Jewish historian Josephus records that when the Romans sacked Jerusalem in 70AD, the Temple was a great temptation. A Roman general commanded (either out of respect or fearing the accomplishment of another of Jesus’ prophecies) that the Temple be left alone. Instead, it was set ablaze and the glorious gold of the Temple of God ran down between the stones. When it cooled the soldiers saw a fortune ripe for the picking and the scorched stones of the Temple were torn down. So fierce was man’s avarice for wealth “not one was left upon another”.

Historians record still more brutal quest for the Jew’s gold in 70AD. “Yet did another plague seize upon those that were thus preserved; for there was found among the Syrian deserters a certain person who was caught gathering pieces of gold out of the excrements of the Jews’ bellies; for the deserters used to swallow such pieces of gold. But when this contrivance was discovered in one instance, the fame of it filled their several camPsalm, that the deserters came to them full of gold. So the multitude of the Arabians, with the Syrians, cut up those that came as supplicants, and searched their bellies. Nor does it seem to me that any misery befell the Jews that was more terrible than this, since in one night’s time about two thousand of these deserters were thus dissected.”

Sources of Gold in Israel

"But every woman shall ask of her neighbor and the woman who lives in her house, articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing; and you will put them on your sons and daughters. Thus you will plunder the Egyptians." (Exodus 3:22)

The old workings in the gold-bearing veins of the Egyptian desert and the ruins of the buildings connected with the mining and refining of the precious metal still remain. This region is being reopened with the prospect of its becoming a source of part of the world's supply.

They said to Moses, "Your servants have taken a census of men of war who are in our charge, and no man of us is missing. So we have brought as an offering to the LORD what each man found, articles of gold, armlets and bracelets, signet rings, earrings and necklaces, to make atonement for ourselves before the LORD." And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from them, all kinds of wrought articles. And all the gold of the offering which they offered up to the LORD, from the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, was 16,750 shekels. (6700 ounces, worth about $2 million) (Numbers 31:49-52)

"But all the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron are holy to the LORD; they shall go into the treasury of the LORD." (Joshua 6:19)

Discover Solomon in all his glory! (I Kings 10:4-24)

When the queen of Sheba perceived all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, the food of his table, the seating of his servants, the attendance of his waiters and their attire, his cupbearers, and his stairway by which he went up to the house of the LORD, there was no more spirit in her. Then she said to the king, "It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. Nevertheless I did not believe the reports, until I came and my eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told me. You exceed in wisdom and prosperity the report which I heard. How blessed are your men, how blessed are these your servants who stand before you continually and hear your wisdom. Blessed be the LORD your God who delighted in you to set you on the throne of Israel; because the LORD loved Israel forever, therefore He made you king, to do justice and righteousness." And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, [worth about $42.5 million] and a very great amount of spices and precious stones. Never again did such abundance of spices come in as that which the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon.

And also the ships of Hiram, which brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir a very great number of almug trees and precious stones. And the king made of the almug trees supports for the house of the LORD and for the king's house, also lyres and harps for the singers; such almug trees have not come in again, nor have they been seen to this day. And King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire which she requested, besides what he gave her according to his royal bounty. Then she turned and went to her own land together with her servants. Now the weight of gold which came in to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold, [worth about $236 million] besides that from the traders and the wares of the merchants and all the kings of the Arabs and the governors of the country. And King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold, using 600 shekels of gold on each large shield. And he made 300 shields of beaten gold, using three minas of gold on each shield, and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon. Moreover, the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with refined gold. There were six steps to the throne and a round top to the throne at its rear, and arms on each side of the seat, and two lions standing beside the arms. And twelve lions were standing there on the six steps on the one side and on the other; nothing like it was made for any other kingdom.

And all King Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None was of silver; it was not considered valuable in the days of Solomon. For the king had at sea the ships of Tarshish with the ships of Hiram; once every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold and silver, ivory and apes and peacocks. So King Solomon became greater than all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. And all the earth was seeking the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom which God had put in his heart.

The kings of the bible weren’t the only one to use gold lavishly. One historical figure, King Sardanapalus, got into a war, and after collecting a large army was defeated by Arbaces. He died by setting fire to himself in the palace. He heaped up a pyre four hundred feet high, on which he placed a hundred and fifty gold couches and an equal number of tables, these also of gold. On the pyre he constructed a chamber of wood one hundred feet long, in which he spread the couches and lay down; and not only he, but his queen was with him, and the concubines were on the other couches. As for his three sons and two daughters, when he saw that things were going badly, he had sent them previously to Nineveh and its ruler there, giving them three thousand talents in gold; he then roofed the chamber with huge, thick beams, and piled all round many thick timbers so that there should be no exit. In it he placed ten million talents of gold, one hundred million of silver, and garments, purple cloths, and robes of every description. He then gave orders to light the pyre, and it burned for fifteen days. The people beheld the smoke with astonishment and thought he was offering sacrifices; only the eunuchs knew the facts. And so Sardanapalus, after he had enjoyed pleasure in strange ways, died as nobly as he could.

Now, back to sources of Gold:

"Arabia and all the princes of Kedar, they were your customers for lambs, rams, and goats; for these they were your customers. The traders of Sheba and Raamah, they traded with you; they paid for your wares with the best of all kinds of spices, and with all kinds of precious stones, and gold. Haran, Canneh, Eden, the traders of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad traded with you.” (Ezekiel 27:21-23)

In the description of the building of the ark and the tabernacle in Exodus 25 and following, we read of the lavish use of gold in overlaying wood and metals, and in shaping candlesticks, dishes, spoons, flagons, bowls, snuffers, curtain clasps, hooks, etc. (One estimate of the value of gold used is 90,000 pounds – worth about $318 million.)

"If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored; if you remove unrighteousness far from your tent, and place your gold in the dust, and the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks, then the Almighty will be your gold and choice silver to you. For then you will delight in the Almighty, and lift up your face to God.” (Job 22:23-26)

A thing or two about that Gold

Gold is said to be so rare that the world pours more steel in an hour than it has poured gold since time began.

It is recorded that only 88,000 tons of gold have been taken from the earth since recorded history, leaving far more yet to be discovered. (this would make I Kings 10.14 equal to about .04% of all the gold in history!)

Even though gold is rare, it is far easier to find than winning a major state lottery. Because of its rarity, a gold nugget can be worth three to four times the value of the gold it contains. A one-ounce gold nugget is more rare to find than a five-carat diamond.

An authentic gold nugget has long been considered a gemstone because of its rarity and beauty.

Gold is so heavy that one cubic foot of it weighs half a ton.

The largest gold nugget found in the U.S. weighed 2340 ounces / 195 pounds; it came from California. The biggest nugget ever seen was called "Welcome Stranger." It was found in a wagon rut in Australia. It weighed 2,520 ounces and was as heavy as the lucky mule driver who found it!

Gold can be hammered so thin that sunlight can shine through it.

In every cubic mile of sea water there is 25 tons of gold! That's a total of about 10 billion tons of gold in the oceans; however, there's no known way to economically recover it.

Gold can be transmitted from platinum by nuclear reaction. But, because of the rarity of platinum, it is far too costly.

The largest gold mine in the U.S. is the Homestake Mining Company in Lead, South Dakota. Nevada produces more than any other state in the United States. North Carolina site of first US gold rush in 1803. The state supplied all the domestic gold coined for currency by the US Mint in Philadelphia until 1828. Thirty seven percent of all gold found in Alaska was found within 25 miles of Fairbanks. By way of example, a man named Joe Taylor and his two friends mined 500 ounces of gold one summer worth $120,000.00. They mined ten to fifteen ounces of gold a day which is much higher than usual.

What’s All That Gold Worth?

As of 3:00pm ET, Dec 2, 1998, an ounce of gold on the NY market was worth $295. (The calculations in this study are based on that factor. Someday I’ll update the numbers if the price changes substantially. Or you could do the math yourself like I had to!)

The total amount of gold ever mined is over 3.8 billion ounces. More than half of that has been mined since 1850 (worth a total of about $1.1 trillion). All of the gold ever mined fits into one-third of the Washington Monument.

The world's largest cache of gold is housed at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York . It holds 320 million ounces ($94.4 billion) of gold representing the interests of 40 countries.

The United States government is the largest owner of gold in the world, with almost 262 million ounces gold throughout the country. There are 147 million ounces of gold in Fort Knox alone worth about $43.4 billion).

In 1980, the United States mined approximately one million ounces of gold. Today it produces almost eleven million ounces (311.8 metric tons – equaling about $3.2 billion). Where the US used to be an importer of gold, it is now a major exporter.

What does it take to produce gold? How much dirt do you have to move? What's it all worth?

Production forecast of mines in Kalgoorlie (Australia) in 1998:

Ore mined from Mt Charlotte mine: 2,376,000 tonnes.

Ore mined from other open pits: 8,972,000 tonnes

(Total material moved from all mining operations: 68,000,000 tonnes)

Total gold recovered: 822,813 ounces (26 tonnes). Yield: Every unit of material contained only 0.0000382% gold.

The total yield of all mining activity from these mines was $245 million. Every five and a half pounds of dirt contained about a penny of gold. A ton of material was worth less than $4.

Discovering FRANKINCENSE

Frankincense: (in Hebrew: lebhonah, from root meaning "whiteness," referring to the milky color of the fresh juice. The English word is derived from old French franc encens or "pure incense"). The gum is obtained by incising the bark of a certain tree, and is collected in yellowish, semitransparent tears, readily pulverized; it has a nauseous taste. It is used for making incense for burning in churches and in Indian temples, as it was among the Jews.

Frankincense in legend - faithfulness: THE CROW AND MERCURY

A Crow caught in a snare prayed to Apollo to release him, making a vow to offer some frankincense at his shrine. But when rescued from his danger, he forgot his promise. Shortly afterwards, again caught in a snare, he passed by Apollo and made the same promise to offer frankincense to Mercury. Mercury soon appeared and said to him, “O thou most base fellow? How can I believe thee, who hast disowned and wronged thy former patron?”

Frankincense in legend - the olfactory test: THE MOLE AND HIS MOTHER

A Mole, a creature blind from birth, once said to his Mother: “I am sure than I can see, Mother!” In the desire to prove to him his mistake, his mother placed before him a few grains of frankincense, and asked, “What is it?’ The young mole said, “It is a pebble.” His mother exclaimed: “My son, I am afraid that you are not only blind, but that you have lost your sense of smell.

Biblical Uses of Frankincense

An eucharistic offering (Leviticus 2:1), which is explained to be an offering made unto the Lord, of fine flour, with oil and frankincense. It means, any offering by which gratitude was expressed for temporal blessings received from the bounty of God.

The essence of the offering was:

- fine flour (figuratively representing human nature)

- oil (figuratively representing the Holy Spirit)

- frankincense (figuratively representing a plea for grace or mercy)

What is Frankincense?

The incense employed in the service of the Tabernacle was called "incense of the aromas" (Heb. qetoret sammim), the ingredients of which are given in Exodus 30:34-35. These consisted of:

(1) stacte - "not the juice squeezed from the highly fragrant myrrh tree, but probably a species of gum storax resembling myrrh"

(2) onycha - the shell of the perfumed mollusk, blatta byzantina, found in the Mediterranean and Red seas and yielding a musky odor when burned;

(3) galbanum - a gum that is obtained by making incisions in the bark of a shrub growing in Syria, Arabia, and Abyssinia; and

(4) pure frankincense - a pale yellow, semitransparent, pungent resin, which, when burned, is fragrant; it is grown in Arabia and Judea.

Besides, it has to be salted (KJV, "tempered"), was to be "pure, and holy," (unadulterated with any foreign substance), and was to be reserved exclusively for sacred use (any other application of it being forbidden on pain of being "cut off from [one's] people").

Sacred Use. The person selected to burn incense upon the altar of incense was Aaron, but in the daily service of the second Temple the office devolved upon the inferior priests, from among whom one was chosen by lot Luke 1:9. The times of offering incense were in the morning, at the time of trimming the lamps, and in the evening, when the lamps were lighted Exodus. 30:7-8. On the Day of Atonement the high priest offered the incense.

Biblical References to Frankincense

With praise: "For from the rising of the sun, even to its setting, My name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense is going to be offered to My name, and a grain offering that is pure; for My name will be great among the nations," says the LORD of hosts. (Malachi 1:11)

With offerings: Now when anyone presents a grain offering as an offering to the LORD, his offering shall be of fine flour, and he shall pour oil on it and put frankincense on it. (Leviticus 2:1)

With sacrifices: Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering (hjnm minchah) unto the Lord. The word minchah is explained in Leviticus 2:1, etc., to be an offering of fine flour, with oil and frankincense. It was in general a eucharistic or gratitude offering, and is simply what is implied in the fruits of the ground brought by Cain to the Lord, by which he testified his belief in Him as the Lord of the universe, and the dispenser of blessings.

In the temple on the Table of Shewbread: They were in two rows of six each. On the top of each row there was a golden dish with frankincense, which was burned before the Lord, as a memorial, at the end of the week, when the old loaves were removed and replaced by new ones, the priests taking the former for their domestic use. (see Exodus 25.30)

Figurative / Symbolic References to Frankincense

O Lord, I call upon Thee; hasten to me! Give ear to my voice when I call to Thee!
May my prayer be counted as incense before Thee;
the lifting up of my hands as the evening offering. (Psalm 141:1-2)

. . . A good or evil savor was to Israel the symbol of a good or godless life; and when, therefore, the sanctuary of God was kept continually filled with fragrance, they beheld in this the sweet savor, not of prayer alone, but of that life to which, as a priestly nation, they were called" (W. Milligan)

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love,
just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us,
an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. (Ephesians 5:1-2)

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in His triumph in Christ,
and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.
For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved
and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death,
to the other an aroma from life to life.
And who is adequate for these things? (II Corinthians 2:14-16)

When Paul says, “We are a sweet smelling savor of Christ,” he means we are the means of diffusing the knowledge of Christ. When a man’s garments are perfumed with myrrh or frankincense, he fills with the fragrance every place he enters. So Paul, wherever he went, diffused abroad the fragrance of the name of Christ, and that was acceptable to God.

The second gift to be opened and presented to the Newborn King was frankincense. Psalm 141.1-2 and Revelation 5.8 identify our prayers as incense rising up to the nostrils of God. Exodus 30.34 prescribes a specific formula for the incense to be used in the Tabernacle and Temple. The core element of God-pleasing incense is frankincense. Although we do not want to relegate prayer to simply asking God to act on our behalf (it must also include praise and thanksgiving), the overwhelming purpose of prayer in the Bible is to cry out to God in distress and need. This is even what Jesus did in the garden.

One momentous comment about prayer comes in Exodus 2.23. Here we see the Israelites in bondage in Egypt. The "sighed" and "cried" and their prayer of distress "rose up to God" - just like incense! Because of this incense-rising prayer, God helped Israel. To be sure God helps us without us always having to request it, but prayer is a special tool God has given us to use in sharing with Him our needs. When we think of frankincense, then, we should not only think of prayer, but our helping, prayer-answering God.

Henry Van Dyke says, "The Bible comes into the palace to tell the monarch that he is a servant of the Most High, and into the cottage to assure the peasant that he is a son of God! Children listen to its stories with wonder and delight, and wise men ponder them as parables of life. The Bible has a word of peace for the time of peril, and a word of light for the hour of darkness. The wicked and the proud tremble at its warnings, but to the wounded and penitent it has a mother's voice. It has woven itself into our deepest dreams so that love, friendship, sympathy and devotion, memory and hope put on the beautiful garments of its treasured speech, breathing its frankincense and myrrh. No man is poor or desolate who has this treasure for his own. When the landscape darkens and the trembling pilgrim comes to the valley of the shadow, he is not afraid to enter. he takes the rod and staff of Scripture in his hand and says to his friends and comrades, 'Goodbye, we shall meet again.' Comforted by that support, he walks through momentary darkness into eternal light."

And the WORD, became flesh and showed us what incense is to God.

Discovering MYRRH

The word only occurs seventeen times in Bible. It occurs eight times in Song of Solomon.

Let’s begin with a quick look at New Testament geography. Myrrh shares its name with the ancient city Smyrna where a young church received a letter from the exiled apostle John. As early as 195 BC, Smyrna foresaw the rising power of Rome and built a temple for pagan Roman worship. In 23 BC, Smyrna was given the honor of building a temple to the Emperor Tiberius because of its years of faithfulness to Rome. Thus, the city became a center for the cult of emperor worship - a fanatical "religion" that later, under such emperors as Nero (ruled 54-68AD) and Domitian (ruled 81-96AD), brought on severe persecution for the early church. The apostle John encouraged the persecuted Christians of Smyrna to be "faithful unto death" and they would receive a "crown of life" (Revelation 2:10). In writing this, John accentuating this ironic tension between life and death – a tension revealed in the fascinating story of myrrh.

What is Myrrh?

(1) This substance is mentioned as valuable for its perfume (see Psalm 45:8; Proverbs 7:17; Song 3:6; 4:14), and as one of the constituents of the holy incense (Exodus 30:23; see also Song 4:6; 5:1,5,13). “Mor” is Genesiserally identified with the "myrrh" of commerce, the dried gum of a species of balsam (balsamodendron myrrha). This is a stunted tree growing in Arabia, having a light-gray bark; the gum resin exudes in small tear-like drops which dry to a rich brown or reddish-yellow, brittle substance, with a faint though agreeable smell and a warm, bitter taste. It is still used as medicine (see Mark 15:23).

(2) The fragrant resin obtained from some species of cistus. It is still gathered in the Greek Isles, where it is collected by threshing the plants by a kind of flail from which the sticky mass is scraped off with a knife and rolled into small black balls. In Cyprus at the present time the gum is collected from the beards of the goats that browse on these shrubs.

Old Testament References to Myrrh

Then they [the sons of Jacob, Joseph’s brothers] sat down to eat a meal. And as they raised their eyes and looked, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing aromatic gum and balm and myrrh, on their way to bring them down to Egypt. (Genesis 37:25)

Then their father Israel said to them, "If it must be so, then do this: take some of the best products of the land in your bags, and carry down to the man as a present, a little balm and a little honey, aromatic gum and myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds. (Genesis 43.11)

What kind of society, economy, values, etc. does this kind of trade suggest?

A possible answer is found in the uses and metaphors of the ancient biblical culture:

Now when the turn of each young lady came to go in to King Ahasuerus, after the end of her twelve months under the regulations for the women - for the days of their beautification were completed as follows: six months with oil of myrrh and six months with spices and the cosmetics for women (Esther 2:12)

Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated wickedness; therefore God, Thy God, has anointed Thee with the oil of joy above Thy fellows. All Thy garments are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia; out of ivory palaces stringed instruments have made Thee glad. (Psalm 45:6-8)

The items of trade mentioned in Genesis are revealed as valuable commodities and, indeed, as values themselves as the culture sought to praise and adore God in their language of values.

Myrrh in the New Testament

Myrrh is only mentioned three times in the NT - all during Jesus’ life.

At His birth:

The gift of the magi in Matthew 2.11

At His crucifixion:

And they tried to give Him wine mixed with myrrh; but He did not take it. (Mark 15:23)

At His burial:

And after these things Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate granted permission. He came therefore, and took away His body. And Nicodemus came also, who had first come to Him by night; bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes*, about a hundred pounds weight. And so they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had yet been laid. Therefore on account of the Jewish day of preparation, because the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there. (John 19:38-42)

*aloes: This was an immense quantity and if the aloes bore any large proportion to the myrrh the mixture must have been purchased at a very high cost. The resin, which gives the fragrant quality to the wood, is formed almost entirely in the heart wood; logs are buried, the outer part decays while the inner, saturated with the resin, forms the "aloe wood" of commerce

What is the common element in these occurrences? First, we note that myrrh appears at the junctures of life and death - just like we noted in the Revelation 2 passage at the beginning of this study. But something more subtle takes place in these three appearance of myrrh. Jesus never accepted myrrh. In the one instance where He was “conscious” He rejected it. He was passive in receiving it at His birth and He was conspicuously absent from receiving it at His burial tomb. As we have said, myrrh seems to represent the realm of human life – its sensuality, its sexuality, and its finality in death. Jesus surely came to die, but he took no part in His own death and He took no part in luxuriating in the more frivolous aspects of human life that modern man makes into industries.

We hope you have been blessed by this study of The Jesus Gifts. Where do we go from here. Let's go like the shepherds and the magi went from the presence of Jesus - praising God for the experience!