If I were a wiseman, I would do my part . . .
1. The Magi are remembered as ‘wise-men’ or kings, as reflected in their gifts (gold, frankincense, myrrh. )
• Gifts of gold – symbolizes wealth, economy, beauty, stability, weight, power, regal, supreme; that which keeps coming back when all else is deflated; something that is a basic standard; rare, exclusive; not generally or readily available; it is a 'fruit' from the earth.
• Gifts of frankincense – prophetic (burial), art, smell, permeating, spreading, exotic, erotic; beauty out of suffering and adversity; surprising beauty considering the source (not what’s expected – cf. Isa 51). Frankincense is tapped from the very scraggly but hardy Boswellia tree through slashing the bark and allowing the exuded resins to bleed out and harden. These hardened resins are called tears. These trees are also considered unusual for their ability to grow in environments so unforgiving that the trees sometimes grow directly out of solid stone, which the tree attaches to by means of a sucker-like appendage. The deep roots and its sucker like appendage prevent the tree from being torn away from the stone during the violent storms that frequent this region; the tears from these hardy survivors are considered superior due to their more fragrant aroma.
• Gifts of myrrh – from the living; bitter perfume, expense and sacrifice, medical: antiseptic, linement, healing oils; embalming; connected to wine in Communion and to water in baptism. Myrrh is a red-brown resinous material, the dried sap of the tree Commiphora myrrha, native to Somalia and the eastern parts of Ethiopia. The sap of a number of other Commiphora and Balsamodendron species are also known as myrrh, including that from C. erythraea (sometimes called East Indian myrrh), C. opobalsamum and Balsamodendron kua. Its name entered English via the Ancient Greek, μύρρα, which is probably of Semitic origin. Myrrh is also applied to the potherb Myrrhis odorata otherwise known as "Cicely" or "Sweet Cicely". High quality myrrh can be identified through the darkness and clarity of the resin. However, the best method of judging the resin's quality is by feeling the stickiness of freshly broken fragments directly to determine the fragrant-oil content of the myrrh resin. The scent of raw myrrh resin and its essential oil is sharp, pleasant, somewhat bitter and can be roughly described as being "stereotypically resinous". When burned, it produces a smoke that is heavy, bitter and somewhat phenolic in scent, which may be tinged with a slight vanillic sweetness. Unlike most other resins, myrrh expands and "blooms" when burned instead of melting or liquefying. The scent can also be used in mixtures of incense, to provide an earthy element to the overall smell, and as an additive to wine, a practice alluded to by ancient authorities such as Fabius Dorsennus. It is also used in various perfumes, toothpastes, lotions, and other modern toiletries.
Myrrh was used as an embalming ointment and was used, up until about the 15th century, as a penitential incense in funerals and cremations. The "holy oil" traditionally used by the Eastern Orthodox Church for performing the sacraments of chrismation and unction is traditionally scented with myrrh, and receiving either of these sacraments is commonly referred to as "receiving the Myrrh". Note: All of the above gifts were known in depth and breadth (and wealth) in ancient Africa – particularly the latter in the Horn of Africa. Myrrh is a constituent of perfumes and incense, was highly prized in ancient times, and was often worth more than its weight in gold. The Greek word for myrrh, μύρον, came to be synonymous with the word for "perfume". In Ancient Rome myrrh was priced at five times as much as frankincense, though the latter was far more popular. In the east it was often combined in decoctions, liniments and incense. Myrrh is said to be blood-moving (to the Chinese).
2. In contrast to the shepherds (keepers of the flocks and keep-on-going, thereby, of the Jewish sacrificial system), travel was necessitated to the wise-men: it was necessary that they journey far. Distant from Israel, they had to journey there, just as all other ancient ‘Gentile’ peoples, apart from Israel as God's chosen people, were spiritually distant from the covenants, promises and privileges of God, given first to His ancient People. (See T.S. Eliot’s ‘The Gift of the Magi’ which includes depictions of the coarse ways 'gentiles' thought, felt, acted, expected (complete with their attitudes to women, wine, and so on. Their ways were unlike the ways in which God's People, though earthy in many ways, were expected to conduct themselves.)
3. From ‘the east’ came the wise-men– from the orient as opposed to the West (the occident). Some feel the text could refer to travelers from east Africa and not necessarily to east of Israel or to the ancient ‘near’ or ‘far’ east. There is a tradition that they were Zorastrians; another, that relates to a ‘missing’ wise astrologer in China at the approximate time who may have been one of the journeyers. The word translated ‘magi’ or wisemen has the same derivitive as that relating to Simon Magnus (or Simon the magician) in the Book of Acts, whom Peter opposed. Certainly (as shown above) gifts of frankincense and myrrh would be most readily available from the Horn of Africa (though the universal appreciation of these ‘gifts) would not preclude their being also available anywhere throughout the ancient world. The West is ‘symbolized’ in the Old Testament (cf. Isaiah) as ‘the isles of the sea (as is trade by ‘ships of Tarshish’ and building by ‘cedars ‘and other wood ‘of Lebanon’).
4. Unlike the uninterrupted nature of the shepherd’s short journey to Bethlehem, the magi were ‘opposed’ in the sense that their mission was threatened, its results perverted, for Herod wanted to frustrate their getting to the place of Jesus’ birth. They were warned by an angel not to return home via Jerusalem (so as to be safe themselves and so as not to risk the child’s life by telling of his actual location to the paranoid king. The humanity of the magi is depicted (including their knowledge - their 'science.' Arduous travel and commitment is part of their providential leading, as they journey to find the Christ child. (God's aid is mixed with their own understanding, resolve and efforts, in balance and blend, just as it may be with ours in the pursuits and journeys of life). The humanity and purposes of Herod, though also somewhat controlled though not caused, reveal his ill-will rather than goodwill, which is itself thwarted and directed by God.
5. While the humble shepherds came to a rude stable and found the child wrapped (as any peasant baby, in swaddling cloths) and lying in a manger, the wisemen (more sophisticated, knowledge-able, used to pomp, power and prestige, found him in a ‘house.’ Thus, in one sense, the child is ‘revealed’ in the normal circumstances (and as per the expectations) of one’s life in ways; that is, in ways in which one is most normally likely to ‘see’ and accept. Yet, in an other sense, all is (or soon will be) - for them and for the whole world - different, mysterious and full of wonder.
6. Not only were the shepherds more proximate in terms of travel (space) they came more quickly (in terms of ‘time’), i.e. that very night. The wisemen had farther to journey and it took more time to actually arrive to the place of their goal, at the place of seeing and worshiping. Thus, both space and time realities (access, barriers, limitations, ease) are different for different people. Some can and do hear, come quickly, draw near readily, expectantly, see, receive, return eager to share. For others, the journey is more complex, takes longer, is fraught with dangers, involves journey ‘from afar’ (in all kinds of ways – space, in attitude, in the overcoming of cultural differences and difficulties, in various ways of spiritual journeying and seeking, perhaps in having to overcome ignorance of language, feelings of prejudice, differing thoughts and expectations as to the whys and hows of life). So today, people ‘come to faith’ in all kinds of ways, through different kinds of stages and life-experiences. Sadly, too often we expect others can only come to find Christ in the way(s) we have experienced Him. We expect them to arrive on the same horse and enter by the same door as we. (If we don’t have an ‘evangelistic message,’ sing ‘Just as I Am’ and have an altar call, can anyone be saved?!)
7. Though the wisemen knew, drew conclusions and acted, based on the exact time (month? Year?) that they had seen the newborn king’s star-rise (astronomy and astrology), they still needed more precise information as to the whereabouts of his birth. There is both precision and imprecision in the story.
8. Herod, like Cyrus before him who helped return the remnant of Israel from exile in Babylon to rebuild Jerusalem and its temple, helped (albeit unwittingly and against his soon clear intentions) to ‘shepherd’ the Magi to where they would find the ‘Shepherd of Israel.’ The shepherds came as shepherds; the wisemen in this sense came as those too who need to be guided by another – if even by a paranoid king. In another sense, Herod becomes also a ‘messenger of God’ – an ‘angel’ who facilitates God’s purposes. His alarm regarding the news they bring and his subsequent searching for answers matching the magi’s queries, leads him to seek the assistance of the historians and priests of Israel (the wisemen of Israel), and to the direction given by the Hebrew Scriptures. He does not doubt the honesty of their queries nor the veracity of their conclusions (whether Scripture or priest/historian), and neither does he reject that there has been born, indeed one who is (or may be seen to be) greater than He, by the Jews over whom he reigns. He accepts the truth or at least the assertions of the new king’s birth and its locale (in Bethlehem of Judea - as per Michah 5:2 prophecy); yet he refuses (for his own selfish and paranoid reasons) to come to bow before this new (and greater) King.
9. The wisemen had entrance and were welcome (to some degree, at least) in the courts of Herod's palace. As respected ones (and in one sense in the same social strata with him), they had expectation of at least an audience, in a way that the shepherds of Bethlehem never would. Their station in life (mutually so) giving such expectation of relational, class and vocational contact would serve as normal conduits for information, influence and decision-making. Thus, each one in his or her station in life, and with his or her own unique opportunities and contacts, may understand and convey the message and meaning of God come-in-Christ. The people one meets, the questions one asks, the opportunities of contact and influence are providentially ordained. They may be followed daily, as opportunity is sought or arises, as missional conduits.
10. Ironically, though he was so close to where Jesus was born, Herod remained dis-inclined actually to go himself, nor bow in submission to this greater One. To acknowledge that the wiseman thought the Child worth seeking out was one thing; that one day soon so might all Israel was another, for they might turn to Him as their Saviour and Messiah (thus threatening Herod’s right to rule). The eastern magi (again, noting all that was represented by their gifts - power, influence, regality, etc.) had chosen to come from even so far away while Herod who had access and similar opportunities as they, in his station in life, never desires nor dares come to worship. The preparation of one's heart is what makes one spiritually ‘near’ or ‘far’ - ready and/or able to receive the news and the new possibilities and realities that Advent brings.
11. Revelation came to the ‘magi’ at first through ‘a Star’ and then in a dream (including – though the record is silent, by angels(?). It is as if they were rewarded for first sincerely, faithfully, sacrificially and committed-ly following the ‘light’ they had (as did the Roman soldier, Cornelius, later, albeit in a different way), and then as they move ‘closer’ to the 'realm' of the historic and first designated ‘People of God (i.e. the Jews)’ they too receive more clear instruction in the ways of revelation more ‘normally’ known by God's People.
The light of the star may also reflect ‘the gospel in the stars’ that some believe is written there, as huge, eternal markers or pointers, created by the Hand of God and revealed to the ancient patriarchs (of all the world’s ethne) - thus, in a more precise way, affirming with the Psalmist: ‘The heavens declare the glory of God . . .”.
The ancient (and modern) scam of astrology may be this revelation simply and profoundly gone wrong, becoming perverted and ultimately pagan, mere superstition. (It is worth remembering that the twelve stones comprising the breastplate of Israel’s High Priest symbolized the 12 signs of the zodiac).
The magi may have followed a Star to 'the house,' where the new Child was to be found - an actual, supernaturally and specifically-created Star (for-this-event-only). They may have ‘interpreted’ the matter from the star in constellations of the heavenlies (moving into its heavenly ‘house’) as a not-to-be-ignored, never-before symbol poingitn to the new king's birth, this new king of the Jews.
This fact appears to have been to them of world-wide and universal import or they would not have been convincingly enough moved to even begin the dangerous, perhaps impossible-to-complete Journey. To both ‘lights’ of revelation (Star and dream – and perhaps Angel), the wise-men gave attention and obedience, in journeying to and from the birth town of the Child-King.
The light of reason and the light of supernatural intervention comes together in the story. Study and science are servants of God; dreams and angels too. All may be messengers of God, to reveal His ways and His will to us, in His world.
• Gifts of gold – symbolizes wealth, economy, beauty, stability, weight, power, regal, supreme; that which keeps coming back when all else is deflated; something that is a basic standard; rare, exclusive; not generally or readily available; it is a 'fruit' from the earth.
• Gifts of frankincense – prophetic (burial), art, smell, permeating, spreading, exotic, erotic; beauty out of suffering and adversity; surprising beauty considering the source (not what’s expected – cf. Isa 51). Frankincense is tapped from the very scraggly but hardy Boswellia tree through slashing the bark and allowing the exuded resins to bleed out and harden. These hardened resins are called tears. These trees are also considered unusual for their ability to grow in environments so unforgiving that the trees sometimes grow directly out of solid stone, which the tree attaches to by means of a sucker-like appendage. The deep roots and its sucker like appendage prevent the tree from being torn away from the stone during the violent storms that frequent this region; the tears from these hardy survivors are considered superior due to their more fragrant aroma.
• Gifts of myrrh – from the living; bitter perfume, expense and sacrifice, medical: antiseptic, linement, healing oils; embalming; connected to wine in Communion and to water in baptism. Myrrh is a red-brown resinous material, the dried sap of the tree Commiphora myrrha, native to Somalia and the eastern parts of Ethiopia. The sap of a number of other Commiphora and Balsamodendron species are also known as myrrh, including that from C. erythraea (sometimes called East Indian myrrh), C. opobalsamum and Balsamodendron kua. Its name entered English via the Ancient Greek, μύρρα, which is probably of Semitic origin. Myrrh is also applied to the potherb Myrrhis odorata otherwise known as "Cicely" or "Sweet Cicely". High quality myrrh can be identified through the darkness and clarity of the resin. However, the best method of judging the resin's quality is by feeling the stickiness of freshly broken fragments directly to determine the fragrant-oil content of the myrrh resin. The scent of raw myrrh resin and its essential oil is sharp, pleasant, somewhat bitter and can be roughly described as being "stereotypically resinous". When burned, it produces a smoke that is heavy, bitter and somewhat phenolic in scent, which may be tinged with a slight vanillic sweetness. Unlike most other resins, myrrh expands and "blooms" when burned instead of melting or liquefying. The scent can also be used in mixtures of incense, to provide an earthy element to the overall smell, and as an additive to wine, a practice alluded to by ancient authorities such as Fabius Dorsennus. It is also used in various perfumes, toothpastes, lotions, and other modern toiletries.
Myrrh was used as an embalming ointment and was used, up until about the 15th century, as a penitential incense in funerals and cremations. The "holy oil" traditionally used by the Eastern Orthodox Church for performing the sacraments of chrismation and unction is traditionally scented with myrrh, and receiving either of these sacraments is commonly referred to as "receiving the Myrrh". Note: All of the above gifts were known in depth and breadth (and wealth) in ancient Africa – particularly the latter in the Horn of Africa. Myrrh is a constituent of perfumes and incense, was highly prized in ancient times, and was often worth more than its weight in gold. The Greek word for myrrh, μύρον, came to be synonymous with the word for "perfume". In Ancient Rome myrrh was priced at five times as much as frankincense, though the latter was far more popular. In the east it was often combined in decoctions, liniments and incense. Myrrh is said to be blood-moving (to the Chinese).
2. In contrast to the shepherds (keepers of the flocks and keep-on-going, thereby, of the Jewish sacrificial system), travel was necessitated to the wise-men: it was necessary that they journey far. Distant from Israel, they had to journey there, just as all other ancient ‘Gentile’ peoples, apart from Israel as God's chosen people, were spiritually distant from the covenants, promises and privileges of God, given first to His ancient People. (See T.S. Eliot’s ‘The Gift of the Magi’ which includes depictions of the coarse ways 'gentiles' thought, felt, acted, expected (complete with their attitudes to women, wine, and so on. Their ways were unlike the ways in which God's People, though earthy in many ways, were expected to conduct themselves.)
3. From ‘the east’ came the wise-men– from the orient as opposed to the West (the occident). Some feel the text could refer to travelers from east Africa and not necessarily to east of Israel or to the ancient ‘near’ or ‘far’ east. There is a tradition that they were Zorastrians; another, that relates to a ‘missing’ wise astrologer in China at the approximate time who may have been one of the journeyers. The word translated ‘magi’ or wisemen has the same derivitive as that relating to Simon Magnus (or Simon the magician) in the Book of Acts, whom Peter opposed. Certainly (as shown above) gifts of frankincense and myrrh would be most readily available from the Horn of Africa (though the universal appreciation of these ‘gifts) would not preclude their being also available anywhere throughout the ancient world. The West is ‘symbolized’ in the Old Testament (cf. Isaiah) as ‘the isles of the sea (as is trade by ‘ships of Tarshish’ and building by ‘cedars ‘and other wood ‘of Lebanon’).
4. Unlike the uninterrupted nature of the shepherd’s short journey to Bethlehem, the magi were ‘opposed’ in the sense that their mission was threatened, its results perverted, for Herod wanted to frustrate their getting to the place of Jesus’ birth. They were warned by an angel not to return home via Jerusalem (so as to be safe themselves and so as not to risk the child’s life by telling of his actual location to the paranoid king. The humanity of the magi is depicted (including their knowledge - their 'science.' Arduous travel and commitment is part of their providential leading, as they journey to find the Christ child. (God's aid is mixed with their own understanding, resolve and efforts, in balance and blend, just as it may be with ours in the pursuits and journeys of life). The humanity and purposes of Herod, though also somewhat controlled though not caused, reveal his ill-will rather than goodwill, which is itself thwarted and directed by God.
5. While the humble shepherds came to a rude stable and found the child wrapped (as any peasant baby, in swaddling cloths) and lying in a manger, the wisemen (more sophisticated, knowledge-able, used to pomp, power and prestige, found him in a ‘house.’ Thus, in one sense, the child is ‘revealed’ in the normal circumstances (and as per the expectations) of one’s life in ways; that is, in ways in which one is most normally likely to ‘see’ and accept. Yet, in an other sense, all is (or soon will be) - for them and for the whole world - different, mysterious and full of wonder.
6. Not only were the shepherds more proximate in terms of travel (space) they came more quickly (in terms of ‘time’), i.e. that very night. The wisemen had farther to journey and it took more time to actually arrive to the place of their goal, at the place of seeing and worshiping. Thus, both space and time realities (access, barriers, limitations, ease) are different for different people. Some can and do hear, come quickly, draw near readily, expectantly, see, receive, return eager to share. For others, the journey is more complex, takes longer, is fraught with dangers, involves journey ‘from afar’ (in all kinds of ways – space, in attitude, in the overcoming of cultural differences and difficulties, in various ways of spiritual journeying and seeking, perhaps in having to overcome ignorance of language, feelings of prejudice, differing thoughts and expectations as to the whys and hows of life). So today, people ‘come to faith’ in all kinds of ways, through different kinds of stages and life-experiences. Sadly, too often we expect others can only come to find Christ in the way(s) we have experienced Him. We expect them to arrive on the same horse and enter by the same door as we. (If we don’t have an ‘evangelistic message,’ sing ‘Just as I Am’ and have an altar call, can anyone be saved?!)
7. Though the wisemen knew, drew conclusions and acted, based on the exact time (month? Year?) that they had seen the newborn king’s star-rise (astronomy and astrology), they still needed more precise information as to the whereabouts of his birth. There is both precision and imprecision in the story.
8. Herod, like Cyrus before him who helped return the remnant of Israel from exile in Babylon to rebuild Jerusalem and its temple, helped (albeit unwittingly and against his soon clear intentions) to ‘shepherd’ the Magi to where they would find the ‘Shepherd of Israel.’ The shepherds came as shepherds; the wisemen in this sense came as those too who need to be guided by another – if even by a paranoid king. In another sense, Herod becomes also a ‘messenger of God’ – an ‘angel’ who facilitates God’s purposes. His alarm regarding the news they bring and his subsequent searching for answers matching the magi’s queries, leads him to seek the assistance of the historians and priests of Israel (the wisemen of Israel), and to the direction given by the Hebrew Scriptures. He does not doubt the honesty of their queries nor the veracity of their conclusions (whether Scripture or priest/historian), and neither does he reject that there has been born, indeed one who is (or may be seen to be) greater than He, by the Jews over whom he reigns. He accepts the truth or at least the assertions of the new king’s birth and its locale (in Bethlehem of Judea - as per Michah 5:2 prophecy); yet he refuses (for his own selfish and paranoid reasons) to come to bow before this new (and greater) King.
9. The wisemen had entrance and were welcome (to some degree, at least) in the courts of Herod's palace. As respected ones (and in one sense in the same social strata with him), they had expectation of at least an audience, in a way that the shepherds of Bethlehem never would. Their station in life (mutually so) giving such expectation of relational, class and vocational contact would serve as normal conduits for information, influence and decision-making. Thus, each one in his or her station in life, and with his or her own unique opportunities and contacts, may understand and convey the message and meaning of God come-in-Christ. The people one meets, the questions one asks, the opportunities of contact and influence are providentially ordained. They may be followed daily, as opportunity is sought or arises, as missional conduits.
10. Ironically, though he was so close to where Jesus was born, Herod remained dis-inclined actually to go himself, nor bow in submission to this greater One. To acknowledge that the wiseman thought the Child worth seeking out was one thing; that one day soon so might all Israel was another, for they might turn to Him as their Saviour and Messiah (thus threatening Herod’s right to rule). The eastern magi (again, noting all that was represented by their gifts - power, influence, regality, etc.) had chosen to come from even so far away while Herod who had access and similar opportunities as they, in his station in life, never desires nor dares come to worship. The preparation of one's heart is what makes one spiritually ‘near’ or ‘far’ - ready and/or able to receive the news and the new possibilities and realities that Advent brings.
11. Revelation came to the ‘magi’ at first through ‘a Star’ and then in a dream (including – though the record is silent, by angels(?). It is as if they were rewarded for first sincerely, faithfully, sacrificially and committed-ly following the ‘light’ they had (as did the Roman soldier, Cornelius, later, albeit in a different way), and then as they move ‘closer’ to the 'realm' of the historic and first designated ‘People of God (i.e. the Jews)’ they too receive more clear instruction in the ways of revelation more ‘normally’ known by God's People.
The light of the star may also reflect ‘the gospel in the stars’ that some believe is written there, as huge, eternal markers or pointers, created by the Hand of God and revealed to the ancient patriarchs (of all the world’s ethne) - thus, in a more precise way, affirming with the Psalmist: ‘The heavens declare the glory of God . . .”.
The ancient (and modern) scam of astrology may be this revelation simply and profoundly gone wrong, becoming perverted and ultimately pagan, mere superstition. (It is worth remembering that the twelve stones comprising the breastplate of Israel’s High Priest symbolized the 12 signs of the zodiac).
The magi may have followed a Star to 'the house,' where the new Child was to be found - an actual, supernaturally and specifically-created Star (for-this-event-only). They may have ‘interpreted’ the matter from the star in constellations of the heavenlies (moving into its heavenly ‘house’) as a not-to-be-ignored, never-before symbol poingitn to the new king's birth, this new king of the Jews.
This fact appears to have been to them of world-wide and universal import or they would not have been convincingly enough moved to even begin the dangerous, perhaps impossible-to-complete Journey. To both ‘lights’ of revelation (Star and dream – and perhaps Angel), the wise-men gave attention and obedience, in journeying to and from the birth town of the Child-King.
The light of reason and the light of supernatural intervention comes together in the story. Study and science are servants of God; dreams and angels too. All may be messengers of God, to reveal His ways and His will to us, in His world.
