We often hear about the 3 Wise men bringing their gifts to the baby Jesus....
I don't want to be a "party-pooper" on this fine Christmas morning...but the truth be told....
1. The Scriptures do not say there were 3....wise men.
2. These "3 kings" were actually "Magi"...they were learned astrologers.
3. They did not arrive on Christmas night...they came when Mary and Joseph were living in a house...probably coming to see Jesus before He reached the age of 2 years old.
4. Most likely there were probably 10 to 12 Magi, all carrying 3 different type gifts...gold, myrrh, and frankincense. This meant to get to Bethlehem they had to travel through country with thieves and robbers (probably similar to the "Old West" here in the 'States). So, with their personal entourage for protection...you could have been looking at a few hundred men...or more.
5. This is another reason Herod wanted the baby Jesus hunted down and slain....this massive group that came to worship Him....only confirmed in Herod's own mind...his days "were numbered".
It was an "embalming kit" because:
1. Gold: a valuable and highly sought after precious metal for coinage, for jewelry, and other arts...long sought after before history had ever began to be recorded.
Funerals at the time of Christ here on earth...could be quite expensive: You had to pay for "mourners" to weep for you, long processions, funeral dinners,sleeping arrangements, grave sites or tombs (not found so easily in the desert regions, and it was a minimum 3 day event...depending how far relatives had to travel...to get to the funeral). The gift of gold would be obviously helpful to take care of all these things needed.
2. Frankincense: also called "olibanum". This is an aromatic resin from the Boswellia tree...a scraggly plant found mostly on the Somalian coast ( you remember Somalia...the "Somalian Pirates"...the guys who thought they could loot a U.S. Navy Destroyer vessel by ordering it to surrender). Frankincense was used in Jesus day to help give a good scent in the air...over a body that had began to decay.
3. Myrrh: this too was an aromatic resin, coming from a small thorny tree species of the flowering plant "Commiphora".This particular species grows well in the dry stony soil of Ethiopia, Somalia, and Yemen.
Basically, this tree is "wounded" by piercing its bark and the tree "bleeds" a thick resin, later hardening, and then changing colors.
The Egyptians use myrrh as part of their embalming of "mummies".
From the beginning...He knew....and loved us...and still does today!
Happy Birthday Lord Jesus...and thank-you...for coming to us, for becoming "one of us", and for dying...for all of us! And thank you for not forgetting us....and You are coming back...to get us! Praise to You Lord Jesus Christ!
I don't want to be a "party-pooper" on this fine Christmas morning...but the truth be told....
1. The Scriptures do not say there were 3....wise men.
2. These "3 kings" were actually "Magi"...they were learned astrologers.
3. They did not arrive on Christmas night...they came when Mary and Joseph were living in a house...probably coming to see Jesus before He reached the age of 2 years old.
4. Most likely there were probably 10 to 12 Magi, all carrying 3 different type gifts...gold, myrrh, and frankincense. This meant to get to Bethlehem they had to travel through country with thieves and robbers (probably similar to the "Old West" here in the 'States). So, with their personal entourage for protection...you could have been looking at a few hundred men...or more.
5. This is another reason Herod wanted the baby Jesus hunted down and slain....this massive group that came to worship Him....only confirmed in Herod's own mind...his days "were numbered".
It was an "embalming kit" because:
1. Gold: a valuable and highly sought after precious metal for coinage, for jewelry, and other arts...long sought after before history had ever began to be recorded.
Funerals at the time of Christ here on earth...could be quite expensive: You had to pay for "mourners" to weep for you, long processions, funeral dinners,sleeping arrangements, grave sites or tombs (not found so easily in the desert regions, and it was a minimum 3 day event...depending how far relatives had to travel...to get to the funeral). The gift of gold would be obviously helpful to take care of all these things needed.
2. Frankincense: also called "olibanum". This is an aromatic resin from the Boswellia tree...a scraggly plant found mostly on the Somalian coast ( you remember Somalia...the "Somalian Pirates"...the guys who thought they could loot a U.S. Navy Destroyer vessel by ordering it to surrender). Frankincense was used in Jesus day to help give a good scent in the air...over a body that had began to decay.
3. Myrrh: this too was an aromatic resin, coming from a small thorny tree species of the flowering plant "Commiphora".This particular species grows well in the dry stony soil of Ethiopia, Somalia, and Yemen.
Basically, this tree is "wounded" by piercing its bark and the tree "bleeds" a thick resin, later hardening, and then changing colors.
The Egyptians use myrrh as part of their embalming of "mummies".
From the beginning...He knew....and loved us...and still does today!
Happy Birthday Lord Jesus...and thank-you...for coming to us, for becoming "one of us", and for dying...for all of us! And thank you for not forgetting us....and You are coming back...to get us! Praise to You Lord Jesus Christ!
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