H
Holland
Guest
Is there any special signifcance to the gifts presented to Jesus? I was told that myrrh was used to embalm bodies back then. Why would you give someone myrrh as a gift?
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Gold is the symbol of royalty; Jesus is King.Is there any special signifcance to the gifts presented to Jesus? I was told that myrrh was used to embalm bodies back then. Why would you give someone myrrh as a gift?
Incense is burned as a sacrifice to God by the priests. Well, Jesus is both God and eternal High Priest.
Myrrh is, as you say, used to embalm dead bodies, as well as quite expensive. It points to the fact that as early as then, Jesus the Redeemer came to earth so that he could die.
H
Holland
Guest
Thank You!
E
EvelynMilne
Guest
The Scriptures do not elaborate on what happened to these gifts. Do you think Mary saved the Myrrh for his buriel? Some of the gold,they may have used for the trip to Egypt but only priests burned incense in the Holy of Holies. I think they probably sold everything and gave the money to the poor.
S
scott1228
Guest
This footnote to Luke Chapter 2 comes from the USCC bishops:
Their purification: syntactically, their must refer to Mary and Joseph, even though the Mosaic law never mentions the purification of the husband. Recognizing the problem, some Western scribes have altered the text to read “his purification,” understanding the presentation of Jesus in the temple as a form of purification; the Vulgate version has a Latin form that could be either “his” or “her.” According to the Mosaic law (Lev 12:2-8), the woman who gives birth to a boy is unable for forty days to touch anything sacred or to enter the temple area by reason of her legal impurity. At the end of this period she is required to offer a year-old lamb as a burnt offering and a turtledove or young pigeon as an expiation of sin. The woman who could not afford a lamb offered instead two turtledoves or two young pigeons, as Mary does here. They took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord: as the firstborn son (Luke 2:7) Jesus was consecrated to the Lord as the law required (Exodus 13:2, 12), but there was no requirement that this be done at the temple. The concept of a presentation at the temple is probably derived from 1 Sam 1:24-28, where Hannah offers the child Samuel for sanctuary services. The law further stipulated (Numbers 3:47-48) that the firstborn son should be redeemed by the parents through their payment of five shekels to a member of a priestly family. About this legal requirement Luke is silent.
Since Joseph and Mary could not afford a lamb, it is reasonable to conclude that the gifts were given away to assist the poor.
Scott
Their purification: syntactically, their must refer to Mary and Joseph, even though the Mosaic law never mentions the purification of the husband. Recognizing the problem, some Western scribes have altered the text to read “his purification,” understanding the presentation of Jesus in the temple as a form of purification; the Vulgate version has a Latin form that could be either “his” or “her.” According to the Mosaic law (Lev 12:2-8), the woman who gives birth to a boy is unable for forty days to touch anything sacred or to enter the temple area by reason of her legal impurity. At the end of this period she is required to offer a year-old lamb as a burnt offering and a turtledove or young pigeon as an expiation of sin. The woman who could not afford a lamb offered instead two turtledoves or two young pigeons, as Mary does here. They took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord: as the firstborn son (Luke 2:7) Jesus was consecrated to the Lord as the law required (Exodus 13:2, 12), but there was no requirement that this be done at the temple. The concept of a presentation at the temple is probably derived from 1 Sam 1:24-28, where Hannah offers the child Samuel for sanctuary services. The law further stipulated (Numbers 3:47-48) that the firstborn son should be redeemed by the parents through their payment of five shekels to a member of a priestly family. About this legal requirement Luke is silent.
Since Joseph and Mary could not afford a lamb, it is reasonable to conclude that the gifts were given away to assist the poor.
Scott
C
cthulhubryan
Guest
Born a King on Bethlehem’s plain
Gold I bring to crown Him again
King forever, ceasing never
Over us all to rein
Frankincense to offer have I
Incense owns a Deity nigh
Pray’r and praising, all men raising
Worship Him, God most high
Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume
Breathes of life of gathering gloom
Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying
Sealed in the stone-cold tomb
Gold I bring to crown Him again
King forever, ceasing never
Over us all to rein
Frankincense to offer have I
Incense owns a Deity nigh
Pray’r and praising, all men raising
Worship Him, God most high
Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume
Breathes of life of gathering gloom
Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying
Sealed in the stone-cold tomb
D
drforjc
Guest
A strictly “devotional” interpretation of the gifts as they apply to us from Fr. Gabriel of Mary Magdalene, O.C.D. that I found interesting:
The “incense of prayer”
The “myrrh of mortification”
The “gold of charity”
(From Divine Intimacy -TAN Publishers)
The “incense of prayer”
The “myrrh of mortification”
The “gold of charity”
(From Divine Intimacy -TAN Publishers)
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