Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh

Wed, 14/12/2011 - 10:40 -- James Oakley

Many of us have been taught many times over that the gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh pointed respectively to Jesus royalty, his priestly role or his divinity, and his forthcoming death and burial.

R T France would caution us here, and helpfully allows the rest of the Bible to tell us what they signify. Letting Scripture interpret Scripture is always a far safer bet than guessing or importing symbols from elsewhere. So here is what he suggests:

“Their gifts are those of the affluent: gold, then as now the symbol of ultimate value, and exotic spices, which would not normally come within the budget of an ordinary Jewish family. Frankincense (which came from Southern Arabia and Somalia) was an expensive perfume, and was burned not only in worship but at important social occasions; for its nonreligious use (with myrrh) see Song 3:6. Despite the symbolism traditionally discerned in the gifts of the magi since the time of Irenaeus (gold for royalty, frankincense for divinity, and myrrh for death and burial – the latter based on John 19:39), myrrh too was primarily used as a luxurious cosmetic fragrance (Esther 2:12; Psalm 45:8; Proverbs 7:17; Song 1:13; 5:1, 5). These are luxury gifts, fit for a king. The reader who knows the OT stories cannot fail to be reminded of the visit of the Queen of Sheba with her gifts of ‘gold and a great quantity of spices’ to the son of David in Jerusalem (1 Kings 10:1-10) and of the imagery which that visit provided for subsequent depictions of the homage of the nations to the Jewish Messiah (Psalm 72:10-11, 15; Isaiah 60:5-6).” (Page 76)

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