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Matthew 2:8

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8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.

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Christmas Gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh

Por New Christian Bible Study Staff

The Adoration of the Magi, a Design for Bas Relief.

In the Christmas story, the wise men bring gifts to the Lord: gold, frankincense and myrrh.

The gold is listed first, because it is the inmost - signifying good, e.g. the good that we do when we love the Lord and the neighbor.

The frankincense is next. It signifies rational truth, which is the set of true ideas that we know, not about external things like cars or cooking, but about what is really good, and what is really true.

These rational truths are built on earlier knowledges that we learn, before we have really made them our own. Those early knowledges about spiritual things - often learned in childhood - are represented by the myrrh.

In a way, these gifts are really a reciprocation. We can't actually give them to the Lord until the Lord has given them to us. We necessarily start out by learning and doing the Lord's law (myrrh). The Lord can then call up those memories to become rational truths (frankincense). Then, over time, and with effort, those truths can be transformed into good (gold). The wise men from the East had gone through this process of learning and becoming vessels that could receive truths and goods. They were able to perceive the Lord's birth, and find him, and bring gifts to him.

De obras de Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #6364

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6364. 'Your brothers will praise you' means that this Church is superior to all the rest. This is clear from the meaning of 'being praised' as being superior; from the representation of Judah, to whom 'you' refers here, as the celestial Church, dealt with immediately above in 6363; and from the meaning of 'brothers' as the truths which that Church possesses, thus also the Churches which are governed by those truths and are represented by 'Judah's brothers'; for truths and forms of good are what constitute a Church. The truths which the celestial Church possesses are meant by 'your brothers', that is, Judah's brothers, whereas the truths that the spiritual Church possesses are meant by 'his father's sons' below in 6366.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.