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.

8281. 'Your right hand, O Jehovah, has been made large in strength' means that the Lord's almighty power has been displayed. This is clear from the meaning of 'Jehovah's right hand' as almighty power, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'has been magnified with strength' as has been displayed, for Divine power is displayed by the strength magnifying it. The reason why 'Jehovah's right hand' means almighty power is that in the Word 'hand' means power, and so 'right hand' means exceedingly great power. Therefore when the expressions 'hand' or 'right hand' are used in reference to Jehovah, Divine power or almighty power is meant. For the meaning of the expressions 'hand' and 'right hand' as power, see 878, 4931-4937, 6292, 6947, 7188, 7189, 7518, and as almighty power, when they are used in reference to Jehovah, 3387, 7518, 7673, 8050, 8069, 8153.

[2] The fact that 'Jehovah's right hand' means Divine power or almighty power is also clear from the following places in the Word: In Matthew,

Jesus said, Hereafter you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven. Matthew 26:64; Mark 14:62.

In Luke,

Hereafter the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God. Luke 22:69.

Also in David,

Jehovah said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies as Your foot-stool. You are a priest for ever after the manner of Melchizedek. The Lord is at Your right hand; He struck kings in the day of [His] anger. Psalms 110:1, 4-5; Matthew 22:43-44.

Anyone who does not know that the expression 'right hand', when used in reference to Jehovah, means almighty power will gather no other idea from these the Lord's words than that the Lord will sit on His Father's right hand and have dominion in the way that one sitting on a king's right hand on earth has. But the internal sense shows what one should understand in those places by 'sitting at the right hand', namely God's almighty power. Hence also the expressions 'sitting at the right hand of power' and 'at the right hand of the power of God'.

[3] The Lord is plainly the One who possesses that almighty power, for the words quoted above refer to the Lord, and 'Lord' in David is used to mean the Lord in respect of Divine Truth, as also is 'Son of Man' in the Gospels, since Divine Truth is that which possesses almighty power, received from Divine Good.

Divine Truth possesses almighty power, see 6948, 8200.

In general power belongs to truth derived from good, 3091, 3563, 4931, 6344, 6423.

'Hand' therefore has reference to truth, 3091, 4931.

'The Son of Man' is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, 2159, 2803, 2813, 3704.

[4] Divine power or almighty power is meant by 'right hand' in the following places also: In David,

Now I know that Jehovah saves His anointed. Let Him answer ¹ Him in heaven through the mighty acts of His saving right hand. ² Psalms 20:6.

In the same author,

O Jehovah, look from heaven and see, and visit this vine and the twig which Your right hand has planted, upon the son [whom] You have made strong for Yourself. Psalms 80:14-15

In the same author,

You have an arm with power; strong is Your hand, Your right hand will be lifted up. Psalms 89:13.

In the same author,

My strength and song is Jah; He has become my salvation. The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous; the right hand of Jehovah has done a mighty deed, the right hand of Jehovah has been exalted, the right hand of Jehovah has done a mighty deed. Psalms 118:14-16.

[5] In these places 'the right hand of Jehovah' stands for almighty power, and in the highest sense for the Lord in respect of Divine Truth. This may be seen more plainly elsewhere in David,

Let Your hand, O Jehovah, be for the man of Your right hand, for the son of man [whom] You have made strong for Yourself. Psalms 80:17.

'The man of Jehovah's right hand' and 'the son of man' stand for the Lord in respect of Divine Truth. In the same author,

You drove out the nations with Your hand. They did not gain possession of the land by their own sword, and their arm did not save them, but Your right hand, and Your arm, and the light of Your face. Psalms 44:2-3.

'The light' of Jehovah's face is Divine Truth derived from Divine Good, so too is His 'right hand' and 'arm'. And in Isaiah,

God ³ has sworn by His right hand, and by His mighty arm. ⁴ Isaiah 62:8.

Here also 'God's right hand' and 'His mighty arm' stand for the Lord in respect of Divine Truth, for Jehovah or the Lord swears by none except Himself, 2842, that is, only by Divine Truth, since He is that Truth because it emanates from Him.

[6] Here is the reason why various places in the Word call the Lord not only 'the right hand of Jehovah' and 'the arm of Jehovah' but also His 'strength' by which He breaks enemies in pieces, and His 'hammer' too, as in Jeremiah 51:19-21, and following verses. The Lord also came into the world, became Divine Truth there, and subsequently became Divine Good from which Divine Truth flowed, in order to shut all falsities and evils up in hell, gather together all forms of good and truths into heaven, and there arrange them into Divine order.

From all this it is now clear that 'the right hand of Jehovah' in the Word means almighty power, which the Divine possesses through Divine Truth. This is where the meaning of 'right hand' as exceedingly great power has its origin; for those in the Grand Man, which is heaven, who correlate with the shoulders, arms, and hands are those who are made powerful by truth springing from good, that is, by faith springing from love, 4931-4937, 7518.

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