The Bible

 

Matthew 2

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1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,

2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

3 When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.

5 And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet,

6 And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.

7 Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.

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.

9 When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.

10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

11 And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

12 And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.

13 And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.

14 When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt:

15 And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.

16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.

17 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying,

18 In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.

19 But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,

20 Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child's life.

21 And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.

22 But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee:

23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.

   

Commentary

 

Christmas Gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh

By 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.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

True Christian Religion #205

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205. The reason why the idolatrous practices of the gentiles in antiquity originated from the science of correspondences was that everything to be seen on earth has a corresponding meaning; this is true not only of trees, but also animals and birds of every kind, as well as fish and other things. The ancient people who possessed the science of correspondences made themselves images to correspond to heavenly ideas; and they took pleasure in them because they stood for such things as concern heaven and the church. They placed these images therefore not only in their temples, but also in their houses, not so as to worship them, but to call to mind the heavenly ideas they stood for. Hence it was that in Egypt and elsewhere they used images of calves, oxen and snakes, not to mention children, old men and young women. Calves and oxen meant the affections and powers of the natural man, snakes the prudence and craftiness of the man who relies upon his senses. Children meant innocence and charity, old men wisdom, young women affections for truth, and so on. Once the knowledge of correspondences had been wiped out, their descendants started to worship as holy, and finally as deities, the images and statues their ancestors had erected, because they were in or near temples. This too was the reason why the ancients worshipped in gardens and plantations, depending on the species of tree, as well as on mountains and hills. Gardens and plantations meant wisdom and intelligence, and each tree meant some particular detail of them. For instance, the olive meant the good of love, the vine truth coming from that good, the cedar rational good and truth; a mountain meant the highest heaven and a hill the heaven below this.

[2] The fact that the science of correspondences was preserved among a number of eastern peoples right down to the Lord's coming can be established by the wise men from the east, who came to visit the Lord at the time of His birth; therefore the star went before them, and they brought gifts with them, gold, frankincense and myrrh (Matthew 2:1-2, 9-11). The star which went before them meant knowledge learned from heaven, gold celestial good, frankincense spiritual good, and myrrh natural good; it is these three kinds of good which are the source of all worship. Nonetheless correspondences were totally unknown to the Israelite and Jewish people, even though all the details of their worship, all their laws and judgments given them by Moses, and everything in the Word were nothing but correspondences. The reason was that they were at heart idolatrous, and therefore of such a character that they did not even want to know that anything in their worship had a celestial or spiritual meaning, since they believed that these things were all in themselves holy. If therefore the celestial and spiritual meanings had been revealed to them, they would not only have rejected them, but also profaned them. On account of this heaven was so closed to them that they scarcely knew that there was an everlasting life. The truth of this is perfectly plain from the fact that they failed to acknowledge the Lord, even though the whole of Sacred Scripture was a prophecy about Him and foretold His coming. The only reason why they rejected Him was that He taught them about a kingdom in heaven, not one on earth. For they wanted a Messiah who would make them superior to all peoples throughout the world, not one who would provide for their eternal salvation.

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