The Bible

 

Matthew 2:11

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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.

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

 

Arcana Coelestia #5414

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5414. 'And the sons of Israel came to buy in the midst of others who came' means the wish to acquire spiritual truths, like all other truths, through factual knowledge. This is clear from the meaning of 'the sons of Israel' as spiritual truths (for 'sons' are truths, see above in 5403, and 'Israel' is the celestial-spiritual man coming out of the natural, 4286, 4570, 4598, so that 'the sons of Israel' are spiritual truths within the natural); from the meaning of 'buying' as being acquired; and from the meaning of 'in the midst of others who came' as like all other truths, that is to say, ones acquired through factual knowledge.

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