The Bible

 

Matthew 2:4

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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.

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.

Commentary

 

Treasure

  

In Genesis 43:23, Exodus 1:11, this signifies truth and good given by the Lord without the individual's knowledge. (Arcana Coelestia 5664)

This also signifies doctrines from falsified truths in the natural man. (Arcana Coelestia 6661)

In Exodus 19:5 and Psalm 135:4, this signifies that divine truth should be with them more than with other people. (Arcana Coelestia 8768)

In Isaiah 30:6, this signifies knowledges in the natural man. (Arcana Coelestia 3048[3])

In Isaiah 10:13, this signifies the truths of intelligence destroyed. (Arcana Coelestia 10227[4])

'Treasure,' as in Matthew 13:44, signifies divine truth in the Word.

(References: Apocalypse Explained 840)