The Bible

 

Matthew 2:1-12 : The Visit of the Wise Men

Study

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.

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

 

Coronis (An Appendix to True Christian Religion) #1

  
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1. THE CORONIS OR APPENDIX 1 TO THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION

THESE three subjects - the Consummation of the Age, the Coming of the Lord, and the New Church - have, it is true, been treated of in the last chapter of the work entitled THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. The reason why a Continuation follows about them, is, because no one at this day knows what the Consummation of the Age is, why a Second Advent of the Lord must take place, or that a New Church is about to come; and yet these three subjects are treated of in both the Prophetic and the Apostolic Word, and fully in the Apocalypse. That those three subjects are treated of in the Prophetic Word of the Old Testament, was made evident to me while it was given me to lay it open by means of the spiritual sense; and in like manner that they are treated of in the Prophetic book of the New Testament, which is called the Apocalypse: that they are also in the Evangelic and Apostolic Word, will be plain from the following pages. Hence it follows, that, without some knowledge respecting the Consummation of the Age, the Second Advent of the Lord, and the New Church, the Word is as it were shut up; nor can anything but knowledges open it: these are like keys which open the door and let one in. When this takes place with the Word, then the treasures which lay concealed therein as at the bottom of the sea, come into view; for, at the bottom, there are in the Word nothing else but treasures. In this Appendix, or Continuation, I shall proceed, in like manner as in the work itself, by prefixed Summaries, which will be confirmed from Scripture and illustrated from reason.

Footnotes:

1. This Appendix is promised in Nos. 15, 177, 343, 485, 627 and 758 of the work itself.

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