Who were those magicians, those wise men from the east?
Were they astrologers that they followed a star?
Or superstitious soothsayers? Evil enchanters? Misanthropic sorcerers?
Wizards? Witches? Warlocks?
Demon possessed black mass celebrants worshipping Satan?
Hip yuppie alternative religionists clad in black? (Their wifes wearing frilly clothes and black lipstick?)
Well, no. They couldn't have been. These kinds of people don't travel hundreds of miles to meet Jesus and to worship him. And to bring him gifts, mind you. Only spiritually alive believers do that.
That only compounds the marvel.
Who were those Magi?
Well, the original Magi were actually one of the tribes of the Medes. The Medes in turn were one of the peoples ruled by the Persians.
The Magi once warred against the dominant Persians in order to install Median rule. That didn't work out, although the empire was from then on known as the empire of the Medes and the Persians. Subsequently the Magi became the priestly tribe of the realm, much like the Levites in Israel.
In this influential rôle they became advisors to the king. They also became philosophers, doctors, scientists, interpreters of dreams, and they became wise and lettered men.
You may recall that the prophet Daniel used to be chancellor first for the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar. And later, after the Medes and the Persians had conquered Babylon, he remained in office under Darius the Mede. (Daniel 6, 1.) Daniel was the acclaimed headmaster of the Babylonian wise men, the chief of the magicians, enchanters, astrologers and diviners (Daniel 5, 11). On occasion he saved their lives from the wrath of the tyrant.
He also introduced the true faith there. His most famous convert being king Nebuchadnezzar, the grand exalted ruler of all mankind in his day. (See Daniel 4, 31.)
Daniel's "Babylon" is the "East" from where these wise men came.
They were most assuredly familiar with the writings of the Jewish sage and prophet. I'm sure they knew Daniel 9, 25 and 26, where the man of renown in whom the spirit of the holy gods dwelled prophesies about the coming messiah and the time of his appearing. And when God showed them that brilliant star in the western skies, there was no holding back. They had to come and worship the god-man.
They also brought gifts!
Gold is the gift for kings.
Gold is the most noble of metals. Gold has value. It is rare.
Gold coins bear the likeness of the prince.
Gold is resplendant and sparkles in the sun.
Thus it speaks of royalty and of glory.
Jesus was king, and therefore gold seemed right for him in the eyes of the Magi.
What the Magi brought was surely no token gift, no small amount. This gold financed the holy family's flight to Egypt and it's existence there (Possibly in the metropolitan city of Alexandria, which was home to one million Jews back then.)
Frankincense is the gift one might bring to a priest.
A priest, notably the high priest, went daily into the temple to offer frankincense on the square incense-altar in the sanctuary of the holy place. The incense-altar was square because it represented the earth (the four corners thereof). It had horns pointing towards heaven. And the smoldering incense itself was a symbol for the prayers of the believers rising up from the earth unto the Lord in the heavens.
The priest brought the matters of the people before God in prayer. You could call intercessory prayer a ministration and a duty. (1 Samuel 12, 23.)
Of course Jesus is also a priest: he is our high priest. (Hebrews 3,2.)
Myrrh is a peculiar gift. You might give that prophetically to a prophet, so to say.
You see, Israel loved it's prophets and godsents so much that they killed them on many occasions. John the Baptist and Jesus were only two murdered men of God in a long line stretching back to Abel. And myrrh is a medium for embalming. Myrrh was put on the bodies of dead nobles to preserve their likeness forever.
You might say, an embalmed prophet looks like he is still alive, just sleeping. That's a wonderful thought for just men and believers. Thus the gift of myrrh speaks of eternal life.
But if you had been the one responsible for his demise, that would be sheer horror. The traces of your sin of murder would be preserved in the body of that prophet forever. Myrrh saw to that. Your conscience would forever haunt you. Your sin would forever stare you in the face.
The fragrance of myrrh would be a smell of life to the blessed, and a fragrance of death to the other. (2 Corinthians 2, 16.)
Israel was really thankful to God for going through the trouble of raising up prophets for them.
Jesus himself said: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, ..." (Luke 13, 33.)
Myrrh is the gift for the prophet who is all sold out to God and speaks the truth, no matter what. Even if it costs him his life, as it did Jesus.
The biblical Magi were good, godly men. Their name had not yet acquired the hollowness which goes with the term magician today. Let's be like them. Let's worship the King and let's bring him gifts of value.
He gave us the greatest one: himself.
God's richest and best,
Gert Hoinle
Editor of Teaching News
P.S.: Drop a line sometime.
Copyright (c) 2001 by Gert Hoinle