Mary Alice, with some help from me, has been decorating our home for the holidays. Sadly, due to the COVID restrictions for traveling and limiting the amount of people who can meet, we are not going to visit our families. Christmas of 2020 will be much different than those in the past due to COVDI-19.
Over 2,000 years ago the three Wise Men, carrying gifts, traveled many days and nights to reach their destination. In the Bible, we read the three Wise Men carried gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. However, the names of the Three Wise Men are not easily recalled.
According to medieval legend, the names of the three Wise Men were Melchoir, King of Arabia (gold); Gaspar, King of Tarsus (myrrh) and Balthasar, King of Ethiopia (frankincense). These three names have neither appeared in the Bible nor in Christian literature until 500 years after the birth of Jesus. Scholars cannot agree on the names of the three men nor from where they traveled. However, it is agreed three gifts were brought.
The gifts, which the three men carried, were fit for a King. Equivalent to today’s prices, a pound of frankincense was worth $500 a pound, and a pound of myrrh was $4,000. Today, each are priced at approximately $15 a pound. However, the value of a pound of gold was valued at $600, and in today’s market, a pound of gold could cost 10 times that amount.
Frankincense is a gum-resin obtained from the trunk of the Boswellia carteri trees which grow in East Africa and Southern Arabia. The best frankincense comes from a narrow strip of desert in Oman, from the species known as Boswellia carteri. This gum was used by the ancient Hebrews, Greeks and Romans for religious rites.
The name frankincense comes from two French words, meaning pure and incense. The method for harvesting frankincense has not changed in the last 5,000 years. Each summer nomadic families make gashes in the bark of a tree with a spatula-like tool. From these gashes, the tree oozes a milky white fluid, which is the tree’s defense against injury. After approximately a week, this milky-white fluid hardens into a glob.
The nomadic workers scrape and gather this white glob several times over a three-month period. In this form, it is pure frankincense. One tree will yield about 10 pounds of frankincense each year. Frankincense comes to the market in the form of pale colored globules called tears. In ancient times, frankincense could only be harvested by specially appointed families. To protect the tree from robbers, the rulers would circulate rumors that the trees were guarded by flying snakes. Historians estimate that at the peak of the Roman Empire more than 3,000 tons of frankincense were shipped to Greece, Rome and China each year.
Egyptians of all classes burned frankincense in their homes and temples. Frankincense was chewed to fight bad breath, soothe sore gums, skin infections and also to dress wounds. Today, frankincense is considered to have antiseptic, anti-fungal and anti-inflammatory properties. It is also used in relieving the discomfort of lung infections and asthma.
Myrrh is similar to frankincense and often interchangeable in early remedies. Myrrh is harvested primarily from a scraggly, thorny tree (Commiphora myrrha) which belongs to the same family as the tree which gives frankincense.
However, myrrh prefers basaltic soil (hard, compact dark-colored soil from igneous rock) to the limestone soil of the frankincense tree and is found over a wider range. The bark of the myrrh tree is brittle and often cracks on its own, allowing gatherers to collect the resin. When hardened, the sap is dark, with a bitter taste; hence, the Greek word myrrha, which means bitter.
Frankincense is pale and sweet, which probably explains why frankincense was more popular than myrrh. However, myrrh did become quite a status symbol, and its price was five times higher than frankincense. Just a drop of myrrh oil put into a cheap perfume would double its price. Myrrh was used by Egyptians to embalm royal mummies.
Myrrh was prescribed for a much wider range of ills than frankincense. It was mixed with a mother’s milk to cure diaper rash. Arab men drank vinegar and myrrh to cure baldness. It was said that Jesus was even given “wine mingled with myrrh” as an anesthetic during his crucifixion.
The last gift was gold, which was believed to have supernatural healing powers. Gold was worn around the neck to keep sickness at bay. Gold was dissolved in acid to cure appendicitis. Today, patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis are said to be rejuvenated by gold injections. The gold based drug aurofin is highly effective in treating the early stages of arthritis. Ancient Greeks and Egyptians, who began experimenting with different chemicals to create gold from other metals, gave birth to the science of alchemy, the predecessor of modern medicine. Early church fathers understood the gold to be symbolic of Christ’s deity; the frankincense of his purity; and the myrrh of his death since it was used in embalming.
It’s no wonder Henry Van Dyke penned the words “In the wealth of the wood since the world began, the trees have offered their gifts to man.” We still decorate our homes with trees and holly boughs, and other items from nature.
Have a Merry Christmas, I’m sure we are all glad that 2020 will soon be over and looking forward to a more peaceful and healthy 2021.
The primary purpose of anointing with the holy anointing oil was to sanctify, to set the anointed person or object apart as qodesh, or "holy" (Exodus 30:29). Originally, the oil was used exclusively for the priests and the Tabernacle articles, but its use was later extended to include kings (1 Samuel 10:1).
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Holy_anointing_oil
What subsequently happened to these gifts is never mentioned in the scripture, but several traditions have developed. One story has the gold being stolen by the two thieves who were later crucified alongside Jesus. Another tale has it being entrusted to and then misappropriated by Judas.
However, it is agreed three gifts were brought. The gifts, which the three men carried, were fit for a King. Equivalent to today's prices, a pound of frankincense was worth $500 a pound, and a pound of myrrh was $4,000. Today, each are priced at approximately $15 a pound.
Each of these precious gifts has a symbolic meaning. Frankincense was used for worship in the Temple; it is symbolic of Christ the High Priest. Gold is symbolic of Christ the King. Myrrh a perfume, was used to anoint dead bodies, it is symbolic of His death for the sake of truth, and therefore of Christ the Prophet.
The ancient church understood that the three types of gifts clearly symbolize three key aspects of Christ's identity. The gold points to Jesus' royalty, the frankincense to his divinity, and the myrrh to his humanity.
Paul on Mt.Athos (in Greek Άγιον Όρος, meaning “Holy Mountain”) one of the most precious, and invaluable to Greek Orthodoxy, are the Holy Gifts that are believed to have been offered by the Three Wise Men, also known as the Three Kings or the Magi, of the East to the newborn Jesus.
The wise men arrive in Jerusalem from an unnamed location “in the East,” led by a star and in search of a new king. They make their way to Bethlehem, where they bow before Jesus and offer gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Then, they return home by a different route.
Montana-based Aromatics International sells a pound of frankincense resin online for $41.99, about $2.63 an ounce, while myrrh resin sells for $36.99 a pound or $2.32 an ounce.
Frankincense is a milky white resin extracted from species of the tree genus Boswellia. Myrrh is a reddish resin that comes from species of the tree genus Commiphora. Today an ounce of gold will cost you approximately £745 per ounce, frankincense £10 per ounce and myrrh £12 per ounce.
Many estimate that at that time, translated into modern money, frankincense would have cost $500 per pound. Myrrh would have cost $4,000 per pound. While much is known about the gifts themselves, the bearers, known as the Magi or “Wise Men,” remain somewhat mysterious to modern scholars.
The scent of myrrh is complex and difficult to describe. It is often described as having a balsamic, slightly spicy and slightly smoky odor. Some people say it has a note of undergrowth or dried earth. Its fragrance is resinous and rich.
They are both resins extracted from plants and, when they solidify, frankincense looks like golden raisins, while myrrh looks like reddish-brown crystals.
The story is an addition and expansion of the account of the Biblical Magi, recounted in the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. It tells about a "fourth" wise man (accepting the tradition that the Magi numbered three), a priest of the Magi named Artaban, one of the Medes from Persia.
According to Western church tradition, Melchior is often represented as a king of Persia and is usually said to have given the gift of gold to the Christ Child. In art he is frequently depicted as the oldest of the three Magi, often with a long white beard.
They worshipped him and brought out their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. They returned home by another road as God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod.
THERE ARE two traditions. The first, referred to in the carol 'We Three Kings', interprets the gifts as symbolising three aspects of Christ's future life: gold representing kingship, frankincense (worship) and myrrh (death and mourning).
Yet the fourth Wise Man has been present in the Christian tradition for a long time, although he has not been mentioned in any Gospel. Many legends tell of this fourth Wise Man, who never reached Bethlehem, never met Jesus, because he did not arrive in time to meet his companions and got lost along the way.
The Magi are warned in a dream not to return to Herod, as he intends to harm the child. Dreams and angels play an important role in the birth stories. They are the means by which God communicates with people and guides events.
A careful look at the New Testament shows that Mary kept her vow of virginity and never had any children other than Jesus. When Jesus was found in the Temple at age twelve, the context suggests that he was the only son of Mary and Joseph.
Since King Balthazar, in traditional pictorial representations from the Late Middle Ages, is often represented as a black person (as an integrating or cosmopolitan graphic symbol, in the tradition that the "wise men" or "magi" who worshipped Jesus in Bethlehem represented the peoples of the whole world), fitting in ...
Introduction: My name is Rueben Jacobs, I am a cooperative, beautiful, kind, comfortable, glamorous, open, magnificent person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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