Troublesome Topic: HOW MANY GIFTS DID THE WISE MEN BRING?

Matthew 2:11

Translation

On coming to the house

they saw the child with his mother

MARY, and falling down prostrate, they worshipped Him.

After opening their treasure stores

they presented Him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Paraphrase

When they had arrived at the house they saw the child

with his mother, THE [PREVIOUSLY] REBELLIOUS ONE, and falling down with their faces to the ground, they worshipped Him. After they had uncovered the precious items they carried, they presented Him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

LAVISH GIFT-GIVING

Gift-giving was practiced widely in ancient times and could often be lavish. Anything of value that represented their homeland was up for consideration. The more important the person was, the more costly and voluminous the collection of gifts became.

Allow me to show you an example of how lavish their gift-giving could be. In II Kings chapter 8 we read the account of the time when Elisha went to Damascus. Ben-Hadad, the king of Aram, whose capital was Damascus, was ill. When the king heard that Elisha was on his way to Damascus, he told Hazael to take the prophet a gift and ask him “Will I recover from this illness?” II Kings 8:9 tells us that the gift consisted of 40 camels bearing gifts that represented “all the good things of Damascus”.

However, the people of the Ancient Near East made a big show of the presentation of their gift giving, and often each servant came forward to present a single product. This is supported by many ancient friezes which show the gift-giving process with servants carrying one item at a time. The quantity of each product was probably determined by a couple things – how much would be considered a useful amount, and the idea that these were representations of the produce of their country, so usefulness sometimes took a back seat, and the item was a small sample. In the end we are not sure how loaded down those 40 camels were. The other consideration is that servants did the presenting; camels only got the products from point A to point B. So 40 camels represented at least 40 different items, maybe 80 if each camel was accompanied by 2 servants for two gifts, and maybe they were heavily laden, requiring several presenting servants for each camel. Why did Ben-Hadad send the gifts on camels instead of in the hands of servants? It may have been to help Elisha get the products back to Israel, in which case fully loaded camels would make more sense. Thus, it appears that the gift included the 40 camels as well, and camels were not cheap. Even if each camel only bore one or two gifts, it was a large gift, and more than 2 products per camel would make it a lavish gift in keeping with the wealth of a king. I favor the idea that the camels were full loaded; it was the presenting servants who only carried one item at a time, not the camels.

The queen of Sheba came to visit Solomon with a “great caravan of camels.” In the case of a long journey like that of the Queen of Sheba or the Wisemen, the camels would have been fully loaded.

THE GIFTS OF THE WISEMEN

Since the Wisemen were convinced that this baby would prove to be someone of inestimable value, their gift-giving had to match their belief, or they would be seen as liars. It is likely, therefore, that the three gifts we know about were not the only gifts given, but rather these were the most spiritually significant ones and that is why they were mentioned in the biblical text. In fact, a proper understanding of the ancient cultures of the Near East makes it a preposterous idea to say that they only brought three gifts. A more likely scenario is one similar to the visit of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon, that of a great caravan of camels, camel drivers, body guards, servants, etc.

Gold was likely a recognition of His royalty (kingship), while frankincense and myrrh pointed ahead to His death, because both of them were used commonly in the process of wrapping a body for burial. In this way the narrative of Jesus’ birth is hinting at the fact that he was born to die; His greatest salvific act as Messiah would be His death (and resurrection).

The three items that are mentioned by name were also very useful in every-day life and we can be sure they came in handy during the flight to Egypt. Frankincense and myrrh were two of the most common and useful essential oils of ancient times with a wide range of beneficial uses. Although it is ironic, there is deep significance in the reality that these two essential oils enjoyed widespread use in the maintaining of life and health, yet were also used to wrap the bodies of the dead. Jesus came to give life, but He provided it through His death.

We can assume that the other gifts given also proved useful in the flight to Egypt which they would undertake immediately after this surprise visit from the wise men.

The next lesson is: How Many Wise Men Were There?

Footnotes

1: “on coming to the house”

By now things had calmed down in the town of Bethlehem and most of those who had travelled there to be registered had returned home. We do not know if this was the house of relatives, or their own small home, or that of strangers, an abandoned house, or a fixed-up cave. It seems unimportant because the text does not mention it. All we know is that it was no longer a stable, or no longer just a stable, for Joseph had fixed it up to feel more like a home. The same holds true for the theory that it was a cave or outcropping of rock, Joseph could have fixed it up so it now looked almost like a house. We should not quickly dismiss the words of the early church fathers, several of whom state that the wise men visited Jesus in a cave. I like the outcropping idea because it can be called a cave but it would have allowed Joseph quite a bit of freedom to build within it a structure which would cause Matthew to call it a house, thus reconciling the account of Matthew with the words of the early church fathers.

While there are many things we do not know, we can be confident that in those days, when someone suffered rejection, it was usually permanent and complete. In a small town like Bethlehem, which was proud of its heritage as the place of David’s birth, everyone would join in that rejection so as to not also become victims of the same. Therefore, it is a safe assumption to think that the same rejection which meant Mary was not given an acceptable or normal place to deliver her child was the same rejection which meant Joseph was not able to find a house for them to live in. He was forced to fix up that original place they had found, whether it was a stable or a cave or an outcropping. In God’s wisdom, Joseph had the skills to do just that.

We don’t know with certainty how much time transpired before the arrival of the Wise Men. However, we can be sure that at least 40 days had passed since the birth of Jesus because Joseph and Mary had already been to the temple for Mary’s cleansing ritual.

2: “with his mother”

This verse makes no mention of Joseph. It may be that Joseph was not home when they arrived, or this is a way to emphasize that Joseph was not the father of this child. It is probably the latter.

3

To “fall down prostrate” with one’s face to the ground before someone was to say to that person, “You are far greater than I, therefore, I am completely at your disposal; do with me as you desire; command me to do anything you wish and I will do it.” Here these highly educated, wealthy men who had stood before kings and given them advice on what to do, were telling a baby that they would obey His every wish. What a beautiful irony!

4: “their treasure stores”

They would have traveled with their valuables well hidden, so it would have taken them a few minutes to access them. It may have required totally removing the saddles from the camels.

5: “gold frankincense and myrrh”

While these gifts were likely intended to represent things of value from their homeland, they were also significant in deeper ways. Gold was likely a recognition of His royalty, while frankincense and myrrh pointed ahead to His death, because both of them were used commonly in the process of wrapping a body for burial. In this way the narrative of Jesus’ birth is hinting at the fact that he was born to die; His greatest salvific act as Messiah would be His death (and resurrection).

These items were also very useful in every-day life and we can be sure they came in handy during the flight to Egypt. Frankincense and myrrh were two of the most common and useful essential oils of ancient times with a wide range of beneficial uses. Although it is ironic, there is deep significance in the reality that these two essential oils enjoyed widespread use in the maintaining of life and health, yet were also used to wrap the bodies of the dead.

Gift-giving was practiced widely and could often be lavish. The more important the person was that the gifts were intended for, the more costly and numerous the collection of gifts became. Since they were convinced that this baby would prove to be someone of inestimable value, their give-giving had to match their belief, or they would be seen as liers. It is likely therefore, that these three were not the only gifts given, but rather these were the most noteworthy and spiritually significant gifts. All the wisemen, however many there were, probably gave gold, and all of them probably gave spices and fine articles of clothing, as well as various other articles.