WORD STUDY THE GIFT OF THE MAGI

Transcription

1 WORD STUDY THE GIFT OF THE MAGI Matthew 2:11: And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshiped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. The identity of the wise men in this Matthew account is uncertain. Matthew only tells us that they came from the East or in a literal translation of the Greek from the rising (of the sun). It is believed by many that they came from Persia as they were called magi. This word comes from the Old Persian word magus and is a reference to the priest of a Zoroastrian cult which was pantheistic and studied astrology. Some scholars believe they were sages from India and others, as Chrysostom, believe they were from Yemen as the kings of Yemen were Jewish. A recent discovery of a document in Old Syriac speaks of a religious order devoted to private prayer in an unknown land called Shir who believed that God would be born as a human and his birth would be announced by an unusually bright star.

2 One thing we can be sure of, however, is that they were either Jewish or had a great affinity toward the Jewish God Jehovah. They were also very knowledgeable of Jewish worship for their gift of gold, frankincense and myrrh were the three key elements in Jewish worship. Reading this story in the Peshitta, the Aramaic Bible, I discovered something very interesting about these gifts. For one thing there was only one gift. The Aramaic word used for gift is qorbana. This word is in a singular form and ends with a definite article, hence it would be rendered, they presented Him with the gift. But this word being rendered as gift is very misleading. It comes from the word corban, the word Jesus used in Matthew 15:6 where he rebukes the Pharisees for calling their offering a corban. A corban is literally an offering or sacrifice to God. It could be an animal sacrifice or an incense offer which was most likely the case here. The word corban comes from a Semitic root which has its origins in the Akkadian word קרב which means to draw close to someone. It evolved into the meaning of offering or gift as the intent of the offering or gift is to bring you closer to the receiver. Thus, the purpose of the incense offering was to bring you closer to God. Frankincense or myrrh were used only in the Holy of Holies and was mixed in a golden vessel and burned on a golden plate. Actually, the term Frankincense and myrrh represented a combination of essential oils but to avoid listing all the oils the incense or oil was given the name of the primary oil that was used. In the case of Frankincense, Frankincense was the primary oil which had stacte, onycha and galbanum added. Myrrh was the primary oil with the addition of aromatic bark, cassia and cinnamon added (Talmud, Kritut 6A). Exodus 30:33-37 warns that these compounds are not to be used outside

3 of the Holy of Holies and not for anyone other than God, lest they be cut off from the people. When the high priest entered the Holy of Holies and burned these incenses it was said that God presence appeared in the midst of the vapors. The people outside the Holy of Holies would know that God presence was there because they would smell the incense. It soon was believed that burning such incense would summon the presence of God, but Amos cleared that up in Amos 5:21 where he said, I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. The word smell is arich which comes from the root word ruch which means spirit but is also used for an aroma. In the context where it is used it is most likely a play on the Aramaic word arak which has the idea of restoration or healing. This appears to be a direct reference to the incense burned in the Holy of Holies and God is saying that he despises these incenses when they are offered without sincerity as they were doing it. Instead it was being offered only to draw the presence of God so they could get some goodies like a healing or restoration. In other words they were burning the incense to call upon God to solve their problems and to draw closer to him, not to use it as a corban. God is literally saying, you cannot conjuror me up by burning incense. Yet, there was a purpose for using the incense, the frankincense and myrrh in worship as it was commanded by God. It was used as a corban, an offering to draw near to God. This was what the wise men presented to Jesus. The word in Aramaic used for present is qeren which also has a Semitic root meaning to present an offering or sacrifice to draw near. It has almost the same meaning as qorbana. Thus the wise did not present unto him gifts, but in the Aramaic it would be rendered as they drew near to Him with their incense sacrifice.

4 Oh, but behold, they were not in the Holy of Holies when they offered this corban, which is in direct violation of Exodus 30. Or was it? Was not the Holy of Holies the place where the presence of God rested? Thus, there in that little manger, not the holy of holies, these wise men combined the sacred oils in golden vessels before the baby Jesus, the very presence of God, where they then burned these oil on golden plates and worshipped God as the high priest did in the Holy of Holies. The wise men ushering in a new age of worship, worship which needed no human high priest, it was a worship that every one could perform, for when Jesus died on the cross the veil separating the Holy of Holies was ripped apart and now all have access to the very presence of God through our new high priest, Jesus Christ. Oh, and the third element to the worship, gold? Everything in the Holy of Holies was to be made of pure gold. You see, ancient man discovered that gold had a property that no other metal had. All other metals that you hold in your hand will grow warm, except gold. Gold will remain cool, passive and aloof, like the gods. Thus it was believed that gold was the skin of the gods. All idols were made of gold, the skin of the gods and they worshipped the gold or the skin of the gods. But the Hebrews merely used this gold or what the pagans believed to be the skin of their gods to service the true God Jehovah, to mix his oils and serve as a platform to burn His incense. You see the gold, frankincense and myrrh were not the gifts given by the wise men. They burned up the frankincense and myrrh and most likely took the golden cups and plates home with them to continue to burn their oils and worship God. Mary and Joseph didn t take the oils and the gold and sell it for passage to Egypt as that was not the gift that the magi gave

5 to Jesus. The Gift of the Magi was a hazardous journey untaken for only one purpose found in Matthew 2:2, we are come to worship Him. The Gift of the Magi is the only gift that is acceptable to God, the only gift we can truly give to God this Christmas and that is to worship Him. click here for more information or to purchase these essential oils WORD STUDY INHERIT THE WIND Proverbs 11:29: He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart. Back in 1955 Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee wrote a play which was a fictionalized account of the Scopes trial. They used the idea of creation verse evolution as a metaphor to address the senseless hysteria, fear and panic that grew out of the McCarthy hearings of the early 1950 s. They used the expression from Proverbs 11:29, Inherit the Wind, as the title of the play to show how McCarthy brought senseless trouble (hysteria, fear and panic) upon the nation and in the end he achieved nothing. When there were far more important issues within the nation: racism, poverty, illnesses such as the

6 polio epidemic and many other important issues that we needed to focus on, McCarthy built his platform on the issue of communist infiltrating the government and our society. As it turned out the threat was minimal and countless innocent lives were ruined by one man bringing trouble (hysteria, fear and panic) upon a nation for his own personal gain. He ended up inheriting the wind or accomplishing nothing. Things have not changed as many today will seek to build a platform by playing on the fears of people for a threat that is really a minimal threat and as a result diverting our attention away from the important issues. This is played out by the scientist who achieves a sort of fame by making public his findings on a certain food group that causes a serious illness without having his research seriously reviewed by others with similar credentials and then later to be contradicted when his research is found flawed. It is played out by politicians who build their platforms by turning their opponents into evil self-seeking individuals who are out to destroy the nation rather than on possible resolutions to the key issues he would be able to address if elected. It is also played out in religion where someone will build a platform by focusing the attention of believers on issues that have no eternal value and play on their fleshly fears. They bring division and trouble into their own house (the church) and end up with just grasping at the wind, empty air. The word trouble in Hebrew as used in Proverbs 11:29 is okar which has the idea of bringing confusion and fear into the heart of another person to gain a personal advantage over that person. I John 4:18 tells us that perfect love cast out all fear. God is perfect in love and therefore there is no fear in God. God does not use fear to achieve control. However, for the enemy this is his greatest tool. When we use okar

7 (creating a sense of fear) to establish control we will only achieve the wind. People give their tithes over fear that God will punish them, they go to church out of fear that if they do not go bad things will happen to them, they even accept Jesus as their Savior out of fear that if they do not they will go to hell. I mean isn t a loving God with arms wide open pleading for a person to step into those arms so he can hug them and love them enough of an incentive? I remember reading a story where a volunteer fireman ran into his own burning house to rescue his daughter. When a reporter asked if the fireman rescued her she hugged her father and said No, my father saved me. God can be a fireman and save you from hell, but He would much rather be a father first and then a fireman. If you use fear ( okar) to keep your house in order you will only inherit the wind. The word inherit in Hebrew is yinechal from the root word nichal which is the same word used for a flowing brook. The idea of an inheritance is something that keeps flowing without interruption. When a father passes on, his sons continue what he has started which may be a business or an estate, it continues on without interruption as it just passes from one generation to the next. Hence to nichal (inherit) the wind, means that you not only achieve nothing when you use fear to keep order in your house or church, but that you had nothing from the very beginning. From the very get go you were building your platform or control over something that was irrelevant from the beginning. The word wind in Hebrew is ruch which is the same word as spirit but has a wide range of meanings. Basically it is a word used for something that is intangible, something that you cannot see or touch and yet you know something is there, you

8 may smell it or even hear it but you cannot see it or feel it. Inherit the wind therefore has the idea of something that is intangible and will remain intangible. To worry over something that never happens, to be fearful of something that is of no threat is to inherit the wind. I have heard many people talk of great ideas, plans or goals, but never see them become tangible because they let fear of failure stand in their way. If you cast your fear to the wind that fear will just inherit the wind. If you go the church every Sunday, pay your tithe, try to be a good Christian because you fear God will punish you or you might go the hell, you will only inherit the wind. Jesus died on the cross to save you from hell, you do not need to do anything, just accept that gift and you will not go to hell, you need never fear hell. God is perfect love, accept that love and all fears will be cast away. The enemy, however, wants you to okar (be motivated out of fear) so you will not know the love of God and in the end you will only inherit the wind.