.... The Wise men were no where near the Manger that night. Also, there is no mention in the Bible of the exact number of wise men. Since the Bible lists 3 gifts they are carrying, human tradition chooses to say there were 3 wise men, but there is no biblical proof of this.
We have all seen it and probably even have it in our homes. I am talking about a nativity scene, usually a decorative add on to the christmas tree. What does every nativity or manger scene have? Everyone I have ever seen has the baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, shepards, farm animals and yes, Wise Men. Most do not even question it because including the Wise Men is a "tradition". I believe that if we are going to display a nativity scene that we should at least be accurate.
If we go to the scriptures (always a wise idea don't you think?) we will find the account of the Wise Men in Matthew 2:1-16
1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”
3 When Herod the king heard this, 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 inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
5 So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:
6 ‘ But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
Are not the least among the rulers of Judah;
For out of you shall come a Ruler
Who will shepherd My people Israel.’”
7 Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.”
9 When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen 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 exceedingly great joy. 11 And when they had 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 gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
12 Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.
The Flight into Egypt
13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.”
14 When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, 15 and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”[b]
Massacre of the Innocents
16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men.
As we can see in verse 11, the Wise Men did not arrive at the manger the night Jesus was born. Because their journey was so long, they arrived at the "house" of Mary and Joseph some 2 years after the birth of Christ. This is shown in that King Herod ordered to have all male children up to 2 years old killed. This was Satan's attempt to kill Jesus before He could fulfill the will of God to be the Messiah for us.
There are also some interesting observations that can be made about the gifts that were brought by these Wise Men. In our modern christmas celebration, the Wise Men would have exchanged gifts with each other. How silly would that have looked? Let's look at the 3 gifts closely.
1) Gold
Gold symbolizes kingship on earth. The Wise Men knew Jesus was King of The Jews and this is why they brought gold as one of the gifts. It is also believed that the gold gift symbolized virtue.
2) Frankincense
Frankincense is an incense that symbolizes priesthood.
Hebrews 7:23 "Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them."
Frankincense is also said to be symbolic of prayer. Jesus is at the right hand of the Father and is constantly making intercessory prayer on our behalf.
Hebrews 7:25 "Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them."
3) Myrrh
Myrrh is an embalming oil and is used to symbolize death. The baby Jesus had but one main function and that was to die.. to die for the sins of the world so we could be made right with God the Father. Myrrh is also said to symbolize suffering. We all know how Jesus suffered (both physically and emotionally) shortly before His death. In the Garden of Gethsemane, He suffered in the thought of what He had to do so much that he perspired drops of blood.
So we can learn something from the entire account. This christmas season when we see a nativity scene with Wise Men we know it's historically incorrect but we can use it as a teaching lesson. We can see how the gifts given were not just random gifts but they all had meaning and were very symbolic of the nature of Jesus.
No comments:
Post a Comment