I don't understand...

[Jebediah]

Why did the three wisemen bring incense and spices to Joseph, Mary and Jesus? Wouldn't a blanket, a few pillows and some clean water have been the "wiser" gifts.

Why is Jesus the "bread" of life? Wouldn't Jesus make a better shelter. I need Jesus to be my shelter, that way I can save on my rent and buy my own bread.

 

[nutshell]

Why did the three wisemen bring incense and spices to Joseph, Mary and Jesus? Wouldn't a blanket, a few pillows and some clean water have been the "wiser" gifts.

When the wisemen arrived Jesus was no longer in the stable of the inn.

Adieu.

 

[John Eastern]

Why did the three wisemen bring incense and spices to Joseph, Mary and Jesus? Wouldn't a blanket, a few pillows and some clean water have been the "wiser" gifts.

Why is Jesus the "bread" of life? Wouldn't Jesus make a better shelter. I need Jesus to be my shelter, that way I can save on my rent and buy my own bread.

It was Christmas! Gifts and all! Plus, those were no just "ordinary" wise men. There is significance of an end to an era with the gifts. By giving away what some consider of value, there is a kind of lessening of pride, and to an infant no less! What does that say? Don't think too hard. :banghead3

 

[retrorich]

Cash or gift certificates always make the best gifts. (I accept PayPal.)

 

[michel]

Hi Jebediah,

As I notice this is your first post on the forum, I thought I would take the opportunity to welcome you here.

You might like to post an introduction of yourself on :- Are you new to ReligiousForums.com? , and also have a look at our article for our newer members! (especially put together by Feathers).
Now, as to your actual question, I hope the following will be of help:-
Excerpts from:- http://www.webedelic.com/church/goldt.htm


Whenever the subject of the "Wise Men", or "Magi" comes up, most of the attention is placed either on the star they saw, or speculation about where they came from. What we want to concentrate on here is the gifts they brought, and what they might signify for us.
Of course, the simplest meaning is that what these men brought were those items which, in their experience, represented the greatest worth. All of these items were rare, precious and expensive. Whatever else we may learn from this story, we know that they gave their best in honor to the One they believed to be the King, the Messiah.

They also gave items which were local to their home area - Arabia. The Lord welcomes us to give to Him what is available to us.

The gifts were a part of their worship. They bowed down before Him, and they offered Him gifts. One commentator points out, "They had known Christ but one day; he had performed no miracles; he had none other to do him homage; he was but a helpless Babe, yet they fell down and worshipped him."



Together, the three types of gifts represent three roles of Jesus the Messiah: His kingly office is represented by gold, His divinity by frankincense, and His manhood by myrrh. "They offered him incense as their God; gold as their king; and myrrh, as united to a human body, subject to suffering and death."



Also, it's clear that the providence of God is seen in these gifts. It provided the means necessary for a long and expensive journey into Egypt, and to sustain Joseph, Mary and Jesus in a foreign land where they would stay for a considerable time.

Gold was the usual offering presented to kings by their subjects, or those wanting to pay respect. It seems that the metal we know as gold has always held extremely high value - as long ago as 2,500 BC, gold was especially prized, and used as a medium of exchange. Perhaps you remember when the US Mint announced that a new dollar coin was to be released at the beginning of the year 2,000. It was larger than the quarter (unlike the previous dollar coin, circulated around 1979), and it was gold in color. Notice I said "gold in color", there wasn't any gold in it at all.

Frankincense is a very costly and fragrant gum distilled from a tree that is found in Persia, India and Arabia, as well as the East Indies. It is a white resin or gum, and is obtained by slitting the bark of the "Arbor Thurisfrom", and allowing the gum to flow out. The word actually means "whiteness", referring to the white colored juice which flows out of the wound in the tree. This gum hardens for three months, and is gathered at the end of the summer, and sold in the form of "tears", or clumps of hardened resin.



Myrrh is an aromatic gum produced from a thorn-bush that grew in Arabia and Ethiopia, and was obtained from a tree in the same manner as frankincense. This thorny tree, called "balsamodendron myrrha", is similar to the acacia. It grows from eight to ten feet high, and is thorny. When it oozes from the wounded shrub, myrrh is a pale yellow color at first, but as it hardens, it changes to dark red or even black color. However, if frankincense represents sweetness, myrrh represents bitterness, at least to the taste. In fact, the name itself was given to it on account of its great bitterness. (The Hebrew word is similar to the name given the waters that were bitter when Moses and the people were coming out of Egypt. "And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah. - Exodus 15:23) Hear also what Naomi says to her daughters in law - "Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.” (Ruth 1:20)

 

[JerryL]

It was Christmas! Gifts and all!

Actually, Christmas was a Roman invention, coopting the celebration of the birth of Mithras (the Romans had the wrong day for the solstace). Presents came in later still.

 

[James the Persian]

Actually, Christmas was a Roman invention, coopting the celebration of the birth of Mithras (the Romans had the wrong day for the solstace). Presents came in later still.

Actually, it wasn't. Mithras wasn't born but pulled from a rock fully formed and the Julian calendar used a symbolic fixed date for the solstice as the real one moves slightly and the Julian calendar loses days over several years. The Romans were well aware that this was not the actual solstice and the early Church was also. We still use the Julian calendar for calculating at least the moveable feasts and many Orthodox use it for the fixed feasts also. The Church calendar as originally devised was supposed to be an icon of time and the fact that it drifts out of alignment with the astronomical year was always seen as an irrelevance. By the Gregorian calendar, Julian Christmas is now on January 7th, though it's still December 25th on the Julian.

You'd have been right if you'd said that the standardisation of the date of Christmas was achieved in the era of the Roman Empire, but it had absolutely nothing to do with Mithras (and what little we know about Mithraism is almost all from sources more recent than that standardisation). In addition, setting a standard date to celibrate a feast does not constitute inventing it. Indeed, in order to set a standard date, the feast must already have existed previously with a non-standard date, which indeed it did.

James

 

[JerryL]

You'd have been right if you'd said that the standardisation of the date of Christmas was achieved in the era of the Roman Empire, but it had absolutely nothing to do with Mithras (and what little we know about Mithraism is almost all from sources more recent than that standardisation).

"The winter solstice occurs about DEC-21 each year. It is the day of the year when the night is longest and the daytime shortest. Using the crude instruments available, ancient astronomers were able to detect by DEC-25 of each year that the daytime had become noticeably longer. This date was chosen, and remains, the traditional date for followers of many different Pagan religions to celebrate the rebirth of the sun." - http://www.religioustolerance.org/xmas_sel.htm

Any of these Gods, Mithras, Attis, whomever; when they are associated with the sun, oft fall into a matter; believed born on the winter solstace, and going through each phase of their lives over the year to die and be reborn. You'll see this in modern pagan practices as well.

That Jesus is handed a Dec 25 birthday, long after his death, is not coincidental; it was slipped in to an existing celebration festival (much like Easter being drawn from the first full moon after the spring equanox is not coincidental). There can be little doubt that the dates of both of these holidays are drawn from entirely non-Christian sources. Unfortunately, all of these legends have dozens of intermixed variations. Even in modern, and tightly held religions (like Judeo-Muslim-Chrisitianity), you have a great deal of variation (Nephlim? Djinn? Demons?); how much worse the totality of ancient ones.

You are completely correct in the "born from a rock", though that doesn't devalidate the concept of a birthday

 

[John Eastern]

Actually, Christmas was a Roman invention, coopting the celebration of the birth of Mithras (the Romans had the wrong day for the solstace). Presents came in later still.

A child is born. That's it. Seeing it is gift enough. Mother earth is bearing us each day. Breast milk for everybody! Holy cow!Good thing we're in a stable.

Us, or them?

 

[JerryL]

A child is born. That's it. Seeing it is gift enough. Mother earth is bearing us each day. Breast milk for everybody! Holy cow!Good thing we're in a stable.

Actually, the Dutch started giving gifts at Christmas (and Santa); though giving gifts at new-years was common practice throughout much of Europe.

 

[John Eastern]

Actually, the Dutch started giving gifts at Christmas (and Santa); though giving gifts at new-years was common practice throughout much of Europe.

So who are you gifting?

 

[JerryL]

So who are you gifting?

Mom is a favorite.

 

[michel]

So who are you gifting?

Good point; the manufacturers of all that stuff that gets taken back after Christmas for refunds..........or maybe that handkerchief drawer that gets fuller every year because my Mum once suggested handkerchiefs to my grandmother...................:biglaugh:

 

[thorysus]

MAybe they brought incense because people generaly didnt bath as much as we do and the incese smeeled better. The spices to relieve the bland taste of simular food. And he was considered the bread of life (not the shelter) cause bread is/was the staple of the diet to be able to suustain life. Shelter can be made form anything (incl, wood, stone,sand, etc) but with out the strength to build it - or to hunt/gather to obtain food, shelter is relativly useless.

I know there is a sense of humor to this post as that is what i am feeling, but i put this up to possibley widen the spectrum to more practical ideas. Just rambleing thoughts on mybehalf.

 

[may]

Why did the three wisemen bring incense and spices to Joseph, Mary and Jesus? Wouldn't a blanket, a few pillows and some clean water have been the "wiser" gifts.

Why is Jesus the "bread" of life? Wouldn't Jesus make a better shelter. I need Jesus to be my shelter, that way I can save on my rent and buy my own bread.

Jesus is the bread of life because if we eat of this bread we can live forever
"I am the living bread that came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread he will live forever; and, for a fact, the bread that I shall give is my flesh in behalf of the life of the world."—JOHN 6:51

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

The wise men understood by the signs that a new and mighty King had been born.
So brought the appropriate gifts for a King.
They were not wrong.

Terry________________
Blessed are the pure of heart, they shall behold their God.