What gifts did the three wise men bring to baby Jesus when he was in a manger?

Answer 1

According to the Bible, the wise men visited baby Jesus and brought to Him gold, frankincense and myrrh. Although the Bible does not state that there were three wise men, it does refer to the "magi" which is a plural form. From this, one can assume that there were more than one wise men.

The original message above says "Answer by Answers Publisher", but there is an inaccuracy here, because the "Wise Men" could not have visited Jesus when he was a baby. As several other thinking people have pointed out, when Herod tried to get rid of this potential "rival" king, he chose to murder all the boys in and around Jerusalem, who were at least two years old. This obviously means that the king wanted to be absolutely sure that he got rid of Jesus, by covering the whole age range he would have come under. Also, the Gospel states that when these men arrived they met Jesus in "the house" - not a stable. So, as others have also pointed out, the family would have moved from the "manger" to a house. This is the problem when "traditions" grow up in Church circles that are not historically accurate, and as others (and the above contributor does note) the same problem occurs when the three gifts suggest three wise men. There could have been more than one presentation of the three gifts if there were more than three wise men. So technically, the wise men didn't have anything to do with the Christmas event. They came later. However, this doesn't take away from the importance and meaning of their visit. The three gifts were very significant. The gold was a gift fit for a real king. The frankincense is thought to speak both of sacrifice and priesthood, which would make sense, since Jesus' "purpose" in coming to Earth was to die as a sacrifice for the falleness of humankind. In this way He "intercedes" before God the Father on our behalf, as well as keeping the wrath of God from destroying all who have not "accepted" His sacrifice for them. The myrrh is a substance used often at a time of burial. So that all three gifts had a spiritual application as well as a practical one. The most important thing of all regarding the coming of Christ, is that it was prophesied in the Old Testament, that the Messiah/Saviour who who come would sit on the throne of His "father" (ancestor) King David, and that His kingdom would be "an everlasting kingdom", borne out by Jesus' words to Pontius Pilate in John 18:33-38 - 33So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" 34Jesus answered, "Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?" 35Pilate answered, "Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?" 36Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world." 37Then Pilate said to him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world-ito bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice." 38Pilate said to him, "What is truth?"

The resurrection of Jesus which followed is of ultimate importance from the point of view of the OT prophecy "an everlasting kingdom", because it would all have been absolutely useless if he was still dead. This is the point of "Saint" Paul, when he writes in 1 Corinthians 15:19 - "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." His meaning being, that if Christ was still dead, then not only is the Biblical Gospel useless, but all those who have believed (Greek = trusted in) are still lost, and there would therefore be no such thing as Eternal Life - or Christ's "everlasting Kingdom." Based on their knowledge of the coming of the "Christ child", the wise men would have been aware of this "eternal kingdom", and that would quite likely have been their main motive and inspiration for deciding to seek Him out. Note the description of their joy in finding Him! Matthew 2:9 When they had heard the king [Herod], they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. 10When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. (One beautiful song says: "Wise men still seek Him.")

Wishing you the best Christmas ever!

Reverend Vince Smith

Answer 2

The three wise men brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to baby Jesus when he was in the manger. These gifts were symbolic and had special significance, with gold representing kingship, frankincense symbolizing divinity, and myrrh representing the future sacrifice of Jesus.