What did the gifts that the wise men gave Jesus mean?

Answer 1

Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury and leader of the world's Anglicans, among others, has described the story of the three wise men as nothing but a "legend" and says there is little evidence that they existed. This tells us that the meaning of the gifts should be defined by what the author of Matthew's Gospel wanted them to mean.

Matthew wrote of the magi or wise men, who were actually priests of the Zoroastrian religion, coming to worship Jesus, because he wanted to portray priests of this great religion as believing in the divine role of Jesus. He portrayed them as bringing fabulous gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh because he wanted to demonstrate the absolute importance they placed on the birth of Jesus. By bringing gifts fit for a great king, the wise men were proving they had no doubts at all that Jesus was born to be king of the Jews.

The traditional meaning ascribed to each gif (symbolism that Matthew would have been aware of) is:

• Gold is a noble metal - a gift suggesting kingship
• Frankincense was burned in religious ceremonies - a gift suggesting divinity
• Myrrh was used to prepare bodies for burial - a gift suggesting death

Answer 2

The gifts of the Magi are identified as gold , frankincense and myrrh. The meaning of the gifts is open to interpretation. Myrrh was commonly used as an anointing oil, frankincense as a perfume, and gold as a valuable.

Sometimes the gold is said to symbolize virtue, frankincense prayer, and myrrh suffering.

Others have said the gold symbolizes kingship on earth, frankincense (an incense) priestship, and myrrh (an embalming oil) death.

Answer 3

Gold was a gift for royalty-in this case the chosen King of the Jews and ultimately the "King of Kings and Lord of Lords" who will rule over the entire earth (Revelation:19:16).

Frankincense was an incense intimately connected with the priesthood and temple sacrifices, foreshadowing the fact that Jesus Christ would serve as our High Priest and give Himself as the perfect sacrifice to pay the penalty for the sins of all mankind (Hebrews:4:14-15; 9:11-14; 1 Peter:1:18-19).

Myrrh had a much more sobering symbolism. When a person died, this perfuming agent was wrapped with the body to help cover up the stench of death. Jesus' own body would be wrapped in linen with myrrh and aloes (John:19:39-40).

It is important to note here that the Scripture only mentions 3 kinds of gifts for the infant Jesus. No mention is given to the number of Magi visiting Him. As Jesus was prophecized to come to the House of Israel first and was born in Israel where the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi descendants lived, it would not be a stretch to think the number of Magi were from the Lost Tribes of Israel (10 Magi - Joseph consisting of 2 tribes via sons). This would also fit well with safety in numbers while travelling the distance they did.

Answer 4

gold symbolising kingship
frankincense symbolising divinity
myrrh symbolising suffering