What Happened To The Gifts Of The Magi

Biblegems #254

Question: Is there any record in the Bible or history as to what happened to the gifts brought by the magi to Joseph and Mary?

The Bible does not tell us what happened to the gold, frankincense and myrrh brought by the magi. There are only traditions and some reasonable speculations.

Tradition

The Monastery of St. Paul at Mt. Athos, Greece, once displayed a 15^th century box containing, according to tradition, the gold, frankincense and myrrh presented by the magi. These were originally displayed at the Holy Palace of Constantinople since the 4^th century. Following Constantinople’s fall to the Ottoman Empire in the 1400’s, the godmother of the Empire’s king offered them to the Monastery of St. Paul, where they remained until Christmas, 2014, when they were sent for display to Ukraine and Belarus. We don’t know for certain the legitimacy of the items inside the box.

Another tradition claims that the two thieves crucified along side of Jesus had stolen the gifts of the magi, while another tradition points to Judas, treasurer for Jesus’ disciples, as misappropriating the items for his personal gain.

Other Possibilities

One other tradition that has some merit suggests that Joseph and Mary used some portion of the gifts of the magi to pay for their hasty escape from Bethlehem to Egypt.

         Matt. 2:13, 15    When they [the magi] had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him”  …where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

Jesus’ family had little financial means to support their journey, their extended stay in Egypt and their eventual return to Nazareth, other than these gifts. While there is no direct evidence, the speculation is reasonable.

Another reasonable possibility is that these treasures—or at least a portion of what remained—may have been used for Jesus’ burial. While the tomb was provided at no expense (Matt. 27:57-61), the spices used to cover the body were costly. Not only so, but myrrh was one of the standard aromatics used in the burial of the dead. Mary may well have chosen to use it for the burial of her son.

In the end, what matters most is that God chose not to include this tidbit of information in the Scriptures. God guides our focus away from relics, and away from satisfying curiosity for curiosity’s sake. He knows our tendency to slip into worship of created things rather than the Creator (Rom. 1:25), and He knows our tendency to focus on trivia at the expense of eternal matters (Matt. 23:16-19).

The gifts of the magi are not about the gifts; they are examples of human beings sacrificing their wealth, their time, even their lives to worship Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords. The magi we will see in heaven; the gifts we will not.

Jesus: Born In A Manger Or House?

Biblegems #164

Question: Luke 2:7 says that Jesus was born in a manger, but Matthew 2:11 has baby Jesus in a house. Why the difference?

These two accounts actually refer to two different periods in Jesus’ early childhood. Luke chapter 2:1-7 specifically records the events surrounding Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem:

         Luke 2:6-7 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Joseph and Mary were in a crisis upon their arrival in Bethlehem. They were not the only ones visiting the small village in order to register for the census (Lk. 2:1-3). The limited inns were overcrowded with visitors. The owner of one of these inns allowed the couple to spend the night in a stall where other guests kept the donkeys they used for travel. The manger was a feeding trough for the animals, where fresh hay would become the newborn’s bed.

Obviously, the family of three would not be able to take up permanent residence in the stall…nor would they want to. They would need to find a place to call home. That’s where the account in Matthew picks up.

The Gospel of Matthew, which is primarily concerned with establishing the fulfillment of specific Old Testament prophecies regarding the coming of the Messiah, does not record the actual birth of Jesus. In fact, Matthew picks up the account “after” Jesus birth:

         Matt. 2:1-2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.

Throughout this chapter we discover just how much later these Magi visit Joseph, Mary and Jesus in their home. According to verse 1, the Magi knew when they left Persia that the Jewish messiah had already been born. Upon their arrival in Jerusalem they asked, “Where is the one who has been born…?”

King Herod had already figured out where Jesus had been born (Matt. 2:5-6). He was more concerned about when. He wanted to learn how old the baby was at this point. So he squeezed that information out of the Magi:

         Matt. 2:7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared.

Based upon that information, Herod dispatched troops to Bethlehem to murder all male children ages two years or under (Matt. 2:16). Jesus was spared because the Lord warned Joseph in a dream to leave Bethlehem and take his family to safety.

Matthew’s Gospel places Joseph, Mary and Jesus in a “house” in Bethlehem at time when Jesus was nearly two years old. This is not the manger scene we all grew up with—Jesus in a manger surrounded by shepherds and the Magi at the same time—but it does demonstrate how fortunate we are to have four Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry.