Not Your Typical Baby Gifts

Not Your Typical Baby Gifts

Bible Blast: Read Isaiah 9:6-7

They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Matthew 2:11

Have you been to a baby shower? It’s a fun time of lots of “oohs” and “aahs,” while a very uncomfortable but delighted pregnant woman opens oodles of really cute presents. She gets teeny-weeny baby socks, cozy blankets, brightly colored toys that jingle and squeak, and anything else a baby could possibly need. So when I read the gifts the wise men brought for baby Jesus, I thought, “Huh? Wouldn’t a toy have been more appropriate?”

As always, when we read something in Scripture that isn’t easy to figure out, we just have to dig a little deeper to understand. Gold, frankincense, and myrrh were appropriate gifts for this particular baby. Here’s why.

1) Giving gold to baby Jesus signified that he is King.Gold is a symbol of royalty, and the wise men knew this little toddler was the King of kings.

2) Giving frankincense to baby Jesus meant that he is God. Priests in those days used frankincense as part of their worship of God. Exodus 30 describes the specific instructions God gave Moses about using frankincense to make a particular type of incense sacred for the Lord. God says, “Do not make any incense with this formula for yourselves; consider it holy to the LORD” (verse 37, NIV). The wise men knew that, when they presented the frankincense to this baby, they were presenting it to God.

3) Giving myrrh to baby Jesus meant that he came to die. Myrrh was used for embalming someone after the person died. (Embalming is a process they used to preserve the body.) In fact, John 19:39 says that myrrh was one of the substances used to prepare Jesus’ body for burial after the Crucifixion. Right away the wise men knew why this most special baby Jesus had been born—to die for their sins and for the sins of the world.

Girl Gab: If you could be one of the wise men today and you had the opportunity to give the baby Jesus a gift, what would you bring him? Something you made? Something you already have? Talk with your mom for a minute about what you think Mary and Joseph must have felt or thought when they saw these symbolic gifts given to their baby.