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Understanding The Bible |
Who Is Jesus?
Part-6
By Joan A
Deering
In Part 5 we read that Herod was troubled or
disturbed by what the chief priests and scribes spoke regarding that the Messiah
was to be born in Bethlehem of Judea.
“Then
Herod secretly called for the magi and determined from them the exact time the
star appeared. And he sent them to
Bethlehem
and said, “Go and search carefully for the
Child; and when you have found Him, report to me, so that I too may come and
worship Him.”
Matthew 2:7-8
[1]
Herod was calculating when Jesus was born based on
the exact time the star appeared. He
had a plan… as we will see in our next lesson.
“After
hearing the king, they went on their way; and behold, the star, which they had
seen in the east, went on ahead of them until it came to a stop over the
place where the Child was to be found. When they saw the star, they rejoiced
exceedingly with great joy. And after they came into the house, they saw the
Child with His mother Mary; and they fell down and worshiped Him. Then they
opened their treasures and presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and
myrrh.
Matthew 2:9-11
The star led them to the house where Mary, Joseph
and Jesus were. At this point the magi worshiped Jesus who they determined was
the Messiah. At this point we don’t
know exactly how old Jesus was, but He was probably less than two as we will see
later.
The magi knew the prophecy of His coming was
fulfilled for they had heard and read about Him in the Old Testament scriptures
in the land where they came from. They brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and
myrrh.
The Gold:
A symbol of
kingship.
[2]
The Frankincense:
“It’s most general use in Scripture is that perfume that was an incense
burned upon the Jewish alter.” “In
Persian sculptures we see it burned before the king.”
[3]
The Myrrh: A well-known gum resin extracted from the Arabian Balsamodendron
Myrrha. It was used as a perfume,
for embalming, and as an ingredient of the holy anointing oil.
[4]
The magi understood who He was. They were led by
this miraculous star to where He was. They were prepared to worship Him when
they arrived there!
“And
after being warned by God in a dream not
to return to Herod, the magi left for their own country by another way.”
Matthew 2:12
[1] All Scriptures
taken from the New American Standard Bible
[2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_Magi
[3] Unger, Merrill,
Unger’s Bible Dictionary, @1957 Original work of Moody Bible
Institute of Chicago, Pg 615
[4] Ibid. Pg 1345
2022-02-09 0930