According to the Gospels, the Wisemen, or Magi, brought three gifts to the Baby Jesus: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Everyone knows what gold is and looks like, but what about the other two? Above is pictured frankincense on the left and myrrh on the right.
“And when they [the Wisemen] were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.” Matthew 2:11.
What is frankincense? It is a resin from the sap of a tree anciently only found in southern Arabia. It is used for the making of perfumes and incense. Because it had to be imported from southern Arabia over long distances and only limited quantities could be produced, it was extremely expensive.
What is myrrh? Myrrh is also a resin from the sap of a tree anciently found in southern Arabia and the Horn of Africa especially in what is today Somalia. It was used in medicine, perfumes, and incense. It was also used by Moses to make an anointing oil mixed with other spices in olive oil, Exodus 20:23-28.
Myrrh was also used in the burial of Jesus Christ:
“And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.” John 19:39-40.
All we know about the wisemen, or magi, is that they came from east of the land of Israel. Many scholars believe they came from the area of Mesopotamia, the lands of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers [in present day Iraq]. During New Testament times there were more Jews living there than there were in Judea and Galilee combined.
For more on the wisemen see Where Did the Wisemen Visit King Herod? The Herodium.
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