Matthew 2:11

11 . the house ] St Matthew gives no hint that “the house” was an inn, or that the babe was lying in a manger. Perhaps here as in other places we are misled by the ideas suggested by great pictures; and in truth the visit of the Magi should be placed at least some days after the events recorded in Luke 2:1-38 . their treasures ] Properly caskets or chests in which treasures were placed. Such offerings to kings were quite in accordance with Eastern usage. Seneca says “No one may salute a Parthian king without bringing a gift;” cp. Psalm 68:29 ; Psalm 72:10 . frankincense and myrrh were products of Arabia, and, according to Herodotus, of that country only. They were both used for medicinal purposes and for embalming; cp. John 19:39 .

And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and {h} fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their {i} treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. (h) A kind of humble and lovely reverence. (i) The rich and costly presents, which they brought him.

Matthew 2:11 . The Magi enter and do homage .— καὶ ε . ε . τ . οἰκίαν : the house . In Luke the shepherds find the holy family in a stable , and the holy child lying in a manger; reconcilable by assuming that the Magi arrived after they had found refuge in a friend’s house (Epiphan. Theophy.).— εἶδον τ . π .… αὐτοῦ : εἶδον better than εὗρον , which seems to have been introduced by the copyists as not only in itself suitable to the situation, but relieving the monotony caused by too frequent use of εἶδον ( Matthew 2:9-10 ). The child with His mother , Joseph not mentioned, not intentionally, that no wrong suspicions might occur to the Gentiles (Rabanus in Aquin. Cat. Aur. ).— καὶ πεσόντες … σμύρναν . They come, eastern fashion, with full hands, as befits those who enter into the presence of a king. They open the boxes or sacks ( θησαυροὺς , some ancient copies seem to have read πήρας = sacculos, which Grotius, with probability, regards as an interpretative gloss that had found its way into the text, vide Epiphanius Adv. Haer. Alogi., c. 8), and bring forth gold, frankincense and myrrh , the two latter being aromatic gums distilled from trees.— λίβανον : in classic Greek, the tree, in later Greek and N. T., the gum, τὸ θυμιώμενον = λιβανωτός , vide Phryn. ed. Lobeck, p. 187. The gifts were of three kinds, hence the inference that the Magi were three in number.

That they were kings was deduced from texts in Psalms and Prophecies ( e.g. , Psalm 72:10 , Isaiah 60:3 ), predicting that kings would come doing homage and bringing gifts to Messiah. The legend of the three kings dates as far back as Origen, and is beautiful but baseless. It grew with time; by-and-by the kings were furnished with names. The legendary spirit loves definiteness. The gifts would be products of the givers’ country, or in high esteem and costly there. Hence the inference drawn by some that the Magi were from Arabia. Thus Grotius: “Myrrha nonnisi in Arabia nascitur, nec thus nisi apud Jabaeos Arabum portionem: sed et aurifera est felix Arabia”. Gold and incense ( λίβανος ) are mentioned in Isaiah 60:6 among the gifts to be brought to Israel in the good time coming. The fathers delighted in assigning to these gifts of the Magi mystic meanings: gold as to a king, incense as to God, myrrh as to one destined to die ( ὡς μέλλοντι γεύσασθαι θανάτου ). Grotius struck into a new line: gold = works of mercy; incense = prayer; myrrh = purity—to the disgust of Fritzsche, who thought such mystic interpretations beneath so great a scholar.

(11) Opened their treasures. —The word points to caskets, or chests, which they had brought with them. Gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.—These were natural enough as the traditional gifts of homage to a ruler. Compare the gifts sent by Jacob to Joseph (Genesis 43:11), and Psalm 45:8, for the myrrh and spices; Psalm 72:15, for the gold; Isaiah 60:6, for gold and incense. The patristic interpretation of the gifts as significant—the gold, of kingly power; the incense, of Divinity; the myrrh, of death and embalmment—interesting as it is, cannot be assumed to have been definitely present to the mind of the Evangelist. It is noticeable that there is here no mention of Joseph. Looking to his prominence in St. Matthew’s narrative, we must assume that his absence on the night of their arrival was accidental.

11. And when they were come into the house—not the stable; for as soon as Bethlehem was emptied of its strangers, they would have no difficulty in finding a dwelling-house. they saw—The received text has "found"; but here our translators rightly depart from it, for it has no authority. the young child with Mary his mother—The blessed Babe is naturally mentioned first, then the mother; but Joseph, though doubtless present, is not noticed, as being but the head of the house. and fell down and worshipped him—Clearly this was no civil homage to a petty Jewish king, whom these star-guided strangers came so far, and inquired so eagerly, and rejoiced with such exceeding joy, to pay, but a lofty spiritual homage. The next clause confirms this. and when they had opened their treasures they presented—rather, "offered." unto him gifts—This expression, used frequently in the Old Testament of the oblations presented to God, is in the New Testament employed seven times, and always in a religious sense of offerings to God. Beyond doubt, therefore, we are to understand the presentation of these gifts by the Magi as a religious offering. gold, frankincense, and myrrh—Visits were seldom paid to sovereigns without a present (1Ki 10:2, &c.; compare Ps 72:10, 11, 15; Isa 60:3, 6). "Frankincense" was an aromatic used in sacrificial offerings; "myrrh" was used in perfuming ointments. These, with the "gold" which they presented, seem to show that the offerers were persons in affluent circumstances.

That the gold was presented to the infant King in token of His royalty; the frankincense in token of His divinity, and the myrrh, of His sufferings; or that they were designed to express His divine and human natures; or that the prophetical, priestly, and kingly offices of Christ are to be seen in these gifts; or that they were the offerings of three individuals respectively, each of them kings, the very names of whom tradition has handed down—all these are, at the best, precarious suppositions. But that the feelings of these devout givers are to be seen in the richness of their gifts, and that the gold, at least, would be highly serviceable to the parents of the blessed Babe in their unexpected journey to Egypt and stay there—that much at least admits of no dispute.

Matthew 2:11 . Εἶδον , they saw ) Sweetly is expressed the increase and progress of their joy from that of seeing the star to that of seeing the KING Himself. The inferior reading, εὗρον [94] ( they found ), corresponds with the words of Herod, “Enquire diligently, and when ye have found ,” etc. But the star, by becoming stationary , spared the Magi the labour of enquiring. They did not so much find as see . Cf. Luke 2:17 ; Luke 2:20 ; Luke 2:26 ; Luke 2:30 .— προσεκύνησαν Αὐτῷ , they worshipped Him ) Mary was not an object of worship to the Magi. If she had been conceived without sin, as the greater portion of the Roman Church has now decided, why should she not then have been worshipped as well as now? for she was then already the Mother of the King, who was to be worshipped.— τοὺς θησαυροὺς αὐτῶν , their treasures ) or receptacles of treasures . The Hebrew אוצר , which is rendered by the LXX. θησαυρὸς ; in Proverbs 8:21 , etc., signifies a storehouse, a repository, even a portable chest or casket.— προσήνεγκαν , they offered ) as to a King. They were not offended by His present poverty.— ΧΡΥΣῸΝ , ΚΑῚ ΛΊΒΑΝΟΝ , ΚΑῚ ΣΜΎΡΝΑΝ , gold, and frankincense, and myrrh ) from the productions of their own country. There was a prediction concerning gold and frankincense in Isaiah 60:6 . These first fruits showed that all things were to belong to Christ, even in the mineral and vegetable kingdoms, etc.—See Haggai 2:8 . [94] BCD a read εἷδον . bc , Vulg. and Rec.

How long the virgin Mary and her holy Child had been there is not expressed; those that think these wise men came within six weeks or two months, judge that Joseph and Mary came thither from Jerusalem after that he had been there offered, to the Lord, of which you read Luke 2:22 ; but they are forced, to uphold this, to interpret Luke 2:39 , which saith that after they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth, of a considerable time after they had performed these things, which seemeth something hard and needless, especially considering Nazareth was Joseph’s own city, i.e. the city where his fixed habitation was. It is most probable that they, after so long absence, went right home, and if the wise men (which is said) found them in Bethlehem, they were gone thither again to visit some relations.

They saw the young child with Mary his mother; under what other circumstances the Scripture saith not, but questionless they were very poor and mean, which is a very strong inducement to us to believe that they had a spiritual Divine revelation, that this was a King whose kingdom was not of this world, the true Messiah and Saviour of the world; they would hardly else have treated a poor infant, in an ordinary house and no more attended, at the rate they did, for the text saith they fell down and worshipped him; a usual homage indeed which the Eastern nations paid to princes, but they used then to have better evidences of their royal state and dignity than these wise men seemed to have had, if they had not, besides the star, a Divine revelation what manner of King this was to be. We may therefore rather judge that their revelation extended not only to the birth of a King, but of such a King as indeed he was, the eternal Son of God clothed with human flesh; and that their falling down and worshipping him is to be understood of a Divine worship they paid to him, as the Saviour of the world: and so they were the first fruits of the Gentiles, owning and believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that their following offerings to him were upon that account, for opening their treasures, they presented to him gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Matthew 2:11 . Εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν ] As the Magi did not arrive till some time after the birth ( Matthew 2:1 ), it does not follow indeed from εἰς τ . οἰκ . in and by itself that the evangelist makes Jesus be born not in the stable of a friend (Luke), or in a cave (Justin and Apocrypha), but in Joseph’s house . Certainly, however, the latter follows from this, that, according to Matthew, Bethlehem is the dwelling-place of Joseph; see Remark after Matthew 2:23 . τὸ παιδίον μετὰ Μαρίας ] The non-mention of Joseph is not to be ascribed to any design. τοὺς θησαυρούς ] the chests which held their treasures , Xen. Anab . v. 4. 27; 1Ma 3:29 ; 4Ma 4:4. See Wetstein and Valckenaer, ad Herod . iv. 162. To find symbolical references in the individual presents is arbitrary. Tertullian and Chrysostom: Incense and myrrh they presented to Him as to a God; Irenaeus, Origen (in answer to Celsus, who ridiculed the divine worship of a νήπιος ), Theophylact, Euth. Zigabenus, Erasmus, Luther: as a king, they presented Him with gold; as a God, with incense and with myrrh, ὡς μέλλοντι γεύσασθαι θανάτου . Comp. the Christian Adamsbuch in Ewald, Jahrb . V. p. 81, which makes the three gifts and their meaning to be derived from Adam. It was and still is the Eastern custom not to approach princes without presents, Genesis 43:11 ; 1 Samuel 10:27 ; 1 Kings 10:2 ; Aelian, V. H. i. 31; Harmar, Beobacht. üb. d. Orient , II. p. 1 f.