This
past week I started reading the Bible again, beginning with the book
of Matthew. When I reached chapter two, I read once again the story
of the wise men coming to the young child, Jesus. When I reached
verse 11, I chuckled a bit, when I read the English word “treasures”,
for in Greek it is thesaurus (θησαυρούς). Now, we all know
what that a thesaurus is a dictionary of sorts that allows one to
find alternative words for a current one that just doesn’t seem to
fit exactly what we want to say. Since I write a blog post several
times a week, a thesaurus is a “treasure” to me. Today, while
doing some shopping on Amazon, I just happened to come across the
above pictures of a treasure chest for sale and was once again
reminded of the tale of the wise men and their gifts. Matthew 2 says…
Matthew
2 ( Modern
Literal Version
)
[1]
Now when* Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod
the king, behold, wise-men (1) Persian Magi; v7 & v16 from the
east came into Jerusalem, [2] saying, Where is he who has been born
the King of the Jews? For* we saw his star in the east and have come
to worship him. [3] Now when* Herod the king heard it, he was
disturbed and everyone in Jerusalem with him. [4] And having gathered
together all the high-priests and scribes of the people, he inquired
from them where the Christ should be born.
[5] Now they said to him, In Bethlehem of Judea; for* thus it has
been written through the prophet, [6] ‘And Bethlehem, a land of
Judah, you are by no means least among the governors of Judah; for* a
leader will be coming forth from you, who will be shepherding my
people Israel.’ (2) Mic 5:2, 2Sam 5:2
[7] Then Herod, having called the wise-men secretly, ascertained
accurately from them the time of the star’s appearing. [8] And he
sent them to Bethlehem and said, While* you° are traveling, probe°
out accurately the things concerning the young child. And whenever
you° have found him, report° to me, *that I may also come and may
worship him. [9] Now having heard the king, they traveled away. And
behold, the star, which they saw in the east, was preceding them
until it came and stood above where the young child was. [10] Now
having seen the star, they rejoiced with extremely great joy. [11]
And they came into the house and saw the young child with Mary, his
mother. They fell down and worshiped him. Opening their treasures,
they offered gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh to him. (3)
Isa 60:6, Psa 72:10, 15 [12]
By
coincidence, Sunday morning, Brian Kenyon taught the Bible Class and
it just happened to be on Acts, chapter 8. Although most of the
discussion was about Simon the magician attempting to purchase the
ability to bestow the gift of the Holy Spirit, I couldn’t help but
think for a few moments about the passage below and thought about the
aspect of Simon being a magi of sorts and thought of the previous
passage (Matthew 2) and the gift that they brought to the young
Jesus. That portion of Acts 8 says:
Acts 8 (MLV)
[9]
But there was a certain man, Simon by name, who was formerly in the
city practicing-magic and astonishing the people of Samaria, saying
that he himself was someone great. [10] To whom they were
taking-heed, from the little to the great, saying, This one is the
power of God, the Great. [11] Now they were taking-heed to him
because he had astonished them with his magic for a considerable
time.
And
I thought about magicians, magi and things like this on and off
during the day. How did they do what they do? Could I ever really
understand these things or were they beyond my humble ability to
really know? Then while discussing the final week of Jesus’ life in
Sunday evening Bible class, Janet Shatzer mentioned that the
following passage was puzzling to her.
Matthew
27 ( MLV )
[50]
Now Jesus, having cried again with a loud voice, his spirit left.
[51] And behold, the curtain of the temple was split-apart into two
pieces, from the top to the bottom, and the earth shook, and the
rocks were split-apart; [52] and the tombs were opened, and
many bodies of the holy-ones who had fallen-asleep were raised.
[53] And coming forth out of the tombs after his awakening, they
entered into the holy city and were appearing to many.
There
were questions like… Why does only Matthew tell us about this
resurrection? Who were these people? Why doesn’t history mention
them? Could it be that the Jews covered these things up to discredit
the resurrected Jesus? Why only were the holy ones resurrected? No
one in the class could explain these things, and not being content
with my own ignorance, I decided to see if I could find out myself.
For over an hour, I was at my computer, reading every commentary
about Matthew 27: 52f. Quite a few commentaries said nothing at all
about these verses, others attempted to answer my questions, but only
ended up talking in circles. Even commentators like Gill and Calvin
could not explain it to my satisfaction.
Eventually,
I gave up my quest. I did not truly understand neither magicians nor
the passage about this resurrection. Frankly, I felt quite stupid. I
finally dragged myself to bed and as soon as I awoke today, a verse
that I had learned over 40 years ago came to my mind:
Deuteronomy
29 ( MLV )
[29]
The secret things belong to Jehovah our God, but the things that are
revealed belong to us and to our sons until everlasting, that we may
do all the words of this law.
The
moral of all this is: We all will probably come across things we do
not understand, but what God has given to know, let us learn to put
that into practice in our lives. Treasure that!