What did Joseph and Mary do with the gifts the magi brought to Jesus?

Response

Matthew 2:1–12 recounts the story of wise men from the East, known as magi, who followed a star to Bethlehem to see baby Jesus. They found the child with his mother, Mary, and worshiped him, offering gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh (verse 11, NLT).

When the magi arrived, Jesus was likely around two years old, and the family had moved from the stable to a more suitable house. The magi worshiped the child and presented him with valuable gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. These gifts were typically reserved for esteemed individuals like kings and queens (1 Kings 9:28;1 Kings 10:2).

After the magi’s visit and gift-giving, God instructed Joseph in a dream to take the child and Mary to Egypt to escape Herod’s plan to harm Jesus «And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. », (Matthew 2:13). That night, they left for Egypt and remained there until Herod’s death.

The Bible does not specify what Mary and Joseph did with the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.Myrrh, but many scholars have noted that these gifts likely helped finance the family’s material needs during their journey to Egypt and beyond.

Matthew does not specify the exact value or quantity of each gift, but the items were esteemed commodities in ancient times. Gold, the most valuable of all precious metals, was the standard currency of the day (see Acts 3:4-6; Matthew 10:9). It was used in jewelry (Genesis 24:53; Exodus 35:22; 1 Peter 3:3), in the priestly vestments (Exodus 28:4-5; 11-15), and extensively in the furnishings of the tabernacle (Exodus 25:11-13; 38:21-24; 39:37-38) and temple (1 Kings 6:28, 30, 32, 35; 7:48-51; 1 Chronicles 22:14). It is reasonable to assume that Joseph would have used the magi’s gift of gold to cover the family’s expenses.

Frankincense and myrrh, both aromatic resins, were used in worship due to their highly fragrant properties. God instructed the Israelites to use frankincense as one of the pure ingredients in the most holy blend of incense reserved exclusively for ritual purposes. No other incense mixture was allowed on the altar of the Lord (Exodus 30:9, 34-38). Pure frankincense was placed near the bread of the presence «And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire unto the LORD. », (Leviticus 24:7) and sprinkled in with the grain offerings (Leviticus 2:1-2). It was also used in perfumes (Song of Solomon 3:6; Song of Solomon 4:6, 14).

This spice was expensive and precious for a couple of reasons. First, it had to be gathered from far-off regions of India, North Africa, and South Arabia and transported long distances by camel caravan back to Israel. The processing of frankincense was complex, taking months to harvest and distill.

Myrrh was another valuable spice used by merchants for trading in Bible times (Genesis 37:25; Revelation 18:11-13). It was considered a sacred anointing oil (Exodus 30:22-28). Myrrh was also used to make perfumes (Song of Solomon 1:13; Psalm 45:8), medicine (Mark 15:22-23), beauty treatments «Now when every maid’s turn was come to go in to king Ahasuerus, after that she had been twelve months, according to the manner of the women, (for so were the days of their purifications accomplished, to wit, six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odours, and with other things for the purifying of the women;) », (Esther 2:12), and for anointing the dead (John 19:38-40). Like frankincense, myrrh production was time-consuming to process, and the raw material had to be imported from distant lands.

Any of the gifts the magi brought to JesUs could have been sold or traded for supplies, accommodations, and living expenses. Some traditions speculate that Mary saved the frankincense and myrrh to use as ointments to anoint Jesus’ body for burial. But the Bible doesn’t mention this. Instead, John’s Gospel states that Nicodemus brought “about seventy-five pounds” of a perfumed mixture of “myrrh and aloes” to anoint Jesus’ body for burial (John 19:39-40). Since the Bible does not reveal what Joseph and Mary did with the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, the best readers can do is hazard a guess.