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!
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