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Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 8
stranger
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OP
stranger
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 8 |
Here is the question: A lady calls me and asks if I have "Frankincense and Myrh (sp), you know like the three wise men etc.?" (I sell cooking spices)
Then it dawns on me - I have no idea WHAT Frankincense and Myrh were or if there is a modern different name for these items
Help!!
And thanx
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Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 742
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 742 |
Courtesy of WorldBook 2002:
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Myrrh, pronounced mur, is a fragrant gum resin that has been used as a raw material for perfumes since ancient times. It also has been burned as an incense, and used in medicines and in embalming (preserving bodies). The Bible says that one of the wise men brought Jesus a gift of myrrh (Matt. 2). Myrrh comes from trees of the genus Commiphora found mainly in Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia. The tree discharges the resin from between the outer layers of the bark, and the resin falls to the ground. The perfume ingredient is an oil obtained by heating the resin to produce a vapor, then cooling the vapor.
Frankincense is a fragrant gum resin used as a raw material for perfumes. Perfumers call it olibanum. Since ancient times, people have burned it as an incense in religious services. The ancient Egyptians used it in medicines. The Bible says that one of the wise men brought Jesus a gift of frankincense (Matt. 2). Today, it also serves to mask the unpleasant odors of mixtures used for fumigation.
Frankincense comes from trees of the genus Boswellia that grow in the southern Arabian peninsula and northern Somalia. Harvesters cut into the bark of the trees and collect the resin in the form of colorless to pale yellow drops called tears. Perfumers extract oil from the tears by dissolving them in alcohol, then passing steam through them. The oil gives perfumes a long-lasting, spicy fragrance.
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Both are available in gum* form in fine hippy flash-back stores everywhere. As sjm so ably points out, their modern names are frankincense and myrrh, respectively.
*That'd be um-gooey tree sap type gum, not the chewing variety, as also evidenced by sjm's post.
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
And what are the symbolic implications of the three gifts in terms of the life that was to come for Christ?
I remember hearing about the symbolic implications a while back, but have forgotten them.
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
symbolic implications
All I remember is the verse form the carol:
Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume
breathes a life of gathering gloom.
Sorrowing, sighing,
bleeding, dying,
sealed in a stone cold tomb.
Hey! It's almost a limerick!
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624 |
Frankincense and myrrh were extremely expensive items in the first century AD (and for many centuries afterwards,too) and the symbolism was purely that the three kings were forking out for extremely valuable gifts, thus allegorically underlining the putative importance of the birth. Parr-apapa Pum!
Donkey fodder, infant formula and disposable diapers would probably have been much more practical, of course. But you couldn't expect kings to think of things like that, could you?
- Pfranz
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