Matthew 2:11

Matthew 2:11. The house. Probably not the place where Jesus was born, but temporary lodgings, in which they remained until ‘the forty days of purification' were accomplished. If the event falls within that period it would be easy to find the house, since the story told by the shepherds would not be so soon forgotten in a little place like Bethlehem.

With Mary, his mother, not ‘Mary with her child' (as the later Mariolatry would have it). The same order occurs in Matthew 2:13-14; Matthew 2:20-21. Joseph seems to have been absent.

And they fell down and worshipped him, and Him alone. The worship was more than the usual reverence to kings, or the journey of the Magi would seem unaccountable (comp. Matthew 2:2).

Opening their treasures. The bags or boxes containing their treasures.

Gifts to a superior sovereign were usual in the East

Gold. Offered -chiefly to kings and gods.

Frankincense. A resinous transparent gum of bitter taste and fragrant odor, used in sacrifices and temple worship, distilled from a tree in Arabia and India.

Myrrh. An aromatic gum, produced from a thorn-bush, indigenous in Arabia and Ethiopia, but growing also in Palestine, used for fumigation and for improving the taste of wine, but especially as an ingredient of a very precious ointment. The Greek word is smyrna. These gifts were costly, but give no clue to the home of the magi, nor do they indicate their number or rank.

The holy family were thus providentially supplied with means for the journey to Egypt, and for the purification of Mary. Strangers from a distance must be the instruments of providing for the born King of the Jews; the promised Messiah supported in his poverty by heathen. Offering to the Lord what we have; He knows how to put it to the very best use. These heathen show how the sight of Christ not only leads earnest hearts to worship, but willing hands to give.