Most of us are all familiar with the New Testament account of the birth of the Messiah and how He was born in Bethlehem. We are also well aware of the wisemen from the East who were guided by a star and came to visit the Messiah sometime after His birth. We read about the visit of the wisemen (Magi) in the gospel of Matthew:

When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. – Matthew 2:10-11

The humble birth of the Messiah was elevated by these wisemen from the East who traveled a long journey to visit the One who had been born King of the Jews.

When the wisemen came to visit Yeshua, they also brought gifts to honor Him; “…gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” These are very unique gifts to bring to a child. Why did they bring these particular gifts? I have often heard that the gold symbolizes royalty, the frankincense is connected to the priesthood, and the myrrh was in preparation for His death. This is one possible understanding. We are never explicitly told in the text as to why these particular gifts were brought, however, I believe this week’s Torah Portion reading will provide a clearer understanding in connection to these gifts.

Sanctification of the Tabernacle

The majority of the second half of the book of Exodus focuses on the design and construction of the Tabernacle. God gave Moses the exact details of every part of the Tabernacle and Moses gave these instructions to the people of Israel. In this week’s reading from the Torah we are given the specifications for the anointing oil and the incense which were both to be used in connection to the Tabernacle.

The Anointing Oil – Myrrh

The anointing oil was to be made from a specific blend of spices together with olive oil according to the instructions from the LORD:

Moreover, the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Take also for yourself the finest of spices: of flowing myrrh five hundred shekels, and of fragrant cinnamon half as much, two hundred and fifty, and of fragrant cane two hundred and fifty, and of cassia five hundred, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and of olive oil a hin. You shall make of these a holy anointing oil, a perfume mixture, the work of a perfumer; it shall be a holy anointing oil…” – Ex. 30:22-25

Although we read in these verses that there were four separate spices that were to be mixed together with olive oil to make the anointing oil, we can see from the text that myrrh stands out as the primary ingredient.

While the other spices are simply listed as a spice, only myrrh is qualified by the phrase “flowing myrrh.” In the Hebrew we read this phrase as מר דרור – Mor Dror, which is a very unique phrase in the Hebrew language. The Hebrew word מר – Mor is simply the word for myrrh, however, the word דרור – Dror is the Hebrew word for liberty, freedom, or release as we read it in context in the book of Leviticus:

You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family. – Leviticus 25:10

The year of jubilee, the fiftieth year, was to be a year of releasing debts and financial freedom in the Land of Israel. It was a time of redemption and liberation from all oppression. Therefore, when we read the words מר דרור – Mor Dror in Exodus 30:23 we can understand that the myrrh to be added to the mixture was to be a free-flowing substance but it was also uniquely connected to the practical and spiritual freedom of the year of jubilee.

The LORD prescribed this blend of spices to create a “holy anointing oil” (Ex. 30:25), meaning that it was not to be used for common use. This holy anointing oil had a specific function in connection to the Tabernacle:

With it you shall anoint the tent of meeting and the ark of the testimony, and the table and all its utensils, and the lampstand and its utensils, and the altar of incense, and the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the laver and its stand. You shall also consecrate them, that they may be most holy; whatever touches them shall be holy. You shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may minister as priests to Me. You shall speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘This shall be a holy anointing oil to Me throughout your generations. It shall not be poured on anyone’s body, nor shall you make any like it in the same proportions; it is holy, and it shall be holy to you. Whoever shall mix any like it or whoever puts any of it on a layman shall be cut off from his people.’ – Ex. 30:26-33

This anointing oil was to be used to consecrate all of the objects and tools of the Tabernacle along with the priests who were to serve in the Tabernacle.

Everything that was anointed with this holy oil would be considered holy unto the LORD. Some form of the Hebrew word “holy” – קדש – Kadash appears in these verses dealing with the anointing oil (Ex. 30:22-33) eleven times. It even states in Exodus 30:29 in reference to all of the objects of the Tabernacle, “You shall also consecrate them, that they may be most holy; whatever touches them shall be holy.” There are two interesting highlights in this verse. First of all, it says that all of the Tabernacle objects which are anointed with the oil are to be considered “most holy,” literally קודש קדשים – Kodesh Kodashim – holy of holies. We will see the significance of this phrase “holy of holies” later in the article. Then the verse ends by saying that whatever touches any of these holy objects also becomes holy. The holy anointing oil, with myrrh as its primary spice, was used to set apart both objects and priests as holy to the LORD, sanctified for His service alone.

The Incense – Frankincense

Just as God prescribed a particular formula for the holy anointing oil, He also prescribed a particular formula for the incense to be burned on the altar of incense:

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Take for yourself spices, stacte and onycha and galbanum, spices with pure frankincense; there shall be an equal part of each. With it you shall make incense, a perfume, the work of a perfumer, salted, pure, and holy. You shall beat some of it very fine, and put part of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting where I will meet with you; it shall be most holy to you. The incense which you shall make, you shall not make in the same proportions for yourselves; it shall be holy to you for the LORD. Whoever shall make any like it, to use as perfume, shall be cut off from his people.” – Ex. 30:34-38

Just as myrrh was set apart as “free-flowing myrrh” in the mixture for the anointing oil, we also see here how frankincense is set apart in the blend of spices for the incense in the following manner: ולבונה זכה – Uhlevona Zaka – with pure frankincense. Out of the four spices used to make the incense, only frankincense was set apart by the word pure.

This unique blend of spices made with pure frankincense was to be placed on the altar of incense and burned twice daily, morning and evening (Ex. 30:7-8). This incense was to be a holy, special blend to the LORD and not to be made for or used by the common man (Ex. 30:38). The LORD even went as far as designating this special blend as “most holy” (Ex. 30:36), and again this is the same Hebrew phrase we saw used with the anointing oil: קודש קדשים – Kodesh Kodashim – holy of holies.

The Holy of Holies

The Hebrew phrase קודש קדשים – Kodesh Kodashim – holy of holies is only used 24 times in all of the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. In almost every occurrence this phrase is either used in reference to the Tabernacle or the offerings of the Tabernacle. The phrase “the holy of holies” is also used in a well-known manner to speak of the inner room of the Tabernacle (Ex. 26:33-34). The majority of the remainder of times that this phrase is used in the Torah is found in the book of Leviticus to refer to the holiness of the meat of the sacrifices on the altar of the Tabernacle (For example: Lev. 2:3).

In the book of Numbers we also read about the Levites who were descendants of the Kohath who had the distinct honor to carry and transport the holy articles of the Tabernacle: “This is the work of the descendants of Kohath in the tent of meeting, concerning the most holy things.” (Num. 4:4) The phrase “…the most holy things…” is again the Hebrew phrase קודש הקדשים – Kodesh HaKodashim – the holy of holies or the most holy. In the verses that follow the above verse in Numbers chapter four we read about all of the holy objects in the Tabernacle service and then we see this phrase “holy of holies” appear again at the end of this section:

Then the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, “Do not let the tribe of the families of the Kohathites be cut off from among the Levites. But do this to them that they may live and not die when they approach the most holy objects: Aaron and his sons shall go in and assign each of them to his work and to his load; but they shall not go in to see the holy objects even for a moment, or they will die.” – Num. 4:17-20

All of the objects in the Tabernacle service were considered to be “…the most holy objects…” – קודש הקדשים – Kodesh HaKodashim and they were to be treated in a holy manner by being covered by the priests before the Levites went in to move them so that they could not even look upon them.

Although the inner room of the Tabernacle was called “the holy of holies,” we see consistently in the Scriptures how all of the objects of the Tabernacle were called by this phrase “holy of holies” as they were all used in unison to worship the living God. We see evidence of this in the first book of Chronicles:

But Aaron and his sons offered on the altar of burnt offering and on the altar of incense, for all the work of the most holy place, and to make atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses the servant of God had commanded. – 1 Chronicles 6:49 (in Hebrew it is 6:34)

Again in this verse, the phrase “the most holy place” is the same as mentioned above in the Hebrew – קודש הקדשים – Kodesh HaKodashim. The Tabernacle and the priestly service all pointed to the presence of God who made His abode in the most holy place, the holy of holies!

The Gifts of Gold, Frankincense, & Myrrh

In answering our original question about the gifts of the wisemen, it appears that the treasures of frankincense and myrrh, which uniquely represented the anointing oil and the incense, were given in a symbolic fashion for the house of God (the Tabernacle and later the Temple) as both of these spices were identified with the holy of holies. The gifts which were given made a prophetic declaration that the holy of holies had come from God and was embodied in the Child whom they worshiped! The myrrh represented the anointing oil which was used to set apart as holy the priests and objects of the Tabernacle. The frankincense was used as sweet smelling incense which was continually offered up on the altar of incense before the holy of holies, before the very presence of the LORD. What about the gold?

We know that all of the objects located inside of the Tabernacle ( and the Temple) were made of pure gold, or of wood that was covered in pure gold (Ex. 25. 30:1-10). The gift of gold given by the wisemen appears to be representing the most holy objects which were used in the Tabernacle and later the Temple. The wisemen seemed to understand that this King of the Jews who had been born in Bethlehem was somehow greater than the objects of worship made of gold and how they pointed to God Himself, as Yeshua would later explain during His ministry years:

Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.’ You fools and blind men! Which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold? And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, that is nothing, but whoever swears by the offering on it, he is obligated.’ You blind men, which is more important, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering? Therefore, whoever swears by the altar, swears both by the altar and by everything on it. And whoever swears by the temple, swears both by the temple and by Him who dwells within it. – Matt. 23:16-21

Yeshua corrected the religious hypocrisy of His day and reminded His listeners to be careful with their words and, more importantly, to remember the One who dwelt in the Temple.

Worship at the Tabernacle and later at the Temple was never to be an end in itself but it was always to be a reminder of the holiness of God. When Yeshua walked this earth He came to fulfill the Temple worship through His life and His death. Yeshua hinted at this in his discussion with the Pharisees about the sanctity of the Sabbath and Temple service:

Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent? But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here. – Matt. 12:5-6

Yeshua did not come to destroy the Law by which the Jewish people lived but to fulfill it (Matt. 5:17-19). Yeshua came to this earth as Emanuel, God with us, and His presence on the earth overshadowed the Temple service. The wiseman seemed to understand this reality as they brought gifts to the Messiah which symbolized the Temple and rather than worshiping the objects of the Temple, they worshiped the Messiah in Bethlehem.

The Holy of Holies at The End of Days

In studying the use of the Hebrew phrase קודש קדשים – Kodesh Kodashim – holy of holies throughout the Old Testament, I found it interesting to see how this phrase was uniquely used to connect the holy of holies of the Tabernacle and Temple to the Messiah at His First Coming. I also discovered that this same Hebrew phrase is used in connection to the Messiah’s Second Coming. In the “Seventy Weeks Prophecy” found in the book of Daniel, we read how the holy of holies is anointed one last time:

Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place. – Daniel 9:24

The conclusion of the seventy weeks ushers in the millennial reign of the Messiah.

At the end of the seventy weeks of this prophecy we read how “the most holy place” will be anointed. The word “place” is not actually in the original text. The translators assume that it is referring to the place of the holy of holies in the context of Daniel 9:24-27. In the Hebrew we literally read ולמשוח קודש קדשים – VeLimshok Kodesh Kodeshim – to anoint the holy of holies. There are various opinions whether the “holy of holies” which is spoken of in this verse is referring to the place of the Temple or the literal person of the Messiah, “the Anointed One.” Either way, we know that the Messiah, who fully embodies the holy of holies, will reign from the anointed place that God has designated on this earth where His Temple once stood, Mount Zion:

But as for Me, I have installed My King upon Zion, My holy mountain. – Ps. 2:6

The beauty and majesty of God’s word reveal to us how the most holy place where God has caused His Name to dwell, Mount Zion, and the One who embodies the fullness of who God in all of His holiness, Yeshua the Messiah, will be anointed once more to declare the holy of holies of God Most High upon this earth when the Messiah comes to reign as King.

The precious gifts that the wisemen gave to Yeshua after His birth were more than likely not fully understood at that time by either the givers, the wisemen, or the receivers, Mary and Joseph on behalf of Yeshua. It is possible that only Yeshua Himself understood the significance of these prophetic gifts at that time. Whatever the case may be, the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh continue to remind us today that the holy of holies, which once resided in the Tabernacle, came to this earth as a child and will return in His holy anointing as the King of Kings to reign from Mount Zion, the location of the holy of holies!

Shabbat Shalom!

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**The Hebrew name “Yeshua” is used in the biblical quotations in place of the English name “Jesus” to give emphasis to the meaning of this name, salvation. The word “Messiah” is also used in place of the word “Christ” to bring clarity to the office of Yeshua.

Torah Portion: Ex. 30:11 – 34:35

Haftara: 1 Kings 18:1-39

Shabbat Parah: Num. 19:1-22

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Gold, Frankincense, & Myrrh – Ki Tisa