The Gift of Frankincense
“May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.” – Psalm 141:2 Another of the gifts the wise men brought to Jesus was frankincense (incense for short). A common element of ceremonial worship in ancient cultures, this mix of spices and gum resin was made by scraping the bark off of trees and capturing beads of amber after they dried. When burned, it released an aroma that was both beautiful and strong. According to traditional Jewish law, the priest was to enter the temple twice daily and make an offering of incense, but it had to be of a pure and holy variety, just like Jesus. Through the years, the rising of this aroma before God came to be associated with the prayers of His people, and its presentation to Jesus by the wise men was symbolic of
