The Marriage of the Magi

Rereading Matthew 2:11

Abstract

This essay examines a common allegorical interpretation of the magi’s gifts, with a focus on myrrh as the reading’s weak link. Evidence from the New Testament, Matthew’s historical context, and the Hebrew Bible does not connect myrrh with death; on the contrary, this evidence, drawn especially from the Song of Songs, indicates that the magi’s gifts would have suggested romance or eroticism to Matthew’s earliest readers. I propose an alternative interpretation of the gifts in this light and in conjunction with Matthew’s use of marital imagery for Christ elsewhere in his Gospel: the gifts foreshadow the relationship of love between believers and Christ, a relationship akin to marriage or sexual union.