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Thursday, December 15, 2011

The Gift of Myrrh

The Gift of Myrrh by thatjeffcarter was here




The Magi brought myrrh as a gift for the infant Jesus - a strange gift for a newborn.  Myrrh was a spice used in the preparation of corpses for burial.  They brought something associated with death to the newly-born messiah. 


Myrrh – that third gift mentioned by Matthew – is an aromatic gum, the sap of a tree that grows in Arabia and Eastern Africa. The trees are cut with a knife; the sap oozes out and hardens into “tears” that are collected.  The tears of myrrh were sometimes crushed into powder and worn by women as an aromatic sachet.  Or the myrrh powder could be mixed with wine.  Wine mixed with myrrh was used as a palliative or pain killer – and was offered to Jesus as he was dying on the cross.
Myrrh, though quite expensive (valued more than its weight in gold) was commonly used in the embalming of corpses and burned to mask the stench of death.  Myrrh is a symbol of death and dying.


But even this was appropriate.

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I used a few sounds from The Freesound Project:
Instant 02 
Stretched Theremin 
If you like this (and I hope you do) feel free to download it and share it with others. It's my gift to you.

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