…behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? (Matthew 2:1,2 ESV)
Gold and The King
In Biblical terms, Kings provide order. In the books of Judges and I Samuel, everyone did what was right in their own eyes (instead of God’s eyes) and the result was chaos and unfaithfulness. And so God provided order by giving them King David.
The Kings who ruled God’s people only did well when the Kings knew they served God. When they forgot that, so did the people, with disastrous results.
Ever since Adam’s sin, chaos has tried to disrupt God’s creation. Just like God’s people, creation prospers under order.
God’s promises to King David, that David’s line would eternally rule, required the King of God’s Kingdom to be human. Man’s inability to be holy required the King of God’s Kingdom to be divine.
And only the Union of God and Man found in Christ could ensure the end of chaos, and the establishment of the blessings found in orderliness.
The Incarnation was the formation of the perfect and necessary King… and so the Wise Men brought Gold, the symbolic gift of Kingship.