Sunday, December 17, 2006

Ancient Translation

Julia and I were looking at one of the many nativity sets we have at our house today. Julia pointed out that one of the three wise men had a wedding band on. Then we realized that all three had rings on. Julia said, “No wonder they are called the Three Wise Men. They were married!"

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Too funny! And too true!

Shankar said...

Here's Dave Barry's (I think) definition of a Wise Man (I should have sent this a month ago):

This is the time of year when we think back to the very first Christmas, when the Three Wise Men - Gaspar, Balthasar and Herb - went to see the baby Jesus, and, according to the Book of Matthew, “presented unto Him gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”

These are simple words, but if we analyze them carefully, we discover an important, yet often-overlooked, theological fact: There is no mention of wrapping paper.

If there had been wrapping paper, Matthew would have said so:
“And lo, the gifts WERE inside 600 square cubits of paper.
“And the paper WAS festooned with pictures of Frosty the Snowman.
“And Joseph WAS going to throweth it away, but Mary saideth unto him, she
saideth, ‘Holdeth it! That is nice paper! Saveth it for next year!’
“And Joseph DID rolleth his eyeballs.
“And the baby Jesus WAS more interested in the paper than, for example, the frankincense.”

But these words do not appear in the Bible, which means that the very first Christmas gifts were NOT wrapped. This is because the people giving those gifts had two important characteristics:

1. They were wise.
2. They were men.

(There's much more along these lines, but you get the idea.)