Exodus 30:23

Take thou also unto thee principal spices,.... To make the anointing oil with, and are as follow: of pure myrrh five hundred shekels; it is strange that Saadiah, and so Maimonides (f), should take

Moreover the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Take thou also ... Oil is frequently mentioned in Scripture as an emblem of sanctification (cf.

Take thou also unto thee: the words are very emphatical, and the Jews from hence do rightly infer, that this ointment was but once made, and that by Moses’ s own hands. Spices: see ; and compare . Pure myrrh, Heb. myrrh of liberty; either, 1. Free from adulteration or mixture; or rather, 2. Freely dropping from the tree, which is esteemed better than that which is forced out of it. Calamus; a sweet reed, of which see .

(23) Principal spices.—The East is productive of a great variety of spices; but of these some few have always been regarded with especial favour. Herodotus (iii. 107-112) mentions five “principal spices” as furnished by Arabia to other countries, whereof two at least appear to be identical with those here spoken of. Pure myrrh.—Heb., myrrh of freedom. The shrub which produces myrrh is the balsamodendron myrrha. The spice is obtained from it in two ways. That which is purest and best exudes from it naturally (Theophrast. De Odoribus, § 29; Plin., H. N., xii. 35), and is here called “myrrh of freedom,” or “freely flowing myrrh.” The other and inferior form is obtained from incisions made in the bark. Myrrh was very largely used in ancient times. The Egyptians employed it as a main element in their best method of embalming (Herod. ii. 86), and also burnt it in some of their sacrifices (ib. 40). In Persia it was highly esteemed as an odour (Athen., Deipn. 12, p. 514A); the Greeks used it in unguents. And as incense; Roman courtesans scented their hair with it (Hor. Od., iii. 14, 1. 22); the later Jews applied it as an antiseptic to corpses (John 19:39). This is the first mention of myrrh (Heb., môr) in the Bible, the word translated “myrrh” in Genesis 37:25; Genesis 43:11 being lôt, which is properly, not myrrh, but ladanum. Sweet cinnamon.—While myrrh was one of the commonest of spices in the ancient world, cinnamon was one of the rarest. It is the produce of the laurus cinnamomum, or cinnamomum zeylanicum, a tree allied to the laurel, which now grows only in Ceylon, Borneo, Sumatra, China, Cochin China, and in India on the coast of Malabar. According to Herodotus (iii. 111) and Strabo (16, p. 535), it grew anciently in Arabia; but this is doubted, and the Arabians are believed to have imported it from India or Ceylon, and passed it on to the Phœnicians, who conveyed it to Egypt and Greece. The present passage of Scripture is the first in which it is mentioned, and in the rest of the Old Testament it obtains notice only twice (Proverbs 7:16; Son 4:14). The word used, which is kinnĕ ?môn, makes it tolerably certain that the true cinnamon is meant. Sweet calamus.—There are several distinct kinds of aromatic reed in the East. One sort, according to Pliny (H. N., xii. 22), grew in Syria, near Mount Lebanon; others were found in India and Arabia. It is quite uncertain what particular species is intended, either here or in the other passages of Scripture where “sweet cane” is spoken of. (See Son 4:14; Isaiah 43:24; Jeremiah 6:20; Ezekiel 27:17.)

Verse 23. Take - unto thee principal spices] From this and the following verse we learn that the holy anointing oil was compounded of the following ingredients: - Pure myrrh, מר דרור mar deror 500 shekels - Myrrh is the produce of an oriental tree not well known, and is collected by making an incision in the tree. What is now called by this name is precisely the same with that of the ancients. Sweet cinnamon, קנמן בשם kinnemon besem, (probably from Arabia) 250 shekels. Sweet calamus, קנה בשם keneh bosem, or sweet cane, Jeremiah 6:20. - Calamus aromaticus. Cassia, קדה kildah, (cassia lignea,) brought also from Arabia. 500 shekels. Olive oil, שמן זית shemen sayith, one hin, about... 5 quarts. lbs. oz. dwts. grs. lbs. oz. dwts. grs. 500 shekels of the first and last, make 48 4 12 21 21/31 250 of the cinnamon and calamus 24 2 6 10 26/31 Olive oil is supposed to be the best preservative of odours. As the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit are termed the anointing of the Holy Ghost, therefore this holy ointment appears to have been designed as emblematical of those gifts and graces. See Acts 1:5; Acts 10:38; 2 Corinthians 1:21; 1 John 2:20, 1 John 2:27.

23. Take thou also] And thou (emph.), take: cf. on Exodus 27:20. spices] such as were brought to Solomon by the Queen of Sheba, and others (1 Kings 10:2; 1 Kings 10:10; 1 Kings 10:15), and prized by the Hebrews (Son 4:10; Son 4:14; Son 4:16; Son 5:13; Isaiah 39:2). For chief (i.e. finest, best), cf. Son 4:14, Ezekiel 27:22; and for the Heb. idiom here, G.-K. § 131d. flowing myrrh] cf. Son 5:5; Son 5:13, which likewise imply a liquid. Modern ‘myrrh’ (the produce of Balsamodendron Myrrha, indigenous in Yemen and E. Africa) is, however, a solid, and also devoid, or nearly so, of aroma: the liquid mτr of the Hebrews appears to have been what is now called the ‘Balsam of Mecca,’ a ‘greenish turbid fluid of syrupy consistence, having a very grateful odour, something like oil of rosemary,’ the product of Balsamodendron opobalsamum, a tree which grows abundantly on the coast territory of Arabia, and for which in ancient times Jericho was especially celebrated (see Sir W. Thiselton-Dyer’s art. Balsam in EB.: the art. Myrrh is briefer). five hundred shekels] probably about 16 lbs. av. (DB. iv. 906a). sweet-smelling cinnamon] Cinnamon is mentioned also in Proverbs 7:17, Son 4:14, Revelation 18:13†. Modern cinnamon is the fragrant inner bark of Cinnamomum zeylanicum, a plant of the laurel family, and is obtained from Ceylon. The cinnamon of the ancients, however, came from S. China (the Indians, Persians, and Arabians called it Chinese wood), and was probably the Cinnamomum cassia (see EB. s.v.). ‘The Greeks and Romans used cinnamon as an unguent: the cinnama rara was highly prized by them (Theophr. plant. ix. 7; Diosc. i. 13; Martial iv. 13. 3); and the unguentum cinnamomimum was very costly (Plin. xiii. 2; Athen. p. 439, 690)’ (Kn.). ‘Sweet-smelling’ cinnamon would be cinnamon of the best kind: there were other kinds which yielded an inferior fragrance (Diosc. l.c., Theophr. ix. 5, cited by Kn.). sweet calamus] better, sweet-smelling cane (the word is the ordinary Heb. one for ‘cane’ or ‘reed’), elsewhere called ‘the goodly cane from a far country’ (Jeremiah 6:20), or cane alone, Isaiah 43:14, Ezekiel 27:19, Son 4:14 : the κάλαμοςἀρωματικός, calamus odoratus of the classical writers, which ‘came from India (cf. the ‘far country’ of Jer.), and was used both as incense and medicinally (Diosc. i. 17), and also as an ingredient in unguents (Theophr. ix. 7, Plin. xiii.2, xii. 48)’ (Kn.). It may have been what is now known in India as the Lemon grass (cf. NHB. 439; DB. iv. 213a). Cf. in Ass. ritual, EB. iv. 4123.

THE OIL, Exodus 30:22-23. 89504e470d0a1a0a0000000d49484452000000a6000000fe08020000003f37e9ba000000097048597300000ec400000ec401