Stacte

Stac´te occurs only once in Scripture (Exo 30:34). ’And the Lord said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte (nataf), and onycha, and galbanum; these sweet spices with pure frankincense.’ ’Thou shalt make it a perfume after the art of the apothecary’ (Exo 30:35). Nataf has, however, been variously translated. Celsius is of opinion that it means the purest kind of myrrh, called stacte by the Greeks. But it is difficult if not impossible to arrive at certainty on the subject.

One of the four ingredients composing the sacred perfume, Exo 30:34,35 . Some think the gum called storax is intended; but it is generally understood to be the purest king of myrrh; and as the Hebrew properly signifies a drop, it would seem to refer to myrrh as distilling, dropping form the tree of its own accord, without incision. So Pliny, speaking of the trees whence myrrh is produced, says, "Before any incision is made, they exude of their own accord what is called Stacte, to which no kind of myrrh is preferable."\par

Sta-cte. (Hebrew, nataf). The name of one of the sweet spices, which composed the holy incense. See Exo 30:34 -- the only passage of Scripture in which the word occurs. Some identify the nataf, with the gum of the storer tree, (Styraz officinale), but all that is positively known is that it signifies an odorous distillation from some plant.

The Septuagint Greek term from stazoo "to drop." One ingredient in the holy perfume (Exo 30:34), nataph; also in Job 36:27. Literally, anything that drops, as e.g. the purest myrrh, that drops as a tear spontaneously from the tree. Storax or Styrax officinale of Syria is probably meant. The leaves resemble those of the poplar, downy beneath, with sweet-scented snow-white flowers clustered on the ends of the branches. It grows about 20 ft. high; the reddish yellow gum resin which exudes from the bark contains benzoic acid; the Hindus burn the benzoin in their temples.

The word nataph signifies ’a drop’ and is so translated in Job 36:27. Hence stacte is doubtless a spice that oozes from a tree in drops: it formed a part of the holy incense. Exo 30:34. The R.V. has in its margin ’opobalsamum.’ It is probably the gum from the storax tree, Styrax officinalis.

See Incense; Spices.

STACTE (nâtâph, Exo 30:34 [cf. Sir 24:15], lit. ‘drop,’ cf. Job 36:27).—Some fragrant gum collected in drops, either storax, or, more probably, myrrh.

E. W. G. Masterman.

stak´tē (נטף, nātāph, “drops” (Job 36:27); στακτή, staktḗ, meaning “oozing out in drops”): One of the ingredients of the holy ointment (Exo 30:34; Ecclesiasticus 24:15, margin “opobalsamum,” the King James Version “storax”). The marginal reading is a concession to Jewish tradition, but see SPICE, (1). Dioscorides describes two kinds of stacte, one of pure myrrh and one of storax and a fat mixed. See MYRRH. This nātāph must have been either myrrh “in drops,” as it is collected, or some other fragrant gum, similarly collected, such, for example, as gum tragacanth.

Stacte. A resin believed to be an extract of the stems and branches of the storax tree. Stacte was highly prized as perfume and as incense. It was one of the ingredients of anointing oil ( Exo 30:34).

The storax was a small, stiff shrub growing to a height of about 3 to 6 meters (10-20 feet), which grew abundantly in Lebanon and throughout Palestine. Its leaves were dark with grayish-white undersides. In spring the storax flowered profusely with highly fragrant white blooms which resembled the orange blossom.