Exodus 30:23

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 (Song of Solomon 4:10; Song of Solomon 4:14; Song of Solomon 4:16; Song of Solomon 5:13; Isaiah 39:2). For chief(i.e. finest, best), cf. Song of Solomon 4:14; Ezekiel 27:22; and for the Heb. idiom here, G.-K. § 131d.

flowing myrrh cf. Song of Solomon 5:5; Song of Solomon 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 môrof 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. 906 a).

sweet-smelling cinnamon Cinnamon is mentioned also in Proverbs 7:17; Song of Solomon 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 rarawas highly prized by them (Theophr. plant.ix. 7; Diosc. i. 13; Martial iv. 13. 3); and the unguentum cinnamomimumwas 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 canefrom a far country" (Jeremiah 6:20), or canealone, Isaiah 43:14; Ezekiel 27:19; Song of Solomon 4:14: the κάλαμος ἀρωματικός, calamus odoratusof 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. 213 a). Cf. in Ass. ritual, EB.iv. 4123.