Exodus 30:34

THE COMPOSITION OF THE HOLY INCENSE.

(34) Take unto thee sweet spices. — Rather, Take unto thee spices. The word translated “spices” has no epithet. Incense, as commonly used in the ancient world, was not a composition, but some single spice, most frequently frankincense. That, however, employed by the Hebrews was always a compound. According to Josephus (Bell. Jud., v. 5, § 5), the incense burnt in the later temple contained thirteen ingredients.

Stacte is probably the gum storax, which is the produce of the styrax officinalis, a tree common in Syria and Palestine. It burns readily, and emits much smoke (Herod. iii. 107).

Onycha is thought to be the “claw” or operculum of the unguis odoratus, or blatta Byzantina, a sort of shell-fish common in the Red Sea. This “claw” produces, when burnt, a strong odour.

Galbanum is a gum well known to modern chemists. It may be procured from various plants, as the opoidia galbanifera, the galbanum Persicum, and others. When burnt, this gum has a strong pungent odour, which is said to be disagreeable in itself, but to bring out and prolong the scent of other spices (Plin. H. N., xii. 54).

Frankincense was probably the main element of the “holy incense,” as it is of such incense as is burnt in modern times. It is a gum or resin obtained from incisions in the bark of the arbor thuris, or frankincense-tree, which grows abundantly in India, and in the islands of the Indian archipelago. Anciently, the tree appears to have grown also in Arabia, whence the Egyptians (Records of the Past, vol. x., pp. 14-17), the Phœnicians, the Hebrews (Isaiah 60:6; Jeremiah 6:20), and the Greeks obtained it in large quantities. The odour is very peculiar, and to most persons very agreeable. In England it is best known as the scent given out by the pastilles which are burnt in sick rooms.