Exodus 30:24

And of cassia five hundred shekels ,.... Or two hundred and fifty ounces:

after the shekel of the sanctuary ; according to the standard weight kept there. This "cassia" was not the "cassia solutiva", which is of a purgative nature, and now in use in physic, but the "cassia odorata", or the sweet smelling "cassia": which, Pancirollus F19 Ut supra, (Rer. Memorab. sive Deperd. par. 1.) Titus 11 . p. 30. says, some take to be the nard, out of which a most sweet oil is pressed; and Servius F20 In Virgil. Bucol. Eclog. 2. says, that cassia is an herb of a most sweet smell. Pliny F21 Ut supra, (Nat. Hist. l. 12.) c. 19. speaks of it along with cinnamon; and Galen says, when cinnamon was wanting, it was usual to put in its stead a double quantity of cassia F23 Apud Dalechamp in Plin. ib. ; Leo Africanus speaks of trees in Africa bearing cassia, and which chiefly grew in Egypt F24 Descriptio Africae, l. 9. p. 752. :

and of oil olive an hin ; containing twelve logs: according to Godwin F25 Moses & Aaron, l. 6. c. 9. , it was of our measure three quarts; but, as Bishop Cumberland has more exactly calculated it, it held a wine gallon, a quart, and a little more: this was the purest and best of oil, and most fit and proper to be a part of this holy anointing oil.