Exodus 30:23 - Exposition

Principal spices. The ancients recognised a vast variety of spices. Pliny notices an ointment which was composed of twenty-six ingredients, chiefly spices ( H . N . 13.2, § 18). Herodotus mentions five "principal spices" as furnished by Arabia (3:107), of which four seem to be identical with those employed in the holy oil. Pure myrrh . Literally, "myrrh of freedom," or "freely flowing myrrh." The shrub which yields myrrh ( Balsamodendron myrrha ) produces two kinds—one, which exudes spontaneously, and is regarded as the best (Plin. II . Exodus 4:12 :35; Theophrast. De Odoribus , § 29); and another, of inferior quality, which flows from incisions made in the bark. It is the former kind which is here intended. Myrrh was among the ancients in high request as a spice. It was used by the Egyptians for embalming (Herod 2.86), in Persia as an odour; by the Greeks for incense and in unguents; by the later Jews in funerals ( John 19:39 ); and was largely exported from Arabia and Ethiopia into various parts of Asia and Europe. Sweet cinnamon . Cinnamon was a far rarer spice than myrrh. It is only mentioned three times in the Old Testament (cf. Proverbs 7:16 ; So Proverbs 4:14 ). I am not aware of any trace of it in Egypt; but Herodotus says that it was obtained by the Greeks from Arabia in his day (3.111). It is the inner bark or rind of a tree allied to the laurel, and called by some Laurus cinnamomum , by others Cinnamomum zeylanicum . The tree now grows only in India on the Malabar coast, in Ceylon, Borneo, Sumatra, Cochin China, and China. If its habitat has not suffered contraction, we must regard the mention of it here as indicative of a very early commerce of a very extensive character. Sweet calamus . Aromatic reeds, probably of several distinct kind, seem to have been the produce anciently of Palestine, Arabia, Mesopotamia, and India. It is impossible to say what exactly was the species here intended. Calamus is mentioned as a spice in Isaiah 43:24 ; Jeremiah 6:20 ; Ezekiel 27:17 ; and So Ezekiel 4:14 ; but the term used (kaneh, "cane ") is vague; and it is not at all clear that one species only is alluded to.