Part 11

INCENSE.

The formula for the holy incense given in Exodus, xxx, 35, is sufficiently definite. Taking it as it is translated in the Revised Version, the prescription orders stacte, onycha, galbanum and frankincense, equal parts; seasoned with salt; powdered.

The word translated incense in that passage, and also in Deuteronomy, xxxiii, 10, and in Jeremiah, xliv, 21, is Ketorah, which originally meant a perfumed or savoury smoke. In the Septuagint the word used for Ketorah is Thymiana. In other passages (Isaiah, xliii, 33, lx, 6, lxvi, 3; Jeremiah, vi, 20; xvii, 26, and xli, 5), the word used in Hebrew was Lebonah. This in our Authorised Version appears each time as incense, but in the Revised Version the name frankincense is uniformly adopted. Lebonah meant whiteness, probably milkiness being understood in this connection, and travellers state that when the gum exudes from the tree it is milky-white. The Greek equivalent, libanos, occurs severed times in the New Testament (Matt., ii, 11; Revelations, xviii, 3). The Arabic term was luban, and apparently olibanum is a modification of this Arabic name with the article prefixed, Al-luban. The common trade term “thus” is the Greek word for incense, and is derived from the verb thuein, to sacrifice. Thurible was the Greek equivalent of the censer. The same word has been modified into fume in English. There is, besides, a common gum thus, obtained from the pines which yield American turpentine.

Olibanum, or frankincense, derived from various species of the Boswellia, was greatly prized among many of the ancient nations, especially by the Egyptians, the Assyrians, and the Phœnicians. The finest qualities were grown in Somaliland, but the stocks of these were always bought up by the Arabs, who monopolised the commerce in olibanum. It was believed for centuries that the shrub from which it was obtained was a native of South Arabia, and an old Eastern legend alluded to in the Apocalypse of Moses declares that Adam was allowed to bring this tree with him when he was expelled from the Garden of Eden. Bruce, the African traveller, first ascertained its African origin. The historical notes on Olibanum in “Pharmacographia” are extremely interesting and complete.

Stacte, in Hebrew Nataph, is frequently identified with opobalsamum, and this interpretation is given in the margin of the Revised Version. But there are reasons for regarding it as a particularly fine kind of myrrh in drops or tears. Nataph meant something dropped or distilled.

Galbanum, it is not disputed, was the galbanum known to us by the same name. Its Hebrew name was Helbanah or Chelbanah. It has been an article of commerce from very early times, but the exact plant from which it is obtained is very uncertain. Hanbury states that the Irvingite chapels in London still use galbanum as an ingredient in their incense in imitation of the ancient Jewish custom.

Onycha has been the subject of much discussion. The balance of learned opinion favours the view that it is the operculum of a species of sea-snail found on the shores of the Red Sea. It is known as Unguis odoratus, blatta Byzantina, and devil’s claw. Nubian women to this day use it with myrrh, cloves, frankincense, and cinnamon, to perfume themselves.

The incense made from the formula just quoted was reserved specially for the service of the tabernacle, and it was forbidden, under the penalty of being cut off from his people, for any private person to imitate it. It does not appear, however, that the Israelites continued to use the same formula for their Temple services. Josephus states that the incense of his day consisted of thirteen ingredients. These were, as we learn from Talmudic instructions, in addition to the four gums named in the Exodus formula, the salt with which it had to be seasoned, myrrh, cassia, spikenard, saffron, costus, mace, cinnamon, and a certain herb which had the property of making the smoke of the incense ascend straight, and in the form of a date palm. This herb was only known to the family of Abtinas, to whom was entrusted the sole right of preparing the incense for the Temple. Rooms were provided for them in the precincts, and they supplied 368 minas (about 368 lbs.) to the Temple for a year’s consumption; that was 1 lb. per day and an extra 3 lbs. for the Day of Atonement. In the first century (A.D.) this family were dismissed because they refused to divulge their secret. The Temple authorities sent to Alexandria for some apothecaries to succeed them, but these Egyptian experts could not make the smoke ascend properly, so the Abtinas had to be re-engaged at a considerably increased salary. They gave as a reason for their secrecy their fear that the Temple would soon be destroyed and their incense would be used for idolatrous sacrifices.

The incense now used in Catholic churches is not made according to the Biblical formula. The following is a typical recipe in actual use:--Olibanum, 450; benzoin, 250; storax, 120; sugar, 100; cascarilla, 60; nitre, 150.

OLIVE OIL.

Among all the ancient Eastern nations olive oil was one of the most precious of products. It was used lavishly by the Egyptians for the hair and the skin, as well as in all sorts of ceremonies. The Israelites held it in the highest esteem before they went to Egypt, the earliest allusion to it in the Scriptures being in Genesis, xxviii, 18, where we read that Jacob poured oil on the stone which he set up at Bethel, evidently with the idea of consecrating it. The Apocalypse of Moses has a legend of Adam’s experience of its medicinal virtues in the Garden of Eden. When he was in his 930th year he was seized with great pain in his stomach and sickness. Then he told Eve to take Seth and go as near as they could get to the Garden, and pray to God to permit an angel to bring them some oil from the tree of mercy so that he might anoint himself therewith and be free of his pain. Eve and Seth were, however, met by the Archangel Michael, who told them to return to Adam, for in three days the measure of his life would be fulfilled.

To the Israelites in the Desert the anticipation of the “corn and wine and oil” of Canaan was always present, and throughout their history there are abundant evidences of how they prized it.

The prescription for the “holy anointing oil” given in Exodus, xxx, 23, is very remarkable. It was to be compounded of the following ingredients:--

Flowing myrrh 500 shekels. Sweet cinnamon 250 " Sweet calamus 250 " Cassia (or costus) 500 " Olive oil One hin.

It is the Revised Version which gives “flowing myrrh,” apparently the gum which exudes spontaneously. The Authorised Version reads “pure myrrh.” The Revised Version also suggests costus in the margin as an alternative to cassia. This oil was to be kept very sacred. Any one who should compound any oil like it was to be cut off from his people.

A hin was a measure equivalent to about 5½ of our quarts. The shekel was nearly 15 lbs., and some of the Rabbis insist that the “shekel of the sanctuary” was twice the weight of the ordinary shekel. At the lowest reckoning, less than 6 quarts of oil were to take up the extract from nearly 90 lbs. of solid substance. It will be seen on reference that the shekel weights are not definitely stated, but the verses can hardly be otherwise read. Some critics have suggested that so many shekels’ worth is intended, but this reading under the circumstances is almost inadmissible. Maimonides, a great Jewish authority, says the method was to boil the spices and gum in water until their odours were extracted as fully as possible, and then to boil the water and the oil together until the former was entirely evaporated. Doubtless the expression “after the art of the apothecary” (or “perfumer,” R.V.) was a sufficient explanation to those Israelites who had practised that art in Egypt. The consistence of the oil could not have been thick, for when used it trickled down on Aaron’s beard.

Rabbinical legends say that the quantity of the holy oil prepared at the time when it was first prescribed was such as would miraculously suffice to anoint the Jewish priests and kings all through their history. In the reign of Josiah the vessel containing the holy oil was mysteriously hidden away with the ark, and will not be discovered until the Messiah comes. Messiah, it need hardly be said, means simply anointed; and Christ is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word.

MANNA.

The manna of the wilderness provided for the children of Israel on their journey towards Canaan has no claim to be regarded as a drug, except that a drug has in modern times usurped its name. When the Israelites first saw the small round particles “like hoar frost on the ground” (Exodus, xvi, 14) they said, according to the Authorised Version, “It is manna; for they wist not what it was.” The Revised Version makes the sentence read more intelligibly by translating the Hebrew word Man-hu interrogatively thus:--“What is it? For they wist not what it was.” This Hebrew interrogation has been widely adopted as the origin of the name, but it is more probable that the Hebrew word man, a gift, is the true derivation. Ebers suggested the Egyptian word “manhu,” food, as a probable explanation. The Arabic word for the manna of Sinai is still “man.” This is the substance which scientific investigators have agreed is the manna described in Exodus. It is an exudation from the Tamarisk mannifera, a shrub which grows in the valleys of the Sinai peninsula, the manna being yielded from the young branches after the punctures of certain insects. Another Eastern manna, a Persian product from a leguminous plant, Alhagi Maurorum, and a manna yielded by an evergreen oak in Kurdistan, are still sold and used in some Eastern countries for food and medicine. But in Europe, and to some extent in the East also, Sicilian manna, the product of an ash tree, Fraxinus ornus, has displaced the old sorts since the fifteenth century. The commerce in this article and its history were investigated by Mr. Daniel Hanbury and described by him in Science Papers and in Pharmacographia.

The rabbinical legends concerning the manna of the wilderness are many and strange. One is to the effect that when it lay on the ground all the kings of the East and of the West could see it from their palace windows. According to Zabdi ben Levi it was provided in such abundance that it covered every morning an area of 2,000 cubits square and was 60 cubits in depth. Each day’s fall was sufficient to nourish the camp for 2,000 years. The Book of Wisdom (xvi, 20, 21) tells us that the manna so accommodated itself to every taste that it proved palatable and pleasing to all. “Able to content every man’s delight, and agreeing to every taste.” The rabbinical legends enlarge this statement and assure us that to those Israelites who did not murmur the manna became fish, flesh, fowl at will. This is in a degree based on the words in Ps. lxxviii, 24, 25, in which it is described as “corn of heaven, bread of the mighty, and meat to the full.” But the traditions say it could not acquire the flavours of cucumbers, melons, garlic, or onions, all of which were Egyptian relishes which were keenly regretted by the tribes. It is also on record among the legends that the manna was pure nourishment. All of it was assimilated; so that the grossest office of the body was not exercised. It was provided expressly for the children of Israel. If any stranger tried to collect any it slipped from his grasp.

BDELLIUM.

Bdellium (Heb. Bedoloch) is mentioned in Genesis, ii, 12, as being found along with gold and onyx in the land of Havilah, near the Garden of Eden. The association with gold and onyx suggests that bdellium was a precious stone. The Septuagint translates the word in Genesis, anthrax, carbuncle; but renders the same Hebrew word in Numbers, xi, 7, where the manna is likened to bdellium, by Krystallos, crystals. The Greek bdellion described by Dioscorides and Pliny was the fragrant gum from a species of Balsamodendron, and this word was almost certainly derived from an Eastern source, and might easily have been originally a generic term for pearls. Pearls would better than anything else fit the reference in Numbers (“like coriander seed, and the appearance thereof as the appearance of bdellium”), and this is the meaning attached to the word in the rabbinical traditions. Some authorities have conjectured that the “ד” (d) of bedolach may have been substituted for “ר” (r) berolach, so that the beryl stone may have been intended.

ALOES WOOD.

References to aloes are frequent in the Scriptures. The first allusion is found in Numbers, xxiv, 6, when in his poetic prophecy Balaam describes Israel flourishing “as lign-aloes which the Lord hath planted.” The other allusions occur in Psalm xlv, 8, Proverbs, vii, 17, Canticles, iv, 14, and John, xix, 39. In the four last-named passages aloes is associated with myrrh as a perfume. Of course it is understood that the lign or lignum aloes, the perfumed wood of the aquilaria agallocha, the eagle wood of India, is meant, but as that tree is believed not to have been known except in the Malayan peninsula in the days of Balaam, critics have remarked on the extraordinary circumstance that it should be used as a simile by an orator in Palestine who would naturally select objects for comparison familiar to his hearers. It has been suggested, and with much force, that the original word in Balaam’s prophecy may have been the Hebrew word for the palm or date tree. The Septuagint translates the word “tents.”

MYRRH.

It has been stated that the stacte ordered in the formula for incense was probably a very fine kind of liquid myrrh (the flowing myrrh of the holy oil formula). But myrrh (Heb. mur) is several times directly mentioned. Esther purified herself for six months with oil of myrrh (ii, 12); myrrh, aloes, and cassia are grouped as sweet odours in Ps. xlv, 8; with cinnamon in the place of cassia in Prov., vii, 17, and in numerous verses of the Song of Songs. In the New Testament it is named among the gifts which the wise men brought to the Saviour. Nicodemus brought myrrh and aloes to embalm the body of Jesus. On the cross St. Matthew (xxvii, 34) names vinegar mixed with gall as a drink given to Christ by the soldiers; in an apparently parallel passage in St. Mark’s Gospel (xv, 23) wine with myrrh is the mixture described. It is possible that Matthew writing in Syriac may have used the word mur (myrrh) and that his translator into Greek read from his manuscript Mar (gall). In Genesis, xxxvii, 25, and xliii, 11, the word translated myrrh is Loth (not mur) in the Hebrew. The best opinion is that this meant ladanum, the gum from the cistus labdaniferus which Dioscorides states was scraped from the beards of goats which had fed on the leaves of this shrub and had taken up some of the exuding gum.

WORMWOOD.

The Israelites had great objection to bitter flavours, and the coupling of “gall and wormwood” expresses something extremely unpleasant. The Hebrew word is La’anah, and the Septuagint twice renders this hemlock (Hos., x, 4 and Amos, vi, 12) but in other places wormwood. The star which fell from heaven and made the rivers bitter (Rev., viii, 11) was called by the Greek name for wormwood, Apsinthos.