Exodus 30:25

and thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the apothecary, the man skilled in the preparing of spices and ointments. It shall be an holy anointing oil. The myrrh gum as it is found in the Arabian desert was to be mixed with costly, sweet-smelling spices, some of the finest products of the land; for this holy anointing oil was to excel in richness. "It might be said of the myrrh that it denotes that fine, higher kind of pain which enables one to overcome natural pain; cinnamon denotes the warmest feeling of light and life; the bitterness of calamus might also be noticed; but the significance of the cassia is difficult to determine. " (Lange.)