Exodus 30:38

_AND THE LORD SAID UNTO MOSES, TAKE UNTO THEE SWEET SPICES, STACTE, AND ONYCHA, AND GALBANUM; THESE SWEET SPICES WITH PURE FRANKINCENSE: OF EACH SHALL THERE BE A LIKE WEIGHT:_ Take unto thee sweet spices. These were stacte, the finest myrrh; onycha, supposed to be an odoriferous shell; galbanum, a gum-resin from an umbelliferous plant. FRANKINCENSE - a dry resinous aromatic gum of a yellow colour, which comes from a tree in Arabia, and is obtained by incision of the bark. This incense was placed within the sanctuary, to be at hand when the priest required to burn on the altar. The art of compounding unguents and perfumes was well-known in Egypt, where sweet scented spices were extensively used, not only in common life, but in the ritual of the temples. Most of the ingredients here mentioned have been found on minute examination of mummies and other Egyptian relics; and the Israelites,...

22-38 Directions are here given for making the holy anointing oil, and the incense to be used in the service of the tabernacle. To show the excellency of holiness, there was this spiced oil in the tabernacle, which was grateful to the sight and to the smell. Christ's name is as ointment poured forth, Song of Solomon 1:3, and the good name of Christians is like precious ointment, Ecclesiastes 7:1. The incense burned upon the golden altar was prepared of sweet spices. When it was used, it was to be beaten very small; thus it pleased the Lord to bruise the Redeemer, when he offered himself for a sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savour. The like should not be made for any common use. Thus God would keep in the people's minds reverence for his own services, and teach us not to profane or abuse any thing...

Exodus 37:29. The incense, like the anointing oil, consisted of four aromatic ingredients. STACTE - supposed to be either the gum of the Storax tree (Styrax officinale) found in Syria and the neighboring countries, or the gum known as Benzoin, or Gum Benjamin, which is an important ingredient in the incense now used in churches and mosques, and is the produce of another storax tree (Styrax benzoin) that grows in Java and Sumatra. ONYCHA - , a perfume perhaps made from the cap of the strombus, or wing-shell, which abounds in the Red Sea. GALBANUM - , a gum of a yellowish brown color, in the form of either grains or masses. It is imported from India, Persia, and Africa; but the plant from which it comes is not yet certainly known....

EXPOSITION THE HOLY INCENSE. It remained to give directions concerning the composition of the incense, which, according to Exodus 30:7, was to be burnt upon the altar of gold. That it was to be of one and one only peculiar kind had been already implied in the prohibition to burn "strange incense" (Exodus 30:9). Moses is now told exactly how it was to be composed. As the oil was to contain four spices, so was the incense to be made of a like number—stacte, onycha, galbanum, and frankincense—of each the same quantity (Exodus 30:34). The art of the apothecary was to be called in for making it up ...

WHOSOEVER SHALL MAKE LIKE UNTO THAT, TO SMELL THERETO,.... A man might make a perfume of the same ingredients, and of the same weight, and exactly like it, but not to burn for his own delight and pleasure; but if he made it and sold it to the congregation, as Jarchi observes, he was not guilty; but if it was for his own private use and pleasure, then he SHALL EVEN BE CUT OFF FROM HIS PEOPLE; Exodus 30:33....

SMELL What is condemned here is making worship a mere pleasure to the natural man, whether sensuous, as in beautiful music to please the ear, or eloquence, merely to give delight to the natural mind. Compare (John 4:23); (John 4:24)....

CHAPTER 30 THE ALTAR OF INCENSE AND THE WORSHIPPERS _ 1. The altar (Exodus 30:1)_ 2. The atonement money (Exodus 30:11) 3. The brazen laver and the unction of the Spirit (Exodus 30:22) 4. The incense (Exodus 30:34) This is a beautiful chapter, filled with blessed lessons. We have before us instructions concerning true, priestly worship. The brazen altar was of shittim wood, but this altar is of shittim wood covered with pure gold. The altar of brass tells of the work of Christ on the cross when judgment fell upon Him. There we learn in faith that our sins and guilt were fully met. The golden alta

EXODUS 30-31. P S. PRIESTLY SUPPLEMENTS. These two Chapter s form an appendix to Exodus 25-29. The golden incense altar finds no place in Exodus 25 or Exodus 26:33 or Leviticus 16 (where the annual rite of Exodus 30:10 is ignored). Instead we hear of censers in Leviticus 16:12 and Numbers 16:6 f., while the great altar in the court is called the altar, as if no other were recognised. Similarly Exodus 30:30, requiring the unction of Aaron's sons, betrays itself as later than the series of passages in which the High Priest alone receives it, being often

The holy _Incense_(cf. Exodus 37:29 b). Incense to be made, of, four specified ingredients, mixed together in equal proportions, and tempered with salt, for use upon the altar of incense (_vv._7 f.). Incense of the same composition to be used for no other purpose....

TAKE UNTO THEE SWEET SPICES— The composition of the _perfume_ for the golden altar of incense is next prescribed; concerning which the same prohibition is made, Exodus 30:37 as concerning the holy ointment. It was to be compounded of _stacte_ or the best _myrrh;_ of _onycha,_ the original word for which occurs here only in the Bible; but it is supposed to mean the _onycha_ (as we have translated it) an odorous _shell,_ which was of a black colour, and yielded in incense a very sweet perfume; see Bochart, vol. 2: p. 217. (Come however conceive it to have been _bdellium:_)—and of _galbanum,_ which was a sweet gum, issuing from an incision in the root of a plant growing in Arabia, Syria, &c. The LXX render this, _and sweet-scented galbanum with pure frankincense._—An equal quantity of these spices was to be mixed with _frankincense,_ which