Exodus 30:24

And of cassia five hundred shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of oil olive an hin:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(24) Cassia.—In the original, kiddâh not kĕtsiôth. Which is the exact equivalent of the Greek and Latin cassia. According to the best Hebrew authorities, however, cassia is intended by both words, which are derived from roots signifying “to split,” or “to peel off.” Cassia is the inner bark of a tree called by botanists cinnamomum cassia, which is a native of India, Java, and the Malay peninsula. It has nearly the same flavour as cinnamon, but is more pungent, and of a coarser texture. The word kiddâh occurs in Scripture only here and in Ezekiel 27:19.

An hin.—See Note on Exodus 29:40.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

30:22-38 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, So 1:3, and the good name of Christians is like precious ointment, Ec 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 whereby God makes himself known. It is a great affront to God to jest with sacred things, and to make sport with his word and ordinances. It is most dangerous and fatal to use professions of the gospel of Christ to forward wordly interests.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Cassia - is the inner bark of an Indian tree (Cinnamomum cassia), which differs from that which produces cinnamon in the shape of its leaves and some other particulars. It was probably in ancient times, as it is at present, by far less costly than cinnamon, and it may have been on this account that it was used in double quantity.

An hin - Probably about six pints. See Leviticus 19:36.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

24. cassia—from the same species of tree as the cinnamon—some think the outer bark of that tree. All these together would amount to one hundred twenty pounds, troy weight.

hin—a word of Egyptian origin, equal to ten pints. Being mixed with the olive oil—no doubt of the purest kind—this composition probably remained always in a liquid state, and the strictest prohibition issued against using it for any other purpose than anointing the tabernacle and its furniture.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Not the common kind of cassia, which we use in purging, but another kind of it, there being seven several kinds of it, as the learned note.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

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 (s) says, some take to be the nard, out of which a most sweet oil is pressed; and Servius (t) says, that cassia is an herb of a most sweet smell. Pliny (u) 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 (w); Leo Africanus speaks of trees in Africa bearing cassia, and which chiefly grew in Egypt (x):

and of oil olive an hin; containing twelve logs: according to Godwin (y), 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.

(s) Ut supra, (Rer. Memorab. sive Deperd. par. 1.) Titus 11. p. 30. (t) In Virgil. Bucol. Eclog. 2.((u) Ut supra, (Nat. Hist. l. 12.) c. 19. (w) Apud Dalechamp in Plin. ib. (x) Descriptio Africae, l. 9. p. 752. (y) Moses & Aaron, l. 6. c. 9.

Geneva Study Bible

And of cassia five hundred shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of oil olive an hin:

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

24. cassia] Ezekiel 27:19†: Heb. ḳiddâh, prob. the same as the κιττώ, spoken of by Diosc. (i. 12) as one species of κασία; Vulg. cassia. The word in Psalm 45:8† is different (ḳeẓî‘ôth, things scraped off, i.e. scraped or powdered bark); but doubtless denotes either the same or a kindred substance. The κασία, cassia of the ancients (Theophr. ix. 5; Plin. xii. 19) is probably the same as the modern ‘cassia,’ viz. the inner bark, peeled off and dried in the sun, of a species of cinnamon tree, found in S. India and Malacca, which yields an inferior kind of cinnamon (see further EB. s.v.). Costus (RVm.; also written above the text in one MS. of LXX., Graec. Ven., and Saad.) is another oriental aromatic plant (Costus Arabicus, L.), used in the preparation of unguents: Hor. Carm. iii. 1, 44; Plin. xii. Exodus 12, 25, xiii. 1, 2). All these foreign aromatic substances would come by trade-routes from the distant East, whether over-land by way of Babylon, or by sea, round Arabia (see G. A. Smith, Trade and Commerce in EB. §§ 30, 40, 56, 58, 63, 71).

the shekel of the sanctuary] or the sacred shekel: see on v. 13.

an hin] prob. 1 1/3 gallon: see on Exodus 29:40.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 24 - Cassia. The modern cassia is the inner bark of a tree distinct from the cinnamon tree, known to botanists as Cinnamo-mum cassia, which is a native of India, Java, and the Malay peninsula. In taste and scent, it "bears a strong resemblance to cinnamon, but is more pungent and of coarser texture" (Cook). It is uncertain, however, if this is the spice here indicated. The Hebrew word used is kiddah, not ketsioth (as in Psalm 45:8); and it is very doubtful whether the two are identical On the shekel of the sanctuary. see the comment on ver. 13; and on the kin, see Exodus 29:40. Exodus 30:24

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The Holy Anointing Oil. - This was to be prepared from the best perfumes ראשׁע בּשׂמים, where ראשׁע, caput, the principal or chief, is subordinate to בּשׂמים), viz., of four fragrant spices and olive-oil. The spices were, (1) liquid myrrh, as distinguished from the dry gum; - (2) קנּמן־בּשׂם, cinnamon of fragrance, the name having been introduced to the Semitic nations along with the thing itself, and then by the Phoenicians to the Greeks and Romans (κίνναμον, cinnamum): whether it came from Ceylon, the great mart of cinnamon, is very doubtful, as there is not word that can be discovered in the Indian dialects corresponding to cinnamon; - (3) cane of fragrance, the κάλαμος ἀρωματικός, calamus odoratus, of the Greek sand Romans, i.e., the scented calamus which is imported from India; - and (4) kiddah, probably cassia, and possibly the species called κιττώ in Dioscor. 1, 12, in which case קציעה (Psalm 45:9) is either the generic name for cassia, or else refers to a different species. The proportion in which these spices were to be taken was 500 shekels or 14 1/2 lbs. of myrrh, half the quantity, i.e., 7 lbs, of cinnamon, and the same of calamus and cassia; in all, therefore, 21 lbs. of dry spices, which were to be mixed with one hin of oil (about 5 quarts) and 14 lbs. of liquid myrrh. These proportions preclude the supposition, that the spices were pulverized and mixed with the oil and myrrh in their natural condition, for the result in that case would have been a thick mess: they rather favour the statement of the Rabbins, that the dry spices were softened in water and boiled, to extract their essence, which was then mixed with oil and myrrh, and boiled again until all the watery part had evaporated. An artificial production of this kind is also indicated by the expressions מרקחת רקח "spice-work of spice-mixture," and רקח מעשׂה "labour (work) of the perfumer or ointment-maker."