Exodus 30:34

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:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

THE COMPOSITION OF THE HOLY INCENSE.

(34) Take unto thee sweet spices.—Rather, Take unto thee spices. The word translated “spices” has no epithet. Incense, as commonly used in the ancient world, was not a composition, but some single spice, most frequently frankincense. That, however, employed by the Hebrews was always a compound. According to Josephus (Bell. Jud., v. 5, § 5), the incense burnt in the later temple contained thirteen ingredients.

Stacte is probably the gum storax, which is the produce of the styrax officinalis, a tree common in Syria and Palestine. It burns readily, and emits much smoke (Herod. iii. 107).

Onycha is thought to be the “claw” or operculum of the unguis odoratus, or blatta Byzantina, a sort of shell-fish common in the Red Sea. This “claw” produces, when burnt, a strong odour.

Galbanum is a gum well known to modern chemists. It may be procured from various plants, as the opoidia galbanifera, the galbanum Persicum, and others. When burnt, this gum has a strong pungent odour, which is said to be disagreeable in itself, but to bring out and prolong the scent of other spices (Plin. H. N., xii. 54).

Frankincense was probably the main element of the “holy incense,” as it is of such incense as is burnt in modern times. It is a gum or resin obtained from incisions in the bark of the arbor thuris, or frankincense-tree, which grows abundantly in India, and in the islands of the Indian archipelago. Anciently, the tree appears to have grown also in Arabia, whence the Egyptians (Records of the Past, vol. x., pp. 14-17), the Phœnicians, the Hebrews (Isaiah 60:6; Jeremiah 6:20), and the Greeks obtained it in large quantities. The odour is very peculiar, and to most persons very agreeable. In England it is best known as the scent given out by the pastilles which are burnt in sick rooms.

Benson Commentary

Exodus 30:34. The incense which was burned upon the golden altar was prepared of sweet spices likewise, though not so rare and rich as those which the anointing oil was compounded of. This was prepared once a year, (the Jews say,) a pound for each day of the year, and three pounds over for the day of atonement. 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. Concerning both these preparations the same law is here given, that the like should not be made for any common use. Thus God would preserve in the people’s minds a reverence for his own institutions, and teach us not to profane or abuse any thing whereby God makes himself known.

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

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.

Pure frankincense - This was the most important of the aromatic gums. Like myrrh, it was regarded by itself as a precious perfume Sol 3:6; Matthew 2:11, and it was used unmixed with other substances in some of the rites of the law. The tree from which it is obtained is not found in Arabia, and it was most likely imported from India by the Sabaeans, like Cinnamon, Cassia, and Calamus (see Exodus 30:23). The tree is now known as the Boswellia serrata, or B. thurifera, and grows abundantly in the highlands of India. The frankincense of commerce is a different substance, the resin of the spruce and of some other kinds of fir.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

34-38. the Lord said unto Moses, 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 color, 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, therefore, would have the best opportunities of acquiring in that country the skill in pounding and mixing them which they were called to exercise in the service of the tabernacle. But the recipe for the incense as well as for the oil in the tabernacle, though it receives illustration from the customs of Egypt, was peculiar, and being prescribed by divine authority, was to be applied to no common or inferior purpose.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Stacte, and onycha, and galbanum: the Jews themselves are not agreed what these were, and it concerns not Christians much to know, the use of them being abolished. It is evident they were each of them sweet spices, and therefore this galbanum was not of the common kind, which gives a very ball scent.

Of each shall there be a like weight, Heb. alone shall be with alone, i.e. each of these alone shall be with another alone, to wit, in equal quantity. Or it may note, that’ each of these was to be taken and beaten apart, and then mixed together. Or, it shall be alone alone, i.e. absolutely and certainly alone, the doubling of the word increasing the signification, and thus it doth not belong to all the ingredients, because the Hebrew verb is here of the singular number, but only to the frankincense; and the sense may be, that whereas the other things shall be tempered together, the frankincense should be alone, which may seem most agreeable both to the common use of frankincense, and to its differing nature from the other things mentioned, two of them at least being confessedly liquid things.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the Lord said unto Moses,.... In a continued discourse, or some time after the former, though more probably at the same time; since it concerns the incense to be offered on the altar of incense, about which directions are given in the former part of the chapter:

take unto thee sweet spices: which are as follow, "stacte", "onycha", and "galbanum"; the former of these has its name from dropping; and of the same signification is the Hebrew word "Nataph", here used. Pancirollus says (a), myrrh is a drop or tear distilling from a tree in Arabia Felix; and stacte is a drop of myrrh, which is extracted from it, and yields a most precious liquor: and so Pliny (b) relates, that myrrh trees sweat out of their own accord, before they are cut, what is called stacte, to which nothing is preferable: though some naturalists, as Theophrastus and Dioscorides (c) speak of this as flowing from it when it is cut; however, all agree it is a liquor that drops from myrrh; though the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem interpret it "balsam" or "rosin"; as does Jarchi on the place, and Maimonides (d): the second of these, "onycha", has its name from being of the colour of a man's nail, as the onyx stone is, and is the same with the "unguis odorata" or "blatta byzantia". Jarchi says it is the root of a spice, smooth and shining like a man's nail. It is by some"understood of "laudanum" or "balellium"; but the greatest part of commentators explain it by the "onyx", or the odoriferous shell, which is a shell like to that of the shell fish called "purpura": the onyx is fished for in watery places of the Indies, where grows the "spica nardi", which is the food of this fish, and what makes its shell so aromatic: they go to gather these shells when the heat has dried up the marshes. The best onyx is found in the Red sea, and is white and large, the Babylonian is black and smaller; this is what Dioscorides says of it (e).''And the best being found in the Red sea, it may be reasonably supposed it was what Moses was bid to take. In all India, it is the principal thing in all perfumes, as the aloe is in pills (f); the Targum of Jonathan interprets it by "costus"; and the Jerusalem Targum by spike of myrrh, meaning perhaps spikenard. The last of these, "galbanum", what now goes by that name, is of a very ill smell, and therefore cannot be thought to be one of these sweet spices; but another is meant, and which, by its name "Chelbanah", was of a fat and unctuous nature; though Jarchi says, galbanum, whose smell is ill, is put among the spices; and Maimonides (g) and Kimchi (h) describe it like black honey, and of an offensive smell; but it must be something odoriferous, and therefore most likely to be the galbanum Pliny (i) speaks of as growing on Mount Areanus in Syria, which he mentions along with several sorts of balsams, and as a sort of frankincense; and the Vulgate Latin version, to distinguish it, calls it "galbanum" of a "good smell":

these sweet spices with pure frankincense; for which Sabaea in Arabia Felix was very famous, and was called the thuriferous country, as Pliny (k) says; who observes that there were in it two times of gathering the frankincense, the one in autumn, that which was white, and the purest, the other in the spring, which was reddish, and not to be compared with the former:

of each shall there be a like weight; just as much of one as of the other: in the Hebrew text it is, "alone by alone"; and the sense may be, that each spice was beaten alone, and after that mixed, as Aben Ezra, or weighed alone, and then put together.

(a) Rer. Memorab. & Deperd. par. 1. tit. 12. p. 32. (b) Nat. Hist. l. 12. c. 15. (c) Apud Dalechamp. in Plin. ib. (d) Cele Hamikdash, c. 2. sect. 4. (e) Calmet's Dictionary on the word "Onycha". (f) Vid. Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacr. vol. 2. p. 243. (g) Cele Hamikdash, c. 2. sect. 4. (h) Sepher Shorash. Rad. (i) Nat. Hist. l. 12. c. 15. (k) Ib. c. 14.

Geneva Study Bible

And the LORD said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and {r} onycha, and galbanum; these sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be a like weight:

(r) In Hebrew, Sheheleth: which is a sweet kind of gum and shines as the nail.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

34. sweet spices] In the Heb. one word, sammim (plur.),—from the same root as the Arab. shamma, to ‘smell,’—not the one rendered ‘spices’ (besâmim) in v. 3, and, to judge from Exodus 25:6 (‘besâmim for …, and for the incense of sammim’), a narrower term than that: used exclusively (but only in P and Chr.) of the materials of which the incense was made, and mostly in the expression ‘incense of sweet spices’ (sometimes rendered ‘sweet incense’) v. 7, Exodus 25:6, Leviticus 4:7; Leviticus 16:12 al.; 2 Chronicles 2:4; 2 Chronicles 13:11 (both passages written by the Chronicler himself). It might be rendered for distinctness (cf. EB. iv. 4746), fragrant powders.

stacte] Heb. nâṭâph†, from nâṭaph, to drip. Some fragrant oil or resin is evidently meant; it is uncertain what. ‘Stacté’ is a transliteration of LXX. στακτη, Vulg. stacte, meaning also something that drips or trickles. Stacte was the Gk. and Lat. name of a very fragrant and costly kind of myrrh (σμύρνα), variously described by the ancients as an oil ‘dripping’ from crushed myrrh, either alone (Theophr. Odor. 29; on the text, see Schneider’s note: cf. Diosc. i. 77) or mixed with a little water (Diosc. i. 73), or as prepared from crushed myrrh dissolved in oil (Theophr. l.c.), or as exuding spontaneously from the tree (Plin. H.N. xii. 15, § 68). Myrrh-oil would be a clearer rend. Lucr. (ii. 847) mentions the ‘blandum stactaeque liquorem’; and Plautus (Truc. ii. 5, 23) speaks of it as burnt on the altar to Lucina. This rend, of LXX. seems probable: still we do not know that it is right: it may be founded merely on the agreement of meaning between nâṭâph and ‘stacte.’ Ges. (Thes.) identified nâṭâph with the gum of the storax tree (NHB. 395 f.), a beautiful perfumed shrub, abundant on the lower hills of Palestine, the gum of which (Diosc. i. 79) is still used in Syria as a perfume. The Rabbis identified it with ẓŏri (EVV. ‘balm’), and said that it was so called because it ‘dripped’ from the tree called ḳeṭâph, i.e. (Kimchi, Book of Roots, s.v.) the balsam-tree: hence, no doubt, RVm. opobalsamum (‘juice-balsam,’ as opposed to xylobalsamum, ‘wood-balsam,’ the scented twigs of the balsam-tree), an aromatic gum obtained (Diosc. i. 18; Plin. H.N. xii. 25, § 116, cf. § 118) from the Judaean balsam-tree by incisions in the bark. If however the môr of v. 23 (see the note there) was really the juice or gum of the balsam-tree, it is hardly likely to have been called here by a different name.

onycha] Heb. sheḥçleth†; LXX. ὄνυξ, Vulg. onyx, whence EVV. onycha (cf. Sir 24:15); i.e. unguis odoratus, the ‘operculum,’ or closing flap, called ὄνυξ from its resemblance to the nail, of certain molluscs, which, when burnt, emits a strong aromatic odour1[214]. Onycha is still gathered along the coasts of the Red Sea; and is largely used as an ingredient in the perfumery of Arab women (EB. s.v.); it is also said to be the principal component of incense in India and elsewhere (Kn.).

[214] Cf. Diosc. ii.10, as cited by Röd. in Ges. Thes. p. 1388: Ὄνυξ ἐστὶ πῶμα κογχυλίου ὅμοιον τῷ τῆς πορφύρας, εὑρισκόμενον ἐν τῇ Ἰνδίᾳ ἐν ταῖς ναρδοφόροις λίμναις (and also, he adds, though of a different kind, in the Red Sea): ἀμφότεροι δὲ εὐώδεις θυμιώμενοι, καστορίζοντες ποσῶς τῇ ὀσμῇ.

galbanum] Heb. ḥelbenâh†; LXX. χαλβάνη, Vulg. galbanum. This was the resin of an umbelliferous plant, used by the ancients medicinally, and also, from its pungent odour, when burnt, to keep off insects (Plin. xix. 58 al.), to expel serpents from stables (Verg. G. iii. 415 ‘Galbaneoque agitare graves nidore chelydros’), and revive sick bees (ib. iv. 264 ‘Hic iam galbaneos suadebo incendere odors’). Diosc. (iii. 87) and Theophr. (ix. 7) speak of galbanum as obtained from a Syrian νάρθηξ: but in modern times it seems to be almost entirely a product of Persia (EB.).

sweet spices, with] (even) fragrant powders, and. But probably the tautologous ‘fragrant powders’ is merely repeated by error from the previous line.

frankincense] Heb. lěbônâh (‘whiteness,’ with reference doubtless to the milky form in which it exudes from the tree), a fragrant gum-resin, obtained, by means of incisions, from trees belonging to certain species of the genus Boswelliana. These are now found mostly in Somali-land; but the most famous growth in ancient times was in the mountains of Shĕbâ, or the Sabaeans, in S. Arabia (EB. s.v.: cf. Bent, S. Arabia, 1900, pp. 89, 91, 234 f., &c.: comp. Jeremiah 6:20 (‘frankincense from Shĕbâ’), Isaiah 60:6; Verg. G. i. 117 ‘solis est turea virga Sabaeis,’ Aen. i. 416 f. ‘centumque Sabaeo Ture calent arae’). Frankincense is mentioned first in Jer. (Jeremiah 6:20, Jeremiah 17:26, Jeremiah 41:5); elsewhere only in P (here; Leviticus 2:1 f., Leviticus 2:15 f., Exodus 6:15 as a concomitant of the meal-offering, cf. Exodus 5:11, Numbers 5:15; Leviticus 24:7 as placed on the Presence-bread), II Isaiah (Isaiah 43:23, Isaiah 60:6, Isaiah 66:3), 1 Chronicles 9:29; and, for its fragrance, Song of Solomon 3:6; Song of Solomon 4:6; Song of Solomon 4:14. The epithet pure, or better, clear (zakkâh; LXX. διαφανῆ), is meant probably to denote the superior kind called by Theophr. (ix. 4) καθαρὸν καὶ διαφανῆ, ‘pure and transparent,’ and said by Pliny (xii. 32) to be that gathered in autumn. Knobel states that he had some incense prepared according to this receipt in the laboratory of a colleague at Giessen, and that its odour was ‘strong, refreshing, and very agreeable.’

34–38. 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.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 34-38. - THE HOLY INCENSE. It remained to give directions concerning the composition of the incense, which, according to verse 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" (ver. 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 (ver. 34). The art of the apothecary was to be called in for making it up (ver. 35). A portion of it was to be "beaten very small," and placed in front of the ark of the covenant, probably on the golden altar outside the vail (ver. 36). A prohibition is added, similar to that given with respect to the holy oil: no one is to make any like it for private use, under pain of being "cut off from his people" (vers. 37, 38). Verse 34. - Take unto thee sweet spices. Rather, "Take unto thee spices," or "perfumes." The word has no epithet. Stacte. The Hebrew word used means simply "a drop" (Job 32:27), and might be applied to any gum or resin which exuded from a tree. We have no clue to the gum here intended but that which is furnished by the rendering of the LXX., στακτή, which our translators have followed. Now the Greeks seem to have called two gums by this name - one, the natural exudation from the myrrh tree, called above (ver. 23) "pure myrrh," or "the myrrh that flows freely;" and the other gum storax. As it is not likely that the same substance has been given two names within the space of ten verses, we must suppose the latter to be meant. Gum storax is the produce of a tree allied to the poplar, and known as Styrax officinalis, which grows abundantly in Syria and Palestine. It was frequently used as a perfume by the ancients (Herod. 3:107; Plin. H. N. 12:17, §40). Onycha. The Hebrew word, she-kheleth, seems to mean a "shell" of some kind or other. The Greek ὄνυξ, Lat. onycha, was applied to the operculum - the "nail" or "claw" - of certain shell-fish of the genus Strombidae, which were common in the lied Sea, and elsewhere. The particular strombus which furnishes the onycha of the ancients is thought to have been the Unguis odoratus or Blatta Byzantina. The opercula of these shell-fish have, when burnt, a strong odour, "something like castoreum." The onycha is, again coupled with galbanum and gum storax in Ecclesiates 24:15. Galbanum. The Hebrew word khelb'nah, is so near the Greek χαλβάιη and the Latin galbanum that it has with good reason been assumed to designate the same substance. Galbanum is a gum well known both to ancients and moderns. It is admitted into the pharmacopeia. Several plants seem to produce it, as the Opoidia galbanifera, the Galbanum Persicum, and a plant which grows in Northern Persia, very like the Ferula erubeseens. When burnt, galbanum has a strong pungent odour, which is said to be disagreeable by itself, but to improve and preserve other odours (Plin. H. N. 12:54). Frankincense. On the wide use of frankincense, see the comment on ver. 1. It was the produce of a tree which anciently flourished in Arabia, but which appears to have degenerated, and now produces only an inferior quality. The best frankincense comes now from the high lands of India. It exudes from a tree called salai (the Boswellia setrata or thurifera of botanists). Some think that the frankincense exported largely from Arabia to the neighbouring nations was in part the produce of this tree imported by the Arab merchants from Hindustan. Exodus 30:34

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The Holy Incense was also to be made of four ingredients, viz., (1) nataph (στακτή, stacte), i.e., not the resinous myrrh, or sap obtained from the fragrant myrrh and dried, but a kind of storax gum resembling myrrh, which was baked, and then used, like incense, for fumigating; - (2) shecheleth (ὄνυξ, ungius odoratus), the shell of a shell-fish resembling the purpura, of an agreeable odour; - (3) chelbenah (χαλβάνη), a resin of a pungent, bitter flavour, obtained, by means of an incision in the bark, from the ferula, a shrub which grows in Syria, Arabia, and Abyssinia, and then mixed with fragrant substances to give greater pungency to their odour; - and (4) lebonah (λίβανος or λιβανωτός), frankincense, a resin of a pleasant smell, obtained from a tree in Arabia Felix or India, but what tree has not been discovered. זכּה pure, i.e., unadulterated. The words יהיה בּבד בּד "part for part shall it be," are explained by the lxx as meaning ἴσον ἴσῳ ἔσται, Vulg. aequalis ponderis erunt omnia, i.e., with equal parts of all the different substances. But this is hardly correct, as בּד literally means separation, and the use of ב in this sense would be very striking. The explanation given by Aben Ezra is more correct, viz., "every part shall be for itself;" that is to say, each part was to be first of all prepared by itself, and then all the four to be mixed together afterwards.