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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comAdam Clarke Commentary - Exodus 30:23 - 30:23
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Take - unto thee principal spices - From this and the following verse we learn that the holy anointing oil was compounded of the following ingredients: -
Pure myrrh, מר דרור mar deror, 500 shekels
Sweet cinnamon, קנמן בשם kinnemon besem, 250 shekels. (probably from Arabia)
Sweet calamus, קנה בשם keneh bosem, or sweet 250 shekels. cane, Jer 6:20 - Calamus aromaticus.
Cassia, קדה kiddah, (cassia lignea), brought 500 shekels. Also from Arabia.
Olive oil, שמן זית shemen sayith, one hin, about 5 quarts.
Myrrh is the produce of an oriental tree not well known, and is collected by making an incision in the tree. What is now called by this name is precisely the same with that of the ancients.
500 shekels of the first and last, make 48 lbs. 4 oz. 12 dwts. 21 21/31 grs.
250 of the cinnamon and calamus. 24 lbs. 2 oz. 6 dwts.10 26/31 grs.
Olive oil is supposed to be the best preservative of odours.
As the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit are termed the anointing of the Holy Ghost, therefore this holy ointment appears to have been designed as emblematical of those gifts and graces. See Act 1:5; Act 10:38; 2Co 1:21; 1Jo 2:20, 1Jo 2:27.