oils & Spices & Measures

The oil and spices (Exodus 25:6) were used for the candlestick, holy anointing oil, and sweet incense.

Olive oil -It is a pale-yellow to yellow-green oil from the olive tree. Only the purest olive oil was used.

Myrrh - is a yellow to reddish-brown, aromatic bitter-gum resin from the stem of the balsam bush.

Cinnamon oil comes from the inner rind of the cinnamon tree. Cinnamon oil is pale yellow.

Calamus is a spice from the root of the sweet cane. A yellow aromatic oil can be extracted.

Cassia is another spice which comes from the aromatic inner bark of a shrub that resembles the cinnamon tree.

The candlestick was fueled by pure olive oil.

The Holy anointing oil was made from the above five oils and spices (Exodus 30:22-33) It was used to consecrate persons or things to G-d and its use was prohibited for any other purpose.

Sweet Incense was made from the following four spices: (Ex 30:22-23)

Stacte - probably the gum of the storax tree.

Onyche - a spice from the opercula of a shellfish found in the Red Sea. When it is burned, it produces a strong odor that increases the fragrance of other perfumes.

Galbanum is a yellow to green or brown, aromatic bitter-gum resin extracted from a shrub. It enables the incense to retain its fragrance longer.

Frankincense is a white-to-yellow, aromatic gum resin, which contains a volatile oil. It was also used separately with the meat offerings.

Sweet incense was used only at the golden incense alter each morning and evening, and annually on Yom Kippur when it was burned before the ark.