Spicery

Spicery (Hebrew: nechoth) is identified with the gum tragacanth, the dried sap or gum exuded from various species of the astragalus plant, of which some twenty species grew in Palestine and the surrounding region. The tragacanth was used medicinally, as a binding agent, and as an aromatic substance in trade. It is mentioned in the list of goods carried by the Ishmaelite caravan trading from Gilead to Egypt — "bearing spicery and balm and myrrh" — to which Joseph was sold by his brothers (Gen. 37:25; 43:11).

The distinction between spicery and other aromatics (balm, myrrh) suggests that nechoth was a recognizable and commercially valuable commodity in the ancient caravan trade between the Fertile Crescent and Egypt. Jacob sends it as part of the gift to the Egyptian official (Joseph) in an attempt to secure favorable treatment during the famine.