Spices

Spices (besamim, nataph, and related terms) were highly valued in the ancient world for perfumery, medicine, embalming, and ritual use. The sacred incense of the tabernacle required four specific spices: stacte, onycha, galbanum, and frankincense (Ex. 30:34–35), and the anointing oil blended myrrh, cinnamon, aromatic cane, and cassia (Ex. 30:23–25). The Queen of Sheba brought camels laden with spices when she visited Solomon (1 Kings 10:2; 2 Chr. 9:1).

Spices figure prominently in the Song of Solomon (myrrh, spikenard, cinnamon, calamus, frankincense), reflecting a culture in which fragrance expressed intimacy and honor. At Jesus's burial, Nicodemus brought myrrh and aloes (John 19:39), and the women prepared spices to anoint his body (Luke 23:56; 24:1). The wise men's gift of frankincense and myrrh at the nativity is often interpreted symbolically: frankincense for divinity, myrrh for death and burial (Matt. 2:11).