| The Holy
Anointing Oil described in Exodus 30:22-25 was created
from 500 shekels (about 6kg) of myrrh, half as much (about
3kg) of fragrant cinnamon, 250 shekels (about 3kg) of
fragrant cane (kanehbosm, variously translated as cannabis
or calamus), 500 shekels (about 6kg) of cassia, and a hin
(about 4L) of olive oil.
Since the amount of spices
would clearly overwhelm the olive oil, it is thought that
these measures were of the original spices that were then
distilled down, by "the art of the apothecary", to
essential oils. Because there is no record of how the Jews
rendered oil from their spices, it is unclear as to how
much oil would have made up the final mixture.
The holiness of the oil
was protected by the ceremonial law, which prohibited its
use in anything but the rites of the temple, on threat of
banishment from among the Jewish people.
The holy anointing oil
mentioned in various sacred Hebrew texts contained, among
other ingredients, an herb known as kaneh-bosm (fragrant
cane). Historically interpreted to mean calamus, there is
some evidence that the correct interpretation of 'fragrant
cane' may in fact be cannabis. |
