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All three gifts are ordinary offerings and gifts given to a king. Myrrh being commonly used as an anointing oil, frankincense as a perfume, and gold as a valuable. The three gifts had a spiritual meaning: gold as a symbol of kingship on earth, frankincense (an incense) as a symbol of deity, and myrrh (an embalming oil) as a symbol of death.
unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh. The World English Bible translates the passage as: They came into the house and saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Opening their treasures, they offered to him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. For a collection of other versions see BibleHub ...
Moldenke writes that the myrrh of certain parts of Biblical history was actually labdanum. [84] It is believed that many instances in the Bible where it speaks of myrrh it is actually referring to a mixture of myrrh and labdanum. [85] According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary one of the definitions of "myrrh" is "a mixture of myrrh and labdanum."
Myrrh gum, like frankincense, is such a resin. Myrrh is harvested by repeatedly wounding the trees to bleed the gum, which is waxy and coagulates quickly. After the harvest, the gum becomes hard and glossy. The gum is yellowish and may be either clear or opaque. It darkens deeply as it ages, and white streaks emerge. [3] Myrrh gum is commonly ...
pure frankincense (לְבוֹנָה זָךְ levonah zakh) The components are still being studied and are not determined with absolute certainty. Stacte is variously described as being the extract of the transparent portion of the myrrh resin which exudes spontaneously from the tree, or a balsam from a tree such as opobalsamum or a styrax.
The biblical word used here is נטף = naṭaf (Exo. 30:34), which was later called in Mishnaic times by the name צרי = ṣorī. By the time of the post-Second Temple era its meaning had already become spurious, which led Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel to say: "The ṣorī is no more than gum resin [that drips] from resinous trees."
The English word frankincense derives from the Old French expression franc encens, meaning 'true incense', maybe with the sense of 'high quality incense'. [4] [2] The adjective franc in Old French meant 'noble, true', in this case perhaps 'pure'; although franc is ultimately derived from the tribal name of the Franks, it is not a direct reference to them in the word francincense.
The 'ketoret' is the incense described in the Bible for use in the Temple. Its composition and usage is described in greater detail in midrash , the Talmud and subsequent rabbinic literature. Although it was not produced following the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, some Jews study the composition of the ancient Temple incense for ...