Botany, perfume, & Exodus

[B/W Photodude]

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Exodus 30:23-25 - 23 Take thou also unto thee principal spices, of pure myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and fifty shekels, and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty shekels,  24 And of cassia five hundred shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of oil olive an him: 25 And thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the apothecary: it shall be an holy anointing oil.

Exodus 30:33 Whosoever compoundeth any like it, or …

Exodus 30:37-38 - 37 And as for the perfume which thou shalt make, ye shall not make to yourselves according to the composition thereof: it shall be unto thee holy for the Lord. 38 Whosoever shall make like unto that, to smell thereto, shall even be cut off from his people.

My first college major was in botany, so part of the 30th chapter of Exodus I find very interesting. So of these spices have fascinating properties and are even used as medicines. And on a side note, during the filming of "Paint Your Wagon", they burned copious amounts of frankincense on the set as it smoldered and put off much smoke to resemble wood burning fireplaces and the air had a very fragrant quality to it. Frankincense is even an herb you can by in your local Walmart as an herbal medicine, although you may know it better as boswellia

Some of the plants of this holy oil described in Exodus are of uncertainty in exactly what plant they may be. And who knows of what quantity of these aromatic herbs for the money figures of them you would be able to buy today. So, I tend to think that this holy oil would not be possible to make today with any accuracy.

But it still raises the question, as we often are ready to discard parts of the Old Testament as no longer binding, of whether one is still prohibited from creating this holy oil today as the 38th verse suggest even attempting to create an oil like the holy oil would result in one being cut off from his people. So, what do you think, are we still prohibited from compounding this oil?

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

On 11/16/2018 at 7:41 PM, B/W Photodude said:

Frankincense is even an herb you can by in your local Walmart as an herbal medicine, although you may know it better as boswellia

Specifically regarding essential oils made from botanicals:  don't buy any essential oil product at Walmart....  therapeutic grade (pure) Frankincense eo's made from any of the Boswellia species is extremely expensive, and is not the type sold at Walmart (or at any of the big commercial stores).  Only use highly reputable sources, such as Fragrant Earth, Leydet, or The Essential Oil Company (out of Portland, Oregon) — these places have the highest quality standards.  This would also be true for other essential oils, as well.  "Cheap" doesn't mean you're getting a good deal.

[B/W Photodude]

15 minutes ago, rudywoofs (Pam) said:

Specifically regarding essential oils made from botanicals:  don't buy any essential oil product at Walmart....  therapeutic grade (pure) Frankincense eo's made from any of the Boswellia species is extremely expensive, and is not the type sold at Walmart (or at any of the big commercial stores).  Only use highly reputable sources, such as Fragrant Earth, Leydet, or The Essential Oil Company (out of Portland, Oregon) — these places have the highest quality standards.  This would also be true for other essential oils, as well.  "Cheap" doesn't mean you're getting a good deal.

Thanks for the info. None of my oils come from Walmart. The boswellia they sell is in capsules to be swallowed. But as you say, even they may not be up to the quality of other brands.

I noticed The Essential Oil Company of Portland sells garlic oil. This is something I found funny that happened to me. I often grind garlic and ginger separately in gin (you could use vodka), and store it in the freezer. Then when either are called for, just a scoop out of this "frozen" mixture and I do not have to grind it out fresh. The gin keeps it liquid and not a frozen block of iced garlic or ginger and I could never see much difference in the frozen versus the fresh when cooked. When first doing this, I used teflon containers for them. Ginger was OK, but one day I noticed that garlic oil was seeping right through the teflon in a real sticky like oil. I am thinking this would be really good stuff, if it hadn't filtered right through teflon! I wasn't daring enough to consume this teflon filtered garlic oil! So, now my garlic/gin mixture stays in glass containers.

Now, I am looking for the aloe written of in the Bible and this aloe is not the aloe vera we are familiar with today. I have seen references to the effect that they are not the same, although some sources say aloe vera was also in the Middle East, Africa, and Madagasgar

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

I'm thinking the aloe referred to in the Bible was probably one of the Aquilaria species, since they exude the aromatic resins.  Not sure which specific one it would be, though... maybe the agallochum?? 

[B/W Photodude]

19 hours ago, The Wanderer said:

The Gin would kill all flu bugs and bacteria; USED to be my remedy of choice, but now its Oil Of Oregano every flu season and I have not had flue for seven years; if I make it this year, which I am sure I will, it will be 8 years without flu, and NO flu shots needed.

I need to study up more on Oil of Oregano. I have heard some things about it, but not studied it. I have seen people using very concentrated solutions of allicin, from garlic. My g-nephew came to church one day with a soft ball size swelling on the side of his face. His mom said it was an abscessed tooth. She was giving him the allicin. Saw him three days later and the swelling was completely gone. What she had cost her over $100 bottle, however, other sources put it at $300/bottle. Garlics benefits are also underrated.