Myrrh

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MYRRH.—1. môr (Arab [Note: Arabic.] , murr), the dried gum of a species of balsam (Balsamodendron myrrha) growing in Arabia and India. It has a pleasant, though faint, smell (Psa_45:8, Pro_7:17, Son_1:13; Son_3:5). It is still used in medicine (Mar_15:23). It was used in embalming (Joh_19:39). According to Schweinfurth, the myrrh of the OT was a liquid product of the Balsamodendron opobalsamum, known as balsam of Mecca. Exo_30:23 and Son_5:5; Son_5:13, where the ‘myrrh’ appears to have been liquid, support this view. See also Ointment.
2. lôt, tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘myrrh’ in Gen_37:25; Gen_43:11, is a fragrant resin from the Cislus or ‘rock rose,’ a common Palestine shrub. In Arab [Note: Arabic.] , this is called lâdhan (Lat. ladanum, so RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ). As a product of Palestine it was a likely substance to send to Egypt.
E. W. G. Masterman
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909


Hebrew mor from maarar "to drop," and lot. An ingredient of the holy anointing oil (Exo_30:23), typical of Messiah's graces (Psa_45:8) as well as the church's through Him (Song of Solomon). In Son_1:13 translated "a scent box of myrrh." The mowr is the Balsamodendron myrrha, which yields myrrh, of the order Terebinth aceae. The stunted trunk has a light gray odorous bark. It grew in Arabia around Saba; the gum resin exudes in drops which harden on the bark, and the flow is increased by incision into the tree. It is a transparent, brown, brittle, odorous substance, with bitter taste. The "wine mingled with myrrh," offered to but rejected by Jesus on the cross, was embittered by it.
As it stupefies the senses He would not have that which mitigates death's horrors, but would meet it in full consciousness. It was one of the three offerings of the wise men (Mat_2:11). Nicodemus brought it to embalm His sacred body (Joh_19:39). Bal is its Egyptian name, bol the Sanskrit and Hindu. Lot is not strictly myrrh but ladanum, the resinous exudation of the Cistus ("rock rose") Creticus, growing in Gilead where no myrrh grew, and exported into Egypt (Gen_37:25; Gen_43:11). "Odorous, rather green, easy to soften, fat, produced in Cyprus" (Dioscorides i. 128); abounding still in Candia (Crete), where they gather it by passing over it an instrument composed of many parallel leather thongs, to which its gum adheres.
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.


Myrrh. This substance is mentioned in Exo_30:23, as one of the ingredients of the "oil of holy ointment:" in Est_2:12, as one of the substances used in the purification of women; in Psa_45:8; Pro_7:17, and in several passages in Canticles, as a perfume. The Greek occurs in Mat_2:11, among the gifts brought by the wise men to the infant Jesus, and in Mar_15:23, it is said that "wine mingled with myrrh" was offered to, but refused by, our Lord on the cross.
Myrrh was also used for embalming. See Joh_19:39, and Herod. Ii. 86. The Balsamodendron myrrha, which produces the myrrh of commerce, has a wood and bark which emit a strong odor; the gum which exudes from the bark is at first oily, but becomes hard by exposure to the air.
(This myrrh is in small yellowish or white globules or tears. The tree is small, with a stunted trunk, covered with light-gray bark, It is found in Arabia Felix. The myrrh of Gen_37:25, was probably ladalzum, a highly-fragrant resin and volatile oil used as a cosmetic, and stimulative as a medicine. It is yielded by the cistus, known in Europe as the rock rose, a shrub with rose-colored flowers, growing in Palestine, and along the shores of the Mediterranean. ? Editor).
For wine mingled with myrrh, see Gall.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863


מור , Exo_30:23; Est_2:19; Psa_45:8; Pro_7:17; Son_1:13; Son_3:6; Son_4:6; Son_4:14; Son_5:1; Son_5:5; Son_5:13; σμυρνα, Sir_24:15; Mat_2:11; Mar_15:23; Joh_19:39; a precious kind of gum issuing by incision, and sometimes spontaneously, from the trunk and larger branches of a tree growing in Egypt, Arabia, and Abyssinia. Its taste is extremely bitter, but its smell, though strong, is not disagreeable; and among the ancients it entered into the composition of the most costly ointments. As a perfume, it appears to have been used to give a pleasant fragrance to vestments, and to be carried by females in little caskets in the bosom. The magi, who came from the east to worship our Saviour at Bethlehem, made him a present of myrrh among other things, Mat_2:11.
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.


mûr:
(1) (מר or מור, mōr; Arabic murr): This substance is mentioned as valuable for its perfume Psa_45:8; Pro_7:17; Son_3:6; Son_4:14, and as one of the constituents of the holy incense (Exo_30:23; see also Son_4:6; Son_5:1, Son_5:5, Son_5:13). Mōr is generally identified with the ?myrrh? of commerce, the dried gum of a species of balsam (Balsamodendron myrrha). This is a stunted tree growing in Arabia, having a light-gray bark; the gum resin exudes in small tear-like drops which dry to a rich brown or reddish-yellow, brittle substance, with a faint though agreeable smell and a warm, bitter taste. It is still used as medicine Mar_15:23. On account, however, of the references to ?flowing myrrh? Exo_30:23 and ?liquid myrrh? Son_5:5, Son_5:13, Schweinfurth maintains that mōr was not a dried gum but the liquid balsam of Balsamodendron opobalsamum. See BALSAM.
Whichever view is correct, it is probable that the σμύρνα, smúrna, of the New Testament was the same. In Mat_2:11 it is brought by the ?Wise men? of the East as an offering to the infant Saviour; in Mar_15:23 it is offered mingled with wine as an anaesthetic to the suffering Redeemer, and in Joh_19:39 a ?mixture of myrrh and aloes? is brought by Nicodemus to embalm the sacred body.
(2) (לט, lōṭ, στακτή, staktḗ; translated ?myrrh? in Gen_37:25, margin ?ladanum?; Gen_43:11): The fragrant resin obtained from some species of cistus and called in Arabic lādham, in Latin ladanum. The cistus or ?rock rose? is exceedingly common all over the mountains of Palestine (see BOTANY), the usual varieties being the C. villosus with pink petals, and the C. salviaefolius with white petals. No commerce is done now in Palestine in this substance as of old Gen_37:25; Gen_43:11, but it is still gathered from various species of cistus, especially C. creticus in the Greek Isles, where it is collected by threshing the plants by a kind of flail from which the sticky mass is scraped off with a knife and rolled into small black balls. In Cyprus at the present time the gum is collected from the beards of the goats that browse on these shrubs, as was done in the days of Herodotus iii. 112).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.


Myrrh is the exudation of a little-known tree found in Arabia, but much more extensively in Abyssinia. It formed an article of the earliest commerce, was highly esteemed by the Egyptians and Jews, as well as by the Greeks and Romans, as it still is both in the East and in Europe. The earliest notice of it occurs in Exo_30:23, 'Take thou also unto thee principal spices, of pure myrrh (morderor) 500 shekels.' It is afterwards mentioned in Est_2:12, as employed in the purification of women; in Psa_45:8, as a perfume, 'All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia;' also in several passages of the Song of Solomon (Son_4:6; Son_5:5). We find it mentioned in Mat_2:11, among the gifts presented by the wise men of the East to the infant Jesus?'gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.' It may be remarked as worthy of notice, that myrrh and frankincense are frequently mentioned together. In Mar_15:23, we learn that the Roman soldiers 'gave him (Jesus) to drink wine mingled with myrrh; but he received it not.' The Apostle John (Joh_19:39) says, 'Then came also Nicodemus, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight,' for the purpose of embalming the body of our Savior.

Fig. 274?Balsamodendron Myrrha
Though myrrh seems to have been known from the earliest times, and must consequently have been one of the most ancient articles of commerce, the country producing it long remained unknown. Some is undoubtedly procured in Arabia, but the largest quantity has always been obtained from Africa. Mr. Johnson, in his recently published Travels in Abyssinia (i. 249), mentions that 'Myrrh and mimosa trees abounded in this place' (Koranhedudah in Adal). The former he describes as being 'a low, thorny, ragged-looking tree, with bright-green trifoliate leaves; the gum exudes from cracks in the bark of the trunk near the root, and flows freely upon the stones immediately underneath. Artificially it is obtained by bruises made with stones. The natives collect it principally in the hot months of July and August, but it is to be found, though in very small quantities, at other times of the year.
Several kinds of myrrh were known to the ancients; and in modern commerce we have Turkish and East Indian myrrh, and different names used to be, and are still applied to it, as red and fatty myrrh, myrrh in tears, in sorts, and myrrh in grains. In the Bible also several kinds of myrrh are enumerated, respecting which various opinions have been entertained.
Myrrh, it is well known, was celebrated in the most ancient times as a perfume, and a fumigator, as well as for its uses in medicine. Myrrh was burned in the temples, and employed in embalming the bodies of the dead. It was offered in presents, as natural products commonly were in those days, because such as were procured from distant countries were very rare. The ancients prepared a wine of myrrh, and also an oil of myrrh, and it formed an ingredient in many of the most celebrated compound medicines, as the Theriaca, the Mithridata, Manus Dei. etc. Even in Europe it continued to recent times to enjoy the highest medicinal reputation, as it does in the East in the present day. From the sensible properties of this drug, and from the virtues which were ascribed to it, we may satisfactorily account for the mention of it in the several passages of Scripture which have been quoted.




The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.


Psa_45:8 (c) This type represents the fragrance of CHRIST to GOD in His sacrificial death. His death went up to GOD as a sweet smelling savour, which is most blessed both to GOD and to man. (See also Joh_19:39).

Pro_7:17 (c) This may be taken as a picture or a type of the enticing, alluring schemes and plans of the harlots to attract men to their homes, and to a life of sinful pleasure.

Son_1:13 (c) By this figure we understand the feelings of GOD's people concerning the loveliness of CHRIST to their hearts. The beauty, the fragrance and the attractiveness of the Lord JESUS are compared to the sweet odors arising from precious spices.

Mat_2:11 (c) This perfume is the third of the gifts mentioned, which were brought to the Lord JESUS CHRIST by the wise men. It typifies the beauty and the value of CHRIST as He gave His life for us.

- the gold is a type of His perfection and loveliness in His prenatal days.
- the frankincense may be taken as a type of the beauty and loveliness of CHRIST during His life on earth.
- the myrrh may remind us of the preciousness and sweetness of CHRIST in His death.
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types
press 1957.


Myrrh
is the rendering in the Auth. Ver. of two Heb. and one Gr. term. 'The following account is a collective view of the subject:
1. מֹרor מוֹר, mnor, σμύρνα, doubtless from a Shemitic root (signifying to flow, or else from another expressive of its bitterness), though some of the ancients traced it to the mythological Myrrha, daughter of Cinvras, king of Cyprus, who fled to Arabia, and was changed into this tree (Ovid, Art. Am. 1:288). Myrrh formed an article of the earliest commerce, and was highly esteemed by the Egyptians and Jews, as well as by the Greeks and Romans (Pliny, 13:2; Athen. 15:688; Dioscor. 1:73), as it still is both in the East and in Europe. The earliest notice of it occurs in Exo_30:23, "Take thou also unto thee principal spices, of pure myrrh five hundred shekels." It is afterwards mentioned in Est_2:12, as employed in the purification of women; in Psa_45:8, as a perfume, "All thy garments smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia;" also in several passages of the Song of Solomon, "I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense" (Psa_4:6); "My hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh" (5, .); so in Psa_45:13, in both which passages, according to Rosenmuller, it is profluent myrrh. We find it mentioned in Mat_2:11 among the gifts presented by the wise men of the East to the infant Jesus, "gold and frankincense and myrrh." It may be remarked as worthy of notice that myrrh and frankincense are frequently mentioned together. In Mar_15:23 we learn that the Roman soldiers "gave him (Jesus) to drink wine mingled with myrrh, but he received it not" (see Hutten, De potu felleo, etc. [Guben. 1671]; Pipping, De potu Christo prodromo [Leips. 1688]). SEE GALL.
The apostle John (Joh_19:39) says, "Then came also Nicodemus, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred-pound weight." for the purpose of embalming the body of our Saviour. Herodotus (3:107) mentions Arabia as the last inhabited country towards the south which produced frankincense, myrrh, etc.; Theophrastus (Plant. 9:4) describes it as being produced in Southern Arabia, about Saba and Adramytta; so Pliny (12, 33), Dioscorides (1:77) and several other Greek authors (Strabo, 16:769, 782; Diodl. Sic. 5:41; 19:95). But others have not so limited its production. Celsius (Hierobot. 1:523) says it was produced in Syria, Gedrosia (Arrian, Exped. Al. 6:421), India, Ethiopia, Troglodytica, and Egypt; in which last country it was called bal (βάλ), according to Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride, page 383 (Kircher, Prod. Copt. page 175). Plutarch, however, was probably in error, and has confounded the Coptic sal, "myrrh," with bal, "an eye" (Jablonski, Opusc. 1:49 [ed. te Water]). Accordingly bol is the name by which it is universally known throughout India in the present day; and the Sanscrit name is bola, which occurs at least before the Christian aera, with several other names, showing that it was well known. But from the time of the ancients until that of Belon we were without any positive information respecting the tree yielding myrrh: he supposed it to be produced in Syria (so also Propertius [1, 2, 3] and Oppian [Halieut. 3:403]), and says (Observat. 2:80) that near Rama he met with a thorny shrub with leaves resembling acacia, which he believed to be that producing myrrh (Mimosa agrestis, Spr.). Similar to this is the information of the Arabian author, Abu'l Fadli, quoted by Celsius, who says that mour is the Arabic name of a thorny tree resembling the acacia, from which flows a white juice, which thickens and becomes a gum. The Persian authors state that myrrh is the gum of a tree common in the Mughrub, that is, the West or Africa, in Room (a general name for the Turkish empire), and in Socotra.
The Arabian and Persian authors probably only knew it as an article of commerce: it certainly is not produced in Socotra, but has undoubtedly long been exported from Africa into Arabia. It is reported that myrrh is always to be obtained cheap and abundant on the Sumali coast. Bruce had indeed long previously stated that myrrh is produced in the country behind Azab. Mr. Johnson, in his Travels in Abyssinia (1:249), mentions that "Myrrh and mimosa trees abounded ill this place" (Koranhedudah, in Adal). The former he describes as being "a low, thorny, ragged-looking tree, with bright green trifoliolate leaves; the gum exudes from cracks in the bark of the trunk near the root, and flows freely upon the stones immediately underneath. Artificially it is obtained by bruises made with stones. The natives collect it principally in the hot months of July and August, but it is to be found, though in very small quantities, at other times of the year. It is collected in small kid-skins and taken to Errur, whence the Hurrah merchants, on their way from Shoa, convey it to the great annual market at Berberah, whence great quantities are shipped for India and Arabia." When the Portuguese first entered these seas, gold dust, ivory, myrrh, and slaves formed the staple commerce of Adal. As early as the time of Arrian, in his Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, we find myrrh one of the articles of export, with frankincense, from the coast of Adal, styled Barbaria. The Periplus mentions the myrrh of this coast as the finest of its kind, and specifies the means of conveying it to Yemen, or Sabea. There the first Greek navigators found it, and through their hands it was conveyed into Europe under the name of Sabean myrrh. Though there is no doubt that the largest quantity of myrrh has always been obtained from Africa, yet it is equally certain that some is also procured in Arabia. This seems to be proved by Ehrenberg and Hemprich, who found a small tree in Arabia, near Gison, on the borders of Arabia Felix, off which they collected pieces of myrrh, which, when brought home and analyzed, was acknowledged to be genuine (Nees v. Eisenbeck, Plant. officin. tab. 357). This is the Balsamodendron nyrsrha of botanists, which produces the myrrh of commerce; it belongs to the natural order Terebinthacece, and is a small tree found in Arabia Felix, allied to the Amyridaccece or incense-trees, and closely resembling the Amyris Gileadensis, or Balsamodendron Gileadense. SEE BALM. Its stunted trunk is covered with a light gray bark, which, as well as the wood, emits a strong balsamic odor. The characteristic gum-resin exudes in small, tear-like drops, at first oily, but drying and hardening on the bark, and its flow is increased by wounding the tree. When collected it is a brittle substance, translucent, of a rich brown color, or reddish yellow, with a strong odor and a warm, bitter taste. Myrrh, it is well known, was celebrated in the most ancient times as a perfume and a fumigator (Martius, Pharmakogn. page 382 sq.), as well as for its uses in medicine. Myrrh was burned in temples, and employed in embalming the bodies of the dead. The ancients prepared a wine of myrrh, and also an oil of myrrh, and it formed an ingredient in many of the most celebrated compound medicines (see Penny Cyclopcedia, s.v. Balsamodendron). We read in Son_1:13 of a "bundle of myrrh," as our Auth. Ver. has it; but the word צְרוֹר(tzeror), used for a purse or bag of money (Gen_42:35; Pro_7:20, etc.), may rather indicate a scent-bag, or smelling-bottle, such as is sold by modern perfumers. Mason Good, who has "casque of myrrh," observes that a casket of gold or ivory, containing some costly perfume, is still worn by the ladies of Persia suspended from their necks by an elegant chain. The terms "pure myrrh" (מָראּדְּרוֹר, mor deror', Exo_30:23) and "sweetsmelling myrrh" (מֹר צוֹבֵר, mor ober', Son_5:5) probably represent the best, or self-flowing kind (Sept. σμύρνα ἐκλεκτή; comp. Plin. 12:35; see Dopke, Comment. v. Hopest. page 165). (For the ancient notices, see Celsii Hierob. 1:520 sq.; Bodaei a. Stapel, Comment. ad Theophrast. page 796 sq., 974).
2. לטor לוֹט, lot (so called, perhaps, from covering, being used as a cosmetic or pomatum; Gesen. Thesaur. page 748; Sept. στακτή, and Vulg. stacte), occurs only in Gen_37:25, “Behold, a company of Ishmaelites came down from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery (nekoth), and balm (tsori), and myrrh (1ot), going to carry it down to Egypt;" and in chapter 43:11 Jacob directs his sons to take into Egypt "of the best fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm (tsori), and a little honey, spices (nekoth), and myrrh (lot), nuts (botnim), and almonds (shekadim)." In this enumeration, in one case of merchandise, and in the other of several articles intended for a present, and both destined for Egypt, at that time a highly civilized nation, it is evident that we are to look only for such substances as were likely to be acceptable in that country, and therefore not such as were produced there, or as were more easily procurable from elsewhere than from Syria, as was the case with myrrh, which was never produced in Syria, and could not have been an article of export from thence. This difficulty has been felt by others. and various translations of lit have been proposed, as lotus (comp. Burckhardt, Arab. Spriichen, page 334), chestnuts, mastich, stacte, balsam, turpentine, pistachio nuts (Michaelis, Suppl. 4:1424 sq.). Junius and Tremellius render it ladanum, which is suitable, and appears to be correct, as an etymological connection may be traced between the words. Ladanum, or gumn ladanum, as it is often called, was known to the Greeks as early as the times of Herodotus (3:112) and Dioscorides (1:128), and bore the names of ledos and ledanon (λῆδος, λήδανον), which are very closely allied to ladun, the Arabic name of the same drug. A Hebrew author, as quoted by Celsius (Hierobot. 1:281), describes it as "an aromatic substance, flowing from the juice of a certain tree." Ladanum is described by Herodotus (3:112) as particularly fragrant, though gathered from the beards of goats, where it is found sticking.
This is explained by referring to the description of Dioscorides (1:128), from which we learn that goats, after browsing upon the leaves of the ladanurm plants, necessarily have this viscid substance adhering to their hair and beards, whence it is afterwards scraped off. Tournefort, in modern times, has given a detailed description ( Voyage, 1:79) of the mode of obtaining ladanum, and relates that it is now gathered by means of a kind of rake with whiplike thongs, which is passed over the plants. When these thongs are loaded with the odoriferous and sticky resin, they are scraped with a knife, and the substance rolled into a mass, in which state it is called ladanuma or ladanum. It consists of resin and volatile oil, and is highly fragrant, and stimulative as a medicine, but is often adulterated with sand in commerce. The ladanum which is used in Europe is collected chiefly in the Greek isles, and also in continental Greece. It is yielded by the Cistus, known in Europe by the name of Rock Rose. It is a native of the south of Europe, the Mediterranean islands (especially Candia or Crete, whence the principal kind has derived its modern name), and the north of Africa. There are several species of Cistus, all of which are believed to yield the gum ladanum; but the species mentioned by Dioscorides is in all probability identical with the one which is found in Palestine, viz. the Cistus Creticus (Strand, Flor. Palaest. No. 289). The C. Itdanijferus, a native of Spain and Portugal, produces the greatest quantity of the ladanum; it has a white flower, while that of the C. Creticus is rose-colored. Species are also found in Judaea; and C. Creticus in some parts of Syria. Some authors have been of opinion that one species, the Cistus roseus, is more likely than any other to be the Rose of Sharon, as it is very common in that locality, while nothing like a true rose is to be found there. Ladanum seems to have been produced in Judaea, according to writers in the Talmud (Cels. 1. c. page 286). It is said by Pliny (12:37), as long before by Herodotus (3:112), to be a produce of Arabia, and as by this is probably meant Syria (comp. Pliny, 26:20), it was very likely to have been sent to Egypt both as a present and as merchandise. See Celsius, Hierobot. 1:280 sq.; Rosenmuller, Bib. Bot. page 158; Pococke, Morgenl. 2:333 sq.; Penny Cyclopedia, s.v. Ladanum.

CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.





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