Stacte

Spices for the oil and incense (Sweet smelling fragrance to God)

There were three spices to be added to the frankincense and oil:

Ex 30:34 And the LORD said to Moses: "Take sweet spices, stacte and onycha and galbanum, and pure frankincense with these sweet spices; there shall be equal amounts of each.

a) Stacte - A powder from the hardened drops of the fragrant resin found in the bark of the Myrrh bush. The word

means "a drop".

b) Onycha - A powder from the horny shell cover of a clam-like mollusk found in the Red Sea. When burnt, this powder emits a penetrating aroma. The Hebrew word means- "aromatic shell". The Red Sea is an isolated warm water pocket of the Indian ocean and is known for its peculiar subspecies of mollusks.

c) Galbanum - A brownish pungent resin that exudes from the lower part of the stem of a Ferula plant. This herb plant is found at the Mediterranean Sea and has thick stalks, yellow flowers, and fern-like green foliage. It has a musky, pungent smell and is valuable because it preserves the scent of a mixed perfume, and allows of its distribution over a long period of time.

In these spices or perfumes we see Jesus as the sweet smelling aroma bringing joy to the Father's heart. When mixed with the olive oil we see the sweet illuminating work of the Spirit of Christ, and when mixed with frank-incense we see the sweetness of prayer as a "sweet smelling aroma in God's nostrils". How fitting that these perfumes would point to Christ.

Jn 8:29 "And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him."

Eph 5:2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

2Cor 2:15-16 For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things?