Reference: Ointment
Easton
Various fragrant preparations, also compounds for medical purposes, are so called (Ex 30:25; Ps 133:2; Isa 1:6; Am 6:6; Joh 12:3; Re 18:13).
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And make these into a holy oil, a perfume made by the art of the perfume-maker; it is to be a holy oil.
The body, from head to foot, is all diseased; it is a mass of open wounds, marks of blows, and broken flesh: the flow of blood has not been stopped, and no oil has been put on the wounds.
Drinking wine in basins, rubbing themselves with the best oils; but they have no grief for the destruction of Joseph.
Then Mary, taking a pound of perfumed oil of great value, put it on the feet of Jesus and made them dry with her hair: and the house became full of the smell of the perfume.
And sweet-smelling plants, and perfumes, and wine, and oil, and well crushed grain, and cattle and sheep; and horses and carriages and servants; and souls of men.
Fausets
See ANOINT.)
Hastings
With two exceptions, 'ointment' in our English Version is the rendering, in OT, of the ordinary word for 'oil,' and in some passages the ointment may have consisted of oil only. In most of the references, however, perfumed oil is undoubtedly meant. The two are distinguished in Lu 7:46 'My head with oil thou didst not anoint; but she hath anointed my feet with ointment (myron).' The extensive use of myron in NT in the sense of 'ointment' shows that myrrh was then the favourite perfume. The dead body, as well as the living subject, was anointed with this ointment (Lu 23:56). Another 'very costly' unguent is described as 'ointment of spikenard' (Mr 14:3; Joh 12:3), for which see Spikenard. These much-prized unguents were kept in pots of alabaster, as in Egypt, where they are said to retain their fragrance for 'several hundred years' (Wilkinson, Anc. Egyp. i. 426, with illust.).
In the Priests' Code there is repeated reference to a specially rich unguent, 'the holy anointing oil,' the composition of which is minutely laid down in Ex 30:23-25. The ingredients, in addition to a basis of olive oil, are rendered in RV as 'flowing myrrh,' sweet cinnamon, sweet calamus, and cassia. The penalty for the unauthorized manufacture and sacrilegious use of this sacred chrism was excommunication.
A. R. S. Kennedy.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Take the best spices, five hundred shekels' weight of liquid myrrh, and of sweet cinnamon half as much, that is, two hundred and fifty shekels, and two hundred and fifty shekels of sweet calamus, And of cassia, five hundred shekels' weight measured by the scale of the holy place, and of olive oil a hin: read more. And make these into a holy oil, a perfume made by the art of the perfume-maker; it is to be a holy oil.
And while he was in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, seated at table, there came a woman with a bottle of perfumed oil of great price; and when the bottle was broken she put the perfume on his head.
You put no oil on my head: but she has put perfume on my feet.
And they went back and got ready spices and perfumes; and on the Sabbath they took their rest, in agreement with the law.
Then Mary, taking a pound of perfumed oil of great value, put it on the feet of Jesus and made them dry with her hair: and the house became full of the smell of the perfume.
Morish
Except in Ex 30:25 (where the Hebrew words are mishchah and roqach, and may be translated "an oil of holy ointment, a perfume"), and in 1Ch 9:30; Job 41:31 (where the words are derived from roqach), the Hebrew word is shemen, which is constantly translated 'oil.' It is used for 'fatness, oil, spiced oil,' and hence 'ointment,' with which on joyful occasions the head was anointed, Ps 133:2, and is elsewhere called the 'oil of gladness.' Ps 45:7: cf. Pr 27:9,16; Ec 7:1; 9:8; Am 6:6. As an emollient it was applied to wounds or bruises. Isa 1:6. In the N.T. the word is ?????, 'oil mingled with fragrant spices:' with such Mary anointed the Lord, and its perfume filled the house, Joh 12:3,5; it was also used by a woman 'which was a sinner.' Lu 7:37-38. The ointment would be more or less costly according to the ingredients.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And make these into a holy oil, a perfume made by the art of the perfume-maker; it is to be a holy oil.
And some of the sons of the priests were responsible for crushing the spices.
The deep is boiling like a pot of spices, and the sea like a perfume-vessel.
You have been a lover of righteousness and a hater of evil: and so God, your God, has put the oil of joy on your head, lifting you high over all other kings.
Oil and perfume make glad the heart, and the wise suggestion of a friend is sweet to the soul.
He who keeps secret the secret of his friend, will get himself a name for good faith.
A good name is better than oil of great price, and the day of death than the day of birth.
Let your clothing be white at all times, and let not your head be without oil.
The body, from head to foot, is all diseased; it is a mass of open wounds, marks of blows, and broken flesh: the flow of blood has not been stopped, and no oil has been put on the wounds.
Drinking wine in basins, rubbing themselves with the best oils; but they have no grief for the destruction of Joseph.
And there was a woman in the town who was a sinner; and when she had news that he was a guest in the Pharisee's house, she took a bottle of perfume, And went in and took her place at the back of him, near his feet, weeping, so that his feet were washed with the drops from her eyes, and with her hair she made them dry, and kissing his feet she put the perfume on them.
Then Mary, taking a pound of perfumed oil of great value, put it on the feet of Jesus and made them dry with her hair: and the house became full of the smell of the perfume.
Why was not this perfume traded for three hundred pence, and the money given to the poor?
Smith
Ointment.
(An oily or unctuous substance, usually compounded of oil with various spices and resins and aromatics, and preserved in small alabaster boxes or cruses, in which the delicious aroma was best preserved. Some of the ointments have been known to retain their: fragrance for several hundred years. They were a much-coveted luxury, and often very expensive. --ED.)
1. Cosmetic. --The Greek and Roman practice of anointing the head and clothes on festive occasions prevailed also among the Egyptians, and appears to have had place among the Jews.
2. Funereal. --Ointments as well as oil were used to anoint dead bodies and the clothes in which they were wrapped.
3. Medicinal. --Ointment formed an important feature in ancient medical treatment.
Isa 1:6; Jer 8:22; Joh 9:6; Re 3:18
etc.
4. Ritual.--Besides the oil used in many ceremonial observances, a special ointment was appointed to be used in consecration.
Ex 30:23,33; 29:7; 37:29; 40:9,15
A person whose business it was to compound ointments in general was called an "apothecary."
The work was sometimes carried on by woman "confectionaries."
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Then take the oil and put it on his head.
Take the best spices, five hundred shekels' weight of liquid myrrh, and of sweet cinnamon half as much, that is, two hundred and fifty shekels, and two hundred and fifty shekels of sweet calamus,
Whoever makes any like it, or puts it on one who is not a priest, will be cut off from his people.
And he made the holy oil and the perfume of sweet spices for burning, after the art of the perfume-maker.
And take the holy oil and put it on the House and everything in it, and make it and everything in it holy:
And put oil on them as you did on their father, so that they may be my priests: the putting on of oil will make them priests for ever, from generation to generation.
Your daughters he will take to be makers of perfumes and cooks and bread-makers.
Near them was working Uzziel, the son of Harhaiah, the gold-worker. And by him was Hananiah, one of the perfume-makers, building up Jerusalem as far as the wide wall.
The body, from head to foot, is all diseased; it is a mass of open wounds, marks of blows, and broken flesh: the flow of blood has not been stopped, and no oil has been put on the wounds.
Is there no life-giving oil in Gilead? is there no expert in medical arts? why then have my people not been made well?
For in putting this perfume on my body, she did it to make me ready for my last resting-place.
Having said these words, he put earth, mixed with water from his mouth, on the man's eyes,
If you are wise you will get from me gold tested by fire, so that you may have true wealth; and white robes to put on, so that your shame may not be seen; and oil for your eyes, so that you may see.