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).
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And you shall make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the perfumer. It shall be a holy anointing oil.
It is like the precious ointment on the head that ran down on the beard, Aaron's beard, that went down to the mouth of his garments;
From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it; only a wound and a stripe and a fresh blow; they have not been closed, nor bound up, nor soothed with oil.
who drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the best of oils; nor do they grieve for the breaking of Joseph!
Then Mary took a pound of ointment of pure spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the odor of the ointment.
and cinnamon, and incenses, and ointment, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, 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 also to you principal spices, five hundred shekels of pure myrrh, and half as much of sweet cinnamon, even two hundred and fifty shekels, and two hundred and fifty shekels of sweet calamus, and five hundred of cassia, after the shekel of the sanctuary, and a hin of olive oil. read more. And you shall make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the perfumer. It shall be a holy anointing oil.
And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as He reclined, a woman came with an alabaster vial of pure, costly ointment of spikenard. And she broke the vial and poured it on His head.
You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with ointment.
And they returned and they prepared spices and ointment. And they rested on the sabbath day according to the commandment.
Then Mary took a pound of ointment of pure spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the odor of the ointment.
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.
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And you shall make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the perfumer. It shall be a holy anointing oil.
And some of the sons of the priests made the ointment of the spices.
He makes the deep boil like a pot; he makes the sea like a pot of ointment.
You love righteousness, and hate wickedness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your fellows.
It is like the precious ointment on the head that ran down on the beard, Aaron's beard, that went down to the mouth of his garments;
Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart; so does the sweetness of one's friend by advice from the heart.
Whoever hides her hides the wind, and his right hand encounters slippery oil.
A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of one's birth.
Let your garments be always white; and let your head lack no ointment.
From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it; only a wound and a stripe and a fresh blow; they have not been closed, nor bound up, nor soothed with oil.
who drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the best of oils; nor do they grieve for the breaking of Joseph!
And behold, a woman, a sinner in the city, knowing that He reclined in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster vial of ointment. And she stood behind Him, weeping at His feet, and she began to wash His feet with tears and wipe them with the hair of her head. And she ardently kissed His feet and anointed them with the ointment.
Then Mary took a pound of ointment of pure spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the odor of the ointment.
Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and 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."
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Then you shall take the anointing oil, and pour on his head, and anoint him.
Take also to you principal spices, five hundred shekels of pure myrrh, and half as much of sweet cinnamon, even two hundred and fifty shekels, and two hundred and fifty shekels of sweet calamus,
Whoever compounds any like it, or whoever puts any of it upon a stranger, shall even be cut off from his people.
And he made the holy anointing oil, and the pure incense of sweet spices, the work of the perfumer.
And you shall take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle, and all in it, and shall sanctify it and all the vessels of it. And it shall be holy.
And you shall anoint them, even as you anointed their father, so that they may minister to Me in the priest's office. For their anointing shall surely be an everlasting priesthood for their generations.
And he will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers.
Next to him Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, of the goldsmiths, repaired. And next to him Hananiah, the son of one of the perfumers, repaired. And they fortified Jerusalem to the Broad Wall.
From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it; only a wound and a stripe and a fresh blow; they have not been closed, nor bound up, nor soothed with oil.
Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the healing of the daughter of My people not come?
For in putting ointment on My body, she did it for My burial.
And when He had spoken these things, He spat on the ground and made clay from the spittle. And He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay.
I counsel you to buy from Me gold purified by fire, so that you may be rich; and white clothing, so that you may be clothed, and so that the shame of your nakedness does not appear. And anoint your eyes with eye salve, so that you may see.