Matthew Henry on Exodus 30:22–end
Directions are here given for the composition of the holy anointing oil and the incense that were to be used in the service of the tabernacle; with these God was to be honoured, and therefore he would appoint the making of them; for nothing comes to God but what comes from him. 1. The holy anointing oil is here ordered to be made up the ingredients, and their quantities, are prescribed, Exo 30:23-25. Interpreters are not agreed concerning them; we are sure, in general, they were the best and fittest for the purpose; they must needs be so when the divine wisdom appointed them for the divine honour. It was to be compounded secundum artem - after the art of the apothecary (Exo 30:25); the spice…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Exodus 30:24
cassia--from the same species of tree as the cinnamon--some think the outer bark of that tree. All these together would amount to one hundred twenty pounds, troy weight.
hin--a word of Egyptian origin, equal to ten pints. Being mixed with the olive oil--no doubt of the purest kind--this composition probably remained always in a liquid state, and the strictest prohibition issued against using it for any other purpose than anointing the tabernacle and its furniture.
Adam Clarke on Exodus 30:30
Thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons - For the reason of this anointing, see Clarke's note on Exo 29:7. It seems that this anointing oil was an emblem of Divine teaching, and especially of those influences by which the Church of Christ was, in the beginning, guided into all truth; as is evident from the allusion to it by St. John: "Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. The anointing which ye have received from him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you; but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him; Jo1 2:20, Jo1 2:27.
John Gill on Exodus 30:32
Upon man's flesh shall it not be poured,.... That is, not upon common men, or on men's flesh in common, as was usual at feasts and entertainments in the eastern countries, see Psalm 23:5 but this was not to be used on such occasions, otherwise it was poured on the flesh of some men, as Aaron and his sons, on whose head it was poured and ran down to the beard:
neither shall ye make any other like it, after the composition of it; for private uses:
it is holy, and it shall be holy unto you; it was set apart for sacred use by the Lord, and so it was to be reckoned by them, and not to be used in any way, or for any other purpose than he had directed: all which shows, that the grace of the Spiri…
