And the LORD said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum; these sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be a like weight:
Take unto thee sweet spices. These were stacte, the finest myrrh; onycha, supposed to be an odoriferous shell; galbanum, a gum-resin from an umbelliferous plant.
Frankincense - a dry resinous aromatic gum of a yellow colour, which comes from a tree in Arabia, and is obtained by incision of the bark. This incense was placed within the sanctuary, to be at hand when the priest required to burn on the altar.
The art of compounding unguents and perfumes was well-known in Egypt, where sweet scented spices were extensively used, not only in common life, but in the ritual of the temples. Most of the ingredients here mentioned have been found on minute examination of mummies and other Egyptian relics; and the Israelites, therefore, would have the best opportunities of acquiring in that country the skill in pounding and mixing them which they were called to exercise in the service of the tabernacle.
But the recipe for the incense, as well as for the oil in the tabernacle, though it receives illustration from the customs of Egypt, was special, and being prescribed by divine authority, was to be applied to no common or inferior purpose. The symbolical import of this composition was twofold. The first was, by the pleasantness of the smell, to draw the favour of God-as it were, to make Him cheerful and more willing to hear the petitions which, at the time of its being offered by fire, were made to Him, as, indeed, everything that was burnt in the service of the tabernacle was for that intent. If it was accepted, it was called a sweet savour; if the contrary, it was called 'a stink in the nostrils,' or 'a stinking savour' (cf. Leviticus 3:1-17; Leviticus 4:1-35; Leviticus 5:1-16; Leviticus 26:31; Ecclesiastes 10:1; Joel 2:10; Ephesians 5:2). The other symbolical use was, by the dense cloud of smoke, to make a kind of covering to take away the sins of the people from the sight of God, and thereby to favour the expiation; for to expiate and to cover are synonymous expressions in the Hebrew language (Leviticus 16:13).