Spices

Biblical Texts

In the New Korean Revised Version, the term rendered "spices" (hyangpum) appears mainly in four groups of passages.

• The tabernacle's anointing oil and incense: Exodus 30:22-38 commands that myrrh, cinnamon, calamus, and cassia be mixed with olive oil to make a holy anointing oil, and that stacte, onycha, and galbanum be mixed with frankincense to make a holy incense. Anyone who made either for private use was to be cut off from among the people. Exodus 25:6 and 35:28 record the people offering spices for the building of the tabernacle.
• Valuable trade goods and gifts: The Ishmaelite merchants who bought Joseph were carrying spices down to Egypt (Genesis 37:25). Jacob included spices in the gift he sent to the governor of Egypt (Genesis 43:11). The Queen of Sheba brought a great quantity of spices to Solomon (1 Kings 10:2, 10), and Hezekiah showed the envoys from Babylon his treasure house, which held spices (2 Kings 20:13).
• Metaphors of love: Song of Solomon 4:14 and other passages compare the beloved to precious spices.
• Jesus' burial and the resurrection morning: Nicodemus brought "a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight." He and Joseph of Arimathea wound the body of Jesus "in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury" (John 19:39-40). Mary Magdalene and the other women went to the tomb with spices after the Sabbath and found it empty (Mark 16:1; Luke 23:56-24:1).

Background

Aromatics such as frankincense and myrrh were prized trade goods in the ancient Near East. They are generally understood to have come chiefly from southern Arabia and East Africa and to have been transported along caravan routes by merchants traveling with camels. Several Hebrew words are rendered by the single Korean term for "spices"; the most representative is besem, found in Exodus 30 and 1 Kings 10. The Greek arōmata in the Gospels refers to aromatics in general.

In Jewish burial, spices are understood to have been used to honor the body and to mask odor. This practice is distinct from the Egyptian-style embalming of Jacob's body (Genesis 50:2-3).

Significance Across Scripture

In the Old Testament, the holy incense was offered before God and strictly set apart from ordinary use. Scripture also links this incense with prayer. Psalm 141:2 likens prayer to incense, and Revelation 5:8 and 8:3-4 depict incense together with the prayers of the saints. Paul calls believers "a sweet savour of Christ" (2 Corinthians 2:15) and describes Christ's self-giving as "an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour" (Ephesians 5:2).

Interpretation and Debate

• Spices used on two occasions: The Gospel of John states that Nicodemus had already used a large quantity of spices at the burial, whereas in Mark and Luke the women go on the resurrection morning to anoint the body with spices. A common explanation for this difference is that the women intended to complete what could not be finished in the hurried burial before the Sabbath. Another explanation is that the women wished to pay their own tribute.
• Symbolic interpretation: Reading the frankincense and myrrh of the Magi as symbols of divinity and death is a tradition dating from the patristic era. The text itself does not state this meaning.
• Incense in worship: The Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church burn incense in their liturgies, and the Orthodox Church observes a Sunday during the Paschal season commemorating the Myrrh-bearing Women. Practice in the Anglican Communion varies from church to church. Most Protestant churches do not use incense in worship, regarding the Old Testament incense offerings as fulfilled in Christ or understanding incense as a symbol of prayer.

In the Korean Church

In Easter preaching, the passages about the women who prepared spices and went to the tomb (Mark 16:1-8; Luke 24:1-12) are frequently read. These texts are used to address the women's devotion and their role as the first witnesses to the resurrection. The expression "the fragrance of Christ" is widely used in church life as an exhortation concerning the believer's conduct.