Meaning of MYRRH

(a) Heb. «mõr»; gr. "smyrna", "myrrha". Aromatic substance that entered into the composition of the anointing oil of Aaron and his successors (Ex. 30:23).

Myrrh was used to perfume beds and clothing (Ps. 45:9; Pr. 7:17; Song 3:6). Women used myrrh oil to purify themselves (Est. 2:12).

The Magi from the East brought myrrh to the baby Jesus (Mt. 2:11). The Crucified One rejected the wine mixed with myrrh that was offered to him to lessen his sufferings (Mark 15:23).

Aromatic products prepared with the intention of embalming the body of the Lord Jesus included myrrh and aloes (John 19:39). The ancients, indeed, used myrrh to embalm corpses (Herodotus 2:86).

The tree that produced this resinous gum grew in Arabia (Herodotus 3:107; Pliny 12:16). It is likely that it was the "Balsamodendron myrrha", a small tree made of fragrant wood and bark, with short, thorny branches.

This trifoliate shrub bears a fruit similar to a raisin. Currently, myrrh from East Africa and Arabia, from the "Commiphora abyssinica", is marketed.

(b) Translated from heb. «lõt» (Gen. 37:25; 43:11); In these passages it is undoubtedly about "Ladanum" (which the Greeks called "lêdon", "lêdanon" and "ladanon"), a highly perfumed resin, which contained an essential oil.

This substance is produced by the "Cistus creticus" and by other varieties of helianthem rockroses that grow in certain parts of Syria.