Lesson plan
Stacte
Stacte ( ) and nataph ( ) are names used for one component of the Solomon's Temple incense, the Ketoret, specified in the Book of Exodus ( ). Variously translated to the Greek term (AMP: ) or to an unspecified "gum resin" or similar (NIV: ), it was to be mixed in equal parts with onycha (prepared from certain vegetable resins or seashell parts), galbanum and mixed with pure frankincense and they were to "beat some of it very small" for burning on the altar of the tabernacle. This incense was considered restricted for sacred purposes honoring Yahweh; the trivial or profane use of it was punishable by exile, as laid out in (KJV). The Hebrew word nataf means "drop", corresponding to "drops of water" ( ). The Septuagint translates nataf as stacte, a Greek word meaning "an oozing substance," which refers to various viscous liquids, including myrrh. The strongest candidates for stacte are golden myrrh (the naturally exuded resin), opobalsamum, and myrrh scented with styrax. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel explained, "Stacte is simply the sap that drips from the tapping of the wood of the balsam tree" (Kerithot 6a). Rabbi Saadia Gaon identified it as "mastaki", a term signifying the natural exudate from the myrrh tree (Commiphora myrrha). Stacte was most likely: 1) The light resin which exudes naturally from the myrrh tree before harvest (or a myrrh extract of the highest grade).…
Article summary
Stacte ( ) and nataph ( ) are names used for one component of the Solomon's Temple incense, the Ketoret, specified in the Book of Exodus ( ). Variously translated to the Greek term (AMP: ) or to an unspecified "gum resin" or similar (NIV: ), it was to be mixed in equal parts with onycha (prepared from certain vegetable resins or seashell parts), galbanum and mixed with pure frankincense and they were to "beat some of it very small" for burning on the altar of the tabernacle. This incense was considered restricted for sacred purposes honoring Yahweh; the trivial or profane use of it was punishable by exile, as laid out in (KJV). The Hebrew word nataf means "drop", corresponding to "drops of water" ( ). The Septuagint translates nataf as stacte, a Greek word meaning "an oozing substance," which refers to various viscous liquids, including myrrh. The strongest candidates for stacte are golden myrrh (the naturally exuded resin), opobalsamum, and myrrh scented with styrax. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel explained, "Stacte is simply the sap that drips from the tapping of the wood of the balsam tree" (Kerithot 6a). Rabbi Saadia Gaon identified it as "mastaki", a term signifying the natural exudate from the myrrh tree (Commiphora myrrha). Stacte was most likely: 1) The light resin which exudes naturally from the myrrh tree before harvest (or a myrrh extract of the highest grade).…
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Discussion questions
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