Myrrh
Myrrh was one of the three gifts brought to the infant Jesus by the Three Wise Men. It is, like frankincense, a gum-resin from a tree.
The question as to why, out of three gifts, the wise men should bring two similar gum-resins, is puzzling. It certainly means they were highly valued at the time.
Myrrh could be added to wine.[1] It has some analgesic properties, and is used in traditional Chinese and Indian remedies.
Exodus 30:23–25 says Moses was to use 500 shekels of liquid myrrh as an ingredient of the sacred anointing oil.
References
[change | change source]- ↑ Pliny the Elder, trans. John Bostock and Henry Thomas Riley, "Wines drunk by the Ancient Romans", The Natural History [c. 77 AD], book 14, ch. 15. London: H.G. Bohn, 1855. 253. Available online at books.google.com/books?id=A0EMAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA253
