Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

MYRRH

Like frankincense, a plant product derived from members of the Burseraceae family. As an incense, it is often mentioned in biblical and other ancient sources together with frankincense. Like frankincense, its reddish gum oleoresin had numerous uses in ritual, medicine, and fumigation. Mentioned in tandem with frankincense in the Matthew magi account (Matt. 2:11), myrrh (Heb. mōr; Gk. múrra, smýrna, perhaps originally meaning “bitter”) is more difficult to identify with Linnean classification botanical terms. This is because hundreds of species of Commiphora are known from Arabia and Africa, only several of which apparently produce the odiferous substance labeled “myrrh.” According to botanists, true myrrh (formerly called balsamodendron myrrh) comes from Commiphora myrrha, which is found only in southwest Arabia and northern Somalia. True myrrh at present may not overlap with frankincense in its territorial distribution. The three species found in Dhofar do not include true myrrh; only C. Habessinica and C. Fileadensis (called balm or balsam of Gilead) are reported with myrrh-like properties. In Yemen, six other species of Commiphora are known, including bdelliums and the balm of Mecca.

As with frankincense, myrrh was originally traded locally as early as the Neolithic period (6th millennium b.c.), and it is perhaps documented in Egyptian Red Sea trade as early as the Old Kingdom (if Egyp. ʾntyw is to be equated with the product). The well-known New Kingdom Hatshepsut expedition to Punt may well depict the removal of myrrh trees. Its mention in Mesopotamia only occurs with the beginning of the Old Assyrian period. The burgeoning Iron Age trade and biblical involvement are well documented. Actual pollen grains of myrrh have been found at Qana from a Classical period level of the famous seaport. As with frankincense, the international trade of myrrh collapsed in the 5th century a.d., although the resin is still harvested and used in the more restricted Near Eastern markets.

Bibliography. P. Dolara et al., “Analgesic Effects of Myrrh,” Nature 379 (1996): 29; N. St.J Groom, Frankincense and Myrrh (London, 1981); A. Lucas, “Cosmetics, Perfumes, and Incense in Ancient Egypt,” JEA 16 (1930): 41-53; A. G. Miller and M. Morris, Plants of Dhofar (Muscat, 1988); K. Nielsen, Incense in Ancient Israel. VTSup 38 (Leiden, 1986); G. Van Beek, “Frankincense and Myrrh,” BA 23 (1960): 70-95; “Frankincense and Myrrh in Ancient South Arabia,” JAOS 78 (1958): 141-52.

Juris Zarins

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

MYRRH

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)