Take fragrances such as balsam, onycha, galbanum, and pure frankincense, all of the same weight, as well as other specified fragrances.”

The Tanakh composition of incense: Three hundred and sixty eight maneh were in it: three hundred sixty five corresponding to the days of the solar year – a maneh for each day, half in the morning and half in the afternoon. And three extra maneh from which the Ha Kohen Gadol would bring both his handfuls into the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur. He would return them to the mortar on the day of Yom Kippur and grind them very thoroughly so that they would be exceptionally fine. [remember the wrong formula or method of offering did cause death by the hand of God]

Eleven spices as follows:

(1) nataph -70 maneh [stacte oleo gum resin liquid myrrh resin taken from the stem May to sept]

(2) onycha – 70 maneh

(3) galbunum – 70 maneh

(4) frankincense – 70 maneh

(5) myrrh – 12 maneh

(6) cassia – 12 maneh

(7) costus – 12 maneh;

(10) aromatic bark – three maneh;

(11) cinnamon – nine maneh.

[Additionally]

Carshina lye, nine kab;

Cyprus wine, three se’ah and three kab – or old white wine 100% proof alcohol;

Sodom salt (Dead Sea salt), a quarter-kab;

And a minute amount of maaleh ashan (Mandrake)

The House of Avitnas was responsible for compounding the ketoret in the days of the Second Temple

Ashan (ā’shăn) [key] in the Bible, perhaps the same as Chor-ashan. (ay’ sshan) Place name meaning, “smoke.” City in western hills of tribe of Judah (Joshua 15:42) given to tribe of Simeon (Joshua 19:7). The Aaronic priests claimed Ashan as one of their cities (1 Chronicles 6:59); called Ain in Joshua 21:16). See Bor-asan. Ashan was located at modern Khirbet Asan just northwest of Beersheba.

The incense mixture was formulated of [eleven spices]:

stacte
onycha
galbanum
frankincense
Each weighing seventy maneh;

myrrh
cassia
spikenard
saffron
Each weighing 16 maneh;

costus – twelve maneh
aromatic bark – three
and cinnamon – nine.
[Additionally] Carshina lye – nine kab; Cyprus wine, 3 se’ah and 3 kab – if he has no Cyprus wine, he brings old white wine; Sodom salt, a quarter kab; and a minute amount of smoke-raising herb. Rabbi Nattan the Babylonian says: Also a minute amount of Jordan amber. If he placed fruit- honey into it, he invalidated it. And if he left out any of its spices, he is liable to the death penalty.

Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says, the stacte is simply the sap that drips from balsam trees. Carshina lye is used to bleach the onycha to make it pleasing. Cyprus wine is used to soak the onycha to make it pungent. Even though urine is suitable for that, nevertheless they do not bring urine into the Temple out of respect.

Maneh: A unit of weight: a Mishnaic maneh equals 480 grams (slightly less than half a kilogram and slightly more than 1 pound), according to which a maneh equals 100 biblical shekels, or 5 pounds. Kav: A unit of volume; approximately 1 gallon. Sa‘ah: Approximately 6 gallons

Mandrake in Hebrew is דודאים (dûwôdãym), meaning “love plant”. Among certain Asian cultures, it is believed to ensure conception. Most interpreters hold Mandragora officinarum to be the plant intended in Genesis 30:14 (“love plant”) and Song of Songs 7:13 (“the mandrakes send out their fragrance. The parsley-shaped root is often branched. This root gives off at the surface of the ground a rosette of ovate-oblong to ovate, wrinkled, crisp, sinuate-dentate to entire leaves, 6 to 16 inches long, somewhat resembling those of the tobacco-plant. There spring from the neck a number of one-flowered nodding peduncles, bearing whitish-green flowers, nearly 2 inches broad, which produce globular, succulent, orange to red berries, resembling small tomatoes, which ripen in late spring. All parts of the mandrake plant are poisonous.

In Genesis 30:14, Leah gives Rachel mandrakes in exchange for a night of sleeping with their husband. During wheat harvest, Reuben went out into the fields and found some mandrake plants, which he brought to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” Song of Songs 7:13 [“The mandrakes send out their fragrance, and at our door is every delicacy, both new and old, that I have stored up for you, my lover.” In Genesis 30, Reuben, the eldest son of Jacob and Leah finds mandrakes in the field. Rachel, Jacob’s second wife, the sister of Leah, is desirous of the mandrakes and she barters with her sister for them. The trade offered by Rachel is for Leah to spend the next night in Jacob’s bed. Soon after this Leah, who previously had had four sons but had ceased to become pregnant for a long while then became pregnant once more and gave birth to a son. There are classical Jewish commentaries which suggest that mandrakes help barren women to conceive a child.

This is associated with its ancient purported qualities as an “Aphrodisiac”. The female for was carved, in the middle ages, into human forms called manikins and were worn to give good luck. Perhaps the earliest ref to this herb is in Genesis 30:14-17.

Literature includes complex directions for harvesting a mandrake root in relative safety. For example Josephus (c. 37 AD Jerusalem – c. 100) gives the following directions for pulling it up: A furrow must be dug around the root until its lower part is exposed, then a dog is tied to it, after which the person tying the dog must get away. The dog then endeavors to follow him, and so easily pulls up the root, but dies suddenly instead of his master. After this the root can be handled without fear.

Medicinal Action and Uses—The leaves are quite harmless and cooling, and have been used for ointments and other external application. Boiled in milk and used as a poultice, they were employed by Boerhaave as an application to indolent ulcers. The fresh root operates very powerfully as an emetic and purgative. The dried bark of the root was used also as a rough emetic.

Mandrake was much used by the Ancients, who considered it an anodyne and soporific. In large doses it is said to excite delirium and madness. They used it for procuring rest and sleep in continued pain, also in melancholy, convulsions, rheumatic pains and scrofulous tumors. They mostly employed the bark of the root, either expressing the juice or infusing it in wine or water. The root finely scraped into a pulp and mixed with brandy was said to be efficacious in chronic rheumatism.

Mandrake was used in Pliny’s days as an anesthetic for operations, a piece of the root being given to the patient to chew before undergoing the operation. In small doses it was employed by the Ancients in maniacal cases.

Mandrake has a long history of medicinal use, though superstition has played a large part in the uses it has been applied to. It is rarely prescribed in modern herbalism, though it contains hyoscine which is the standard pre-operative medication given to soothe patients and reduce bronchial secretions. It is also used to treat travel sickness. The fresh or dried root contains highly poisonous alkaloids and is cathartic, strongly emetic, hallucinogenic and narcotic. In sufficient quantities it induces a state of oblivion and was used as an anesthetic for operations in early surgery. It was much used in the past for its anodyne and soporific properties. In the past, juice from the finely grated root was applied externally to relieve rheumatic pains, ulcers and scrofulous tumors. It was also used internally to treat melancholy, convulsions and mania. When taken internally in large doses, however, it is said to excite delirium and madness. The root should be used with caution, and only under the supervision of a qualified practitioner. See the notes above on toxicity. The leaves are harmless and cooling. They have been used for ointments and other external applications to ulcers etc. The mandrake, is called by the Arabs luffâh, or beid el-jinn (djinn’s eggs”).

Akrabbim (Hebrew: scorpions) probably the general name given to the ridge containing the pass between the south of the Dead Sea and Zin, es-Sufah, by which there is an ascent to the level of the Negev desert. Scorpions are said to abound in this whole district, and hence the name (Num. 34:4). It is called “Maaleh-acrabbim” in Josh. 15:3, and “the ascent of Akrabbim” in Num. 34:4.

There is another “Maaleh-acrabbim” mentioned in Judges 1:36, “The Amorite border ran from Maaleh-acrabbim to Sela, and above.” This was the border between the Amorites (Philistines) on the coastal plain and the tribe of Dan in the hills southwest of Ephraim.

Some commonly used raw incense and incense making materials

Makko powder Machilus thunbergii),
Borneol camphor (Dryobalanops aromatica),
Sumatra benzoin (Styrax benzoin),
Omani Frankincense (Boswellia sacra),
Guggul (Commiphora wightii),
Golden Frankincense (Boswellia papyrifera),
Tolu balsam (Myroxylon toluifera),
Somalian Myrrh (Commiphora myrrha),
Labdanum (Cistus villosus),
Opoponax (Commiphora opoponax),
White Indian Sandalwood powder (Santalum album)
Dyes of the First Temple Period

Argaman: The dark-red color (said by some to more closely resemble purple), argaman in Hebrew, is also derived from a snail; possibly the murex trunculus as well. According to this theory, the difference in color is a product of the amount of time the substance is initially exposed to sunlight.