an oily or fat tree (shemen signifies ‘fat’ as well as ‘oil’; its Arab. equivalent semen is the word for ‘clarified butter’). This would apply to a tree producing a terebinthine oil or resin, such as constitutes what is known in Eng. as fat wood, found in pitch pine and other similar trees. The Arab. has the expression luish for such fat wood. Faggots of it are sold in the market for torches, and much used at weddings and other festivities, (2) It must be an emblem of foray and pro- eperity, fitted to be associated with the myrtle, the acacia, the fir (οὗ, see Frr), the pine (177,, see PINE), and the box (xa, see Box). (3) It must be a tree capable of furnishing a block of wood of the size, beauty, and hardness required for carving an image 10 cubits high, to be placed in the Holy of Holies, and for making doors and
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(4) Its foliage must be suftliciently
doorposts. (5) It must grow
dense to be suitable for booths. in the mountains, and be easily accessible from Jerusalem and the other cities ot Palestine. The wild olive has already been excluded. The oleaster, Eleagnus hortensis, M.B., never grows large enough to furnish such a block of wood as was required for the image. It is also never used for house carpentry. Its foliage is not dense, and its branches are usually thorny, and would be unlikely to be selected for a covering for booths. The zakkim, Balanites ἌΠΡΥΡΟΙΒηδ: Del., grows only in the torrid valley of the Lower Jordan, has a small trunk, and very thorny branches, and a sparse foliage. Its fruit yields a sort of balsam, which is its only claim to be called a tree of oil or fatness. The only trees which fulfil all these conditions are the fatwood trees. The genus Pinus furnishes three species, P. Pinea, L., the stone or maritime
ine, P. Halepensis, Mill., the Aleppo pine, and
. Bruttia, Ten., which is Eeuhiars only a variety of the last. Any of these would furnish foliage suitable for booths, and all are constantly used for this Dae doce in the East. Their massive trunks could easily furnish the log required for the carved image, and the doors and doorposts. They are constantly used in house carpentry. Their heartwood is fat enough to entitle them to be called ‘trees of fatness.’ They are spontaneous, growing in the wilderness (i.e. uncultivated places, and so fit to be associated with the other trees mentioned with them, Is Z.c.). We are inclined with Celsius (Hierob. i. 309) to tr. ‘éz-shemen, ‘ fat- wood trees,’ and to suppose that the reference is to the pines.
In the article ASH we have argued that dren prob- ably stands for Pinus Pinea, L. This in no way invalidates the inclusion of the same tree under the general head of fatwood or resinous trees.
In one of the paste (Is 4119) AV and RV tr. amin tidhar, ‘ pine,’ RVm ‘plane.’ The same word (Is 6018) is tr? AV and RV ‘pine,’ RVm referring to tormer passage. It is very doubtful whether tidhar refers to the pine (see PINE).
OINTMENT (no? mirkahath, 1 Ch 9 ; in general ᾿ξ shemen, sometimes coupled with agyp mishhah, as in Ex 30%; LXX μύρον Ex 30%, Ps 1333, Ca 155, Pr 27°, Am 6°; elsewhere ἔλαιον ; Vulg. unguentum).— Oily, fragrant materials smeared on the surface of the body to allay the irritation caused by the heat ia Eastern lands, and to conceal the odour of per- spiration. The use of materials of this kind is common in almost every country, and is of ancient date. In Egypt unguents are mentioned even in texts of the Ancient Empire, and in those of the Middle and New Empire they are frequently re- ferred to. There were nine sacred oils used for the purposes of ceremonial anointing: mt (prob- ably cedar oil), Att or Ati (a Libyan product), hknnu {an oil containing ‘many spices from Arabia’), neknem, sfti, sgnn (rose oil), mrh (oil of myrrh), s-ti hb, and fuau. Besides these there were other sweet-scented salves and ointments in ordinary use, aber, tpt, th-hennu, ete.
The holy anointing oil made by Bezalel for Moses (Ex 8095.) consisted of 1 hin of olive oil (about 10 Ib.), 500 shekels of flowing myrrh (about 15 lb.), 250 shekels of sweet cinnamon (about 74 lb.), 250 shekels of sweet calamus, and 500 shekels of cassia (or costus). The Jewish authors who re- yard the ‘shekel of the sanctuary’ as twice the ordinary shekel, double these weights. This was to be compounded after the art of the perfumer (see art. CONFECTION). Probably these scented substances, or some of them, were brought into the market in powder, as in Ca 3° these spices are called ‘the powders of the merchant.’ There are
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different descriptions given by Rabbinical writers of the process whereby the anointing oil was com- pounde , but most probably it was simple pulveriza- tion of the ingredients, and boiling them in the oil ; for, as Pliny has remarked, the strength of the oint- ment is greater when the ingredients are boiled together (xiii. 2); but see Otho’s Lezicon, s.v. *Oleum.’ The making of ointment in this wav was recognized by Hebrew writers (see Job 41%). ©