_Thus_; so called by the dealers of drugs in Egypt from _thur_,
or _thor_, the name of a harbour in the north bay of the Red Sea, near
Mount Sinai; thereby distinguishing it from the gum arabic, which is
brought from Suez, another port in the Red Sea, not far from Cairo. It
differs also in being more pellucid and white. It burns with a bright
and strong flame, not easily extinguished. It was used in the temple
service as an emblem of prayer, Psalm cxli, 2; Rev. viii, 3, 4. Authors
give it, or the best sort of it, the epithets white, pure, pellucid; and
so it may have some connection with a word, derived from the same root,
signifying unstained, clear, and so applied to moral whiteness and
purity, Psalm li, 7; Dan. xii, 10. This gum is said to distil from
incisions made in the tree during the heat of summer. What the form of
the tree is which yields it, we do not certainly know. Pliny one while
says, it is like a pear tree; another, that it is like a mastic tree;
then, that it is like the laurel; and, in fine, that it is a kind of
turpentine tree. It has been said to grow only in the country of the
Sabeans, a people in Arabia Felix; and Theophrastus and Pliny affirm
that it is found in Arabia. Dioscorides, however, mentions an Indian as
well as an Arabian frankincense. At the present day it is brought from
the East Indies, but not of so good a quality as that from Arabia. The
“sweet incense,” mentioned Exodus xxx, 7, and elsewhere, was a compound
of several drugs, agreeably to the direction in the thirty-fourth verse.
To offer incense was an office peculiar to the priests. They went twice
a day into the holy place; namely, morning and evening, to burn incense
there. Upon the great day of expiation, the high priest took incense, or
perfume, pounded and ready for being put into the censer, and threw it
upon the fire, the moment he went into the sanctuary. One reason of this
was, that so the smoke which rose from the censer might prevent his
looking with too much curiosity on the ark and mercy-seat. God
threatened him with death upon failing to perform this ceremony, Lev.
xvi, 13. Generally incense is to be considered as an emblem of the
“prayers of the saints,” and is so used by the sacred writers.
or _thor_, the name of a harbour in the north bay of the Red Sea, near
Mount Sinai; thereby distinguishing it from the gum arabic, which is
brought from Suez, another port in the Red Sea, not far from Cairo. It
differs also in being more pellucid and white. It burns with a bright
and strong flame, not easily extinguished. It was used in the temple
service as an emblem of prayer, Psalm cxli, 2; Rev. viii, 3, 4. Authors
give it, or the best sort of it, the epithets white, pure, pellucid; and
so it may have some connection with a word, derived from the same root,
signifying unstained, clear, and so applied to moral whiteness and
purity, Psalm li, 7; Dan. xii, 10. This gum is said to distil from
incisions made in the tree during the heat of summer. What the form of
the tree is which yields it, we do not certainly know. Pliny one while
says, it is like a pear tree; another, that it is like a mastic tree;
then, that it is like the laurel; and, in fine, that it is a kind of
turpentine tree. It has been said to grow only in the country of the
Sabeans, a people in Arabia Felix; and Theophrastus and Pliny affirm
that it is found in Arabia. Dioscorides, however, mentions an Indian as
well as an Arabian frankincense. At the present day it is brought from
the East Indies, but not of so good a quality as that from Arabia. The
“sweet incense,” mentioned Exodus xxx, 7, and elsewhere, was a compound
of several drugs, agreeably to the direction in the thirty-fourth verse.
To offer incense was an office peculiar to the priests. They went twice
a day into the holy place; namely, morning and evening, to burn incense
there. Upon the great day of expiation, the high priest took incense, or
perfume, pounded and ready for being put into the censer, and threw it
upon the fire, the moment he went into the sanctuary. One reason of this
was, that so the smoke which rose from the censer might prevent his
looking with too much curiosity on the ark and mercy-seat. God
threatened him with death upon failing to perform this ceremony, Lev.
xvi, 13. Generally incense is to be considered as an emblem of the
“prayers of the saints,” and is so used by the sacred writers.