Editing Myrrh (section)

===In the Hebrew Bible===
[[File:MyrrhEssentialOil.png|thumb|upright|alt=Glass vial containing oil|An essential oil extracted from myrrh (''Commiphora myrrha'')]]

Myrrh is mentioned as a rare perfume in several places in the [[Hebrew Bible]]. In {{bibleverse||Genesis|37:25|NIV}}, the traders to whom [[Jacob]]'s sons sold their brother [[Joseph (biblical)|Joseph]] had "[[camel]]s ... loaded with spices, balm, and myrrh," and {{bibleverse||Exodus|30:23-25|NIV}} specifies that Moses was to use 500 [[shekel]]s of liquid myrrh as a core ingredient of the sacred anointing oil.

Myrrh was an ingredient of ''[[Incense offering in rabbinic literature|Ketoret]]:'' the consecrated [[incense]] used in the [[Solomon's Temple|First]] and [[Second Temple]]s at [[Jerusalem]], as described in the [[Hebrew Bible]] and [[Talmud]]. An offering was made of the ''Ketoret'' on a special incense altar and was an important component of the [[Temple in Jerusalem|temple service]]. Myrrh is also listed as an ingredient in the [[holy anointing oil]] used to anoint the [[tabernacle]], high priests and kings.

Oil of myrrh is used in {{bibleverse||Esther|2:12|KJV}} in a purification ritual for the new queen to King [[Ahasuerus]]:

{{Quote|Now when every maid's turn was come to go in to king Ahasuerus, after that she had been twelve months, according to the manner of the women, (for so were the days of their purifications accomplished, to wit, six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odours, and with other things for the purifying of the women).}}