And thou shalt make it a perfume, a confection after the art of the apothecary, tempered together, pure and holy:
God Himself appointed the spices and their quantities because nothing comes to Him but what comes from Him; the oil was compounded with exact art, infused, strained, and left sweetly fragrant for the tent and all its furniture, and for consecrating the priests in their generations.
AI summary
Commenting on Exodus 30:22-38
And thou shalt make it a perfume,.... By mixing the above spices together: a confection after the art of the apothecary; in the manner they beat, compound, and mix several ingredients together: tempered together; or "salted" (l), with salt of Sodom, as Aben Ezra interprets it; and Maimonides (m) says, there was a fourth part of a kab of salt of Sodom put into it...
These four substances, storax gum, onycha from a shell-fish, galbanum from the ferula shrub, and frankincense from an Arabian tree, were mixed in equal parts, each ingredient first prepared separately before combining all four together into the holy incense.
AI summary
Commenting on Exodus 30:34-38