Incense offering

[1] The sacred incense prescribed for use in the wilderness Tabernacle was made of costly materials that the congregation contributed (Exodus 25:1, 2, 6; 35:4, 5, 8, 27-29).

The Book of Exodus describes the recipe: And the LORD said unto Moses, Take unto yourself sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum; these sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be a like weight: And you shall make it a perfume, a confection after the art of the apothecary, tempered together [salted], pure and holy: And you shall beat some of it very small, and put of it before the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation, where I will meet with you: it shall be unto you most holy.

Onycha, which in Greek means "nail", is variously described as being the operculum from a shell found in the Red Sea (which are said to resemble a fingernail), the exudation from the rock rose bush called labdanum (both petals and markings which are said to resemble a fingernail), Styrax benzoin, bdellium, or even cloves.

Also considered is a milder variety from the Levant or possibly even a close relative of Ferula galbaniflua called narthex or giant fennel.

Eleven kinds of spices were in it, as follows: (1) stacte, (2) onycha, (3) galbanum, (4) frankincense - each weighing seventy mina [and each comprising 19.02% of the total weight]; (5) myrrh, (6) cassia, (7) spikenard, (8) saffron, each weighing sixteen "mina" [and each comprising 4.35% of the total weight]; (9) costus - twelve mina [comprising 3.26% of the total weight]; (10) aromatic bark - three "mina" [comprising 0.82% of the total weight]; and (11) cinnamon - nine "mina" [comprising 2.45% of the total weight]; [Additionally] Carshina lye, nine kab; Cyprus wine, three se'ah and three kab - if he has no Cyprus wine, he brings old white wine; Sodom salt, a quarter-kab; and a minute amount of maaleh ashan.

Rabbi Shimon ben Gamaliel says: The stacte is nothing more than the sap that drips from the branches of the balsam tree.