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1 Enoch 31 describes fragrant spices like galbanum and stacte growing on trees in paradise. Sirach 24 uses the same spices to describe Wisdom, and both are the spices burned as incense in the Temple.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
1 Enoch 31:1
Pseudepigrapha
1 And I saw other mountains, and among them were groves of trees, from which flowed nectar, named sarara and galbanum. 2 Beyond these mountains, I saw another mountain to the east of the ends of the earth, where there were aloe trees, and all the trees were full of stacte, similar to almond trees. 3 And when burned, it smelled sweeter than any fragrant odor.
Sirach 24:15
Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
Deuterocanon
14 I grew tall like a palm tree in En-gedi, and like rosebushes in Jericho; like a fair olive tree in the field, and like a plane tree beside water I grew tall. 15 Like cassia and camel's thorn I gave forth perfume, and like choice myrrh I spread my fragrance, like galbanum, onycha, and stacte, and like the odor of incense in the tent. 16 Like a terebinth I spread out my branches, and my branches are glorious and graceful.
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Notes and References
... Ben Sira's description of wisdom in 24:13-17 is also similar to depictions of flora associated with Eden in other Second Temple Jewish literature. 1 Enoch, for example, portrays the trees located just outside of the Garden of Righteousness (Eden) in a similar manner (1 Enoch 29-32). In both Ben Sira (24:15) and 1 Enoch, the trees are described as aromatic (ἀρωμάτων; 1 Enoch 29:2; 30:2-3; 31:1, 3; 32:1) and associated with specific fragrances including cinnamon (κιννάμωμον; 1 Enoch 30:3; 32:1; קונם בשמא 4QEnc 1 12:25; compare Exodus 30:32), myrrh (σμύρνας; 1 Enoch 29:2; מורא), onyx (שהלת), and galbanum (χαλβάνη; 1 Enoch 31:1; חלבנה). ...
Naizer, Eric Raymond
Adam, Humanity, and Angels: Early Jewish Conceptions of the Elect and Humankind Based on Genesis 1-3
(p. 81) Florida State University, 2013
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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