Texts in Conversation
Exodus 30 lists galbanum among the spices for the holy incense burned in the Temple. 1 Enoch 31 pictures that same spice growing on trees in paradise, far to the east at the edge of the world.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Exodus 30:34
Hebrew Bible
33 Whoever makes perfume like it and whoever puts any of it on someone not a priest will be cut off from his people.’” 34 The Lord said to Moses, “Take spices, gum resin, onycha, galbanum, and pure frankincense of equal amounts 35 and make it into an incense, a perfume, the work of a perfumer. It is to be finely ground, and pure and sacred.
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.
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Notes and References
... In the context of incense in the Garden of Eden, the description found in the Book of Watchers in 1 Enoch 24-25; 29-32 is particularly noteworthy. During Enoch's tour of heaven and earth, he sees a garden or orchard filled with aromatic trees. Both the Trees of Life and Knowledge and the rest of the trees throughout this heavenly garden, are described as fragrant, including the pleasant odors that combined to make the Temple incense. The angel Michael explains to Enoch that the high mountain that he sees, on which the Tree of Life is found, is none other than the throne of God: ...
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