Darlene Rose

220 lbs of lavender will produce 7 lbs of oil.

Jasmine flowers must be picked by hand before the sun becomes hot on the very first day they open.  It takes 8 million hand-picked jasmine blossoms to produce 2.2 lbs of oil. 

The sandalwood tree must be thirty years old and thirty feet high before it is cut down for distillation.  (Christ’s ministry also began at 30). 

 Resins such as frankincense and myrhh, are obtained by tapping: making deliberate incisions with a specially designed tool or ordinary axe, about 2 inches long, into the bark of the tree. The milky liquid that exudes hardens on exposure to air into droplets or “tears,” and are detached and collected 2 weeks later.  New tappings are made at the same place as old ones after removing hardened resin from the previous cut. If the tapping interval is short, then a light scratching of the wood is usually sufficient to cause the resin to flow again. The particular details of the tapping-the time of year it is undertaken, its duration, and the interval between individual tappings-vary according to the species and the customs in the area of production.  It may take 3-4 months to produce resin, and then 12 weeks to harden, before collection. 

And then the myrrh or frankincense must be  sorted and graded to determine quality.  

Much goes into the process of producing just a small amount of oil, and the oil that flowed down upon Aaron’s beard was the Holy Annointing oil of  Exodus 30:23-25

23Take the best spices: of liquid myrrh 500 shekels, of sweet-scented cinnamon half as much, 250 shekels, of fragrant calamus 250 shekels,

24And of cassia 500 shekels, in terms of the sanctuary shekel, and of olive oil a hin.

25And you shall make of these a holy anointing oil, a perfume compounded after the art of the perfumer; it shall be a sacred anointing oil.

It is as valuable oil that has taken months and years, even a lifetime, of cutting, of waiting, of expressing, of distilling, of fire, of tapping, to produce the abundance necessary to waste upon Aaron’s head, or the feet of Jesus. 

Father,  May we not go another day without realizing the value You place upon the unity of Your people in You.  The coming together often with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, the uniting of hearts and minds that we collectively have Your thought and mind.   May the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts, may our prayers offered to You, our songs sung to You, our fellowship had in You,  be a pleasing and sweet fragrance,  a valuable offering, wasted upon You today and everyday.