Song of Solomon 1:12, “While the king sits at his table, my spikenard sends forth the smell thereof.”

 

Esther 2:12, “Now when every maid’s turn was come to go in to king Ahasuerus, after that she had been twelve months, according to the manner of the women, (for so were the days of their purifications accomplished, to wit, six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odors, and with other things for the purifying of the women;)”

 

Esther spent one year of her life preparing to meet the king to determine if she was beautiful enough to be chosen as the new queen. She spent six months bathing in myrrh and six months bathing in sweet odors.  Some modern translations render the sweet odors as perfume or fragrances.  The word in Hebrew is basam which simply means a sweet smell. Some commentators relate this to the balsam tree simply because its spelling closely resembles basam. This only shows that we do not really know what these fragrances were.

 

In my research I have found scholars and commentators using many different tools to identify these fragrances, but there is one tool I have not found used.  Perhaps someone has and I have just not run across it yet. It seems only logical that these fragrances were tied into the Persian religion.  I mean why six months of myrrh and six months of other fragrances?

 

The Persians worshipped Anahita, the goddess mother.  You see, unlike the Egyptians, the Persians did not believe their kings were gods. King Darius was simply the king’s spear bearer before he ascended to the throne through a coup. Yet, it was believed the king was sanctioned by the gods and when he died he would become a god himself, adopted of the gods.

 

To be a queen, you had to be sanctioned by the goddess Anahita who was the mother goddess who adopted a queen when she died.  How was this to be determined?  It wasn’t just a matter of her beauty.  Any young woman after a year of the best beauty treatments will be stunning.  It then comes down to the type of woman the king desired. However, someone in the king’s position would most likely have a weakness for tall woman, short women, blonds, brunettes….   Actually, there was something else; this special woman was one who spent six months bathing in basam. Many modern translations render this as perfume which is probably the most accurate rending you can get.

 

Few really understand the nature of perfume.  Perfume smells differently when whiffed from the bottle, when placed on the skin and after it has been on the skin for thirty minutes. What you smell first is the topnote. This is the strongest part of the perfume and it fades the quickest. After the topnote fades you are left with the midnote that fades into the basenote. The basenote is the scent that stays on you the longest and will not appear until after thirty minutes.  Depending upon your body chemistry, it could last up to 24 hours.

 

Ah, therein lays the key, your body chemistry.  Everyone has different body chemistry and you need to determine which fragrance fits your personal body chemistry. Then you find matching body wash and/or lotion to prolong the fragrance.  After six months of bathing in myrrh which was a purification oil, the body would pretty much be purged of all its external influences from living in the wild. The remaining six months was to determine if the body chemistry enhanced certain fragrances.  It is this fragrance that she would wear when appearing before the king. However, this fragrance had to do more than smell good to the king; it had to arouse his romantic feelings, if you get my drift. The one who wore the fragrances the best or had the body chemistry that best matched the fragrance and aroused the most romantic feelings in the king would then be truly a daughter of Anathita.  You see the Persians conquered the Arameans and many of their religious beliefs filtered into the Persian Empire.  The Arameans believed that a union between a god and his mother would result in the birth of the sun and the union between a god and his sister would result in the birth of the moon.  The ancients understood that the moon’s light was only a reflection of the sun.  Thus the goddess Venus was considered the goddess of the moon.  Our lunar calendar is based upon the 28 day menstrual cycle of a woman.

 

In other words for Esther to be chosen as the queen she had to meet the condition of being a future adopted daughter of Anathita.  Incest was a common practice among the royals in those days and the king was seeking, sort of, a long lost sister with whom he would share a common mother, the goddess Anathita.  They, of course ended up sharing a common Father, if you get my drift. The new queen had to be a reflection of the goddess Anathita who is sometime referred to as the fire goddess or the goddess of the sun.

 

Now what fragrance would they bath the future queen in to determine if she were truly a daughter of Anathita?  We do know that spikenard was one such fragrance used in the worship of Anathita.  Spikenard is associated with romantic feelings.  It is mentioned three times in Song of Solomon.  In Song of Solomon 2:12 the fragrance was so powerful it disrupted the king while sitting at his table.  In ancient Israel a table was not used for eating but for a meal during sensitive negotiations.  You know like the Knights of the Round Table. In Psalms 23 we find David talking about God preparing a table before him in the presence of his enemies. Even today in the Middle East, delicate negotiations are done at a table over a meal.  The Shulemite woman must have worn her spikenard well as it totally disrupted Solomon while he was carrying on serious negotiations with a lot of other fragrances from their meal.

 

The word in Hebrew for spikenard is nerd.  This word comes from a Semitic root NR which means to shine or light up. It is a reflected light. The light of the moon is a NR. Spikenard got its name from its ability to cause one to light up or reflect light. In the case of choosing a Persian queen spikenard was most like one of the fragrances that Esther bathed in for six months so that when she appeared before the king his romantic feelings would be so aroused that he was convinced she was a reflection of the goddess Anathita. I heard on the news the other day where researchers for the perfume industry tested hundreds of fragrances and the fragrance that was able to arouse the most romantic feelings in a man was lavender.  Spikenard and lavender are very closely related and to the ancient mind, spikenard and lavender were both NR.  The ancients didn’t categorize like botanist do today.

 

Scientist tells us that fragrances are merely vibrations. When we wear a fragrance we send out certain fragrance vibrations. The Shulemite woman in the Song of Solomon sent out the vibrations of NR, (lavender and/or spikenard) to King Solomon.  These vibrations of her passionate love for the king totally distracted him from even his most important negotiations.

 

So too when we send out our passionate love for God, we send out our NR or our  lavender/spikenard God’s attention is on us personally, even though He may be performing high levels of business in world affairs and affairs of the universe, out little fragrance of love will cause him to put down his pen at his table of negotiations and say, “Gentlemen, if you will excuse me, I have a personal matter to take care of.”  You see our love for Him is only a NR, a reflection of His love for us.  Any wonder why NR (spikenard) was used in the Holy Place?

5054910432_91a53a4566_tSome of Spikenard’s medical properties: Antibacterial, anti fungal, anti-inflammatory, relaxant, and immune stimulant. According to Dietrich Gumbel,PhD, it strengthens the heart and improved circulation.  Uses: Insomnia, menstrual problems/PMS, heart arrhythmias,  and nervous tension. Fragrant Influence: Relaxing, soothing, helps nourish and regenerate the skin. For Pets: Spikenard is found in the all natural/toxin free Animal Scents Shampoo. For more info: https://www.youngliving.org/laurabertone

 

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