Comentário sobre Êxodo 30:25

רקח מרקחת A COMPOUND COMPOUNDED — רקח is a noun and its accent proves it, for it is on the first syllable, on the ר, so that it is a noun just as are רֶקַח in (Song 8:2) “I would cause thee to drink of the mixed wine (מיין הרקח)” and רֶגַע in (Exodus 33:5) “one moment (רֶגַע אחד)”, and it is not a participle like (Isaiah 51:15) “[I am the Lord] who stireth up (רוֹגַע) the sea”, or (Isaiah 42:5) “Who spreadeth forth (רֹקַע) the earth”, where the accent is on the last syllable. Any thing (ingredient) which is mixed with another so thoroughly that one becomes impregnated with the other as regards the smell or the taste is called a מרקחת.

AND THOU SHALT MAKE IT A HOLY ANOINTING OIL, A PERFUME COMPOUNDED AFTER THE ART OF THE PERFUMER. In line with the simple meaning of Scripture, the preparation of the Oil of Anointment was in accordance with the view of Rabbi Yehudah, who said¹³⁴Kerithoth 5a. that they first soaked the spices in water in order that they would not absorb the oil which was poured upon them Now this soaking [of which Rabbi Yehuda speaks] was not mere soaking in water alone. Rather, they put ground spices in a vessel full of water and then they poured upon them a hin of olive oil.¹³⁵Verse 24. Then they placed this vessel upon another vessel full of water, and put it over a low flame with embers, and boiled it until the water [in the upper vessel] evaporated, and they retained the oil which was upon it. Such indeed is the way that perfumers make all aromatic oils. This is why Scripture shortened the explanation and commanded merely that they make this oil a perfume compounded after the art of the perfumer, without explaining the process by which it is to be made, for the way of the perfumers was known among them. And so I found in Tractate Shekalim of the Yerushalmi:¹³⁶Yerushalmi Shekalim VI, 1. “Rabbi Yehudah says: They boiled [the spices] in water and put the oil on top of it; as soon as [the oil] retained the odor [of the spices] they would take off the oil, just as druggists do, for it is said, And thou shalt make it a holy anointing oil, a perfume compounded after the art of the perfumer.”

רוקח מרקחת, a mixture of spices of a mixture of same, i.e. the result of two mixtures, having been boiled in water after having been mixed thoroughly with the other listed ingredients.

רקח מרקחת, very intensely perfumed.

And the accent’s being on the first syllable indicates this. למעלה means at the beginning of the word.

V. 25. רקח. Es ist nicht ganz sicher, welche Art der Operation bei der Parfümbereitung unter רקח verstanden ist. Nahe liegt die Lautverwandtschaft von רקח und ריח. In ריח selbst liegt aber, wie bereits zu Bereschit 8, 21 bemerkt, ursprünglich der Begriff feinster Zerteilung, woher ja auch ריחים, die Mühle, und ist es daher zweifelhaft, ob man bei רקה an die mechanische Zerreibung der Gewürzstoffe, oder an die Durchdringung anderer Stoffe, hier des Öles, mit deren Aroma zu denken habe. Ausdrücke wie שמן רוקח (Kohel. 10. 1), יין הרֶקַח (Hohel. 2, 8) sprechen für die letztere Annahme. So auch: Job 41, 23: ים ישים כמרקחה, wo offenbar mehr an einen siedenden Destillierapparat, als an eine Pulverisierschale oder einen Mörser zu denken ist.

מעשה רקח, “compounded by a perfumer;” a concoction recognisable immediately as being the work of an expert in his field, something impossible to have been manufactured by a layman.

Thus רקח מרקחת (lit., a mixing of a mixture) means a compounding effected by skilled art and perfect mixing.

It is the same as רֶקח or רֶגע . . . I.e., it is vocalized רֶ — unlike רוֹגע הים , which is a verb.

שמן משחת קדש: Der Begriff קדושה, wie bereits wiederholt bemerkt, enthält wesentlich zwei konstituierende Merkmale: das negative der Absonderung von allem andern, פרישה, und das positive, die absolute Hingebung, wie wir es nannten: die Bereitstellung. für den einen hohen Zweck. Das den Ausdruck dieser Huldigung vermittelnde Medium enthält daher auch diese beiden Bestandteile, den negativen: Öl (משה משח), das Scheiden und Heraussondern aus allem andern, und den positiven: Gewürze, Wohlgeruch, das Entsprechen dem höheren Wohlgefallen. Das und der Gesalbte ist nur von allem andern ausgesondert, um sich einem Höhern, um sich dem Höchsten völlig unterzuordnen. Diese absolute Hingebung an das Höchste bedingt die Aussonderung aus allem Niederen.

מעשה רקח THE WORK OF A COMPOUNDER — רֹקֵחַ is the name given to a workman skilled in this matter.

That one absorbs from the other. . . קופח means that one takes from the other.

That is that He commanded us that we have oil made according to the special recipe, ready to anoint the high priest when he is appointed - as He said, "The priest who is exalted above his fellows, on whose head the anointing oil has been poured" (Leviticus 21:10). And some of the kings were [also] anointed with it, as it is explained in the the law of this commandment. And the Tabernacle and all of its vessels have already been anointed by it. The vessels are not anointed for [all of the] generations (when new ones are made). For they said in the explanation, in the Sifrei (Sifrei Bamidbar 44), "That with the anointment of these" - meaning the vessels of the Tabernacle - "all the future vessels were consecrated." He, may He be elevated and may His name be blessed, said, "This shall be an anointing oil sacred to Me throughout the ages" (Exodus 30:31). And the regulations of this commandment have already been explained in the first chapter of Keritot. (See Parasht Ki Tissa; Mishneh Torah, Vessels of the Sanctuary and Those who Serve Therein 1.)