Aloe

עלו , a plant with broad leaves, nearly two inches thick, prickly and serrated. It grows about two feet high. A very bitter gum is extracted from it, used for medicinal purposes, and anciently for embalming dead bodies. Nicodemus is said, Joh 19:39, to have brought one hundred pounds’ weight of myrrh and aloes to embalm the body of Jesus. The quantity has been exclaimed against by certain Jews as being enough for fifty bodies. But instead of εκατον it might originally have been written δεκατον, ten pounds’ weight. However, at the funeral of Herod there were five hundred αρωματοφορους, spice bearers; and at that of R. Gamaliel, eighty pounds of opobalsamum were used.

The wood which God showed Moses, that with it he might sweeten the waters of Marah, is called alvah, Exo 15:25. The word has some relation to aloe; and some interpreters are of opinion that Moses used a bitter sort of wood that so the power of God might be the more remarkable. Mr. Bruce mentions a town, or large village, by the name of Elvah. It is thickly planted with trees; is the oasis parva of the ancients; and the last inhabited place to the west that is under the jurisdiction of Egypt. He also observes that the Arabs call a shrub or tree, not unlike our hawthorn, either in wood or flower, by the name of elvah. “It was this,”

say they, “with which Moses sweetened the waters of Marah; and with this, too, did Kalib Ibn el Walid sweeten those of Elvah, once bitter, and give the place the name of this circumstance.” It may be that God directed Moses to the very wood proper for the purpose. M. Neibuhr, when in these parts, inquired after wood capable of this effect, but could gain no information of any such. It will not, however, from hence follow that Moses really used a bitter wood; but, as Providence usually works by the proper and fit means to accomplish its ends, it seems likely that the wood he made use of was, in some degree at least, corrective of that quality which abounded in the water, and so rendered it potable. This seems to have been the opinion of the author of Sir 38:5. That other water, also, requires some correction, and that such a correction is applied to it, appears from the custom in Egypt in respect to that of the Nile, which, though somewhat muddy, is rendered pure and salutary by being put into jars, the inside of which is rubbed with a paste made of bitter almonds. The first discoverers of the Floridas are said to have corrected the stagnant and fetid water they found there, by infusing in it branches of sassafras; and it is understood that the first inducement of the Chinese to the general use of tea, was to correct the water of their ponds and rivers.

The LIGN-ALOE

or agallochum, Num 24:6; Psa 45:9; and Son 4:14. אחלת , masculine, אחל , whose plural is אחלים , is a small tree about eight or ten feet high. That the flower of this plant yielded a fragrance, is assured to us in the following extract from Swinburne’s Travels, letter xii: “This morning, like many of the foregoing ones, was delicious. The sun rose gloriously out of the sea, and all the air around was perfumed with the effluvia of the aloe, as its rays sucked up the dew from the leaves.” This extremely bitter plant contains under the bark three sorts of wood. The first is black, solid, and weighty; the second is of a tawny colour, of a light spongy texture, very porous, and filled with a resin extremely fragrant and agreeable; the third kind of wood, which is the heart, has a strong aromatic odour, and is esteemed in the east more precious than gold itself. It is used for perfuming habits and apartments, and is administered as a cordial in fainting and epileptic fits. These pieces, called calunbac, are carefully preserved in pewter boxes, to prevent their drying. When they are used they are ground upon a marble with such liquids as are best suited to the purpose for which they are intended. This wood, mentioned Son 4:14, in conjunction with several other odoriferous plants there referred to, was in high esteem among the Hebrews for its exquisite exhalations.

The scented aloe, and each shrub that showers

Gum from its veins, and odours from its flowers.

Thus the son of Sirach, Sir 24:15: “I gave a sweet smell like the cinnamon and aspalathus. I yielded a pleasant odour like the best myrrh; like galbanum and onyx, and fragrant storax, and like the fume of frankincense in the tabernacle.” It may not be amiss to observe that the Persian translator renders ahalim, sandal wood; and the same was the opinion of a certain Jew in Arabia who was consulted by Neibuhr.

LIGN ALOE. Hebrew ahalim, ahaloth; Greek agallochus, from the native name aghil; "eaglewood," imitating the sound. Not the common aloes, disagreeable in odor and taste. The more precious kind grows in Cochin China and Siam, and is not exported, being worth its weight in gold. The perfume is from the oil thickening into resin within the trunk. The inferior kind, garo, grows in the Moluccas, the Excoecaria agallocha of Linnaeus. The best aloe wood is called calambac, the produce of the Aquilaria agallochum of Silhet in N. India. Used for perfuming garments (Psa 45:8) and beds (Pro 7:17). An image for all that is lovely, fragrant, flourishing, and incorruptible (Num 24:6; Son 4:14). Used by Nicodemus, along with myrrh, 100 lbs. in all, to enwrap amidst linen the sacred body of Jesus (Joh 19:39).

Aloe. An odoriferous tree, called also "lign aloe." Num 24:6; Psa 45:8; Pro 7:17; Son 4:14. The aroma of the tree proceeds from its resin, especially when decaying. Aloe wood is useful for perfuming rooms and clothing. We find it also mixed with myrrh, used in burial. Joh 19:39.

The aloe is a plant found mostly in Africa that looks similar to a lily. Some types of aloe provide both medicine and fiber. In the Bible, aloe is mentioned with other fragrant plants like myrrh and balm (see Psalm 45:8; Proverbs 7:17; Song of Solomon 4:14; John 19:39).

Most scholars believe these verses refer to two different plants:

• In the Old Testament, aloe likely refers to the eaglewood tree (Aquilaria agallocha). This large tree comes from northern India, Malaya, and Indochina. It can grow up to 36.6 meters (120 feet) tall with a trunk about 3.7 meters (12 feet) around. As its wood decays, it produces a strong fragrance. This makes it valuable for perfume, incense, and fumigation. In ancient times, people would burn fragrant woods to fill spaces with aromatic smoke.

• In the New Testament (John 19:39), aloe probably refers to the true aloe (Aloe succotrina). Egyptians used its bitter juice in the embalming process. Embalming is a process that preserves dead bodies. Though true aloe does not smell very pleasant, people sometimes used it as a medicine for horses.

Aquifer Open Bible Dictionary © 2026 Mission Mutual, an adaptation of the Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary © 2023 Tyndale House Publishers. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.