Aloe. Photo by Derick McKinney on Unsplash

There seems to be some confusion about the aloe mentioned in the bible, this was not the aloe vera plant commonly used for burns, scarring etc. that most folks are familiar with. The word Aloe in the Bible is referring to an East Indian tree referred to by the Greeks as the Agalloch. 
Today, aloe vera derived from the plant Aloe barbadensis miller. It belongs to the Asphodelaceae (Liliaceae) family and is used in many ways including treating burns, sunburns, healing bruises and rashes, moisturizing skin, fighting athlete's foot, preventing scarring and stretch marks, speeding up hair growth, and many more.
Bible verses with the word Aloe in them, and the controversy surrounding Aloes in the bible.
​The Aloe tree is also known by other names such as Lign aloe, aloeswood, paradise wood, eaglewood and several other names.  There are two kinds of Aloe trees, one that is grown in China and never exported which makes it a rarity in India of great worth.  The second tree grown in the Moluccas is a much more common species called Garo. This tree is large, has an erect, knotty trunk which is commonly hollow and lofty branches with leaves like a pear tree. It has a milky juice which hardens into a fragrant resin as the tree grows older. Herodotus said that this aloe was used by the Egyptians to embalm their dead. The second Aloe (Garo) is most likely the Aloe referred to in the bible and the same Aloe Nicodemus brought to embalm the body of Christ combined with myrrh. (ATS Bible Dictionary, Biblehub)

• And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. John 19:39
  
• Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. John 19:40
  

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"The aloe wood of the Bible is eaglewood-so misnamed by the Portuguese who confused the Malay name for it (agora) with the Latin aquila, "eagle"-a product of certain trees of the Natural Order Aquilariaceae, growing in Southeast Asia The two most valued varieties are Aquilaria malaccensis and Aloes agallocha-both fine spreading trees. The resin, which gives the fragrant quality to the wood, is formed almost entirely in the heart wood; logs are buried, the outer part decays while the inner, saturated with the resin, forms the "eagle wood" or "aloe wood" of commerce; "aloes" being the same wood in a finely powdered condition. To the Arabs this wood is known as `ud. It shows a beautiful graining and takes a high polish", (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Biblehub).

All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad. Psa. 45:8
I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Prov. 7:17

1. “And they took the body of Jesus and wound it in linen clothes with the spices and aloes as the manner of the Jews is to bury.”
John 19:39-40
2. “As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river’s side, as the trees of aloes which the Lord hath planted, [and] as cedar trees beside the waters.”
Numbers 24:6
3. “All thy garments [smell] of myrrh, and aloes [and] cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.”
Psalms 45:8
4. “I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.”
Proverbs 7:17
5. “Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices.”
Song of Solomon 4:14
6. “And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound [weight].”
John 19:39

Healing Herbs & Spices

References:
​1. Aloes. Topical Bible. Bible hub. Retrieved on January 6, 2017 from http://biblehub.com/topical/a/aloes.htm
2. Photo by Derick McKinney on Unsplash

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