Prov 7:17 [ESV] I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
I remember the smell as if it was yesterday, but it was over twenty years ago. I was over in Central America, at Brus Laguna on the edge of the Mosquito Coast. We had been living on rice and beans mostly for the last six weeks, and had just arrived back in this small village near the Gulf of Mexico coast a few days earlier. I had been spending the last few days sleeping in my hammock, recovering from the trek, and allowing myself to heal from all the insect bites, scratches, and infections that had been a normal part of the day for so long. John, (my friend who was a full time missionary) asked me to go for a walk to the furthest end of the village where a lady had sent a message with her youngest son, that she had something for us.
The village was spread out along the edge of the Laguna, and went for hundreds of yards, a random wooden shack here (up on stilts), a mud adobe dwelling there, and often there were a scattering drying platforms made of branches shorn of leaves, and recently caught fish that had been gutted and butterfly filleted were strung up to dry in the constant sea breeze. Nets were hung up in the breeze and the sun, swaying, self-cleaning and drying, as well as awaiting inspection for any damage.
I smelled the lady’s house about five minutes before I came to the darkened open doorway. Cinnamon. Oh, she had a bag of cinnamon buns made from coconut flour for me to take back for John and I. She made me eat one right there at the doorway. Even if I had not been living on rice and beans for over a month, they would have still been mind-blowingly good. Fresh from her small wood-fired clay oven. But, I have to say, they were amazing – I felt such a rush of gratitude, for this lady, and for cinnamon. And for coconut flour. I still remember that moment like it was yesterday.
KNOWLEDGE : Cinnamon was not something that grew locally. In fact it was only found in India, Sri Lanka, and China at this time. There is no trace of it in Egypt of Syria at this time. Interestingly the fruit and coarse bark were main ingredients for the holy anointing oil. Alongside this Myrrh was not only one of the gifts of the wise men, but was also offered in deaths as a narcotic to those crucified in Roman times.
There are aspects of sin that at times seem to be the same as the light of the world, it’s a counterfeit. The Devil “quotes and misquotes” scripture at Jesus in Matt 4:1-11 when he suggests that Jesus “throw himself down”.
UNDERSTANDING – Let’s pick one word from this verse to look closer at and see if that can help us gain a deeper insight into how God would love us to live?
The word used for Cinnamon in Hebrew is pronounced as “quinnamon” in Hebrew, and oly appears three times in nthe Bible. In Exodus 30:23; in Prov 7:17; and in Song of Songs 4:14. In the LXX the word used in Greek is κινναμώμω [kinnamomo] which appears in Revelation 18:13. The temptation is made more and more attractive to our senses, sight, sound, touch, and smell.
WISDOM – When we spend time in the Word of God each day, with a heart to encounter God, we start to know his voice, and become aware and protected from any other voice.
STRENGTHS THOUGHT: Relator as a Gallup Strength enjoys close relationships with others, and finds deep satisfaction with coming together with friends and putting everything into achieving a common goal.
Allan’s Unauthorised Version – I have shaken over my place of meditation and sleep with myrrh, fragrant wood, and cinnamon from the east.
I have perfumed – I have shaken over
my bed – my place of meditation and sleep,
with myrrh, – myrrh,
aloes, – fragrant wood,
And cinnamon – cinnamon from the east.
PRAYER: Father, thank you for today. Help me to recognise the presence of God and to seek after that presence daily.
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