Various fragrant preparations, also compounds for medical purposes, are so called (Ex. 30:25; Ps. 133:2; Isa. 1:6; Amos 6:6; John 12:3; Rev. 18:13).
Ointment
Ointment in the Bible is perfumed oil, a costly pleasure. Hezekiah shows his treasures including “precious ointment,” the Preacher says “A good name is better than precious ointment,” and the Song of Solomon compares a loved one’s name to it. Then a woman in Bethany breaks an alabaster box of spikenard over Jesus’ head in Mark 14, and some are indignant at the waste. The same oil appears as luxury, as courtship and as an act of love. Read Mark 14:3-9 to hear how Jesus answers those who complain, and then Ecclesiastes 7:1.
10 verses
2 Kings
2 Kings 20:13
And Hezekiah hearkened unto them, and shewed them all the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not.
Esther
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 odours, and with other things for the purifying of the women;)
Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes 7:1
A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth.
Ecclesiastes 10:1
Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour.
Song of Solomon
Song of Solomon 1:3
Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee.
Song of Solomon 4:10
How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! how much better is thy love than wine! and the smell of thine ointments than all spices!
Amos
Amos 6:6
That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.
Mark
Mark 14:3
And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head.
Mark 14:4
And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made?
Mark 14:5
For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her.
From Easton's Bible Dictionary
Matthew George Easton, 1897
From Smith's Bible Dictionary
William Smith, 1884
(An oily or unctuous substance, usually compounded of oil with various spices and resins and aromatics, and preserved in small alabaster boxes or cruses, in which the delicious aroma was best preserved. Some of the ointments have been known to retain their: fragrance for several hundred years. They were a much-coveted luxury, and often very expensive. --ED.)
(1.) Cosmetic . --The Greek and Roman practice of anointing the head and clothes on festive occasions prevailed also among the Egyptians, and appears to have had place among the Jews. (Ruth 3:2)
(2.) Funereal . --Ointments as well as oil were used to anoint dead bodies and the clothes in which they were wrapped. (Matthew 26:12)
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(3.) Medicinal . --Ointment formed an important feature in ancient medical treatment. (Isaiah 1:6; Jeremiah 8:22; John 9:6; Revelation 3:18) etc.
(4.) Ritual.--Besides the oil used in many ceremonial observances, a special ointment was appointed to be used in consecration. (Exodus 30:23,33; 29:7; 37:29; 40:9,15) A person whose business it was to compound ointments in general was called an "apothecary." (Nehemiah 3:8) The work was sometimes carried on by woman "confectionaries." (1 Samuel 8:13)