Sex, Drugs , Violence and the Bible
By Chris Bennett and Neil McQueen

Qhaneh Bosm: Cannabis and the Bible

"Then the Lord said to Moses, "Take the following fine spices: 500 shekels of liquid myrrh, half as much of fragrant cinnamon, 250 shekels of qhaneh-bosm, 500 shekels of cassia--all according to the sanctuary shekel--and a hind of olive oil. Make these into a sacred anointing oil, a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer. It will be the sacred anointing oil." Exodus 30:23

It is this term "qhaneh bosm”, or fragrant cane, that is the most remarkable of mistranslations found within the Bible. When it was rendered into Greek it became "calamus", a common marsh plant that had no place in the sacred anointing oil of Yahweh. But so it has come down to us. In fact the Hebrew term is qhaneh bosm, or kaneh bosm. According to Rabbi Herschels??? Hebrew-English dictionary, such eminent scholars as Sula Benet, Weston LaBarre and the British journal New Scientist, what this term refers to is none other than cannabis. Indeed the "m" which ends the word is the Hebrew plural, so in the singular it reads as 'kaneh bos" which doesn't take a leap of faith to be understood for what it is. And this opens up a whole new world of interpretation of the Good Book. A very remarkable interpretation indeed...

As one shekel equals approximately 16.37 grams, this means that the THC of over 9 pounds of flowering cannabis tops, were extracted into a hind, about 6.5 litres of oil. The entheogenic effects of such a solution, even when applied topically, would undoubtedly have been intense. Only those who had been \b dedicated by the anointing oil of...God" (Leviticus 21:12) were permitted to act as priests. In the "holy" state produced by the anointing oil the priests were forbidden to leave the sanctuary precincts (Leviticus 21:12), and the above passage from Exodus, makes quite clear the sacredness of this ointment, the use of which the priests jealously guarded.

Around 1980, etymologists at Hebrew University in Jerusalem confirmed that cannabis is mentioned in the Bible by name, in a list of measured ingredients for "an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of apothecary to be smeared on the head. The word was mistranslated in King James version as ‘calamus’. - Exodus 30:23

"Take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and everything in it; consecrate it and all its furnishings, and it will be most holy. Then anoint the altar of burnt offerings and all its utensils; consecrate the altar, and it will be most holy." - Exodus 40:9

" The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me... " - Isaiah 61:1

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