What is "stacte"

Stacte \Stac"te\ (st[a^]k"t[-e]), n. [L., fr. Gr. stakth`, strictly fem. of stakto`s oozing out in drops, fr. sta`zein to drop.] One of the sweet spices used by the ancient Jews in the preparation of incense. It was perhaps an oil or other form of myrrh or cinnamon, or a kind of storax.
--Ex. xxx. 34.

n. One of the sweet spices used by the ancient Jews in preparing incense; possibly an oil or other form of myrrh or cinnamon, or a kind of storax.

n. (Old Testament) one of several sweet-smelling spices used in incense

Stacte or nataph (, nataf) are names used for one component of the Solomon's Temple incense, the Ketoret, discussed in Exodus 30:34. Variously translated to the Greek term ( AMP: ) or to an unspecified "gum resin" or similar ( NIV: ), it was to be mixed in equal parts with onycha (prepared from certain vegetable resins or seashells parts), galbanum and mixed with pure frankincense and they were to "beat some of it very small" for burning on the altar of the tabernacle.

This incense was considered restricted for sacred purposes honoring Yahweh; the trivial or profane use of it was punishable by exile, as laid out in ( KJV).

The Hebrew word nataf means "drop", corresponding to "drops of water" (Job 36:27). The Septuagint translates nataf as stacte, a Greek word meaning "an oozing substance," which refers to various viscous liquids, including myrrh.

Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel explained, "Stacte is simply the sap that drips from the tapping of the wood of the balsam tree" (Kerithot 6a). It is not exactly clear from what plant nataf was derived. It might have been a myrrh extract of the highest grade, the resin of Styrax officinalis, the resin of Styrax benzoin (a close relative of and of the same genus as Styrax officinalis), or even storax, the resin of Turkish sweetgum (Liquidambar orientalis).