In 1936, a little known Polish Professor, Sara Benetowa (later Sula Benet), did extensive etymological research, showing that both the Aramaic and Hebrew versions of the Old Testament contain references to cannabis as a fiber for rope and cloth, as well as an incense. But most importantly, Benet found that hemp was the active ingredient in the Holy anointing oil of the ancient Hebrews, to be used only in the installation of priests and kings, and in the consecration of holy items, as described in Exodus (30: 22-33).
---->>>According to Benet¹s research, cannabis appears in ancient Hebrew texts spelled with the Hebrew letters: “Kuph, Nun, Hé  Bet, Shin, Mem,� translated into western alphabetic forms as q¹aneh-bosm, kaneh-bosm or kineboisin. The book of Exodus records the event of Moses receiving the instructions for making and distributing the hemp enriched holy oil, in the most auspicious tones.
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 qaneh-bosm, 500 shekels of cassia--all according to the sanctuary shekel--and a hind of olive oil. Make these into a sacred anointing oil� (Exodus 30: 22-33).
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 Âwould undoubtedly have been intense.
In 1980, a wave of interest in Benet’s work prompted numerous etymologists to agree with Benet¹s reinterpretation of the word qaneh-bosm in Exodus. That year, scholars at Jerusalem¹s Hebrew University confirmed her work, noting that the q¹aneh-bosm was mistranslated in the King James version of Exodus 30:23 as ³calamus² (Latimer, 1988). That same year, Weston La Barre also confirmed Benet’s work, noting further that "the term kaneh-bosm occurs as early as both the Aramaic and the Hebrew versions of the Old Testament, hemp being used for rope in Solomon's temple and in priestly robes, as well as carried in Biblical caravans" In 1980, the slightly cynical scholar Allegro also noted that this "volatile substance in the heat of an enclosed oracular chamber would contribute to the delusion of omniscience through their intoxicating effect" (Allegro 1980).
Allegro was commenting on the practice by which the ancient Levites literally drenched themselves, their utensils and the inner chamber of the tent with the highly entheogenic holy oil, as well as burning it alongside other incenses on the altar, as a means of receiving an oracular trance in which the voice of Yahweh was heard.
Indeed, the Hebrew title “Messiah� means the anointed one, and refers to the psychoactive cannabis ointment mentioned in exodus. The 'anointed ones', acting as shamans for the ancient Israelites, were in a sense the consciousness of the group or tribe. The "ideas" that came to them while they were high were heard as the voice of God, and through this 'inner voice' they guided the tribe in both war and peace. The holy anointing oil and incense was strictly used on the high ranking members of the priestly Levites, "the anointed priests, who were ordained to serve as priests" (Numbers 3:3).
"Anoint them just as you anointed their father, so that they may serve me as priests. Their anointing will be to a priesthood that will continue for generations to come"(Exodus 40:15).
"The high priest [is] the one among his brothers who has had the anointing oil poured on his head and who has been ordained to wear the priestly garments because he has been dedicated by the anointing oil of his God"(Leviticus 21:10-12).
The Lord said to Moses, "I am going to come to you in a dense cloud "(Exodus 19:9).
In recent years scholars have expressed the opinion that, far from being a minor or occasional ingredient, hashish was the main ingredient of the incense burned in temples during the religious ceremonies of antiquity, and was also routinely used in Hebrew ceremonies until the reign of King Josiah in 621 BC, when its use was suddenly suppressed in the Hebrew tradition (Andrews 1997; Bennett 1995). In Die Flora Der Juden, Immanuel Low researched the ancient Hebrew technique for making Passover incense and concluded that it must have included cannabis as a prime ingredient (Low 1926/1967). Regardless of the ingredients of the incense, the burning of it would have released psychoactive cannabis compounds when lit upon the altar of incense, which was drenched in anointing oil, as directed in Exodus 30: 22-28, ³useŠ[the anointing oil] to anoint the table and all its articles, the lamp stand and its accessories, the altar of incense, the alter of burnt offering and all its utensils.²
The clouded temple, pitched in a tent during the Exodus, was undoubtedly filled with the smoke of burning cannabis-oil, and was the meeting place of priest and God. In Exodus, 30:27, God gives clear instructions to place the altar of incense “before the veil that is by the ark of testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee.� It was from behind this veil of smoke that Moses interpreted the words of the Lord. According to the Lord's decrees, the incense was to burn perpetually.
In 1967, Hebrew Scholar Ralph Patai pointed out that Yahweh traveled in a cloud, which was produced from copious incense smoke: “The epithet, "Rider in the clouds," refers to Yahweh in one of the Psalms In fact, the desert sanctuary was called the Tabernacle (Hebrew, mishkan; literally, dwelling place�) because of the divine cloud that abode (shakan) over it and in it. In Exodus 40 it is written that God's presence in the Tabernacle was indicated by a cloud, which both seemed to hover over the tent and to fill it, and which at night glowed like fire.�
�As Moses would enter the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the Lord spoke with Moses. Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshipped, each at the entrance to his tent. The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend� (Exodus 33:7-11).
God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you" (Exodus 3:14). Such were the words Moses first heard after his initiation into the Midianite priesthood, during his first encounter with the Burning Bush.
Exodus 24:15-18 and Numbers 7:89 also make reference to Moses “meetings with God, who comes to speak with Moses in the cloud-drenched ³Tent of Meeting.�
From the time of Moses, until that of the later prophet Samuel, the shaman-like Levite priesthood used the Holy Anointing Oil in order to receive the revelations of the Lord. At the dawn of the age of Kings, Samuel extended this use to the Hebraic monarchs, who, with the benefit of the entheogenic inspirations provided by the Holy oil, led their countrymen possessed by the "spirit of the Lord". As Doane noted in 1882, “[anointing] was common among kings of Israel. It was the sign and symbol of royalty. The word 'Messiah' signifies the 'Anointed One', and none of the kings of Israel were styled the Messiah unless anointed". Matthew Henry noted in 1997 that “Solomon was anointed with it, and some of the other kings, and all the high priests, with such a quantity of it, as that it ran down to the skirts and garments.²
But, wrote Henry, the Holy Oil fell into disuse when it had become associated with aspects of pagan worship: "[A] l agree that in the second temple there was none of this holy oil, which was probably owing to a notion they had that it was not lawful to make it up." Members and Priests of Semite sects that likely used cannabis (like that of Ashera, Queen of Heaven) were viscously persecuted and slaughtered at the same time as the holy oil became prohibited (Jeremiah 6:20 and Jeremiah 44). Despite these prohibitions, certain underground sects retained the topical entheogen and continued to practice the older religion of the monarchic period, silently awaiting the return of a king in the line of David.
The ministry of Jesus marked the return of the Jewish Messiah-kings, and thus the re-emergence of the Holy Oil. If Jesus was not initiated in this fashion then he was not the Christ, and had no official claim to the title, as it was only given to those "having the crown of God's unction upon them" (Leviticus 21:12).
Another important factor, in the case of miracles and exorcisms, is that at the time of Christ, no differentiation was placed between medical treatment and exorcism or miracles, all three were interrelated. To cure somebody of a disease was paramount to exorcising the tormenting spirit. As to cure of disease was considered exorcism, so too was healing a person¹s injury considered a miracle.
By the time Jesus began doing miracles on the road, he was a mature man, in his mid-thirties, and of some experience. The descriptions of Jesus¹ rituals and healings in the Gnostic gospels reveal that he was also likely an initiate of one or more of the Mystery Schools which existed in the ancient World (more on this to follow). Many of these Mystery Schools, (and most relevant for this study, the Gnostics, Essenes, and the Zoroastrian Magi who influenced them both so strongly), had an extensive knowledge of plants and healing techniques which parallels that of other aboriginal people. From such groups Jesus would likely have learned of the miraculous healing qualities of cannabis, the medicinal value of which is still extolled today.
The sacred anointing oil, rich with cannabis resins, was one of the miracle medicines in Jesus¹ ³first-aid kit.² As it says in the Book of Mark: ³And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them²(Mark 6:13). But in the case of cannabis-laced anointing oil, unlike the phoney "snake oils" of yesteryear, there is an abundance of medicinal properties that have been used for centuries to treat a variety of ailments.
Amongst the more well known accounts of Jesus' miracles is his healing of the lepers that appears in the first three Gospel accounts (Matthew 8,10,11 Mark 1, Luke 5,7,17). Leprosy meant something slightly different in biblical times than it does now. What we call leprosy is caused by Mycobacterium leprae, a bacillus discovered in 1868 by the Norwegian physician Gerhard Henrik Armauer Hansen. ³Hansen¹s disease² was known in New Testament times as elephas or elephantiasis. Ancient sara'at or lepra, on the other hand, covered several diseases, all of which involved an acute flaking or scaly skin condition - including psoriasis, eczema, fungus infections of the skin, (Crossan 1994) or pruritis. Cannabis oil, applied topically, has been known to bring relief to sufferers of all of these ailments, and is being used today by cannabis compassion clubs for this very purpose. Pruritis, an atopical dermatitis, has even been known to be relieved by smoking the healing herb (Grinspoon & Bakalar 1993)! Perhaps part of the action of cannabis in relieving skin conditions can be attributed to its impressive antibacterial effects, as demonstrated by a Czech study done in 1960 (Mikuriya 1971).
We read again in the Acts of Thomas, that "Thou holy oil given unto us for sanctification thou art the straightener of the crooked limbs," which is another miracle Jesus performed for the crippled. Cannabis was used for swelling and ³loss of control of the lower limbs² in ancient Babylon (Encyclopedia of Islam 1979); it was long used as an effective home remedy for rheumatism in South America, and for the same by Dr WB O¹Shaughnessy (circa 1850); it was used until 1937 in ³virtually all muscle ointments and [cystic] fibrosis poultices²(Herer, 1995). The epilepsy-like symptoms suffered by the boy that Jesus heals in Matthew 17:14-20, Mark 9:14-29, and Luke 9:37-43 would also have been massively relieved by cannabis, as would have MS and other seizure-producing illnesses, for which doctors today still prescribe the healing herb. Jesus¹ healing of the woman with chronic menstruation (Luke 8:43-48) could also have been effected with cannabis, which the US Dispensatory of 1854 lists as a remedy for ³uterine hemorrhage.² Pointing to a more ancient knowledge, Ancient Assyrian texts also listed cannabis as part of the recipe for treatments against ³female ailments,² and as an ³anodyne used in menorrhagia and dysmenorrhoea²(Thompson 1924), illnesses characterized by excessive and reduced menstruation respectively
