This metal still figures highly in world economics and is daily grist for financial writers all over the planet. There isn't, however, a big commodities market for frankincense and myrrh. During the centuries, these pleasant scents have lost much popularity. Today, incense is mainly used in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches as a part of a ritual dating back to pre-Christian times. In the Armenian Orthodox church, for instance, the burning of incense is used to purify the air, and during services the rising wisps of smoke are to remind worshipers of the upward direction of their prayers.
Frankincense comes from the resin of a desert tree in India.
People who study word origins suspect the Hebrew lebonah stems from a root meaning,white, and indeed, the balsamic gum is whitish when it is secreted from the tree. Scientists believe that the tree from which frankincense was taken was also imported into Israel and cultivated at the Judean Desert oasis of Ein Gedi near the Dead Sea. The ancient Israelites associated frankincense with pure offerings to the Almighty. Thus, an offering of frankincense should only be associated with pure worship of the Almighty, and never associated with wrongdoing. Many Uses Of Myrrh Myrrh was more common in ancient Israel, but an expensive commodity nevertheless.