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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

COSMETICS*

That which is applied to the body to enhance one’s appearance.

Eye paint originally served the medical purpose of preventing flies from spreading infection by settling on the eyes, especially of sleeping persons. Substances such as kohl, malachite, and stibium had astringent and antiseptic properties and so were useful medications. These minerals were found and made into a paste by mixing them with gum arabic or water. The paint was compounded in a small bowl and applied either with a spatula or with the finger. Many such bowls dating to 800 BC have been found at various Palestinian sites. Much earlier ones have been recovered from Egypt, where women used green malachite as an eye paint. In the Roman period antimony came into popular use.

When eye makeup became fashionable as a cosmetic procedure, the eyes were outlined in black, using galena or lead sulphide to make them look large, a practice that was followed particularly in Egypt, Palestine, and Mesopotamia. Eyebrows were also darkened by the application of a black paste. Jezebel decorated her eyes with cosmetics just before her dramatic death in about 841 BC (2 Kgs 9:30). In biblical Jewish society, painted eyes were associated with women lacking in virtue (Jer 4:30; Ez 23:40). Henna was used as a paint and was applied to parts of the body, including the hands and feet, as well as the fingernails and toenails.

Oils, often perfumed, were used as a protection for the skin against the sun. Anointing with oil was considered so important that when the troops of the Israelite king Ahaz were repatriated in about 730 BC, they were clothed, fed, and anointed (2 Chr 28:15). Anointing a guest’s feet was a normal act of hospitality. The process may also have had hygienic significance. Many persons found it far more convenient to apply perfumes than to wash the body, particularly when water was in short supply.

An alabaster jar of ointment (Lk 7:37) was an extremely expensive gift since it would have to be imported. At the archaeological dig of Lachish an excellent ivory ointment flask from about the 13th century BC was unearthed. A Babylonian inscription described a fragrant ointment made from the root of ginger grass, which was imported from Arabia. In NT times costly ointments most probably came from India.