The Hebrew noun sam refers to a spice or aromatic ingredient, particularly one used in the sacred incense compounded for tabernacle worship. Used primarily in the plural (sammim), the word appears in the recipes for the holy anointing oil and the sacred incense of Exodus 30. The term implies precious, carefully selected aromatics.
The sammim spices were not ordinary — they were divinely prescribed ingredients for the two holiest aromatic compounds in Israel's worship. Their fragrance ascending before God symbolized prayer rising as a pleasing aroma (Psalm 141:2; Revelation 5:8). The precision required in compounding the sacred incense (no substitutions permitted) teaches that worship must be offered God's way, not man's. The spices also foreshadow Christ, whose atoning sacrifice is described as a fragrant offering to God (Ephesians 5:2).