For the source text click/tap here: Bava Kamma 16
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The Gemara offers an interpretation of another verse about the burial of a king of Judea, King Asa:
“And they buried him in his own sepulchers, which he had hewn out for himself in the city of David, and laid him in the resting place, which was filled with perfumes and spices [zenim] prepared by the perfumers’ art” (II Chronicles 16:14).
What is meant by “perfumes and spices”? Rabbi Elazar says: It means many different types [zinei] of perfumes. Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani says: The word zenim sounds similar to the word zenut, licentiousness, and should therefore be understood about types of perfumes that anyone who smells them is led to licentiousness.
We examine the history and archeology informing us on the reign of Hezekiah and compare with rabbinic historiography.