Very good question! Actually, we don’t know what specific oils Jesus and his disciples used.but this we do know-they were not using their cooking oils or their lamp oils to anoint for healing. In other words-they weren’t just anointing with olive oil. Most likely they were using a healing oil that may have been inside a carrier oil like olive oil.
What essential oils were available and used in biblical times?
The Bible actually refers to thirty-five different botanical plants by name. Some were used primarily for incense, but many others were crudely distilled using several different methods and used to heal the body. They were rubbed or smeared on the body, poured on the body, or may have been sprinkled on the body.
Popular oils that would have been commonly available at the time of Jesus include myrrh, frankincense, balsam, sandalwood (called aloes at the time, unrelated to aloe vera), cypress, hyssop, spikenard, cinnamon, cassia, calamus, among others. others. . These would have constituted his “medicine cabinet” just as we might have aspirin and other remedies in our medicine cabinet.
Since these oils were as expensive in Bible times as they are now, how do you suppose Jesus and his disciples could afford them? Early Christian writings give us an idea: “Women took care of the needs of the ministry.” You can interpret this as the women taking care of the physical needs of the disciple, such as cooking and providing a place for the disciples to stay. Or as this writer feels, they made sure all the disciples had these expensive anointing oils for ministry.