Very good question! Actually, we don’t know what oils Jesus and his disciples specifically used.but we do know this-they were not using their cooking oils or their anointing lamp oils to heal. In other words-they were not anointing only with olive oil. Most likely they were using a healing oil that it may have been inside a carrier oil such as 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 by several different methods and used to heal the body. They were rubbed or smeared on the body, spilled on the body, or may have been sprayed on the body.
The most 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 your “medicine cabinet” just as we might have aspirin and other remedies in our medicine cabinet.
Since these oils were just as expensive in Biblical times as they are now, how do you suppose Jesus and his disciples could afford them? Early Christian writings give us an idea: “The 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 the ministry.