Reflections on Exodus 30

 

Exodus 30 (Contemporary English Version)

1. Build an altar of acacia wood where you can burn incense.
2. Make it eighteen inches square and thirty-six inches high, and make each of its four corners stick up like the horn of a bull.
3. Cover it with pure gold and put a gold edging around it.
4. Then below the edging on opposite sides attach two gold rings through which you can put the poles for carrying the altar.
5. These poles are also to be made of acacia wood covered with gold.
6. Put the altar in front of the inside curtain of the sacred tent. The chest with the place of mercy is kept behind that curtain, and I will talk with you there.
7. From now on, when Aaron tends the lamp each morning and evening, he must burn sweet-smelling incense to me on the altar.
8. (SEE 30:7)
9. Burn only the proper incense on the altar and never use it for grain sacrifices or animal sacrifices or drink offerings.
10. Once a year Aaron must purify the altar by smearing on its four corners the blood of an animal sacrificed for sin, and this practice must always be followed. The altar is sacred because it is dedicated to me.
11. The LORD said to Moses:
12. Find out how many grown men there are in Israel and require each of them to pay me to keep him safe from danger while you are counting them.
13. Each man over nineteen, whether rich or poor, must pay me the same amount of money, weighed according to the official standards.
14. (SEE 30:13)
15. (SEE 30:13)
16. This money is to be used for the upkeep of the sacred tent, and because of it, I will never forget my people.
17. The LORD said to Moses:
18. Make a large bronze bowl and a bronze stand for it. Then put them between the altar for sacrifice and the sacred tent, so the priests can wash their hands and feet before entering the tent or offering a sacrifice on the altar. Each priest in every generation must wash himself in this way, or else he will die right there.
19. (SEE 30:18)
20. (SEE 30:18)
21. (SEE 30:18)
22. The LORD said to Moses:
23. Mix a gallon of olive oil with the following costly spices: twelve pounds of myrrh, six pounds of cinnamon, six pounds of cane, and twelve pounds of cassia. Measure these according to the official standards. Then use this sacred mixture
24. (SEE 30:23)
25. (SEE 30:23)
26. for dedicating the tent and chest,
27. the table with its equipment, the lampstand with its equipment, the incense altar with all its utensils,
28. the altar for sacrifices, and the large bowl with its stand.
29. By dedicating them in this way, you will make them so holy that anyone who even touches them will become holy.
30. When you ordain Aaron and his sons as my priests, sprinkle them with some of this oil,
31. and say to the people of Israel: "This oil must always be used in the ordination service of a priest. It is holy because it is dedicated to the LORD.
32. So treat it as holy! Don't ever use it for everyday purposes or mix any for yourselves.
33. If you do, you will no longer belong to the LORD's people."
34. Mix equal amounts of the costly spices stacte, onycha, galbanum, and pure frankincense, then add salt to make the mixture pure and holy.
35. (SEE 30:34)
36. Pound some of it into powder and sprinkle it in front of the sacred chest, where I meet with you. Be sure to treat this incense as something very holy.
37. It is truly holy because it is dedicated to me, so don't ever make any for yourselves.
38. If you ever make any of it to use as perfume, you will no longer belong to my people.
    

    ---

    Following instructions for the design of the Tabernacle and its furniture, the garments for the high priest, and consecration of the priests, instructions are given in chapter 30 for the Altar of Incense, a Tabernacle offering, the Brazen Laver, and the holy anointing oil and incense.
    
    The Altar of Incense was to be placed inside the tent in front of the curtain between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. The high priest was to burn incense on it twice a day, morning and evening when he tended to the lamp. This was to be a perpetual practice. Once a year a purification rite was to be performed "on the horns of the altar," (30:10) using the blood of the sin offering which was to be placed on the horns. The burning of the incense on this altar symbolized prayers and intercession of the people going up to God as a sweet fragrance.
    
    For the support of the tabernacle, an offering was assessed of the people. Every male, 20 years of age and above, were to register and to give an annual offering of half a shekel. The poor were to give no less, and the wealthy no more. It was to "atone for your lives." (30:15) All lives were equal before the Lord. The Brazen Laver was a wash basin that was to be placed in the courtyard between the tent and the Brazen Altar. It was used by the priests to wash their hands and feet before approaching the altar or entering the tent. It was a permanent statute and resulted in death should it be overlooked.
    
    Finally, in this chapter, instructions were given for making the anointing oil and incense. This combination of ingredients for both the oil and the incense was not to be used for any other purpose. The anointing oil was used to "anoint the tent of meeting, the ark of the testimony, the table with all its utensils, the lampstand with its utensils, the altar of incense, the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the basin with its stand." (30:26-28) This anointing consecrated not only the objects that were anointed but anything that touched them. In addition to these objects, the priests were to be anointed. The incense made using the prescribed formula was used with the altar of incense.