SERIES D --- YHVH’S TABERNACLE --- LESSON 06

HOLY THINGS

THE LAVER AND THE ANOINTING OIL

From Exodus 30

While Adonai talked with Moses on Mount Sinai, He gave instructions concerning the tabernacle. Here are some of those instructions: [Make an altar on which you will burn incense. Construct it from acacia wood, eighteen inches square and three feet high. The horns at the top must be made from the same piece of wood as the altar. Cover the entire altar, including the top, sides and horns, with pure gold and put a golden moulding around it. Put two golden rings under the moulding, one on each side, to contain the poles which will he used to carry the altar. Carve the poles from acacia wood and cover them with gold. Place this altar just outside the veil, in front of the mercy seat that covers the Ark of the Testimony, where I will meet with you. Each morning Aaron shall burn perfumed incense on it when he trims the lamps and each evening when he lights the lamps, burning the incense to Adonai. This will continue throughout all generations. Never offer any other kind of incense on this altar. Never make a burnt offering or meal offering on it and never pour a libation on it. Once each year Aaron will purify the altar by placing upon its horns the blood of the sin offering of atonement. Throughout all generations this shall continue each year, for this is an altar that is most holy to Adonai.] Adonai further said to Moses, [Whenever you take a census of the people of Israel, to see how many there are, each one shall pay a ransom to Adonai for himself so that no plague will come upon him while he is being counted. Everyone who is at least twenty years old shall pay this ransom, about a half shekel, whether he is rich or poor. It is an offering to Adonai to make atonement for yourselves. This money shall be used to take care of the tabernacle, a reminder that the people of Israel have made a personal atonement in Adonai’s presence.] Adonai also said to Moses, [Make a bronze laver or basin, on a bronze pedestal. Place it between the tabernacle and the altar and fill it with water. Whenever Aaron and his sons go before Adonai in the tabernacle or whenever they come to the altar to present burnt offerings, they shall wash their hands and feet there. They must always do this or they will die. This practice shall continue throughout all generations.] Again, Adonai said to Moses, [Gather the finest spices and make a sacred anointing oil, blended by skilled perfumers. This shall consist of five hundred shekels of pure myrrh, half that much of sweet-smelling cinnamon, two hundred and fifty shekels of aromatic cane, five hundred shekels of cassia, and one and one-half gallons of olive oil. Anoint with it the tabernacle, the Ark, the table and its furnishings, the lamp stand and its utensils, the incense altar, the burnt offering altar and its utensils and the laver and its pedestal. Consecrate them so that they will be most holy. Anything that touches them will be most holy. Anoint Aaron and his sons with this oil, consecrating them to serve Me as My priests. Tell the people of Israel that this shall always be My holy anointing oil, never to be poured on ordinary persons and never to be made by ordinary persons. It is holy and must be handled as something holy. Whoever mixes this oil himself or puts it upon an ordinary person shall be cut off from his people.] Adonai gave this further instruction to Moses, [Make incense as blended by a perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy incense. Make it from sweet spices, stacte, onycha, galbanum and pure frankincense in equal amounts. Grind some of it fine and place some of it before the Ark in the tabernacle, where I meet with you. This incense is holy. You must never make this for your own perfume, for it is holy to Adonai. Whoever makes it for a personal perfume shall be cut off from his people.]

COMMENTARY

THE TABERNACLE INCENSE

At dawn each morning, the sweet smell of burning spices would fill the air of the tabernacle. The morning sacrifice of holy incense was being offered on the gleaming gold-covered incense altar in front of the Holy of Holies. The burning of incense was meant to honour YHVH, but it also was a part of the ritual through which people were cleansed of their sins. When the high priest entered the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement, he carried a smoking censer; a covered incense burner; in front of him. The thick smoke shielded him from the presence of YHVH on the mercy seat, which could have killed him. Incense smoke was also a physical sign of prayer to YHVH. On one occasion YHVH used it to protect the Israelites during a crisis in the wilderness when He sent a plague to punish them. {Numbers 16}. The burning of incense in the tabernacle drew YHVH’s attention to the morning and evening sacrifice services. The offerings in the courtyard were brought to His attention this way too. The pleasant smell may also have served a practical purpose; help hide the smell of the animal sacrifices. The incense altar was the holiest one in the tabernacle {Exodus 30:10}. Each year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest sanctified this altar by sprinkling blood from the sin offerings on its four horns. A dish of holy incense was set on a pan of burning coals that had been taken from the altar of burnt offering. Twelve of these incense dishes were kept in the tabernacle, as a symbol of the twelve tribes of Israel. The incense dishes were actually shallow stone bowls with hollow handles. A wooden pipe was probably inserted through the handles so that air could be blown through the bowl to keep the incense burning. Only holy incense was permitted on the gold incense altar. If a priest burned any other kind, he would die. The Abtinas family of the Levi tribe was in charge of making this special incense. They alone knew the secret of making incense whose smoke rose straight up into the air when it burned. The holy incense had only four ingredients. Stacte {pronounced STAK-tee}, galbanum {pronounced GAL-be-num} and frankincense. These three were hard, sticky substances that came from trees and plants in Palestine, Asia and Arabia. They were mixed with onycha {pronounced ON-ih-ka}, which comes from a shellfish found in the Red Sea. A dash of salt was added to make the incense perfect. Sometimes however, frankincense alone was used as holy incense. The Israelites also made incense for use on everyday occasions. It could contain more ingredients than holy incense and did not have to be made by the Abtinas family. By the time of Solomon’s Temple, the incense contained sixteen different ingredients. And by Yeshua’ time, incense making had become even more complicated than that, the ingredients having grown in number. Many spices and extracts had been added, from myrrh and spikenard to saffron, cinnamon and lye from leeks. The people of Israel were not alone in their fondness for incense. The people around them believed that their gods also enjoyed fragrant smells and it was used in many religious ceremonies. Demons were exorcised with it too. The Egyptians were one of the first people in the world to burn spices, especially frankincense. Incense had been burned back in Egypt during banquets and at kings’ parades and funerals; unfortunately, it was also a sign of the prostitute’s trade. Incense is used in some faith services today. In the religions of India and the Far East; Hinduism, Buddhism and among many Japanese; incense is burned both as an offering and as an aid in meditation.