The first article of furniture for the
tabernacle that is specified is the ark of the testimony; the last is the golden altar of incense. The ark, together with the mercy-seat, speak
of righteousness and atonement; the
altar of incense speaks of intercession and acceptance.
Prayer is likened to incense in Psa. cxli. 2:
“Let my prayer be set forth as incense, and the lifting up of my hands
as the evening sacrifice”. In Psa.lxvi.15 the word “incense” is used in a
way that at first appears somewhat strange:
“I will offer unto Thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings with the incense of
rams”. We find, however, that this word
is translated “perfume” in Exod.xxx.35, and in its verbal form (qatar)
not only means “to burn incense” (as in
Exod.xxx.7), but to burn “fat” (Exod.xxix.13), and “the bullock” of
the burnt offering (Lev.i.9).
The N.T. references to incense associate
it with prayer:--
“The people were praying without at the
time of incense” (Luke i. 10).
“And another angel came and stood by the
altar, having a golden censer; and to
him much incense was given, that he should give it to the prayers of all the
saints on that golden altar which is before the throne. And the smoke of the incense went up with the
prayers of the saints out of the hand of the angel before God” (Rev. viii. 3,
4).
The expression, “give it to the prayers” —
a somewhat clumsy rendering of the dative case — is perhaps best explained, with
Vitringa and others, as: “that he
might give the effect of incense to the prayers of the saints”. His intercession makes our prayers
possible.
This incense is variously described in
Scripture. It is called “perpetual incense
before the Lord” (Exod. xxx. 8). Like
the shewbread that was to be before the Lord “alway” (Exod. xxv. 30), or the
breastplate upon the High Priest’s
breast “continually” (Exod. xxviii. 30), or the cloud by day and fire by night
that guaranteed the presence of the Lord with Israel “alway” (Numb.ix.16),
the symbol of Christ’s intercession and perfect acceptance was to be “alway” before
the Lord. “He ever liveth to make
intercession for us.”
Many times it is called “sweet
incense”. The margin of Exod. xxx. 7
gives it as “incense of spices”.
This is the correct rendering, and refers to the special composition of
the incense given by the Lord, as we read in
Exod. xxxvii. 29: “And he made
the holy anointing oil, and the pure incense of sweet spices, according to the
work of the apothecary”. The ingredients
of this incense are given in
Exod.xxx.34,35:
“Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte (netaph,
a drop, a gum), and onycha (shecheleph, shell of the perfume crab), and
galbanum (chelbenah, an aromatic gum);
these sweet spices with pure frankincense; of each shall there be a like weight. And thou shalt make it a perfume (incense), a
confection after the art of the apothecary, tempered (Heb. salted) together,
pure and holy.”
The Companion Bible states that
there are five ingredients in the incense, evidently counting “sweet spices” as
one. Its repetition after the three
cited by name, however, would lead one to read:
“Take unto thee sweet spices, namely, stacte”, etc. The word “tempered” (malach) literally
means “salted”, and some, including Maimonides, maintain that salt was
actually an ingredient. This, however,
does not seem to be the truth. Both the
Chaldee and Greek versions render the word “mix” or “temper”, as though the
various spices were mixed together, as salt is mixed with the food over which
it is sprinkled. Salt was, of course,
offered with every offering on the altar.
The figurative meaning of the word “salt”
may be gathered from other usages. Salt
was valuable, and stood for the whole of one’s keep. We still use the phrase, “He is not worth his
salt”. So, when we read in Ezra iv. 14:
“We have maintenance from the king’s palace”, the margin tells us that
the Chaldee reads: “We are seated with
the salt of the palace”. There is a
suggestion that these men were in a covenant with the kings of Persia, as we
read in Numb.xviii.19 of a “covenant of salt”. Be this as it may, the one thing we do not
understand when reading Ezra iv. 14 is that these men were actually
“salted”. Let us, however, not miss the
truth because of inability to decide the literal meaning of the language that
describes the type. Ainsworth says:--
"If our speech is to be always with
grace, seasoned with salt, as the apostle teaches (Col. iv. 6), how much more
should our incense, our prayers unto God, be therewith seasoned?"
The
lessons of the
incense.
The first feature that strikes one when
reading Exod. xxx. 1-10 is the intimate association between the
position of the altar of incense and the purpose of the mercy-seat:--
“And thou shalt put it before the vail
that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the
testimony, where I will meet with thee” (Exod.xxx.6).
Fellowship with God commences with the
death of Christ, but continues through His ever-present intercession at the
right hand of God. He has entered with
His own blood, and that offering is ever remembered.
The second feature is found in verses 7
& 8:--
“And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet
incense every morning, when he dresseth the lamps . . . . . and when
Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual
incense before the Lord throughout your generations.”
The lamps stand for testimony. Among the duties of the priest was the
“dressing” of the lamps. This would
include “snuffing”, for “snuffers” are mentioned in Exod. xxxvii. 23. Is it
not a cause for real gratitude to remember that, whenever the Lord is obliged
to “snuff” our lamps of testimony, He not only does it with “snuffers of gold”,
but the sweet savour of His own acceptableness ascends before the Father,
canceling and covering the offensiveness of our failure, even as the
sweet-smelling incense overcame the smell of the badly burning lamp?
The third feature is found in verse 9:--
“Ye shall offer no strange incense
thereon.”
We read elsewhere of “strange fire” (Lev.
x. 1), and of a “strange god” (Psa.lxxxi.9).
The holy oil was never to be put upon a “stranger” (Exod.xxx.33). All this testifies to the preciousness of
that sweet-smelling savour that ascends on our behalf through the work of
Christ alone.
When we really weigh over the two
expressions, “strange incense” and “strange fire”, we begin to realize something
of the abomination that Christendom must be with its religious flesh, its empty
ritual and its parade of human wisdom and merit. To the professing church, even as to Israel,
the Lord could truly say:--
“Bring Me no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto Me . . . . .
when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not
hear” (Isa. i. 10-15).
Unless Christ be “all” in our worship, God
cannot be well pleased.
Perhaps the most solemn references to the
symbolism of the incense are the following:--
“And he shall take a censer full of
burning coals of fire from off the altar before the Lord, and his hands full of
sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the vail; And he shall put the incense upon the fire
before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is
upon the testimony, THAT HE DIE NOT” (Lev. xvi. 12, 13).
“Take a censer, and put fire therein from
off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the congregation, and
make an atonement for them … And he stood between the dead and the living, and
the plague was stayed” (Numb.xvi.46-48).
At first it may seem a strange thing that
incense should be used “lest he die” and “to make an atonement”, but it will be
observed in both cases that the fire is specified as “from off the altar”. Sacrifice has been made, blood has been shed,
and even the horns of the golden altar of incense have been touched with
atoning blood (Exod. xxx. 10).
Translated into the truth of the person and work of Christ, if we have
been reconciled by His death, we shall be saved by His life. If our initial salvation is found in His
blood, we remember with joy that “He is able to save them to the full end that
come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them . . . . . now to appear in the presence of God for us” (Heb. vii. 25; ix. 24).
The blood of Christ is not only
effectual for our initial justification — it is remembered by God in every act
of daily cleansing (I John i. 7). He Who
gave Himself for His church, will cleanse it and present it blameless before
the Lord.
There is no more sacrifice for sin. The Christ Who died, dieth no more, but the
fragrance of that offering and its sweet savour ascend as incense before the
throne. There, like Aaron, under the
cloud of that fragrance, we draw near and meet with God. There our prayers find “the effect of
incense” given to them. No prayer should
be offered to God that is not presented “for Christ’s sake”. It is the incense of His blessed Name that
accompanies our prayers and makes them acceptable. We often have felt, even when “grace” has
been said before a meal, that the omission of the words “for the sake of
Christ” has robbed it of its sweet-smelling savour. At our altar of incense our lamps may be
trimmed and lighted with acceptableness, for our service is rendered “for the
sake of His name”.
We saw in a previous study that the true
meaning of consecration was to come before the Lord with hands filled with the
fulness of Christ; so we see here, that
all our acceptableness in prayer and worship is because of that blessed One at
the right hand of God, far above all.
“Accepted in the Beloved”
(Eph. i. 6).
“Unto you therefore which
believe IS THE PRECIOUSNESS” (I Pet. ii. 7).
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