Exodus 30: 1-10, “And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon: of shittim wood shalt thou make it. A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof; foursquare shall it be: and two cubits shall be the height thereof: the horns thereof shall be of the same. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof, and the sides thereof round about, and the horns thereof; and thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about. And two golden rings shalt thou make to it under the crown of it, by the two corners thereof, upon the two sides of it shalt thou make it; and they shall be for places for the staves to bear it withal. And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold. 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. And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations. Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering; neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon. And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonements: once in the year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations: it is most holy unto the LORD.”
The Lord told Israel to make a special incense to be offered to the Lord. This was to be offered morning and evening so that a pleasant aroma could go up to the Lord on a regular basis. This incense was sacred and not to be offered at any other time or in any other way. Aaron’s two elder sons didn’t take notice of this injunction and they died when the offered incense at the wrong time (Lev 10: 1, 2, “And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.”) The special altar for incense was like the other holy implements in that it was made to specific measurements and was made of gold, it was also designed to be carried on the shoulders of the Tabernacle servants when Israel moved from place to place. The Lord chose Israel for His own because He loved them and took them out of slavery but, in response to this, Israel was to be set apart and serve the Lord faithfully. There was to be some sign of this faithfulness every day and the incense was symbolic of this daily faithfulness. When atonement was made, once a year, some of the blood of the sacrifice was placed upon the horns of this altar. The blood was symbolic of the blood that was offered to redeem Israel from slavery and was placed upon this altar to remind them that they owed a debt of gratitude to the Lord for loving them and making them His own.
(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
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