Exodus 37: 27-29, “And he made the incense altar of shittim wood: the length of it was a cubit, and the breadth of it a cubit; it was foursquare; and two cubits was the height of it; the horns thereof were of the same. And he overlaid it with pure gold, both the top of it, and the sides thereof round about, and the horns of it: also he made unto it a crown of gold round about. And he made two rings of gold for it under the crown thereof, by the two corners of it, upon the two sides thereof, to be places for the staves to bear it withal. And he made the staves of shittim wood, and overlaid them with gold. And he made the holy anointing oil, and the pure incense of sweet spices, according to the work of the apothecary.”
Incense is associated with sweetness and prayer in the Bible. The first time that the word occurs is in Ex 25: 6 (“Oil for the light, spices for anointing oil, and for sweet incense,”) and the last time it occurs is in Rev 8: 3, 4, (“And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.”) The incense altar was also designed to be carried on the shoulders of the Temple servants meaning that is was part of the holiest instruments in the Temple. We can look at this today representing our prayers (Psalm 141: 2, “Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.”). As long as there is no Temple or Tabernacle then we can only offer our prayers to the Lord. If we come to Him with a humble heart then our prayers will be sweet to Him.
(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
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