Biblion Bible Commentary
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The Altar of Incense
Exodus 30:1-10
1 “You shall make an altar to burn incense on. You shall make it of acacia wood. · WEB
A second altar stands as close to the veil as anything may, and what burns on it is smoke rather than flesh.
You shall make an altar to burn incense on... You shall put it before the veil that is by the ark of the covenant, before the mercy seat that is over the covenant, where I will meet with you Exodus 30:1 Exodus 30:6.
A small altar, about eighteen inches square and three feet high, gold rather than bronze, standing in the holy place directly in front of the veil. It is the last object before the barrier, positioned as near to the ark as anything on the outer side can be, and its location is described in terms of what lies beyond it rather than of the room it stands in.
Nothing dies here. The other altar takes bodies; this one takes smoke, and the prohibition is explicit: you shall offer no strange incense on it, nor burnt offering, nor meal offering; and you shall pour no drink offering on it Exodus 30:9.
Aaron shall burn incense of sweet spices on it every morning. When he tends the lamps, he shall burn it. When Aaron lights the lamps at evening, he shall burn it, a perpetual incense before Yahweh Exodus 30:7–8.
Twice a day, at the same hours as the lamb on the outer altar and the tending of the lamp. The three continual services are synchronized: a death at the door, a light in the room, and smoke rising against the veil, morning and evening, as long as Israel had a sanctuary. A worshiper in the court would smell it without seeing it.
What the incense stands for is stated elsewhere in Scripture rather than here. A psalm asks that prayer be set before you as incense Psalms 141:2, and the vision of the heavenly sanctuary describes golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints Revelation 5:8. Read with those, the arrangement says that the thing standing nearest to the presence, on the outer side of the barrier, is the prayer of the people — and that it does not ascend on its own but is placed on burning coals taken from the altar where the sacrifice was made.
Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once in the year; with the blood of the sin offering of atonement Exodus 30:10.
Even this altar requires cleansing. The place where prayer rises is treated as needing blood applied to it annually, which is consistent with the plate on the priest's forehead that covered the iniquity of the holy things Exodus 28:38. Nothing Israel offered, including its intercession, was assumed to be acceptable on its own account.
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