Instructions for the Making of the Incense Altar

(Exodus 30:1 - 30:38)

You should construct an altar upon which to burn incense.  It should be made of red acacia wood, 1 1/2 feet square, with a height of 3 feet with horns at the corners being of one piece with it.  It should all be overlaid with gold, the top, the sides, and the horns and there should be a gold molding around the top with two golden rings below them on two opposite sides so that staves may be put through them to carry the altar.  The staves should made of red acacia wood and overlaid with gold. 

The altar should be placed in front of the veil of curtains that enclose the Chest of the Sacred Records and its lid, the Judgment Seat, where I will commune with you.  Every morning Aaron, when he trims the lamp wicks of the menorah, should burn fragrant incense upon the altar.  And when he lights the lamps in the evening, he should also burn incense.  This regular practice should be continued for all time, so that there will always be incense burning before my presence.  However, no exotic incense of an unauthorized kind should be used, nor should there be made any burnt offerings of flesh, grain offerings, or sacrificial libations upon this altar.

Once a year Aaron must purify the altar by conducting a ritual for the atonement of sins during which the blood of a sacrificial victim will be smeared upon the horns of the altar.  This should be done annually throughout the ages so that the altar may be dedicated solely to the worship of Jehovah.

Jehovah also instructed Moses that to count the Israelites he should take a census of the male population.  At the time of the census registration each man should pay a tax to Jehovah as recompense to him for having saved his life.  (Those who are registered will be spared from disaster and disease.)  All who are counted in the census should pay, as an offering to Jehovah, half a shekel of silver, according to the official weights of the Sanctum.  (A shekel consists of 20 gerahs).  Any man who, according to the census registry, is more than 20 years old will be obligated to pay to Jehovah this compensation tax.  (When these offerings are made to Jehovah to compensate him for sparing your lives, the wealthy must not give more, nor the poor less than the half shekel.)  The compensation taxes collected from the people of Israel should be used for the upkeep and operating expenses of the Tabernacle and will be a reminder to the people of Israel that they must be grateful to Jehovah for their lives.

Jehovah, instructing Moses, continued:

You should make a bronze wash basin with a bronze stand.  It should be placed in between the Tabernacle entrance and the altar. It should be kept filled with water.  It should be used by Aaron and his sons to wash their hands and feet.  When they enter the Tabernacle or when they approach the altar to minister or to present food offerings to Jehovah, they must, on pain of death, wash themselves. This requirement for priests to wash their hands and feet (or else be put to death) is a permanent one and must be observed by Aaron and by his descendants for all time.

Moreover, Jehovah also instructed Moses:

Collect stores of the finest spices, 500 shekels of liquid myrrh, half as much, 250 shekels, of fragrant true cinnamon, and, similarly, 250 shekels of sweet cane, 500 shekels of cassia, (according to the weights used in the Sanctum), and a hin of olive oil.  Mix them expertly as you would a perfume to create the Sacred Oil of Anointment.  With it anoint the Tabernacle, the Chest of Sacred Records, the table and vessels upon it, the menorah and its utensils, the incense altar, the sacrificial altar with its equipment, and the wash basin and its stand.  They should be sanctified by the oil so that they will be holy and so that anyone who touches them will be made holy.  You should also anoint Aaron and his sons to consecrate them as my priests.  Moreover, you should inform the people of Israel, "This is the Sacred Oil of Anointment forever reserved for the use of Jehovah.  It should never be used for general purposes.  No oil of this composition should be made by you, for this is sanctified and must remain sacred to you.  Whoever counterfeits this composition and uses it on someone other than a priest, should suffer banishment.”

And Jehovah instructed Moses:

Mix equal parts of the fragrant spices, stacte, onycha, and galbanum with frankincense.   Blend them as you would a fine perfume to create the Sacred Incense and add salt to preserve its purity.  A portion of it should be ground into a fine powder and sprinkled before the Chest of Sacred Records where I will commune with you in the Tabernacle.  This incense must be regarded by you as holy.  And since it is sacred to Jehovah, it should never be compounded for any other use.  Whoever might make such an incense to enjoy its fragrance for himself, should be banished.

Notes
1. A half shekel would, at this time in history, be equal to one fifth of an ounce.  It must be remembered that, as yet, there was no money as we know it, that is, coinage (invented in Anatolia in the 6th Century B.C.), but merely weights of precious metals used as currency.  It is specified that the weights used be the official ones used by the priests.  No rigged scales or personal weights!

2.  Myrrh, more valuable than gold in ancient times, is an aromatic resin from several small, thorny trees of the Commiphora genus native to the Arabian peninsula, among other places.  It was used as a perfume, in medicines, and in embalming mummies.  True cinnamon is a spice derived from the bark of a tree of the Laurel family, while cassia is another variety of cinnamon.  Sweet cane or calamus was an oil used in perfumes and derived from a sedge-like plant.  (Some, who probably have some sort of agenda, have suggested, not too convincingly, that this instead refers to cannabis.)   The entire concoction, not counting the olive oil, will weigh 36 pounds.

3.  A hin was roughly equal to a gallon.   

4.  Many of the rules and regulations concerning worship, ones that seem almost trivial in nature, have attached to them the death sentence, if they are violated.  The purpose of this is to lend gravity to ceremonies that might otherwise seem unimportant.   Lighting lamps and burning incense, even slaughtering and making charcoal out a few animals are not acts that are solemn and sacred in themselves.  But they can be made so.  When you say "this is God's will," whatever it is becomes very significant.  When you tell someone, "do this or you will be killed," you get their attention and respect.  Jehovah is not of lenient and liberal mind.  He demands absolute obedience, which, as all dictators know, can only be enforced by draconian punishments.  If a priest forgets to wash his hands, his life is forfeit.  (And, stay tuned, there are even easier and more harmless ways to get yourself stoned to death if you were an ancient Israelite.) 

5.  The so-called compensation tax that Jehovah demands seems like a shakedown, a protection racket.  Pay or get the plague!  Of course Jehovah did free the Israelites and bring them out of Egypt.  He probably didn’t do it just to be a good guy; he is probably justified in asking for some kind of reward.   He reminds one a bit of the politician who does a favor for a constituent and then expects a contribution to his campaign or to his political action committee.  --- And there does not seem to be a sliding scale of payment in regard to the compensation tax.  Jehovah demands equal economic sacrifice from all men, rich or poor --  the original flat tax. 

6.  It is the curious aspect of many religions that the sprinkling of oil or water over something can sanctify it or make it holy.  The rationale for this never seems to be explained.  What property is invested in the fluid and how did it get there?  Even the symbolism of the act of anointing seems elusive. The widespread practice, however, persists.

7.  The composition of the Sacred Incense (Ketoret) is not certain.  Stacte is a gum resin, but of what specific variety is not known.  Onycha may have been derived from sea snail shells or, possibly, is the gum resin benzoin.  Galbanum is an aromatic gum resin from a plant that grows in Persia.  Frankincense, a prized ingredient, is another aromatic resin derived from plants of the Boswellia genus, scraggly trees that grow throughout the region.  While these would have been available to the Hebrews of Solomon’s time, one wonders how the Israelite exiles wandering in the desert could possibly have acquired all these ingredients.