Chapter 30
The Altar of Incense. 1 “You shall build an altar upon which to burn incense. Make it of acacia wood, 2 one cubit long and one cubit wide. It shall be square, and two cubits high; and its horns shall all be one piece with it. 3 Cover its top, its sides, and its horns with pure gold, and make a gold molding around it. 4 You shall also make two golden rings below its molding on its two sides. Place them on opposite sides. They shall be used to insert poles with which to carry it. 5 You shall make the poles out of acacia wood and cover them with gold. 6 And you shall place the altar in front of the veil that hides the Ark of Testimony, in front of the seat of atonement that is upon it, where I will meet you.
7 “Aaron shall burn fragrant incense upon the altar. He shall burn it each morning when he trims the lamps, 8 and also in the evening when he refills the lamps. There shall be perpetual incense before the Lord throughout all your generations. 9 Do not offer any unholy incense upon it, nor burnt offerings nor sacrifices nor libations. 10 Once a year Aaron shall perform an atonement ritual upon it, upon its horns. He shall make atonement upon it with the blood of your sin offering once a year throughout all your generations. It is something most holy to the Lord.”
11 The Temple Tax. The Lord spoke to Moses and said, 12 “When you take a census of the number of the children of Israel, each man will offer a ransom for his life to the Lord, when you number them, lest there be a plague among them when you number them. 13 Each person counted in the census will give half a shekel according to the measure of the shekel of the sanctuary (a shekel is twenty gerahs). The half shekel will be an offering to the Lord. 14 Everyone who is counted in the census, from twenty years old and up, will give the Lord’s offering. 15 The rich will not give more and the poor will not give less than half a shekel, when you give the Lord’s offering, in order to ransom your life. 16 You shall take the money of this ransom of the children of Israel and designate it for the needs of the meeting tent. It shall be a memorial before the Lord for the children of Israel, for the ransom of your lives.”
17 The Basin for Washing. The Lord said to Moses, 18 “You shall make a basin out of bronze, with a base of bronze, for ablutions. Place it between the meeting tent and the altar and fill it with water. 19 Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet in it.[a] 20 When they enter the meeting tent, they shall perform an ablution with water, lest they die. Thus, whenever they approach the altar to minister, to burn an offering unto the Lord with fire, 21 they shall wash their hands and their feet so that they might not die. This shall be a perpetual statute for him and his sons, for all their generations.”
22 The Anointing Oil. The Lord said to Moses, 23 “Take the finest spices: five hundred shekels of flowing myrrh, half that amount of sweet-smelling cinnamon, namely two hundred and fifty shekels of it, two hundred and fifty shekels of aromatic cane, 24 five hundred shekels of cassia, all according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and a hin of olive oil. 25 Make a holy anointing oil out of them using the craft of the perfumer who blends oils. It shall be a holy anointing oil. 26 With it you are to anoint the meeting tent, the Ark of Testimony, 27 the table and all its accessories, the lampstand and its accessories, the altar of incense, 28 the altar of burnt offerings and all of its accessories, and the basin and its base. 29 You shall consecrate these things, and they shall become most holy. Whatever touches them will be holy.
30 “You shall also anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them so that they may serve me as priests. 31 Say to the children of Israel: ‘This shall be my holy anointing oil for all your generations. 32 You shall not pour it out on anyone’s body, nor shall you make anything else like it. It is holy, and it shall be holy to you.’
33 “Anyone who makes anything like it, or who pours it on an outsider, shall be cut off from his people.”
34 The Incense. The Lord said to Moses, “Gather sweet spices, gum of stacte, onycha, resin of galbanum, equal measures of sweet spices and pure frankincense, 35 and make an incense using the skill of the perfumer. It is to be salted, pure and holy. 36 Beat some of it very fine and put it before the Testimony in the meeting tent where I shall meet with you. It shall be most holy to you.
37 “You shall not make for yourselves anything like this incense according to its composition. You shall consider it to be holy to the Lord. 38 Whoever makes anything like it to use for its sweet odor shall be cut off from his people.”
Footnotes
- Exodus 30:19 Cleansing before worship was so important that failure to be properly washed before entering the tent was tantamount to a death sentence for priests. We can take from this the necessity of preparing ourselves (i.e., confessing our sin), before we celebrate Eucharist. We do this as a community with the Penitential Act.