Exodus: Unity of Law and Grace

The Altar of Incense

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Pentateuch

Lesson: The Altar of Incense

Genre: Lessons with Q & A

Track: 106

Dictation Name: RR171BE106

Location/Venue:

Year: Early 70’s

This is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us. Having these promises, let us draw near to the throne of grace with true hearts in full assurance of faith. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord. In the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee and will look up. Let us pray.

Our Lord and our God, how great and marvelous are thy ways. How glorious thy promises in Jesus Christ. We thank thee that, though the ungodly nations take counsel together and conspire against thee and against thine anointed, thou, who sittest in the circle of the heavens, doth laugh, thou dost have them in derision. Give us thine holy confidence that, day by day, in the sure and certain knowledge that thy victory shall prevail, we may serve thee joyfully and confidently all the days of our life. In Christ name we pray. Amen.

Our scripture this morning is Exodus 30:1-10 and our subject, as we continue our studies of Exodus: The Altar of Incense. 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 altar of incense, which was located in the holy place, in unusual in that it is called an altar. An altar is normally a place where sacrifices are offered, but here we are clearly told in verse 9, sacrifices are specifically forbidden, but all the same, it is called an altar, and Most Holy unto the Lord in verse 10, which reads very literally in the Hebrew, “Holy of holies to Jehovah This.” The blood of the sin offering of atonement was to be applied once a year to the horns of the altar of incense. These horns, or projections, gave to the altar of incense a likeness to the altar of burnt sacrifice. It was a somewhat smaller version of that alter and like it, it was also made to be portable, made of acacia wood, with a staves also with the same wood. The atonement of the altar of incense probably occurred on the Day of Atonement. While the altar of incense was in the holy place, it was associated closely with the Holy of Holies, and Hebrews 9:4 tells us that this was so. It was outside of the curtain leading to the Holy of Holies, but was there as a prelude to that inner sanctum.

Twice a day, incense was burnt upon this altar. In verses 34-38, we have a description of how this incense was to be made. All other incenses were strictly forbidden. Men could burn incense to the Lord apart from this altar apparently, according to Numbers 16:17, but the laws here govern the tabernacle use of incense. Strange incense is referred to in verse 9. It means incense not prepared according to the formula given in verses 34-38, and also to incenses made for use in pagan worship.

Now it is important for us to remember that incense is a form of perfume. Its use is here required in worship. Thus, we see that the furnishings of the tabernacle, and later the temple, were ordained for beauty and for glory, with an abundant use of gold, and a very air of the sanctuary was perfume-laden. Obviously, the place of worship, according to scripture, is to be a place of beauty and of glory, and the first churches made by the early church were even so. They were made of stone and they were made to resemble a king’s palace.

The incense is offered on what is called an altar, because the incense was a form of sacrifice. It was representative of prayer, and it was an offering also of perfume. The altar of incense was always closely associated with prayer. David echoes this in Psalm 141:1-2, “Lord, I cry unto thee: make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto thee. Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.” David sees prayer as an incense to God, and also as a form of sacrifice, because while prayer pleads with God, it also says, “Thy will be done.” In Revelation 5:8, the perfume-laden vials are described as the prayers of the saints, and we see this again in Revelation 8:3-4.

Now the idea that incense represented prayer is not one that people have attached to it. It comes from scripture. The relationship is seen also very clearly in Luke 1:9-10, as Zechariah entered into the holy place, we are told the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense. Thus, when the altar of incense received incense during worship, then the people prayed. Of course, Exodus 30:36 makes clear that the altar of incense represented communion with God in prayer and in worship. Because the altar of sacrifice was there also, the incense set forth the relationship of prayer to atonement and intercession by the atoner, Jesus Christ. We pray in His name because He makes atonement for us.

The altar of incense had four horns, like the altar of sacrifice. Now the horns of the altar of sacrifice were a refuge to men fleeing from avengers and seeking asylum and a fair hearing. The horns n the altar of incense have a like meaning. They mean that we have a refuse with God by prayer, a refuge from the evils and oppressions of this world, a place of asylum from the malice and devices of men. Horns represent power throughout the Bible and no less so here. The horns of the altar of incense stand for the power of God which manifests itself in answer to the prayers of His people.

There is another important aspect of this altar; a question raised by verse 10, in a matter in which most commentators have neglected. U.Z. Rule, however, almost ninety years ago, raised the question, and he asked the right question. I quote, “One question yet remains. Why, of all the instruments of worship within the holy place was that by which incense offered the one chosen to receive the blood of atonement, rather than the table of showbread, or the golden candlestick, giving to it rather than to either of them the significant name ‘altar.’ It was probably what incense symbolized; the rising up of the heart’s desire to God in prayer, was what really lay at the root of the acceptability of the service symbolized by the showbread and burning light. It is indeed remarkable as bearing out this view that incense was always to be added to the offering of showbread, and also was always to accompany the dressing and the lighting of lights. Hence, the application of the atoning blood to the altar of incense was equivalent indirectly to its application also to the table of show bread and to the golden candlestick.” Well, it’s the right question but perhaps the solution lies elsewhere.

What is most obvious in the sacrificial system is that man needs atonement. It is man’s sin that brought death into the world. Redeemed man, although now given to the service of his covenant God, is still not perfectly sanctified. While sin may not govern him continually any longer, it can still color and taint his actions and his thinking. This is no less true of his prayers. When we pray, we are still sinners, even though sinners saved by grace. We are commanded to pray, and we are taught in the Lord’s Prayer to pray for our daily needs, but we are also required to remember first God’s kingdom, and our relationship one to another. Prayer is an act of faith. In prayer, we reach out to God for His mercy and blessing. Prayer is a godly act, but it is we who pray, and we are not without sin, selfishness and blindness, even as we pray. Therefore, the altar of incense had to be atoned for once a year. Our prayers received God’s mercy. IN other words, despite our faulty spirit in prayer, and the reason is clearly stated. The altar of incense or prayer is most holy unto the Lord, or is the Holy of Holies to Jehovah.

It’s hard to imagine a more exalting reference to prayer, but there is still another aspect to all this. In Antiquity, incense and perfume were very costly. They were extremely precious commodities. They were royal gifts. Offering incense to other gods was seen by scripture as evil. This costliness of incense tells us how pricelessly prayer is viewed by scripture. Prayer is as fragrant as incense to God. Incense, moreover, penetrates in its fragrance. It clings to and remains in a room for some time. It is the slight and fragile thing, the barest hint of a rising cloud of smoke, but it has a quality that lingers in the air. It is therefore clear that scripture tells us by this that our prayers, however fragile and insubstantial they may appear, are like a perfumed aroma in God’s Holy of Holies.

In the early church, not much is said of incense. The Greco/Roman fathers, were very much given to spiritualizing everything and were against incense. In his Apologeticus, in section 42, Tertullian said, “We certainly buy no frankincense.” But the canons of the apostolic constitutions did include the use of incense as lawful and read, and I quote from Numbers 3 and 4, “If any bishop or presbyter, otherwise than our Lord has ordained concerning the sacrifice, offer other things at the altar of God, as honey, milk, or strong beer instead of wine, any necessaries, or birds, or animals, or pulse, otherwise than is ordained, let him be deprived; excepting grains of new corn, or ears of wheat, or bunches of grapes in their season. For it is not lawful to offer anything besides these at the altar, and oil for the holy lamp, and incense in the time of the divine oblation.”

Now this is interesting because we forget that the early church took the whole of the Bible very seriously. In fact, they did not have a division into Old and New Testaments until the time of Marcion the heretic, who first divided the Bible. But it was originally, in the early church, one book, and they believed every bit of it and practiced it all, so that the only problem they faced was that they were so rigid at every point, and many insisted on keeping both the old Jewish Sabbath as well as a Christian Sabbath, just to be safe, and finally the church had to rule against that double observance. Because many churchmen saw the continuity, in fact almost all, of the Old and New Testaments, they maintained the various rites such as firstfruit offerings, which incidentally were maintained in this country, and into our lifetime, or the lifetime of some of us, and this concern for continuity led to the use of incense.

Now at various times in church history, the use of incense has been strongly opposed as well as very strongly favored. In the 19th century, the Church of England had a bitter struggle over the issue. At times, more has been said for or against the use of incense than about its meaning. In Leviticus 10:1-2, we see God’s judgment on Nadab and Abihu who put strange fire in their censers, and they died. In 2 Corinthians 26:16-21, we see Uzziah the king smitten with leprosy, because he sought to burn incense on the altar of incense even though he was not a priest. Obviously, both incense and prayer were then priestly privileges in a special sense. Uzziah as king held that the crown, or the state, should govern access to God, a blasphemous belief. Nadab and Abihu believed that access to God was available on any premise, in terms of any faith, so that God was open to all men of all kinds and all beliefs. Because Christians have been made by the atonement and the regenerating power of Jesus Christ, kings and priests unto God and his father, Christians have ready access to the throne of grace. This is a privilege. It is not to be treated casually or lightly. It is still a restricted access in that the ungodly do not have it.

Ellison, in struggling with this question of ritual and incense and access to God, wrote in his commentary that while there is a danger in holding that God must be approached in a special sacred language, perhaps it is even more dangerous to think that the every day language of street, market, or worship is adequate. Still, the cry of utter need will rise in the most natural words. This is certainly true enough of private prayer, but informal worship formalities are necessary. The formalities of life help keep mind and actions in their appointed channels. The church no longer has an altar of incense. Prayers are in Jesus’ name, and through Him as our mediator. He is our altar of incense, and his name is our incense. If, to the use of his name, some churches add the use of incense, we need not object as long as his name and work as mediator are held as central, and the priesthood of all believers in Him is clearly recognized. We now are priests and kings in Christ, and therefore, we have access in him and through him continually. God is open to us in all places and conditions. Let us pray.

Our Lord and our God, we thank thee for thy word, and we thank thee that because of Christ’s atonement, we are now a privileged people in Him, members of His covenant. Ourselves having access through Him as our altar of incense, always and in all places and conditions unto Christ, and to thee. Make us ever joyful in prayer and confident that we are heard at the throne of grace. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen. Are there any questions now about our lesson? Yes?

[Audience] About what year did Marcion the heretic live, about what century?

[Rushdoony] About two hundred years after Christ. It took awhile for his heresy to permeate but it did, and sad to say, one of the reasons for it was the conflict with Judaism. Because the Jews were, at that time were pursuing Christian everywhere, and exercising a great deal of hostility and trying to influence Roman officials against the early church, a great deal of hostility to the Jews developed among Christians and therefore, many of them were ready to go along, not with Marcion’s theology, but with his antinomian division of the Bible, so it had a bad influence and it’s one that lingers to this day. Any other questions or comments? Yes?

[Audience] Well, perfume is now associated with sin.

[Rushdoony] [laughs] Yes. That’s a very interesting point because a remarkable book could be written on perfume. It was once associated with kings, with palaces, with temples, with religion. Then, by the time of the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, it was associated with princes, and nobility, aristocrats, and it gradually went down to the house of prostitution, and it’s a sad history that perfume has had, and a very regrettable one, so that as with many other things, we don’t understand or appreciate its original use. It was very radically and fully associated with prayer, and when the king was regarded as God on earth, as in paganism he was, then perfume was associated with the palace, and you remember now the incident, and I hope get the significance of it, when the cruz of very precious ointment was broken over Jesus, and Judas objected, what he was objecting to was the meaning of it, because she was proclaiming that Jesus Christ was the altar of incense, was God incarnate, and had come to give his life a ransom for many. She understood more than the disciples were ready to understand at that time. Yes?

[Audience] His argument that the money should be given to the poor is one that we hear quite a bit about today.

[Rushdoony] Yes, as though the church should look poor and be a ratty kind of a building and we should give to the poor. But we should give to God first and foremost. The tithe is the first, the top tenth, not the last. No, the history of perfume would be a very, very interesting one, as well as the tithe, because now, the tithe has been transferred to the state. The state takes the top off our income. Before we see it, your withholding tax takes your money. Your employer, working as a slave for the federal government, takes it. And when you die, before your heirs get anything, the federal government and the state government take their percentage, and this is not accidental. They even use the language of religion. I’ve mentioned before that if the IRS tells you you owe some money, they’ll tell you you have to pay it in ninety days or sixty days, they’ll say you have sixty days or ninety days of grace. Any other questions or comments? By the way, on that line, it isn’t entirely without humor, but someone made a parody of the Lord’s Prayer once, and of the Twenty-Third Psalm as well, “Our Father, which art in Washington,” and so on. Well, our political theology has led to that type of situation, and the altar of incense now, maybe you could call that the IRS, only it’s not perfumed. Well, if there are no further questions, let us conclude with prayer.

Our Father, it has been good for us to be here. Thy word is truth, and thy word is always a lamp unto our feet. We thank thee that, through Jesus Christ, we have access to the throne of grace, that our prayers are as perfume in thy sight. We come, therefore, to cast our every care, our every hope, our every burden upon thee. Thou knowest the prayer of every heart. Hear us, O Lord, we beseech thee. And now go in peace. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost bless you and keep you, guide and protect you this day and always. Amen.

End of tape.