Exodus 30
Exodus 30:1-38 (NLT)
1 “Then make another altar of acacia wood for burning incense.
2 Make it 18 inches square and 36 inches high, with horns at the corners carved from the same piece of wood as the altar itself.
3 Overlay the top, sides, and horns of the altar with pure gold, and run a gold molding around the entire altar.
4 Make two gold rings, and attach them on opposite sides of the altar below the gold molding to hold the carrying poles.
5 Make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.
6 Place the incense altar just outside the inner curtain that shields the Ark of the Covenant, in front of the Ark’s cover—the place of atonement—that covers the tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant. I will meet with you there.
7 “Every morning when Aaron maintains the lamps, he must burn fragrant incense on the altar.
8 And each evening when he lights the lamps, he must again burn incense in the LORD’s presence. This must be done from generation to generation.
9 Do not offer any unholy incense on this altar, or any burnt offerings, grain offerings, or liquid offerings.
10 “Once a year Aaron must purify the altar by smearing its horns with blood from the offering made to purify the people from their sin. This will be a regular, annual event from generation to generation, for this is the LORD’s most holy altar.”
11 Then the LORD said to Moses,
12 “Whenever you take a census of the people of Israel, each man who is counted must pay a ransom for himself to the LORD. Then no plague will strike the people as you count them.
13 Each person who is counted must give a small piece of silver as a sacred offering to the LORD. (This payment is half a shekel, based on the sanctuary shekel, which equals twenty gerahs.)
14 All who have reached their twentieth birthday must give this sacred offering to the LORD.
15 When this offering is given to the LORD to purify your lives, making you right with him, the rich must not give more than the specified amount, and the poor must not give less.
16 Receive this ransom money from the Israelites, and use it for the care of the Tabernacle. It will bring the Israelites to the LORD’s attention, and it will purify your lives.”
17 Then the LORD said to Moses,
18 “Make a bronze washbasin with a bronze stand. Place it between the Tabernacle and the altar, and fill it with water.
19 Aaron and his sons will wash their hands and feet there.
20 They must wash with water whenever they go into the Tabernacle to appear before the LORD and when they approach the altar to burn up their special gifts to the LORD—or they will die!
21 They must always wash their hands and feet, or they will die. This is a permanent law for Aaron and his descendants, to be observed from generation to generation.”
22 Then the LORD said to Moses,
23 “Collect choice spices—121/2 pounds of pure myrrh, 61/4 pounds of fragrant cinnamon, 61/4 pounds of fragrant calamus,
24 and 121/2 pounds of cassia—as measured by the weight of the sanctuary shekel. Also get one gallon of olive oil.
25 Like a skilled incense maker, blend these ingredients to make a holy anointing oil.
26 Use this sacred oil to anoint the Tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant,
27 the table and all its utensils, the lampstand and all its accessories, the incense altar,
28 the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the washbasin with its stand.
29 Consecrate them to make them absolutely holy. After this, whatever touches them will also become holy.
30 “Anoint Aaron and his sons also, consecrating them to serve me as priests.
31 And say to the people of Israel, ‘This holy anointing oil is reserved for me from generation to generation.
32 It must never be used to anoint anyone else, and you must never make any blend like it for yourselves. It is holy, and you must treat it as holy.
33 Anyone who makes a blend like it or anoints someone other than a priest will be cut off from the community.’”
34 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Gather fragrant spices—resin droplets, mollusk shell, and galbanum—and mix these fragrant spices with pure frankincense, weighed out in equal amounts.
35 Using the usual techniques of the incense maker, blend the spices together and sprinkle them with salt to produce a pure and holy incense.
36 Grind some of the mixture into a very fine powder and put it in front of the Ark of the Covenant, where I will meet with you in the Tabernacle. You must treat this incense as most holy.
37 Never use this formula to make this incense for yourselves. It is reserved for the LORD, and you must treat it as holy.
38 Anyone who makes incense like this for personal use will be cut off from the community.”
Special care was required to purify the altar and its priests. To even approach the presence of the Lord, adequate preparation in this way made it possible to do so without perishing. His holy presence could not be entered with disregard and compromised cleansing for for any benefit to be acquired and even to survive.
Though no longer required to perform the priesthood rituals, as priests unto the Lord, there should yet be great consideration given to preparations for His presence. Flippant entrance into His presence with no cleansing from proximity to the world renders time there ineffective and even detrimental. How much better to come humbly, submitting to the washing of the Word and the cleansing of the blood so that boldness may be known at His throne.
For each member, there was also a periodic small but necessary ransom offering of the same amount that purified their lives and protected them from plagues. Regarding these threats to our lives, there is a powerful promise of our Savior having paid this ransom for us. When applied, no debt will be held against us as we walk in freedom from every claim of impurity.
Another noted requirement was the unique fragrance of the incense for His presence. This would alert the senses to the Holiness and surely went with the priests as they went from there. No other concoction was allowed, as it was to accurately identify only what the Lord would have. This same effect will be known for us without the incense ritual, as a unique sense of God’s presence will be recognized as it is uncompromised by other alternative fragrances. We will undeniably be identified by the fragrance of where we have been, wherever we go.
“The Fragrance of Devotion”
Scripture: Exodus 30:7-8 (NIV)
“Aaron must burn fragrant incense on the altar every morning when he tends the lamps. He must burn incense again when he lights the lamps at twilight so incense will burn regularly before the Lord for the generations to come.”
My Thoughts:
Exodus 30 gives detailed instructions for worship in the tabernacle—how the altar of incense should be used, how atonement should be made, and even how the holy anointing oil and incense were to be prepared. At first glance, it might seem overly ceremonial or distant from modern life. But at its core, this chapter teaches us something timeless: worship must be intentional, consistent, and sacred.
The incense offered morning and evening symbolized the prayers and devotion of God’s people rising before Him continually (Psalm 141:2; Revelation 5:8). It wasn’t random or occasional—it was daily, fragrant, and set apart. God desires our relationship with Him to be the same. Not hurried. Not half-hearted. But sacred, consistent, and set apart from the ordinary rhythms of life.
How intentional is your worship? Is your prayer life like that incense—daily, fragrant, and rising before the Lord? Take time today to pause and offer God a moment of undistracted devotion.