← All Chapters The Book of Exodus · Chapter 30

Exodus 30: Incense, Ransom, and Anointing

God commands the altar of incense, the atonement money, the bronze basin, and the holy oil and incense that set everything apart for himself.

Coming soon

Exodus 30 (WEB)

1 “You shall make an altar to burn incense on. You shall make it of acacia wood.

2 Its length shall be a cubit, and its breadth a cubit. It shall be square, and its height shall be two cubits. Its horns shall be of one piece with it.

3 You shall overlay it with pure gold, its top, its sides around it, and its horns; and you shall make a gold molding around it.

4 You shall make two golden rings for it under its molding; on its two ribs, on its two sides you shall make them; and they shall be for places for poles with which to bear it.

5 You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold.

6 You shall put it before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with you.

7 Aaron shall burn incense of sweet spices on it every morning. When he tends the lamps, he shall burn it.

8 When Aaron lights the lamps at evening, he shall burn it, a perpetual incense before Yahweh throughout your generations.

9 You shall offer no strange incense on it, nor burnt offering, nor meal offering; and you shall pour no drink offering on it.

10 Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once in the year; with the blood of the sin offering of atonement once in the year he shall make atonement for it throughout your generations. It is most holy to Yahweh.”

11 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

12 “When you take a census of the children of Israel, according to those who are numbered among them, then each man shall give a ransom for his soul to Yahweh, when you number them; that there be no plague among them when you number them.

13 They shall give this, everyone who passes over to those who are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary; (the shekel is twenty gerahs;) half a shekel for an offering to Yahweh.

14 Everyone who passes over to those who are numbered, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the offering to Yahweh.

15 The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel, when they give the offering of Yahweh, to make atonement for your souls.

16 You shall take the atonement money from the children of Israel, and shall appoint it for the service of the Tent of Meeting; that it may be a memorial for the children of Israel before Yahweh, to make atonement for your souls.”

17 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

18 “You shall also make a basin of brass, and its base of brass, in which to wash. You shall put it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it.

19 Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet in it.

20 When they go into the Tent of Meeting, they shall wash with water, that they not die; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn an offering made by fire to Yahweh.

21 So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they not die: and it shall be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his descendants throughout their generations.”

22 Moreover Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

23 “Also take fine spices: of liquid myrrh, five hundred shekels; and of fragrant cinnamon half as much, even two hundred and fifty; and of fragrant cane, two hundred and fifty;

24 and of cassia five hundred, after the shekel of the sanctuary; and a hin of olive oil.

25 You shall make it a holy anointing oil, a perfume compounded after the art of the perfumer: it shall be a holy anointing oil.

26 You shall use it to anoint the Tent of Meeting, the ark of the testimony,

27 the table and all its articles, the lamp stand and its accessories, the altar of incense,

28 the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the basin with its base.

29 You shall sanctify them, that they may be most holy. Whatever touches them shall be holy.

30 You shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and sanctify them, that they may minister to me in the priest’s office.

31 You shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘This shall be a holy anointing oil to me throughout your generations.

32 It shall not be poured on man’s flesh, neither shall you make any like it, according to its composition: it is holy. It shall be holy to you.

33 Whoever compounds any like it, or whoever puts any of it on a stranger, he shall be cut off from his people.’”

34 Yahweh said to Moses, “Take to yourself sweet spices, gum resin, and onycha, and galbanum; sweet spices with pure frankincense: there shall be an equal weight of each;

35 and you shall make incense of it, a perfume after the art of the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy:

36 and you shall beat some of it very small, and put some of it before the testimony in the Tent of Meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be to you most holy.

37 The incense which you shall make, according to its composition you shall not make for yourselves: it shall be to you holy for Yahweh.

38 Whoever shall make any like that, to smell of it, he shall be cut off from his people.”

Summary

God completes the instructions for worship with several holy provisions. First comes the altar of incense, overlaid with gold and set before the veil, on which Aaron is to burn sweet incense every morning and evening, a perpetual fragrance before the Lord. Next God commands a ransom: when Israel is numbered, each person is to give a half shekel as atonement money, the rich no more and the poor no less, so that no plague comes among them—a memorial that every life belongs to God and must be ransomed. Then comes a bronze basin set between the tent and the altar, where the priests must wash their hands and feet before they serve, that they not die. Finally God specifies the recipe for the holy anointing oil, compounded from fragrant spices, used to consecrate the tent, its furnishings, and the priests, and never to be imitated or used for common purposes; and likewise the sacred incense, holy to the Lord, not to be reproduced for personal pleasure. Each item underscores that worship is on God's terms, set apart and not casually copied. The rising incense pictures prayer ascending to God, and the ransom and washing point to the cleansing and redemption we need to draw near.

Main Characters

  • Yahweh (the LORD) — The God who commands the altar of incense, the ransom, the basin, and the holy oil and incense, jealous that worship be on his terms.
  • Aaron — The high priest who burns incense morning and evening before the veil and washes at the basin before ministering.
  • Moses — The mediator who receives these commands and is to compound the holy oil and incense and apply them as God directs.
  • The children of Israel — The people who give the half-shekel ransom for their souls, rich and poor alike, as a memorial before the Lord.

Key Verse

Exodus 30:15 (WEB)

The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel, when they give the offering of Yahweh, to make atonement for your souls.

Lessons Learned

  • Worship is to be offered on God's terms, not improvised or imitated for our own ends.
  • Every life belongs to God and must be ransomed; before him rich and poor stand on equal ground.
  • Those who serve God must come cleansed; the basin reminds us we need washing to draw near.
  • Rising incense pictures the prayers of God's people ascending continually before his throne.
  • Prayer rises like incense before God. Aaron burns "a perpetual incense before Yahweh" morning and evening (Exodus 30:8, WEB). The continual fragrance pictures the ceaseless prayers of God's people.
  • Every soul needs a ransom. Each gives "a ransom for his soul to Yahweh… to make atonement for your souls" (Exodus 30:12, 15, WEB). Life is not ours by right; it is redeemed.
  • At the cross the ground is level. "The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less" (Exodus 30:15, WEB). All people need the same atonement and stand equal before God.
  • Those who serve must be cleansed. The priests "shall wash their hands and their feet… that they not die" (Exodus 30:19-20, WEB). Drawing near to the holy God requires cleansing he provides.
  1. What does the continual burning of incense before the veil picture about the life of God's people?
  2. Why does God require the same ransom from rich and poor alike, and what does this teach about every person's standing before him?
  3. Why must the priests wash at the basin before they minister, and how does this connect to our coming to God?
  4. Why are the holy oil and incense forbidden to be imitated or put to common use?
  5. What in your own approach to God needs to be re-shaped around his terms rather than your own preferences?
  1. The morning-and-evening incense before the veil sends up a continual sweet fragrance to God (30:7-8). The New Testament takes this up explicitly: the prayers of the saints rise like incense before the throne (Revelation 5:8). It pictures a people in constant communion with God.
  2. Both rich and poor give exactly a half shekel "to make atonement for your souls" (30:15), so no one buys more standing and no one is excluded for poverty. Before God every life is equally precious and equally in need of ransom—a powerful leveler of pride and shame alike.
  3. The priests wash hands and feet "that they not die" (30:20); the holy God cannot be served by the unclean. It points to our need for cleansing to come near, fulfilled in the washing Christ gives, and reminds us that approach to God is never casual.
  4. The oil and incense are "holy to you" and must not be replicated for ordinary use (30:32-33, 37-38). God guards the distinction between holy and common; worship is not to be domesticated to our tastes. Help the group sense the reverence God's holiness invites.
  5. This is a personal-application question. Invite members to consider where they have made worship convenient or self-centered rather than ordered by God's word. As leader, encourage reverence without legalism, holding together God's holiness and his welcome.

Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB), the King James Version (KJV), and the American Standard Version (ASV), all of which are in the public domain.