Exodus 30
The Altar of Incense
1 “You are to make an altar for burning incense; you are to make it of acacia wood.
The altar was to be made of acacia wood. It was to be used to burn incense.
2 Its length is to be a foot and a half and its width a foot and a half; it will be square. Its height is to be three feet, with its horns of one piece with it.
The incense box was to be made into a 3’ tall x 1.5’ wide square. It was to possess four horns on the corners.
3 You are to overlay it with pure gold – its top, its four walls, and its horns – and make a surrounding border of gold for it.
The incense box was to be overlaid with gold.
4 You are to make two gold rings for it under its border, on its two flanks; you are to make them on its two sides. The rings will be places for poles to carry it with.
The gold rings were to hold the poles.
5 You are to make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.
The poles were to be made of acacia wood. They were to be overlaid with gold. The poles were used to carry the incense box throughout the wilderness.
6 “You are to put it in front of the curtain that is before the ark of the testimony (before the atonement lid that is over the testimony), where I will meet you.
The incense box was placed in front of the curtain which divided the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place.
7 Aaron is to burn sweet incense on it morning by morning; when he attends to the lamps he is to burn incense.
Aaron was to burn sweet incense every morning. This sweet incense represented the prayers of the saints.
8 When Aaron sets up the lamps around sundown he is to burn incense on it; it is to be a regular incense offering before the Lord throughout your generations.
Aaron was to burn more incense in the evening. This was to be a continual ritual until the atonement of the Messiah.
9 You must not offer strange incense on it, nor burnt offering, nor meal offering, and you must not pour out a drink offering on it.
No strange incense was allowed to be burnt inside of the Holy Place. Aaron’s two sons would later burn strange incense on this altar. God would slay both of them for not following this ritual. These two sons committed the sin unto death.
10 Aaron is to make atonement on its horns once in the year with some of the blood of the sin offering for atonement; once in the year he is to make atonement on it throughout your generations. It is most holy to the Lord.”
Aaron was to make atonement on this altar once a year. This offering pointed to Christ.
The Ransom Money
11The Lord spoke to Moses:
Jehovah spoke directly to Moses in an audible voice. He does not speak audibly today. He speaks only through the Word of God. When charismatics claim that God spoke to them, they are adding to Scripture. This is a violation of Revelation 22. Those who add to Scripture are cursed.
12 “When you take a census of the Israelites according to their number, then each man is to pay a ransom for his life to the Lord when you number them, so that there will be no plague among them when you number them.
Moses will later be commanded to take a census of the Israelites. When this census is taken, every man will be required to pay a ransom price for his life. If the ransom price was not paid, then disease would come upon the Israelites.
13 Everyone who crosses over to those who are numbered is to pay this: a half shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (a shekel weighs twenty gerahs). The half shekel is to be an offering to the Lord.
Everyone was to pay a half-shekel tax. There was no graduated income tax. America is supposed to be a capitalistic nation, but it punishes those who are good capitalists. It is Biblical for believers to become the best capitalists that they can be. The more a believer earns, the more the believer can give to God’s kingdom. Socialism and communism steal from those who are producing products and services and give to those who are not producing services and products. This is nothing but organized political theft. If socialism continues, then eventually 49% of the population will be enslaved to 51% of the population.
14 Everyone who crosses over to those numbered, from twenty years old and up, is to pay an offering to the Lord.
Only those twenty years and older were to pay the tax. If there is an age of accountability, then it may be twenty years old. Men were identified as those twenty years or older.
15 The rich are not to increase it, and the poor are not to pay less than the half shekel when giving the offering of the Lord, to make atonement for your lives.
There was no gradual income tax. Good capitalists were not punished.
16 You are to receive the atonement money from the Israelites and give it for the service of the tent of meeting. It will be a memorial for the Israelites before the Lord, to make atonement for your lives.”
The money was to be used to build and maintain the Tabernacle.
The Bronze Laver
17 The Lord spoke to Moses:
Jehovah spoke audibly again to Moses. God does not speak audibly to charismatics today. If so, then the words of charismatics would be equal to Scripture. Charismatics would be able to add a page to Revelation and record what God audibly told them.
18 “You are also to make a large bronze basin with a bronze stand for washing. You are to put it between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it,
A bronze basin was to be made. It was to be placed between the altar and the tent. Water was to be placed in the bronze basin.
19 and Aaron and his sons must wash their hands and their feet from it.
Aaron and his sons would be extremely bloody from slaughtering the sacrifices. The bronze basin would be used to wash the blood off of their hands and feet.
20 When they enter the tent of meeting, they must wash with water so that they do not die. Also, when they approach the altar to minister by burning incense as an offering made by fire to the Lord,
If Aaron and his sons did not wash the blood off of their hands and feet before entering the tent, then God would slay them.
21 they must wash their hands and their feet so that they do not die. And this will be a perpetual ordinance for them and for their descendants throughout their generations.”
This will be a continuing ritual until Messiah atones for the sins of mankind.
Oil and Incense
22 The Lord spoke to Moses:
Jehovah spoke audibly to Moses and gave him divine information. Be careful of those who claim that God currently speaks to them in a small, still voice. Those who speak like this are ignorant of Scripture. It is the thoughts of the totally and depraved mind which is speaking to the charismatic. He is either imagining that God is speaking to him, or he is hearing from demons who are disguising themselves as God. The only divine information today comes from the written Bible.
23 “Take choice spices: twelve and a half pounds of free-flowing myrrh, half that – about six and a quarter pounds – of sweet-smelling cinnamon, six and a quarter pounds of sweet-smelling cane, 24 and twelve and a half pounds of cassia, all weighed according to the sanctuary shekel, and four quarts of olive oil.
The oil was to be made only from these five ingredients.
25 You are to make this into a sacred anointing oil, a perfumed compound, the work of a perfumer. It will be sacred anointing oil.
This oil would smell like perfume. It was to be used for a sacred purpose.
26 “With it you are to anoint the tent of meeting, the ark of the testimony, 27 the table and all its utensils, the lampstand and its utensils, the altar of incense, 28 the altar for the burnt offering and all its utensils, and the laver and its base.
The perfumed oil was to be used to anoint the tent, the Ark of the Covenant, and all of the furniture and utensils of the tabernacle.
29 So you are to sanctify them, and they will be most holy; anything that touches them will be holy.
All of the utensils were made of stones, metals, and woods which were cursed at the fall. The oil would cleanse all of the furniture items and utensils so that they could be used in service for God.
30 “You are to anoint Aaron and his sons and sanctify them, so that they may minister as my priests.
Aaron and his sons were also polluted by their sin nature. They were to anoint their own bodies with the oil so that they could be used for service.
The oil was a type of the Holy Spirit. The believer must anoint himself with the Holy Spirit in order to be used for service. The anointing for the New Testament believers comes through study of the Word of God and the continual confession of sins, according to 1 John 1:9.
31 And you are to tell the Israelites: ‘This is to be my sacred anointing oil throughout your generations.
This was to become a perpetual ritual until the Messiah arrives.
32 It must not be applied to people’s bodies, and you must not make any like it with the same recipe. It is holy, and it must be holy to you.
This oil was not to be used for public or private use. This oil was only for the priests. The same recipe for the oil must be used until the Messiah arrives.
33 Whoever makes perfume like it and whoever puts any of it on someone not a priest will be cut off from his people.’”
Anyone who makes perfume from this recipe will be cut off from the people. Anyone who puts this sacred perfume on their body will be removed from Jewish citizenship.
34 The Lord said to Moses: “Take spices, gum resin, onycha, galbanum, and pure frankincense of equal amounts
Jehovah commanded Moses to gather these five ingredients in equal amounts.
35 and make it into an incense, a perfume, the work of a perfumer. It is to be finely ground, and pure and sacred.
Moses was to ground these five ingredients into fine powder so that it would become an incense which would smell like sweet perfume.
36 You are to beat some of it very fine and put some of it before the ark of the testimony in the tent of meeting where I will meet with you; it is to be most holy to you.
The incense was to be beaten and ground into fine powder before the Ark of the Covenant.
37 And the incense that you are to make, you must not make for yourselves using the same recipe; it is to be most holy to you, belonging to the Lord.
This incense was not to be used for private or public use.
38 Whoever makes anything like it, to use as perfume, will be cut off from his people.”
If anyone makes this incense or uses it as perfume, then he will lose his Jewish citizenship.