Altar of Incense

Biblical Text

The altar of incense was the altar in the Holy Place of the tabernacle on which incense was burned. Instructions for making it are given in Exodus 30:1-10. It was made of acacia (shittim) wood, square, one cubit long and one cubit wide, and two cubits high. It had horns at its four corners and was overlaid entirely with pure gold, with a gold molding around it, rings, and poles for carrying it. The altar stood directly in front of the veil that screened the ark of the testimony (Exodus 30:6; 40:26).

Aaron burned incense on it in the morning when he dressed the lamps and in the evening when he lit them, so that the incense would never cease. No "strange incense" was to be offered on this altar, nor any burnt offering, meat offering, or drink offering (30:7-9). Once a year atonement was made for the altar by putting the blood of the sin offering on its horns (30:10). The incense was compounded of equal parts of stacte, onycha, galbanum, and frankincense, and making it for private use was forbidden (30:34-38). The actual construction was carried out by Bezalel (Exodus 37:25-29). In Leviticus 4:7 the blood of the sin offering is put on the horns of the altar of incense.

A gold-overlaid altar also stood in the Temple in Jerusalem built by Solomon (1 Kings 6:20-22; 7:48). King Uzziah entered the temple intending to burn incense on the altar of incense but was stopped by Azariah the high priest and the other priests. They told him that burning incense belonged to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and leprosy broke out on Uzziah's forehead (2 Chronicles 26:16-21). In the New Testament, when Zechariah was chosen by lot to burn incense, an angel of the Lord appeared standing on the right side of the altar of incense (Luke 1:8-11).

Background

In Hebrew it is called mizbach haqqetoret, meaning "altar for burning incense." Because it was overlaid with gold, it was also called "the altar of gold for the incense" (Exodus 40:5) and "the golden altar" (Exodus 39:38), distinguishing it from the bronze altar of burnt offering that stood in the court. Along with the altar of incense, the Holy Place contained the lampstand and the table of showbread. The censer, a handheld vessel for holding fire and incense, is a different implement from the altar of incense. Many estimate a cubit at roughly 45 centimeters (about 18 inches), though scholars differ on the exact standard.

Significance Across Scripture

Incense was associated with prayer from early on. Psalm 141:2 says, "Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense," and in Luke 1:10 the people prayed outside at the hour of incense. The book of Revelation depicts a "golden altar" before the heavenly throne, where an angel offers much incense with the prayers of the saints (Revelation 8:3-5), and the "golden vials full of odours" are identified as "the prayers of saints" (Revelation 5:8).

Interpretation and Issues

• The object in Hebrews 9:4: Hebrews states that a "golden censer" was in the Most Holy Place. The Greek word used here can refer either to a censer or to the altar of incense, so translations differ. The New Korean Revised Version renders it "golden censer," while a number of English translations render it as the altar of incense. Those who take it as the altar explain that, although the altar stood outside the veil, it was regarded as functionally belonging to the Most Holy Place. They cite Exodus 30:6 and 1 Kings 6:22, which speaks of "the altar that was by the oracle."
• Typological interpretation: In the tradition that reads the furnishings of the tabernacle as shadows foreshadowing Christ and the church, the altar of incense is interpreted as pointing to Christ's unceasing intercession and to the prayers of the saints. Some, however, note that the New Testament itself makes only the connection between incense and prayer, and that meanings attached to details such as the wood and the gold are additions by interpreters and should be recognized as such.
• Actual use of incense: The liturgical use of incense continues in the Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church, and some services of the Anglican Church of Korea. Most Protestants do not use incense in worship, holding that the Old Testament sacrificial system has been fulfilled in Christ.

In the Korean Church

The altar of incense is treated as one of the furnishings of the Holy Place in expository preaching and Bible studies on the tabernacle. Uzziah's attempt to burn incense is frequently used as a sermon text on pride and the limits of one's office. In prayer meetings and similar settings, prayer is sometimes likened to "incense" rising before God.