30:1–5 The incense altar is a rectangular box measuring 1.5 feet (45 cm) in length and width and 3 feet (90 cm) in height. Made of acacia wood, it is covered in pure gold and has “horns” on its top corners and some form of molding around it (vv. 1–3; for further description of altar horns cf. 27:1–8 [at v. 2]). Under the molding on two sides are golden rings to hold gold covered wooden poles for carrying it (30:4–5).

30:6–10 Having described its design, the Lord now turns to the altar’s placement and function, which are closely related. The altar is to stand toward the back of the Holy Place, in front of the curtain screening off the Most Holy Place (v. 6). On the curtain’s other side stands the ark (v. 6),707 above which the Lord will manifest his presence in a special way to meet with Moses (the “you” in singular). See comment on 25:17–22 [at vv. 21–22]. This means the incense altar, which stands before the curtain in front of this special place of the Lord’s presence, is perfectly situated for presenting incense offerings to the Lord.

The text nowhere explains an incense offering’s function, probably because the original audience understood it. We can note, however, that animal offerings are frequently described as a “pleasing aroma to the Lord” (Ex. 29:18, 25, 41; Lev. 1:9; 3:5; 4:31; etc.), that is, an offering by which one seeks the Lord’s favorable acceptance (cf. comment on 29:15–18). It seems likely that incense offerings function in the same way since, by their very nature, they produce a pleasing aroma. Indeed, the continual incense offering here parallels the continual burnt offering just described: both are offered every morning and every evening (29:38–42; 30:7–8). As the daily burnt offering is a way to seek the Lord’s favor (cf. comment on 29:36–42), so is the daily incense offering. Not surprisingly, later Israelites will compare their prayers for the Lord’s help to an incense offering (Ps. 141:1–2).708

Aaron709 is to burn “fragrant incense” on the altar. Whether he burns it directly on the top or in a bowl or censer placed on the top is unclear.710 Presumably he uses the incense described in Exodus 30:34–38, which, like the incense altar, is to be “before the testimony” (v. 36; cf. v. 6).711 This special incense may not be used for everyday purposes; it is “holy to the Lord” and to be used only for him (v. 37). Using any other incense on the incense altar is thus “unauthorized” and strictly forbidden (v. 9a),712 as is any other type of offering in general, whether animal, grain, or drink offering (v. 9b). This altar is to be used only for incense offerings.

A final note refers to an annual rite of atonement the high priest will make by applying the blood of a purification offering713 to the altar’s horns (v. 10a). A similar rite takes place with the burnt offering altar during the priest’s ordination ceremony to cleanse it of sin and defilement (cf. comment on 29:10–14). This same rite will take place every year on the Day of Atonement for the incense altar.714 As a result, it will maintain its most holy status and therefore continue as a place where incense offerings may be made on Israel’s behalf (30:10b).

30:11–16 These verses describe a census tax, which at first glance seems to have little to do with the tabernacle. As the passage concludes, however, it becomes clear this tax will serve an important role for the functioning of the tabernacle (cf. below).

For reasons nowhere explicitly explained in Scripture, taking a census is considered dangerous at this point in Israel’s history. Among the many guesses of commentators some suggest that counting lives is considered something only God should do; others suggest that counting lives is somehow a sign of sinful ambition.715 Whether either of these is correct is impossible to know. What is clear, however, is that those counted in the census endanger their lives and therefore must give a “ransom” (v. 12). While this word is often used in English to refer to a payment made on behalf of an innocent party (a kidnapped person) to a guilty party (the kidnapper), it is just the opposite in the Pentateuch, where it refers to a payment made to rescue a guilty party from a deserved penalty (cf. Ex. 21:28–32; Num. 35:30–34).716 In this case it will rescue Israelites from a “plague,” that is, an unnamed but lethal form of judgment from the Lord (cf. Ex. 12:13; Num. 16:46–49).

The payment to be given is “half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary” (Ex. 30:13). The mention of a “shekel of the sanctuary” suggests there may have been different standards for weights and measures in Israel (cf. 2 Sam. 14:26); the text thus makes clear which standard to use and even identifies it more precisely as equaling twenty “gerahs.” (Based on archaeological evidence, a shekel is understood to weigh about 0.4 ounces [11–12 g].717 It is “not a coin” at this point in history “but a measure of weight.”718) The half-shekel is to be paid by all those counted who are at least twenty years of age (Ex. 30:14); later texts note the purpose is to count Israelite males for military service (cf. 38:25–26 with Num. 1:3, 46).719 The fact that poor and rich paid the same amount underscores that every life has the same value before the Lord (Ex. 30:15).720

The ransom payment is described in verse 16 as “atonement money,” since the idea of ransom is central to the biblical concept of atonement.721 Verse 16 also explains that the atonement money will both rescue the Israelites’ lives and be used for the service of the tabernacle. As such, it will bring them “to remembrance before the Lord”; that is, it will serve as a request for the Lord to show them his favor and care (cf. comment on 28:5–14). As 38:25–28 goes on to explain, the silver will be used to make parts of the tabernacle’s structure and accessories. Thus the items made with the ransom money will be a constant “reminder” of the Israelites’ acknowledged need for atonement and their desire to worship the Lord faithfully and experience his loving care and protection.

30:17–21 Rather than describing the bronze basin earlier with the other courtyard items, the Lord describes it here, following his discussion of the priests’ ordination in chapter 29, likely because it is key to their maintenance of ritual purity.

Ritually holy priests are the only people who can enter the tent of meeting or present offerings at the altar. But they still live in a world full of ritual impurity, which they are most likely to contact physically, with their feet or hands. Since water is a cleansing agent for ritual impurity (Lev. 15:5–8), priests must wash their feet and hands before entering very sacred space (the tent) or touching very sacred items (sacrifices and the altar) in order to remove any trace of impurity (Ex. 30:19–20). (Compare how surgeons scrub their hands before operating to remove any trace of bacteria.) By doing so the priests show respect to the Lord’s holy property and therefore to the Lord himself. Failing to do so would show treasonous disrespect and merit the judgment typically due the treasonous: death (vv. 20–21). Indeed, the text repeats how they are to “wash . . . so that they may not die,” emphasizing the text’s focus: priests must show due reverence to the Lord.

The water is to come from a basin on a stand in the courtyard, somewhere between the altar of burnt offering and the tent (v. 18). Like the altar, it is to be made of bronze, since the courtyard holds a lower level of holiness than the tent and therefore requires less costly materials than the tent’s golden furniture.722 We later learn that the bronze comes “from the mirrors of the ministering women who ministered in the entrance of the tent of meeting,” (38:8).723 Little is known of these women. They are mentioned again in 1 Samuel 2:22, and the same “ministering” language that describes them also describes the male Levites who perform various nonpriestly tasks important for the proper functioning of the tent and its worship (cf. Num. 4:23; 8:24, where the Hb. word translated “doing duty” is the same word translated “ministering/ed” in our verse). For the women this may include “utensil cleanup, general courtyard cleanup, water resupply, ancillary food preparation, guiding and assisting other women worshipers, [or] washing priests’ clothes.”724 These tasks may seem mundane—but are no more so than the Levites’ work! Indeed, these are important acts of service: without them the Lord’s palace cannot function as a place of worship. Whatever acts of service these women do, they contribute directly to the Lord’s people’s ability to worship. And they do so in a costly way. “Handheld mirrors . . . were greatly valued. When monarchs exchanged gifts, mirrors were often included. They were made of highly polished metal, often bronze, copper, silver, gold, and electrum.”725 These women band together and give out of devotion and love what might be their most costly possession, as a special gift for the work of the Lord’s home. How pleasing to the Lord this must be. After all, costly love is the truest type.

30:22–33 The chapter concludes with two final items to be made for the tabernacle and its worship: anointing oil (Ex. 30:22–33) and incense (vv. 34–38). Both make use of costly spices, both are holy, and both may be used only in connection with the tabernacle.726 These could have been described earlier with other tabernacle components (cf. their placement in 37:29), but, since the description of the incense altar was delayed until 30:1–6 (cf. explanation above), it makes sense that description of the incense burned upon it would likewise be delayed, together with the anointing oil.

Five ingredients constitute the anointing oil. The first four are 12.5 pounds (5.7 kg) of liquid myrrh, 6.25 pounds (2.8 kg) of sweet-smelling cinnamon, the same of aromatic cane, and 12.5 pounds (5.7 kg) of cassia (assuming 0.4 oz [11 g] per shekel).727 These are to be mixed with a “hin of olive oil” (vv. 22–25),728 usually understood to be between 0.95 and 1.7 gallons (3.6–6.5 l).729 The first four ingredients are not simply “spices” but “finest spices,” as appropriate for use in the king’s service. Indeed, spices were often quite valuable in the ancient world and could even be included in gifts for a king (1 Kings 10:2, 10). Here they are to be made into a “holy anointing oil” used to anoint the tabernacle and its objects and to move them into a state of ritual holiness (Ex. 30:25–29).730 Likewise the oil is to be put on Aaron and his sons—on Aaron’s head and clothes (29:7, 21) and his sons’ bodies and clothes (29:21)—to move them into a state of ritual holiness in order to work in the tabernacle and handle its holy objects (30:30). The result? Holy servants in a holy palace serving a holy king.

The Lord then emphasizes that the Israelites are to respect this oil as being especially holy by never copying its formula for use in other purposes (vv. 31–33). It can be used only in the sanctuary and placed on it and on priests the Lord approves. Anyone who makes it and puts it on someone outside the priestly family—which is the sense of the word “outsider” here (cf. 29:33; Num. 16:40)—either treats the Lord’s holy oil as an everyday object or rejects his priesthood by trying to start his own. Not surprisingly, such a person will be “cut off from his people,” a penalty that ranges from exile to premature death by means of judgment (Ex. 31:14; cf. note 245 within comment on 12:14–20). It is a fearful thing to dismiss God’s holiness and reject his authority.

30:34–38 Five ingredients also constitute the holy incense: equal parts of sweet spices (stacte, onycha, galbanum) and pure frankincense,731 along with an unspecified amount of salt (vv. 34–35). Commentators debate the identity of the first two sweet spices, though there is more agreement that the third is galbanum (a “resin from Ferula galbaniflua Boisser et Buhse and related species originally indigenous to Persia and Afghanistan”732) and that frankincense is “a gum resin of a species of the Boswellia species . . . indigenous to southern Arabia, Ethiopia, Somalia, and India.”733 Frankincense is a costly spice: “Pure, genuine frankincense was imported (from Sheba: Jer. 6:20; Isa. 60:6) and therefore both valuable and expensive (cf. Isa. 43:23).”734 Given the value of spices in general (cf. comment on 30:22–33), the sweet spices are likely also costly. This incense is fit for a king and will be offered to the Lord, the heavenly King, every morning and evening (vv. 7–8). The salt might serve a practical purpose,735 but other texts also inform us that salt is to be a part of all offerings since—for reasons nowhere explained—it serves as a reminder of the Lord’s eternal covenant with Israel (Lev. 2:13; Num. 18:19).

The incense is described as “pure and holy” and “most holy” (Ex. 30:35, 36); this makes it suitable for tabernacle use. It is kept in the tabernacle (v. 36), presumably near the incense altar (cf. v. 6), ready for use in the daily incense offering (cf. vv. 7–8). Grinding it “very small” may make it burn evenly.

Anyone who makes this incense for everyday use will face the same penalty as those who make the holy anointing oil for everyday use: he will be cut off from the people (vv. 37–38; cf. vv. 31–33). These are holy items to be used only in service of the holy King. To do otherwise would be to disregard the holy King to whom they belong.