25He made the altar of incense out of acacia wood. It was square, a cubit long, a cubit wide, and two cubits high.f Its horns were of one piece. 26And he overlaid with pure gold the top and all the sides and horns. Then he made a molding of gold around it.
27He made two gold rings below the molding on opposite sides to hold the poles used to carry it. 28And he made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold.
29He also made the sacred anointing oil and the pure, fragrant incense, the work of a perfumer.
25 f The altar was approximately 1.5 feet in length and width, and 3 feet high (45.7 centimeters in length and width, and 91.4 centimeters high).
This was the alter of incense. But why incense?
In Scripture, incense is often associated with prayer.
David said in Psalm 141: 2May my prayer be set before You like incense,
my uplifted hands like the evening offering.
Revelation 5: 8When He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
Exodus 30
The Incense
34The LORD also said to Moses, “Take fragrant spices—gum resin, onycha, galbanum, and pure frankincense—in equal measures, 35and make a fragrant blend of incense, the work of a perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy. 36Grind some of it into fine powder and place it in front of the Testimonym in the Tent of Meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be most holy to you. 37You are never to use this formula to make incense for yourselves; you shall regard it as holy to the LORD. 38Anyone who makes something like it to enjoy its fragrance shall be cut off from his people.”
The fragrance of the incense was special.
This incense was only to be used on the “alter of incense”.
Incense is associated with prayer 🙏.
Luke 1: 8One day while Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, 9he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10And at the hour of the incense offering, the whole congregation was praying outside.
Jesus completed the law so incense offerings are no longer required. Some religions still use incense on special occasions like funerals when prayers are offered for the deceased. Unfortunately I cannot find anywhere in the Bible that prayer helps a deceased person.
If you are reading this you still have time to offer up your prayers to the Lord, use David’s example.
“May my prayer be set before You like incense”.
Blessings, David
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