Part 97

29:44. I will sanctify also the tabernacle of the testimony with the altar, and Aaron with his sons, to do the office of priesthood unto me.

29:45. And I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel, and will be their God:

29:46. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who have brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might abide among them, I the Lord their God.

Exodus Chapter 30

The altar of incense: money to be gathered for the use of the tabernacle: the brazen laver: the holy oil of unction, and the composition of the perfume.

30:1. Thou shalt make also an altar to burn incense, of setim wood.

An altar to burn incense. . .This burning of incense was an emblem of prayer, ascending to God from an inflamed heart. See Ps. 140.2; Apoc. 5.8, and 8.4.

30:2. It shall be a cubit in length, and another in breadth, that is, four square, and two in height. Horns shall go out of the same.

30:3. And thou shalt overlay it with the purest gold, as well the grate thereof, as the walls round about, and the horns. And thou shalt make to it a crown of gold round about,

30:4. And two golden rings under the crown on either side, that the bars may be put into them, and the altar be carried.

30:5. And thou shalt make the bars also of setim wood, and shalt overlay them with gold.

30:6. And thou shalt set the altar over against the veil, that hangeth before the ark of the testimony before the propitiatory wherewith the testimony is covered, where I will speak to thee.

30:7. And Aaron shall burn sweet smelling incense upon it in the morning. When he shall dress the lamps, he shall burn it:

30:8. And when he shall place them in the evening, he shall burn an everlasting incense before the Lord throughout your generations.

30:9. You shall not offer upon it incense of another composition, nor oblation, and victim, neither shall you offer libations.

30:10. And Aaron shall pray upon the horns thereof once a year, with the blood of that which was offered for sin; and shall make atonement upon it in your generations. It shall be most holy to the Lord.

30:11. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

30:12. When thou shalt take the sum of the children of Israel, according to their number, every one of them shall give a price for their souls to the Lord, and there shall be no scourge among them, when they shall be reckoned.

30:13. And this shall every one give that passeth at the naming, half a sicle according to the standard of the temple. A sicle hath twenty obols. Half a sicle shall be offered to the Lord.

Half a sicle. . .A sicle or shekel of silver, (which was also called a stater,) according to the standard or weight of the sanctuary, which was the most just and exact, was half an ounce of silver, that is, about half a crown of English money. The obol, or gerah, was about three halfpence.

30:14. He that is counted in the number from twenty years and upwards, shall give the price.

30:15. The rich man shall not add to half a sicle, and the poor man shall diminish nothing.

30:16. And the money received, which was contributed by the children of Israel, thou shalt deliver unto the uses of the tabernacle of the testimony, that it may be a memorial of them before the Lord, and he may be merciful to their souls.

30:17. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

30:18. Thou shalt make also a brazen laver with its foot to wash in: and thou shalt set it between the tabernacle of the testimony and the altar. And water being put into it:

30:19. Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and feet in it:

30:20. When they are going into the tabernacle of the testimony, and when they are to come to the altar, to offer on it incense to the Lord,

30:21. Lest perhaps they die. It shall be an everlasting law to him, and to his seed by successions.