Exodus 30 · WEB
The Altar of Incense, the Census Tax, and the Anointing Oil
Listen — WEB narration 0:00 / 0:00 Narration: World English Bible (David Williams), public domain — AudioTreasure.
Tap a verse to copy it, open the Hebrew, or write a note.
"You shall make an altar to burn incense on. You shall make it of acacia wood.
2Its length shall be a cubit, and its width a cubit. It shall be square, and its height shall be two cubits. Its horns shall be of one piece with it.
3You shall overlay it with pure gold, its top, its sides around it, and its horns; and you shall make a gold molding around it.
4You shall make two golden rings for it under its molding; on its two ribs, on the two sides of it you shall make them; and they shall be for places for poles to carry it.
5You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold.
6You shall put it before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with you.
7"Aaron shall burn incense of sweet spices on it every morning. When he tends the lamps, he shall burn it.
8When Aaron lights the lamps at evening, he shall burn it, a perpetual incense before Yahweh throughout your generations.
9You shall offer no strange incense on it, nor burnt offering, nor meal offering; and you shall pour no drink offering on it.
10Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once in the year. With the blood of the sin offering of atonement, once in the year, he shall make atonement for it throughout your generations. It is most holy to Yahweh."
11Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
12"When you take a census of the children of Israel, according to those who are numbered among them, then each man shall give a ransom for his soul to Yahweh when you number them, that there be no plague among them when you number them.
13They shall give this — everyone who passes over to those who are numbered, half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs) — half a shekel for an offering to Yahweh.
14Everyone who passes over to those who are numbered, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the offering to Yahweh.
15The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than the half shekel, when they give the offering of Yahweh, to make atonement for your souls.
16You shall take the atonement money from the children of Israel, and shall appoint it for the service of the tent of meeting; that it may be a memorial for the children of Israel before Yahweh, to make atonement for your souls."
17Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
18"You shall also make a basin of bronze, and its base of bronze, for washing; and you shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it.
19Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet from it.
20When they go into the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water, that they not die; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn an offering made by fire to Yahweh.
21So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they not die. It shall be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his descendants throughout their generations."
22Moreover Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
23"Take fine spices: of liquid myrrh, five hundred shekels; and of sweet cinnamon half as much, even two hundred and fifty; and of sweet cane, two hundred and fifty;
24and of cassia five hundred, according to the shekel of the sanctuary; and a hin of olive oil.
25You shall make it into a holy anointing oil, a perfume compounded after the art of the perfumer; it shall be holy anointing oil.
26You shall use it to anoint the tent of meeting, the ark of the testimony,
27the table and all its vessels, the lamp stand and its vessels, the altar of incense,
28the altar of burnt offering with all its vessels, and the basin and its base.
29You shall sanctify them, that they may be most holy. Whatever touches them shall be holy.
30You shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and sanctify them, that they may minister to me in the priest's office.
31You shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, 'This shall be a holy anointing oil to me throughout your generations.
32It shall not be poured on man's flesh, neither shall you make any like it, according to its composition. It is holy. It shall be holy to you.
33Whoever compounds any like it, or whoever puts any of it on a stranger, shall be cut off from his people.'"
34Yahweh said to Moses, "Take to yourself sweet spices, galbanum and onycha and stacte, with pure frankincense. There shall be an equal weight of each;
35and you shall make incense of it, a perfume after the art of the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy.
36You shall beat some of it very small, and put some of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be to you most holy.
37The incense which you shall make, according to its composition you shall not make for yourselves. It shall be holy to you for Yahweh.
38Whoever shall make any like that, to smell it, shall be cut off from his people."
✶
Summary
Four additional Tabernacle items and practices are specified. The golden altar of incense — placed just before the veil — is to have fragrant incense burned on it every morning and evening. A half-shekel census tax is commanded from every adult male as atonement money. The bronze washing basin is positioned between the altar and the tent for priestly hand-and-foot washing before ministry. Finally, precise formulas are given for the holy anointing oil (for consecrating the Tabernacle and priests) and the holy incense — both strictly reserved for sacred use under penalty of being "cut off."
Themes
- Prayer as incense rising before God continually
- The equality of all before God — rich and poor pay the same atonement price
- Ritual purity as prerequisite for approaching God
- Holy things set apart exclusively for God cannot be duplicated for common use
Key verses
- Ex 30:15 — “The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than the half shekel… to make atonement for your souls.”
- Ex 30:19-20 — “Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet from it. When they go into the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water, that they not die.”
- Ex 30:7-8 — “Aaron shall burn incense… every morning… at evening… a perpetual incense before Yahweh.”
Context & background
The altar of incense stood just outside the Most Holy Place, as close to God's presence as the priests regularly came. Incense rising before God became the universal biblical image for prayer ascending to heaven (Psalm 141:2; Revelation 5:8; 8:3-4). The half-shekel tax was "a ransom for his soul" — a recognition that every life was accountable to God and needed covering. It was equal for all: no amount of wealth could buy more atonement, and poverty was no barrier. This equality of atonement points to the equal sufficiency of Christ's sacrifice for all people. The anointing oil formula was unique and proprietary — its use on any person outside the official consecration rites was strictly forbidden.
Cross-references
- Hebrews 7:27 — Christ offered himself "once for all" — never needing to repeat the daily incense and sacrifices that the Tabernacle required perpetually.
- Matthew 17:24-27 — The temple tax (a later version of the census tax) — Jesus pays it, though as God's Son he is technically exempt.
- Psalm 141:2 — "Let my prayer be set before you like incense; the lifting up of my hands like the evening sacrifice."
- Revelation 8:3-4 — An angel with a golden censer offers incense before God's throne — "the prayers of all the saints."