Words in italic type have been added for clarity. They are not found in the original Hebrew or Aramaic.

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Exodus 30

The Altar of Incense

Exodus 30:1 “You shall make an altar to burn incense on; you shall make it of acacia wood.

Exodus 30:2 A cubit shall be its length and a cubit its width—it shall be square—and two cubits shall be its height. Its horns shall be of one piece with it.

Exodus 30:3 And you shall overlay its top, its sides all around, and its horns with pure gold; and you shall make for it a molding of gold all around.

Exodus 30:4 Two gold rings you shall make for it, under the molding on both its sides. You shall place them on its two sides, and they will be holders for the poles with which to bear it.

Exodus 30:5 You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold.

Exodus 30:6 And you shall put it before the veil that is before the ark of the Testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the Testimony, where I will meet with you.

Exodus 30:7 “Aaron shall burn on it sweet incense every morning; when he tends the lamps, he shall burn incense on it.

Exodus 30:8 And when Aaron lights the lamps at twilight, he shall burn incense on it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations.

Exodus 30:9 You shall not offer strange incense on it, or a burnt offering, or a grain offering; nor shall you pour a drink offering on it.

Exodus 30:10 And Aaron shall make atonement upon its horns once a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonement; once a year he shall make atonement upon it throughout your generations. It is most holy to the Lord.”

The Ransom Money (Census)

Exodus 30:11 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

Exodus 30:12 “When you take the census of the children of Israel for their number, then every man shall give a ransom for himself to the Lord, when you number them, that there may be no plague among them when you number them.

Exodus 30:13 This is what everyone among those who are numbered shall give: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (a shekel is twenty gerahs). The half-shekel shall be an offering to the Lord.

Exodus 30:14 Everyone included among those who are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering to the Lord.

Exodus 30:15 The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when you give an offering to the Lord, to make atonement for yourselves.

Exodus 30:16 And you shall take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shall appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of meeting, that it may be a memorial for the children of Israel before the Lord, to make atonement for yourselves.”

• King David sinned by taking a census.
  • The Census of Israel and Judah:
  • 1 Chronicles 21:1 Now Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel. 2 So David said to Joab and to the leaders of the people, “Go, number Israel from Beersheba to Dan, and bring the number of them to me that I may know it.”
    3 And Joab answered, “May the Lord make His people a hundred times more than they are. But, my lord the king, are they not all my lord’s servants? Why then does my lord require this thing? Why should he be a cause of guilt in Israel?”

• This is the Route Joab took in taking the census: Dan to Beersheba:
  
  • 2 Samuel 24:6 Then they came to Gilead and to the land of Tahtim Hodshi; they came to Dan Jaan and around to Sidon; 7 and they came to the stronghold of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and the Canaanites. Then they went out to South Judah as far as Beersheba. 8 So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.

• 2 Sam 24:15 So the Lord sent a plague upon Israel from the morning till the appointed time.
  
  • From Dan to Beersheba seventy thousand men of the people died. 16 And when the angel stretched out His hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented from the destruction, and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “It is enough; now restrain your hand.” And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

• The Angel of Death took the same route as Joab when he took the census.
  (Joab ended up at Jerusalem where the angel of death stopped)

The Bronze Laver

Exodus 30:17 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

Exodus 30:18 “You shall also make a laver of bronze, with its base also of bronze, for washing. You shall put it between the tabernacle of meeting and the altar. And you shall put water in it,

Exodus 30:19 for Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet in water from it.

Exodus 30:20 When they go into the tabernacle of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn an offering made by fire to the Lord, they shall wash with water, lest they die.

Exodus 30:21 So they shall wash their hands and their feet, lest they die. And it shall be a statute forever to them—to him and his descendants throughout their generations.”

The Holy Anointing Oil

Exodus 30:22 Moreover the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

Exodus 30:23 “Also take for yourself quality spices—five hundred shekels of liquid myrrh, half as much sweet-smelling cinnamon (two hundred and fifty shekels), two hundred and fifty shekels of sweet-smelling cane,

Exodus 30:24 five hundred shekels of cassia, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and a hin of olive oil.

Exodus 30:25 And you shall make from these a holy anointing oil, an ointment compounded according to the art of the perfumer. It shall be a holy anointing oil.

Exodus 30:26 With it you shall anoint the tabernacle of meeting and the ark of the Testimony;

Exodus 30:27 the table and all its utensils, the lampstand and its utensils, and the altar of incense;

Exodus 30:28 the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the laver and its base.

Exodus 30:29 You shall consecrate them, that they may be most holy; whatever touches them must be holy.

Exodus 30:30 And you shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may minister to Me as priests.

Exodus 30:31 “And you shall speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘This shall be a holy anointing oil to Me throughout your generations.

Exodus 30:32 It shall not be poured on man’s flesh; nor shall you make any other like it, according to its composition. It is holy, and it shall be holy to you.

Exodus 30:33 Whoever compounds any like it, or whoever puts any of it on an outsider, shall be cut off from his people.’ ”

The Incense

Exodus 30:34 And the Lord said to Moses: “Take sweet spices, stacte and onycha and galbanum, and pure frankincense with these sweet spices; there shall be equal amounts of each.

Exodus 30:35 You shall make of these an incense, a compound according to the art of the perfumer, salted, pure, and holy.

Exodus 30:36 And you shall beat some of it very fine, and put some of it before the Testimony in the tabernacle of meeting where I will meet with you. It shall be most holy to you.

Exodus 30:37 But as for the incense which you shall make, you shall not make any for yourselves, according to its composition. It shall be to you holy for the Lord.

Exodus 30:38 Whoever makes any like it, to smell it, he shall be cut off from his people.”