Take unto thee sweet spices— The composition of the perfume for the golden altar of incense is next prescribed; concerning which the same prohibition is made, Exodus 30:37-38 as concerning the holy ointment. It was to be compounded of stacte or the best myrrh; of onycha, the original word for which occurs here only in the Bible; but it is supposed to mean the onycha (as we have translated it) an odorous shell, which was of a black colour, and yielded in incense a very sweet perfume; see Bochart, vol. 2: p. 217. (Come however conceive it to have been bdellium:)—and of galbanum, which was a sweet gum, issuing from an incision in the root of a plant growing in Arabia, Syria, &c. The LXX render this, and sweet-scented galbanum with pure frankincense.—An equal quantity of these spices was to be mixed with frankincense, which, tempered together (Exodus 30:35.) by dissolution or melting, composed the perfume: this is the primary meaning of the original word, rendered in the margin of our Bibles salted; which it signifies in a secondary sense, as salts of all kinds are fusible. (See Parkhurst on מלה.) Bishop Patrick has judiciously observed, that "perfumes were from all antiquity used in religious services. The Greek word for sacrifice, Θυσια, is derived, according to Porphyry, from incense απο θυμιασεως; the first men making a fume, by burning parts of trees, and shrubs, and seeds, and fruits; and the sweeter the scent, the more grateful they fancied the fume was to their gods: so that though, at first, they contented themselves with simple herbs and plants; yet in aftertimes they increased them to a greater number: for that aromatic mixture, called κυφι among the Egyptians, which was burnt morning and evening on their altars, was a composition of sixteen things, which Plutarch reckons up (in his book de Isid. & Osir.); and Sophocles (in his Electr. ver. 637.) brings in Clytemnestra calling for θυματα πανκαρπα, fumes of all sorts of seeds, to be offered to Apollo, that she might be delivered from her terrors."
A review of the altar of incense, considered typically.
This altar was a figure of the intercession of the great High-Priest before the throne, as the altar of burnt-offering was a figure of his satisfactory oblation upon the earth. Let us first attend to the altar, and then to the incense.
The altar itself was, first, a golden crowned altar; which signifies the glorious dignity of the royal Intercessor, who is a Priest upon his throne, and is set down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.—It was a square altar, equally respecting the four corners of the world; to denote how accessible he is to all the ends of the earth.—It was a moveable altar, capable of being transported wherever the church of Israel went: an emblem of his perpetual presence in all places where his name is recorded, or where his people are afflicted. A jail, an isle of Patmos, a lion's den, a fish's belly, a fiery furnace, are all alike to him, who never leaves, never forsakes his faithful people.—It was a hidden altar, to which none approached except the sons of Levi. To know Christ as their interceding Priest, is the distinguishing privilege of all the royal priesthood. These only see him by faith, whom the world seeth no more. But as the way to the golden altar of incense was to pass by the brazen altar of burnt-offering; so none can come to Jesus, as ever living to make intercession for them, who come not to him as dying once to atone for their guilt, and put away their sin by the sacrifice of himself.—It was a horned altar. And what should these four horns at its four corners portend, but the strength and prevalence of his intercession, whom the Father heareth always, and who is able to save unto the uttermost all who come unto God by him, from the four winds of heaven?—It was an altar stained with blood: for though no sacrifices for expiation were offered upon it, yet Aaron was commanded to tip its horns every year with the blood of the atonements. The blood of Jesus Christ the righteous is the strength of his advocacy. This blood presented for ever before the throne of God, enforces all his suits with infinitely louder cries than ever did the blood of Abel.
From the altar let us come to the incense burnt upon it. It represents both the merits of the Lord Jesus, and the prayers of all saints.
The merits of Jesus Christ are that incense, in which the prayers, and tears, and works of all the saints are clad, and wherein they ascend like Manoah's angel, before the presence of JEHOVAH.—The incense in the tabernacle was composed of sweet spices, which shed a rich perfume; but not so grateful to men, as the sweet-smelling sacrifice of Christ was savoury to God.—That incense was burned in the sanctuary, while the people were praying without. The appearing of our High-Priest in the heavenly sanctuary with the sweet odour of his merits, by no means supersedes the prayers of saints on earth. "For these things will God be," not only solicited by the intercession of his Son, but "inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them." Ezekiel 36:37.—That incense was continually burned before the Lord, and was a perpetual incense throughout their generations. The intercession of Jesus Christ is everlasting, because he ever liveth. Never, never shall it be discontinued.—That incense was not to be counterfeited, or imitated for any other purpose. Detested be the impiety of that harlot-church, which confides in the merits of any saint, living or dead, ascribing, on whatsoever pretence, the Mediator's glory to another. But the time approaches, when this counterfeit incense, the commodity of Babylon, shall no more be bought by the merchants of the earth.
The prayers of saints are also said to be directed as incense before the Lord, and are resembled to odours preserved in vials of gold by a New-Testament writer. Prayer is that incense, which, according to Malachi's prediction, shall be offered to the name of the Lord in every place. Was the holy incense compounded of various sweet spices? The graces of the Holy Spirit are the precious ingredients in the effectual prayer of the righteous. Some of them were beaten very small; perhaps to intimate that brokenness of heart and contrition of spirit, which the High and Lofty One requires in the worshippers at his footstool.—The fire which burnt the incense, may denote the fervency of spirit required in acceptable worship.—But take heed of the sparks of your own kindling, and lift up holy hands without wrath: for the incense must not be kindled with fire from the kitchen but the altar.—Was the incense burned morning and evening continually? And can we reasonably think the incense of prayer and praise should be less frequently addressed to the God who dwells in the heavens? Jesus Christ is the Altar; Jesus Christ is the Priest who stands with his golden censer: by him your incense of prayer and your incense of praise shall go up as a memorial before God, and meet with gracious acceptance. Without him even incense is an abomination to God; and the most solemn duties are a smoke in his nostrils, and a fire which burneth all the day.