The Gold Incense Altar’s Two Functions

The instructions for the gold incense altar that is placed in the מִשְׁכָּן, or tabernacle, surprisingly come only after the instructions for the construction and inauguration of the tabernacle.^[1] God first tells Moses to make the tabernacle’s:

Ch 25: Furnishings—the אֲרוֹן, “ark,” שֻׁלְחָן, “table,” and מְנוֹרָה, “lampstand”;

Ch 26: Structure—its framework, coverings, and curtains; and

Ch 27: Courtyard—both its central object, the bronze sacrificial altar, and its structure.

After a brief notice about the oil for lighting the tabernacle’s lamp, the instructions move on to:

Ch 28: Priestly garments for Aaron and his sons;

Ch 29: The seven-day מִלֻּאִים, “inauguration,” ritual, which consecrates the priests for divine service and purges and sanctifies the altar; and

Ch 29, cont.: The תָּמִיד, “regular,” sacrifice that is to be brought on the altar every single day, morning and evening, פֶּתַח אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד לִפְנֵי יְ־הוָה, “at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting before YHWH” (29:42).

The instructions culminate with a poetic reiteration of the purpose of the tabernacle:

‏^{שׁמות כט:מג} וְנֹעַדְתִּי שָׁמָּה לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְנִקְדַּשׁ בִּכְבֹדִי. ^כט:מד וְקִדַּשְׁתִּי אֶת אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד וְאֶת הַמִּזְבֵּחַ וְאֶת אַהֲרֹן וְאֶת בָּנָיו אֲקַדֵּשׁ לְכַהֵן לִי.

^{Exod 29:43} And there I will meet with the Israelites, and it shall be sanctified by My Presence. ^29:44 I will sanctify the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and I will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve Me as priests.^[2]

Only then do we find the instructions for the gold incense altar:

^{שׁמות ל:א} וְעָשִׂיתָ מִזְבֵּחַ מִקְטַר קְטֹרֶת עֲצֵי שִׁטִּים תַּעֲשֶׂה אֹתוֹ.

^{Exod 30:1} You shall make an altar for burning incense; make it of acacia wood.

The placement of this passage has puzzled commentators from medieval times to the present. In the words of Ramban (Moses Nahmanides, 1194–1270), for example:

^{רמבן שמות ל:א} הנה מזבח הקטרת מן הכלים הפנימיים היה, ראוי שיזכירנו עם השלחן והמנורה שהוא מונח עמהם.

^{Ramban Exod 30:1} Behold the incense altar was one of the inner furnishings; it is fitting for it to have been mentioned together with the table and the lamp, with which is was placed.

Indeed, every other time that the incense altar is mentioned in the rest of Exodus, it appears alongside these other furnishings (31:8; 35:15; 37:25; 39:38; 40:5; 40:26).

Separate, but Closely Connected

Rabbi Elchanan Samet (Herzog College, Israel) points out that not only is the incense altar passage out of place, but it appears after an inclusio, a structure demarcating a unit by having identical or similar phrases.^[3] The inclusio frames the instructions regarding the tabernacle (chs. 25–29).^[4] The section begins with God declaring:

^{שׁמות כה:ח} וְעָשׂוּ לִי מִקְדָּשׁ וְשָׁכַנְתִּי בְּתוֹכָם.

^{Exod 25:8} “And they shall make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.”

The purpose of the tabernacle is then reprised in a statement at the end of the section:

‏^{שׁמות כט:מה} וְשָׁכַנְתִּי בְּתוֹךְ בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְהָיִיתִי לָהֶם לֵאלֹהִים. ^כט:מו וְיָדְעוּ כִּי אֲנִי יְ־הוָה אֱלֹהֵיהֶם אֲשֶׁר הוֹצֵאתִי אֹתָם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם לְשָׁכְנִי בְתוֹכָם אֲנִי יְ־הוָה אֱלֹהֵיהֶם.

^{Exod 29:45} “I will dwell in the midst of the Israelites, and I will be their God. ^29:46 And they shall know that I YHWH am their God, who brought them out from the land of Egypt that I might abide among them, I YHWH their God.”

Thus, the incense altar passage comes not only later than expected, but outside of the boundary of the literary unit that describes the tabernacle and its purpose. At the same time, Samet points out, the incense altar passage is linked to the tabernacle instructions.

Part of God’s Tabernacle Command

The tabernacle instructions are introduced with a speech-act: וַיְדַבֵּר יְ־הוָה אֶל מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹר, “YHWH spoke to Moses, saying...” (Exod 25:1). Following the incense altar passage, the instructions regarding the census, the copper wash-basin, the sacred oil and incense, the tabernacle’s builders, and the Sabbath are each introduced by a similar divine speech-act (30:11, 17, 22, 34; 31:1, 12). The incense altar instructions, however, lack such an introduction, and thus they appear to be a continuation of the speech act for the tabernacle instructions.

Incense Altar and Daily Sacrifices

In addition, the incense altar passage shares language (shown in bold below) with the tabernacle instructions. Specifically, the instructions for the incense offerings state:

‏^{שׁמות ל:ז} וְהִקְטִיר עָלָיו אַהֲרֹן קְטֹרֶת סַמִּים בַּבֹּקֶר בַּבֹּקֶר בְּהֵיטִיבוֹ אֶת הַנֵּרֹת יַקְטִירֶנָּה. ^ל:ח וּבְהַעֲלֹת אַהֲרֹן אֶת הַנֵּרֹת בֵּין הָעֲרְבַּיִם יַקְטִירֶנָּה קְטֹרֶת תָּמִיד לִפְנֵי יְ־הוָה לְדֹרֹתֵיכֶם.

^{Exod 30:7} On it Aaron shall burn aromatic incense: he shall burn it every morning when he tends the lamps, ^30:8 and Aaron shall burn it at twilight when he lights the lamps—a regular incense offering before YHWH for your generations.

The instructions for the daily sacrifices contain similar references:

‏^{שׁמות כט:לט} אֶת הַכֶּבֶשׂ הָאֶחָד תַּעֲשֶׂה בַבֹּקֶר וְאֵת הַכֶּבֶשׂ הַשֵּׁנִי תַּעֲשֶׂה בֵּין הָעַרְבָּיִם.... ^כט:מב עֹלַת תָּמִיד לְדֹרֹתֵיכֶם פֶּתַח אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד לִפְנֵי יְ־הוָה....

^{Exod 29:39} You shall offer the one lamb in the morning, and you shall offer the other lamb at twilight.... ^29:42 a regular burnt offering for your generations, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting before YHWH....

Incense Altar and Lamp Oil

To Samet’s observations we can add that parallels between the lamp oil and incense altar passages form an inclusio that frames the entire section about clothing and consecrating the priests for divine service with instructions that mention the curtain on the ark (chs. 28–29).^[5] Like the incense altar instructions, the lamp oil section includes references to morning and evening, regularity, permanence, and performing a ritual before God:

‏^{שׁמות כז:כ} וְאַתָּה תְּצַוֶּה אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְיִקְחוּ אֵלֶיךָ שֶׁמֶן זַיִת זָךְ כָּתִית לַמָּאוֹר לְהַעֲלֹת נֵר תָּמִיד. ^כז:כא בְּאֹהֶל מוֹעֵד מִחוּץ לַפָּרֹכֶת אֲשֶׁר עַל הָעֵדֻת יַעֲרֹךְ אֹתוֹ אַהֲרֹן וּבָנָיו מֵעֶרֶב עַד בֹּקֶר לִפְנֵי יְ־הוָה חֻקַּת עוֹלָם לְדֹרֹתָם מֵאֵת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל.

^{Exod 27:20} You shall further instruct the Israelites to bring you clear oil of beaten olives for lighting, for kindling lamps regularly. ^27:21 Aaron and his sons shall set them up in the Tent of Meeting, outside the curtain that is on [the ark of] the covenant, [to burn] from evening to morning before YHWH. It shall be a due from the Israelites for all time, for their generations.

In addition, the lamp is placed outside the curtain on the ark (shown in bold above), and the incense altar is similarly placed before the curtain on the ark:

^{שׁמות ל:ו} וְנָתַתָּה אֹתוֹ לִפְנֵי הַפָּרֹכֶת אֲשֶׁר עַל אֲרֹן הָעֵדֻת לִפְנֵי הַכַּפֹּרֶת אֲשֶׁר עַל הָעֵדֻת אֲשֶׁר אִוָּעֵד לְךָ שָׁמָּה.

^{Exod 30:6} You shall place it before the curtain that is on the ark of the covenant—before the cover that is on the covenant—where I will meet with you.

Moreover, the incense altar passage explicitly refers to the lamps: “He shall burn it every morning when he tends the lamps, and Aaron shall burn it at twilight when he lights the lamps” (30:7–8).^[6]

The incense altar passage, then, is both separate from and connected to the instructions for the tabernacle. As Samet notes, this puzzling constellation of features, suggesting both disjuncture and interconnectedness, has led to different divisions of the text. For example, the Babylonian lectionary cycle that is now used begins the next parasha, Ki Tisa, only after the incense altar passage, while the Palestinian lectionary begins a new parasha with the incense altar passage.^[7]

Given the deep connections between the incense altar passage and the instructions for constructing the tabernacle and its furnishings, why does the incense altar appear only after the other instructions seem to come to a conclusion?

A. Inviting vs. Responding to God’s Presence

R. Obadiah Seforno (1475–1550, Italy) explains that the tabernacle’s interior furnishings mimic the basic furnishings of a human dwelling—with the ark as a seat, plus the table and lampstand.^[8] He argues that unlike the incense altar, the purpose of these furnishings is to enable God’s presence in the tabernacle:

^{ספורנו שמות ל:א} ולא הוזכר זה המזבח עם שאר הכלים בפרשת תרומה, כי לא היתה הכוונה בו להשכין האל יתברך בתוכנו, כמו שהיה הענין בשאר הכלים, כאמרו ״ושכנתי בתוכם, ככל אשר אני מראה אותך את תבנית המשכן ואת תבנית כל כליו״ (שמות כה:ח-ט).

^{Seforno Exod 30:1} This altar was not mentioned with the other furnishing in Parashat Teruma, because its intent was not to enable the blessed God to dwell in our midst, as was the point of the other furnishings, as it says: “and I will dwell in their midst – just as I show you, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings” (Exod 25:8–9).

He further suggests that the bronze sacrificial altar is included in the tabernacle instructions (Exod 27:1–9) because it has a related purpose of bringing down the manifestation of God’s presence:

^{ספורנו שמות ל:א} גם לא היה ענינו להוריד מראה כבודו בבית, כענין מעשה הקרבנות, כאמרו ״ונועדתי שמה לבני ישראל״ (שם כט:מג). וכן העיד משה רבנו באמרו (ויקרא ט:ו) ״זה הדבר אשר צוה ה׳ תעשו וירא אליכם כבוד ה׳⁠ ⁠.״

^{Seforno Exod 30:1} Its [the incense altar’s] point also was not to bring down the appearance of his glory into the house, as was the point of the ritual of the sacrifices, as it says: “and I will meet there with the children of Israel” (29:43). And so Moses attested when he said “this is the thing that the Lord has commanded you to do to so that the glory of the Lord will appear to you” (Lev 9:6).^[9]

The incense altar does not share the purpose of these other furnishings, and so it is not included in God’s description of the core structure and furnishings of the tabernacle. Instead, Seforno argues, the function of the incense altar is to enable to the people to respond to the presence of God that the tabernacle and its furnishings, along with the daily sacrifices on the bronze altar, invited:

^{ספורנו שמות ל:א} אבל היה ענין זה המזבח לכבד את האל יתברך אחרי בואו לקבל ברצון עבודת עמו בקרבנות הבוקר והערב, ולשחר פניו במנחת קטורת, על דרך ״הבו לה׳ כבוד שמו, שאו מנחה ובאו לפניו״ (דברי הימים א טז:כט).

^{Seforno Exod 30:1} But the point of this [incense] altar was to honor the blessed God after his coming to accept with favor his people’s service of the sacrifices of the morning and evening, and to greet his presence with the offering of incense, in the manner of “ascribe to the Lord the glory of his name, raise an offering and come before him” (1 Chron 16:29).^[10]

Leviticus’ Inauguration Narrative

To support his claim that the purpose of the sacrifices on the bronze altar is to bring down God’s presence, Seforno points to Leviticus’ narrative of the inauguration of the tabernacle. After the seven days of the ritual, in which the priests and the tabernacle were consecrated, a series of sacrifices are brought on the eighth day by the newly-invested high priest, Aaron, assisted by his sons. Moses declares:

^{ויקרא ט:ו} וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה זֶה הַדָּבָר אֲשֶׁר צִוָּה יְ־הוָה תַּעֲשׂוּ וְיֵרָא אֲלֵיכֶם כְּבוֹד יְ־הוָה.

^{Lev 9:6} “This is the thing that YHWH has commanded you do to, so that the glory of YHWH will appear to you.”

And, indeed, at the conclusion of the entire sacrificial service, the glory of God appears to all of the people in the form of a fire that emerges and consumes the sacrifices on the bronze altar:

‏^{ויקרא ט:כג} ...וַיֵּרָא כְבוֹד יְ־הוָה אֶל כָּל הָעָם. ^ט:כד וַתֵּצֵא אֵשׁ מִלִּפְנֵי יְ־הוָה וַתֹּאכַל עַל הַמִּזְבֵּחַ אֶת הָעֹלָה וְאֶת הַחֲלָבִים וַיַּרְא כָּל הָעָם וַיָּרֹנּוּ וַיִּפְּלוּ עַל פְּנֵיהֶם.

^{Lev 9:23} ...And the glory of YHWH appeared to all of the people. And a fire went out from before YHWH and consumed on the altar the burnt offering and the fat parts, and all of the people saw and they shouted and fell on their faces.

And so, within the narrative of the inauguration of the tabernacle, the sacrifices do indeed serve to make God’s presence manifest to the people.

An Incense Offering in Response to God’s Presence

An incense offering immediately follows these rituals:

^{ויקרא י:א} וַיִּקְחוּ בְנֵי אַהֲרֹן נָדָב וַאֲבִיהוּא אִישׁ מַחְתָּתוֹ וַיִּתְּנוּ בָהֵן אֵשׁ וַיָּשִׂימוּ עָלֶיהָ קְטֹרֶת וַיַּקְרִבוּ לִפְנֵי יְ־הוָה אֵשׁ זָרָה אֲשֶׁר לֹא צִוָּה אֹתָם.

^{Lev 10:1} And the sons of Aaron, Nadav and Avihu, each took his fire pan and put in it burning coals and put on it incense and offered before YHWH alien fire, which He had not enjoined upon them.

Setting aside the question of what was unacceptable about Nadav and Avihu’s offering^[11] such that the men were consumed by divine fire (v. 2), what is noteworthy is that incense, here, is brought as a response, indeed perhaps as an intuitive, automatic response, to the manifestation of God’s presence.

The twice-daily mandated incense offering, then, can be seen as a sanctioned and institutionalized opportunity to respond to the presence of God that is manifest in the tabernacle. That the (illicit) incense offering comes right after the completion of the inauguration of the tabernacle corresponds to the very place in which the incense altar passage appears in Exodus!

That the incense has a different function from the sacrifices, and the incense altar from the other furnishings of the tabernacle, correlates with the fact that no incense offering takes place either within the seven-day inauguration ritual or during the culminating sacrificial ritual of the eighth day. The investiture of the priests that is enacted in Leviticus 8 fulfills the instructions that God gives to Moses in Exodus 28–29 concerning the priestly garments and the sacrifices for the inauguration ritual.^[12]

If we think about God’s instructions to Moses in Exodus 25–29 as focused on inaugurating the tabernacle, rather than seeing them as a how-to manual for constructing the tabernacle or as a blueprint for the tabernacle, then the absence of the incense altar from this extended passage makes sense. It’s not only, as Seforno suggests, that the incense altar has a different function than the other furnishings of the tabernacle. It’s that this difference is manifest in the absence of any ritual involving the incense altar within the extended ritual of inaugurating the tabernacle.^[13]

B. Purgation of the Tabernacle after Contamination

The incense altar passage in Exodus mentions another ritual to be performed on it, besides the twice-daily offering of incense:

^{שׁמות ל:י} וְכִפֶּר אַהֲרֹן עַל קַרְנֹתָיו אַחַת בַּשָּׁנָה מִדַּם חַטַּאת הַכִּפֻּרִים אַחַת בַּשָּׁנָה יְכַפֵּר עָלָיו לְדֹרֹתֵיכֶם קֹדֶשׁ קָדָשִׁים הוּא לַי־הוָה.

^{Exod 30:10} And Aaron shall perform purgation^[14] upon its horns once a year with blood of the purification offering of purgation, once a year purgation shall be performed upon it throughout your generations; it is holy of holies to YHWH.

This passage refers to the Yom Kippur ritual (Lev 16), which includes the placing of sacrificial blood on the altar^[15] in order to effect purgation^[16] after the sanctuary has been defiled by impurity and by sin.^[17] The ritual purges the sanctuary of its contamination and (re)consecrates it (Lev 16:19).^[18]

The contamination of the sanctuary, Leviticus points out, is inevitable:

^{ויקרא טז:טז} וְכִפֶּר עַל הַקֹּדֶשׁ מִטֻּמְאֹת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וּמִפִּשְׁעֵיהֶם לְכָל חַטֹּאתָם וְכֵן יַעֲשֶׂה לְאֹהֶל מוֹעֵד הַשֹּׁכֵן אִתָּם בְּתוֹךְ טֻמְאֹתָם.

^{Lev 16:16} And he shall purge the holy place from the impurities of the Israelites and from their transgressions in all of their sins, and thus shall he do for the Tent of Meeting, that dwells with them in the midst of their impurities.

That God might dwell amongst the people is a contradiction in terms. God’s sanctuary must be pure and sacred; people inevitably sin and become impure.

In fact, in the book of Exodus the very possibility of God being in the midst of the people is called into question.^[19] After the people sin by worshipping the golden calf, God informs Moses that God will not be able to go in the midst of the people:

^{שׁמות לג:ג} ...כִּי לֹא אֶעֱלֶה בְּקִרְבְּךָ כִּי עַם קְשֵׁה עֹרֶף אַתָּה פֶּן אֲכֶלְךָ בַּדָּרֶךְ.

^{Exod 33:3} “But I will not go in your midst, since you are a stiffnecked people, lest I destroy you on the way.”

Abraham Ibn Ezra (1089–1167) points out the clear implication:

^{אבן עזרא שמות [ארוך] לג:ג} לא יעשה משכן, כי לא אשכון בתוך בני ישראל.

^{Ibn Ezra Exod [long] 33:3} They will not erect the tabernacle, for I will not rest in the midst of Israel.

While Moses, after extended prayer and negotiation, is able to achieve reconciliation between God and the people, and plans for constructing the tabernacle do, finally, get communicated and enacted,^[20] the episode of the golden calf highlights the problematic nature of the tabernacle. That God promises to dwell among the people challenges the community to live a life of purity, but inevitably people, as merely human, will sin and become defiled. And that defilement makes it impossible for God to be present in their midst; it undermines the very possibility of a sacred, pure dwelling place for God.

Thus, the Yom Kippur ritual is necessary to purge that dwelling place from the contamination effected by the impurities and sins of the people.^[21] The incense altar serves a key function in that purgation ritual, and this function is highlighted, alongside the incense offering function, in the Exodus passage.

The Reset Function of the Incense Altar

Exodus 25–29 is focused on the tabernacle as consecrated during the days of the inauguration: holy and pure. Thus, there is no place for the purgation function of the incense altar. But after this passage concludes with the anticipation that God will dwell in this sacred sanctuary, Moses is instructed to create an instrument whose mechanism is to restore the tabernacle’s purity and sanctity when it is inevitably defiled.

The incense altar, then, serves as a sort of reset button. It is built into the system, but it stands apart from it. The tabernacle is a structure that is meant to be an abode for God in our midst. When it becomes defiled because it dwells in our midst, there is an option to “restore to factory settings”—the purgation ritual performed on the altar restores the tabernacle to its initial state of purity and reconsecrates it.

Leviticus’ Literary Structure Continues to Parallel Exodus

I noted earlier that Leviticus’ narrative of the inauguration of the tabernacle and subsequent incense offering parallels Exodus’ tabernacle and incense altar instructions. It turns out that these parallels extend to the purgation function of the incense altar as well.

Except that something intervenes: five chapters appear between the narrative of the inauguration and of the events of the eighth day (Lev 8–10) and the description of the purgation ritual involving the incense altar (Lev 16). We read about which creatures of land, water, and air may be eaten and which may not be eaten (ch. 11). We learn about impurity in the aftermath of giving birth (ch. 12). We are given elaborate details of the skin disease tzara‘at as well as tzara‘at of garments and houses (chs. 13–14). And we are told about impurity from different kinds of bodily emissions (ch. 15).

But, in fact, this interposition fits its context perfectly. Right after the death of Nadav and Avihu, God tells Aaron that it is the priests’ task:

^{ויקרא י:י} וּלֲהַבְדִּיל בֵּין הַקֹּדֶשׁ וּבֵין הַחֹל וּבֵין הַטָּמֵא וּבֵין הַטָּהוֹר.

^{Lev 10:10} “to distinguish between what is holy and what is mundane and between what is impure and what is pure.”^[22]

The laws that follow are all about impurity, about what sources of impurity are to be avoided and about what to do when one inevitably becomes impure. Near their conclusion, God says:

^{ויקרא טו:לא} וְהִזַּרְתֶּם אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל מִטֻּמְאָתָם וְלֹא יָמֻתוּ בְּטֻמְאָתָם בְּטַמְּאָם אֶת מִשְׁכָּנִי אֲשֶׁר בְּתוֹכָם.

^{Lev 15:31} “And you shall separate the Israelites from their impurity, that they not die because of their impurity, by defiling my dwelling that is in their midst.”

Thus, chapters 11–15 provide an illustration of the reality that the purgation ritual of chapter 16 is designed to address, linking that ritual to the essential nature of the sacred place that has just been inaugurated and to the role of the priests to maintain the sanctity and purity of that place. They are, in a sense, a long parenthetical passage between the narrative of the tabernacle’s inauguration and chapter 16.

And so, just as the incense offering of Nadav and Avihu immediately follows the appearance of God’s glory in the tabernacle, enacting the role of the incense that Seforno highlights, the purgation ritual on the incense altar follows this culmination of the tabernacle’s inauguration as well. The two, in fact, are linked in the text, as the purgation ritual is said to be communicated to Moses אַחֲרֵי מוֹת שְׁנֵי בְּנֵי אַהֲרֹן, “after the death of Aaron’s two sons” (16:1).^[23]

Can God Dwell in the People’s Midst?

The explanation of the place of the instructions for the incense altar in Exodus in relation to its purgation function helps explain, and is corroborated by, the structure of Leviticus 8–16, the narrative of the inauguration of the tabernacle followed by laws of impurity and purity and then by the Yom Kippur ritual of purgation. It also calls to the fore the essential paradox of the tabernacle—a dwelling place for God in the midst of a human community.

It highlights a core theme of Exodus’ narrative of redemption: How can human beings seek to form a community in which God might be present in their midst, and how can God continue to be present in the midst of a human community that will inevitably fail to constitute a sinless and pure home for God’s presence?