Exodus 30:1-3

The Altar of Incense

30:1 ¹ “You are to make an altar for burning incense; ²  you are to make it of ³  acacia wood. ⁴  30:2 Its length is to be a foot and a half ⁵  and its width a foot and a half; it will be square. Its height is to be three feet, ⁶  with its horns of one piece with it. ⁷  30:3 You are to overlay it with pure gold – its top, ⁸  its four walls, ⁹  and its horns – and make a surrounding border of gold for it. ¹⁰ 

Exodus 30:1

The Altar of Incense

30:1 ¹¹ “You are to make an altar for burning incense; ¹²  you are to make it of ¹³  acacia wood. ¹⁴ 

Exodus 6:20

6:20 Amram married ¹⁵  his father’s sister Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses. (The length of Amram’s life was 137 years.)

Exodus 6:22

6:22 The sons of Uzziel were Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri.

Exodus 7:1-2

7:1 So the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God ¹⁶  to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. ¹⁷  7:2 You are to speak ¹⁸  everything I command you, ¹⁹  and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh that he must release ²⁰  the Israelites from his land.

Exodus 4:19

4:19 The Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go back ²¹  to Egypt, because all the men who were seeking your life are dead.” ²² 

Revelation 8:3

8:3 Another ²³  angel holding ²⁴  a golden censer ²⁵  came and was stationed ²⁶  at the altar. A ²⁷  large amount of incense was given to him to offer up, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar that is before the throne.

[30:1]  ¹ sn Why this section has been held until now is a mystery. One would have expected to find it with the instructions for the other furnishings. The widespread contemporary view that it was composed later does not answer the question, it merely moves the issue to the work of an editor rather than the author. N. M. Sarna notes concerning the items in chapter 30 that “all the materials for these final items were anticipated in the list of invited donations in 25:3-6” and that they were not needed for installing Aaron and his sons (Exodus [JPSTC], 193). Verses 1-10 can be divided into three sections: the instructions for building the incense altar (1-5), its placement (6), and its proper use (7-10).

[30:1]  ² tn The expression is מִזְבֵּחַ מִקְטַר קְטֹרֶת (mizbeakh miqtar qÿtoret), either “an altar, namely an altar of incense,” or “an altar, [for] burning incense.” The second noun is “altar of incense,” although some suggest it is an active noun meaning “burning.” If the former, then it is in apposition to the word for “altar” (which is not in construct). The last noun is “incense” or “sweet smoke.” It either qualifies the “altar of incense” or serves as the object of the active noun. B. Jacob says that in order to designate that this altar be used only for incense, the Torah prepared the second word for this passage alone. It specifies the kind of altar this is (Exodus, 828).

[30:1]  ³ tn This is an adverbial accusative explaining the material used in building the altar.

[30:1]  ⁴ sn See M. Haran, “The Uses of Incense in Ancient Israel Ritual,” VT 10 (1960): 113-15; N. Glueck, “Incense Altars,” Translating and Understanding the Old Testament, 325-29.

[30:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “a cubit.”

[30:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “two cubits.”

[30:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “its horns from it.”

[30:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “roof.”

[30:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “its walls around.”

[30:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and make for it border gold around.” The verb is a consecutive perfect. See Exod 25:11, where the ark also has such a molding.

[30:1]  ¹¹ sn Why this section has been held until now is a mystery. One would have expected to find it with the instructions for the other furnishings. The widespread contemporary view that it was composed later does not answer the question, it merely moves the issue to the work of an editor rather than the author. N. M. Sarna notes concerning the items in chapter 30 that “all the materials for these final items were anticipated in the list of invited donations in 25:3-6” and that they were not needed for installing Aaron and his sons (Exodus [JPSTC], 193). Verses 1-10 can be divided into three sections: the instructions for building the incense altar (1-5), its placement (6), and its proper use (7-10).

[30:1]  ¹² tn The expression is מִזְבֵּחַ מִקְטַר קְטֹרֶת (mizbeakh miqtar qÿtoret), either “an altar, namely an altar of incense,” or “an altar, [for] burning incense.” The second noun is “altar of incense,” although some suggest it is an active noun meaning “burning.” If the former, then it is in apposition to the word for “altar” (which is not in construct). The last noun is “incense” or “sweet smoke.” It either qualifies the “altar of incense” or serves as the object of the active noun. B. Jacob says that in order to designate that this altar be used only for incense, the Torah prepared the second word for this passage alone. It specifies the kind of altar this is (Exodus, 828).

[30:1]  ¹³ tn This is an adverbial accusative explaining the material used in building the altar.

[30:1]  ¹⁴ sn See M. Haran, “The Uses of Incense in Ancient Israel Ritual,” VT 10 (1960): 113-15; N. Glueck, “Incense Altars,” Translating and Understanding the Old Testament, 325-29.

[6:20]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “took for a wife” (also in vv. 23, 25).

[7:1]  ¹⁶ tn The word “like” is added for clarity, making explicit the implied comparison in the statement “I have made you God to Pharaoh.” The word אֱלֹהִים (’elohim) is used a few times in the Bible for humans (e.g., Pss 45:6; 82:1), and always clearly in the sense of a subordinate to GOD – they are his representatives on earth. The explanation here goes back to 4:16. If Moses is like God in that Aaron is his prophet, then Moses is certainly like God to Pharaoh. Only Moses, then, is able to speak to Pharaoh with such authority, giving him commands.

[7:1]  ¹⁷ tn The word נְבִיאֶךָ (nÿvi’ekha, “your prophet”) recalls 4:16. Moses was to be like God to Aaron, and Aaron was to speak for him. This indicates that the idea of a “prophet” was of one who spoke for God, an idea with which Moses and Aaron and the readers of Exodus are assumed to be familiar.

[7:2]  ¹⁸ tn The imperfect tense here should have the nuance of instruction or injunction: “you are to speak.” The subject is singular (Moses) and made emphatic by the presence of the personal pronoun “you.”

[7:2]  ¹⁹ tn The phrase translated “everything I command you” is a noun clause serving as the direct object of the verb “speak.” The verb in the clause (אֲצַוֶּךָ, ’atsavvekha) is the Piel imperfect. It could be classified as a future: “everything that I will command you.” A nuance of progressive imperfect also fits well: “everything that I am commanding you.”

[7:2]  ²⁰ tn The form is וְשִׁלַּח (vÿshillakh), a Piel perfect with vav (ו) consecutive. Following the imperfects of injunction or instruction, this verb continues the sequence. It could be taken as equal to an imperfect expressing future (“and he will release”) or subordinate to express purpose (“to release” = “in order that he may release”).

[4:19]  ²¹ tn The text has two imperatives, “Go, return”; if these are interpreted as a hendiadys (as in the translation), then the second is adverbial.

[4:19]  ²² sn The text clearly stated that Pharaoh sought to kill Moses; so this seems to be a reference to Pharaoh’s death shortly before Moses’ return. Moses was forty years in Midian. In the 18th dynasty, only Pharaoh Thutmose III had a reign of the right length (1504-1450 b.c.) to fit this period of Moses’ life. This would place Moses’ returning to Egypt near 1450 b.c., in the beginning of the reign of Amenhotep II, whom most conservatives identify as the pharaoh of the exodus. Rameses II, of course, had a very long reign (1304-1236). But if he were the one from whom Moses fled, then he could not be the pharaoh of the exodus, but his son would be – and that puts the date of the exodus after 1236, a date too late for anyone. See E. H. Merrill, Kingdom of Priests, 62.

[8:3]  ²³ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[8:3]  ²⁴ tn Grk “having.”

[8:3]  ²⁵ sn A golden censer was a bowl in which incense was burned. The imagery suggests the OT role of the priest.

[8:3]  ²⁶ tn The verb “to station” was used to translate ἑστάθη (Jestaqh) because it connotes the idea of purposeful arrangement in English, which seems to be the idea in the Greek.

[8:3]  ²⁷ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation. Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.