Exodus 30:34

30:34 The Lord said to Moses: “Take ¹  spices, gum resin, ²  onycha, ³  galbanum, ⁴  and pure frankincense ⁵  of equal amounts ⁶ 

Exodus 30:7

30:7 Aaron is to burn sweet incense ⁷  on it morning by morning; when he attends ⁸  to the lamps he is to burn incense. ⁹ 

Exodus 40:27

40:27 and he burned fragrant incense on it, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

[30:34]  ¹ tn The construction is “take to you,” which could be left in that literal sense, but more likely the suffix is an ethical dative, stressing the subject of the imperative.

[30:34]  ² sn This is from a word that means “to drip”; the spice is a balsam that drips from a resinous tree.

[30:34]  ³ sn This may be a plant, or it may be from a species of mollusks; it is mentioned in Ugaritic and Akkadian; it gives a pungent odor when burnt.

[30:34]  ⁴ sn This is a gum from plants of the genus Ferula; it has an unpleasant odor, but when mixed with others is pleasant.

[30:34]  ⁵ tn The word “spice is repeated here, suggesting that the first three formed half of the ingredient and this spice the other half – but this is conjecture (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 400).

[30:34]  ⁶ tn Heb “of each part there will be an equal part.”

[30:7]  ⁷ tn The text uses a cognate accusative (“incense”) with the verb “to burn” or “to make into incense/sweet smoke.” Then, the noun “sweet spices” is added in apposition to clarify the incense as sweet.

[30:7]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew is בְּהֵיטִיבוֹ (bÿhetivo), a Hiphil infinitive construct serving in a temporal clause. The Hebrew verb means “to make good” and so in this context “to fix” or “to dress.” This refers to cleansing and trimming the lamps.

[30:7]  ⁹ sn The point of the little golden altar of incense is normally for intercessory prayer, and then at the Day of Atonement for blood applied atonement. The instructions for making it show that God wanted his people to make a place for prayer. The instructions for its use show that God expects that the requests of his people will be pleasing to him.