Exodus 40:26-27

40:26 And he put the gold altar in the tent of meeting in front of the curtain, 40:27 and he burned fragrant incense on it, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Exodus 30:1-5

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  30:4 You are to make two gold rings for it under its border, on its two flanks; you are to make them on its two sides. ¹¹  The rings ¹²  will be places ¹³  for poles to carry it with. 30:5 You are to make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.

Exodus 35:25-28

35:25 Every woman who was skilled ¹⁴  spun with her hands and brought what she had spun, blue, purple, or scarlet yarn, or fine linen, 35:26 and all the women whose heart stirred them to action and who were skilled ¹⁵  spun goats’ hair.

35:27 The leaders brought onyx stones and other gems to be mounted ¹⁶  for the ephod and the breastpiece, 35:28 and spices and olive oil for the light, for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense.

Exodus 37:25-28

The Making of the Altar of Incense

37:25 He made the incense altar of acacia wood. Its length was a foot and a half and its width a foot and a half – a square – and its height was three feet. Its horns were of one piece with it. ¹⁷  37:26 He overlaid it with pure gold – its top, ¹⁸  its four walls, ¹⁹  and its horns – and he made a surrounding border of gold for it. ²⁰  37:27 He also made ²¹  two gold rings for it under its border, on its two sides, on opposite sides, ²²  as places ²³  for poles to carry it with. 37:28 He made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold.

John 14:6

14:6 Jesus replied, ²⁴  “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. ²⁵  No one comes to the Father except through me.

Hebrews 9:24

9:24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with hands – the representation ²⁶  of the true sanctuary ²⁷  – but into heaven itself, and he appears now in God’s presence for us.

Hebrews 10:19-22

Drawing Near to God in Enduring Faith

10:19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, ²⁸  since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, 10:20 by the fresh and living way that he inaugurated for us ²⁹  through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, ³⁰  10:21 and since we have a great priest ³¹  over the house of God, 10:22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in the assurance that faith brings, ³²  because we have had our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience ³³  and our bodies washed in pure water.

Hebrews 10:1

Concluding Exposition: Old and New Sacrifices Contrasted

10:1 For the law possesses a shadow of the good things to come but not the reality itself, and is therefore completely unable, by the same sacrifices offered continually, year after year, to perfect those who come to worship. ³⁴ 

Hebrews 2:1-2

Warning Against Drifting Away

2:1 Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. 2:2 For if the message spoken through angels ³⁵  proved to be so firm that every violation ³⁶  or disobedience received its just penalty,

[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.

[30:4]  ¹¹ sn Since it was a small altar, it needed only two rings, one on either side, in order to be carried. The second clause clarifies that the rings should be on the sides, the right and the left, as you approach the altar.

[30:4]  ¹² tn Heb “And it”; this refers to the rings collectively in their placement on the box, and so the word “rings” has been used to clarify the referent for the modern reader.

[30:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “for houses.”

[35:25]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “wisdom of heart,” which means that they were skilled and could make all the right choices about the work.

[35:26]  ¹⁵ tn The text simply uses a prepositional phrase, “with/in wisdom.” It seems to be qualifying “the women” as the relative clause is.

[35:27]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and stones of the filling.”

[37:25]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “from it were its horns,” meaning that they were made from the same piece.

[37:26]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “roof.”

[37:26]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “its walls around.”

[37:26]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and he made for it border gold around.”

[37:27]  ²¹ tn Heb “and he made.”

[37:27]  ²² sn Since it was a small altar, it needed only two rings, one on either side, in order to be carried. The second mention of their location clarifies that they should be on the sides, the right and the left, as one approached the altar.

[37:27]  ²³ tn Heb “for houses.”

[14:6]  ²⁴ tn Grk “Jesus said to him.”

[14:6]  ²⁵ tn Or “I am the way, even the truth and the life.”

[9:24]  ²⁶ tn Or “prefiguration.”

[9:24]  ²⁷ tn The word “sanctuary” is not in the Greek text at this point, but has been supplied for clarity.

[10:19]  ²⁸ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 2:11.

[10:20]  ²⁹ tn Grk “that he inaugurated for us as a fresh and living way,” referring to the entrance mentioned in v. 19.

[10:20]  ³⁰ sn Through his flesh. In a bold shift the writer changes from a spatial phrase (Christ opened the way through the curtain into the inner sanctuary) to an instrumental phrase (he did this through [by means of] his flesh in his sacrifice of himself), associating the two in an allusion to the splitting of the curtain in the temple from top to bottom (Matt 27:51; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45). Just as the curtain was split, so Christ’s body was broken for us, to give us access into God’s presence.

[10:21]  ³¹ tn Grk “and a great priest,” continuing the construction begun in v. 19.

[10:22]  ³² tn Grk “in assurance of faith.”

[10:22]  ³³ sn The phrase our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience combines the OT imagery of the sprinkling with blood to give ritual purity with the emphasis on the interior cleansing provided by the new covenant: It is the heart that is cleansed and the conscience made perfect (cf. Heb 8:10; 9:9, 14; 10:2, 16).

[10:1]  ³⁴ tn Grk “those who approach.”

[2:2]  ³⁵ sn The message spoken through angels refers to the OT law, which according to Jewish tradition was mediated to Moses through angels (cf. Deut 33:2; Ps 68:17-18; Acts 7:38, 53; Gal 3:19; and Jub. 1:27, 29; Josephus, Ant. 15.5.3 [15.136]).

[2:2]  ³⁶ tn Grk “through angels became valid and every violation.”