INCENSE.

INCENSE.

Made of sweet-smelling spices and oils, incense had immense importance for ancient religious worship, commerce, romance, and daily life.

People of every age have loved fragrant odors. During sacrifices to tribal gods, primitive worshippers in many countries would pour out or burn incense to make the god happy-in fact, it was often feared that the god would reject the sacrifice if he or she did not like the smell. Spices and precious oils were as valuable to ancient peoples as silver and gold; the queen of Sheba brought spices to Solomon as a gift (1 Kings 10:2), and incense was kept in the royal treasury (2 Kings 20:13). Because of the difficult work of extracting the fragrant juices, as well as the cost of transporting them from faraway places, incense was highly expensive, and promised high profits to its producers.

In the biblical Song of Songs, lovers compare each other to “myrrh,” a “mountain of myrrh” and a “hill of frankincense” (Song of Songs 1:13; Song of Songs 4:6); the fragrance of incense sets the right mood for love (Song of Songs 1:12). Every kind of spice burned at King Solomon’s bedside (Song of Songs 3:6). A bridegroom delighted in the perfumes of his beloved, and described her as his own private garden of incense (Song of Songs 4:10-14). Even a prostitute burned incense beside her bed (Ezekiel 23:41). No wonder wise men said that “fragrant oil” makes the heart glad and the “sweetness of friendship” comforts the soul (see Proverbs 27:9).

TYPES OF INCENSE:
Frankincense is the type of incense mentioned most often in the Bible. It was imported from India, Somaliland, and Arabia Felix. Myrrh also came from Arabia Felix. Cinnamon was another important fragrance from Ceylon and China. Galbanum, tragacanth (gum), and laudanum were all grown in the mountains of Asia Minor. Galbanum was the most popular of these three, for it was also found in Turkestan, Persia, Syria, and Crete. Henna, saffron, and balsam came from aromatic plants native to Israel. Later in Israel’s history, other plants were introduced to Palestine and cultivated there: the rose, narcissus, and jasmine. Onycha seems to have been produced from the local fauna, and musk (muskin) may have been extracted from a gland of the musk deer.

Incense itself came in many forms. One could purchase tiny grains of it that would then be placed in a bag hung around the neck (Song of Songs 1:13). Usually, however, perfumes were liquids, dissolved in olive oil. A good example of this is the “holy anointing oil” (Exodus 30:31). The priests and kings of Israel were anointed with this oil; only priests were allowed to prepare and administer them. The incense contained raw spices, and the priest would beat these and then season them with salt to make them holy. Stacte, onycha, galbanum, and pure frankincense were mixed in equal proportions, all according to the art of the perfumer (Exodus 30:34-37). The spices and incense for the sanctuary were donated as gifts (Numbers 7:14-86; Jeremiah 17:26; Jeremiah 41:5) and kept in the temple (Nehemiah 13:5, 9) The Hebrew historian Josephus, who lived near the time of Christ, described the incense of his day as a much more complicated compound; he listed thirteen ingredients in the best incense.

INCENSE OFFERING:
Archaeologists have shown that people have offered incense to their gods as part of religious worship from ancient times. Egyptian paintings occasionally show a man holding a censer of burning incense. It appears that the rituals of Assyria, Babylonia, and Arabia also used incense. Canaanite altars found at Megiddo and Tell Beit Mirsim have horned limestone altars (tenth century BC) that may have been designed to hold a bowl of incense. Hence, we can assume that incense offerings played a part in Israel’s worship from the beginning.

Incense offerings were made for a multitude of purposes. They may have been used to drive away evil spirits (Exodus 30:26-29). Undoubtedly, the sweet smell of incense helped to cover up the putrid odor of the animal sacrifices. However, spices were never added to the flesh of the animals or birds.

In some instances, incense was burned by itself as part of a sacrifice. During a plague, Aaron performed a ritual of burning incense (Numbers 16:46-47). On the Day of Atonement, the high priest carried burning incense and hot coals on a pan (censer) into the Most Holy Place (Leviticus 16:12-13). The burning incense, it was thought, would protect the life of the high priest, perhaps because the smoke kept him from seeing the full glory of God.

Frankincense was added to grain for offerings on the altar of burnt offering (Leviticus 2:1, 15-16; Leviticus 6:15). It also accompanied the bread of the Presence (Leviticus 24:7) in two dishes. The bronze serpent destroyed by Hezekiah in his reform had become a profane object to which incense was burned (2 Kings 18:4).

Except on the Day of Atonement, the incense was offered on a special altar (Leviticus 4:7; see also Exodus 30:9), where it burned morning and evening and came to be called “perpetual incense” (Exodus 30:7-8). Probably the altar of gold in Solomon’s temple (1 Kings 6:20-22) was the incense altar.

Offering incense was a holy ritual, and people who offered it carelessly or disrespectfully were condemned (Leviticus 10:1-2; Numbers 16:6-50). Uzziah, the king of Judah, became a leper because he dared to offer incense (2 Chronicles 26:16-21). The burning of incense at “high places” is often criticized (see 1 Kings 22:43), either because this was an act of idolatry or because the priests were clumsy in the way they burned it. Prophets who criticized the offering of incense (Isaiah 1:13; Isaiah 66:3; Jeremiah 6:20) had nothing against incense per se; they were condemning empty ritual that lacked true devotion to Israel’s God.

MEANING OF INCENSE:
Since incense was so precious, it made a fitting offering to God (Malachi 1:11). Incense offerings also provided a tangible (or smell-able) sense of God’s holiness in which the people could experience atonement for sin (Numbers 16:46-47). The smoke rising to the sky symbolized the prayers of the people (Psalm 141:2; Luke 1:10; Revelation 5:8; Revelation 8:3-4). At the same time, the smoke in the temple symbolized the presence of God, just as it had once been portrayed by the cloud in the wilderness (Exodus 19:18; Exodus 33:9-10; Numbers 11:25). Together with the rising sun, the smoke provided a powerful symbol for the glory of the Lord (Isaiah 6:1-7).