The Bronze Basin, Anointing Oil, and Incense (Exodus 30:17-37)

17 The Lord said to Moses, 18 “You shall also make a basin of bronze, with its stand of bronze, for washing. You shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it, 19 with which Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet. 20 When they go into the tent of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn a food offering to the Lord, they shall wash with water, so that they may not die. 21 They shall wash their hands and their feet [as they entered the tabernacle barefoot], so that they may not die. It shall be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his offspring throughout their generations.” [The emphasis of this passage is on the use of the basin not the design. The hands that touched the sacrifices and the feet that walked into the tabernacle had to be washed to remove dirt and to make the priest of God symbolically pure before him so as to be able to serve worthily in his house. How important is this rule? In the New Testament baptism signifies this achievement of purity before the Lord through the forgiveness of our sins.]

22 The Lord said to Moses, 23 “Take the finest spices: of liquid myrrh 500 shekels, and of sweet-smelling cinnamon half as much, that is, 250, and 250 of aromatic cane, 24 and 500 of cassia, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and a hin of olive oil [a gallon]. 25 And you shall make of these a sacred anointing oil blended as by the perfumer; it shall be a holy anointing oil. [All the ingredients blended into the gallon of oil would most likely produce a paste. A perfumer would filter the paste yield an oil that had the essence of the fragrances strongly present within it. Then this oil might have been diluted with additional oil when used.] 26 With it you shall anoint the tent of meeting and the ark of the testimony, 27 and the table and all its utensils, and the lampstand and its utensils, and the altar of incense, 28 and the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils and the basin and its stand. 29 You shall consecrate them, that they may be most holy. Whatever touches them will become [“must be”] holy. 30 You shall anoint Aaron and his sons [so that they smell better than sweaty bodies usually do], and consecrate them, that they may serve me as priests. [The anointing of all these objects and of the priests showed they were set aside for God, consigning them to his realm and special possession.] 31 And you shall say to the people of Israel, ‘This shall be my holy anointing oil throughout your generations [permanently]. 32 It shall not be poured on the body of an ordinary person, and you shall make no other like it in composition. It is holy, and it shall be holy to you. 33 Whoever compounds any like it or whoever puts any of it on an outsider shall be cut off from his people.’” [Lice were a real problem in ancient Israel and oiling one’s head and hair was a way to kill them and could have been one of the reasons God made this requirement.]

34 The Lord said to Moses, “Take sweet spices, stacte [gragrant resin found in the bark of the Myrrh bush], and onycha [a powder obtained by scraping the shell cover of Red Sea mollusks], and galbanum [a strong-smelling resin from the stem of a Ferula plant that allowed other ingredients to maintain their scent over a long period of time], sweet spices with pure frankincense [a resin from Boswellia trees] (of each shall there be an equal part) [the spices cannot be confidently identified except for frankincense], 35 and make an incense blended as by the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy. Why was salt added?] 36 You shall beat some of it very small, and put part of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting where I shall meet with you. It shall be most holy for you. 37 And the incense that you shall make according to its composition, you shall not make for yourselves. It shall be for you holy to the Lord. 38 Whoever makes any like it to use as perfume shall be cut off from his people.” [Why is this penalty so harsh?]