Bible chapter guide

Exodus 30

The altar of incense, overlaid with gold, set before the veil; the half-shekel ransom money for every man counted; the bronze basin for washing; the holy anointing oil and the holy incense, never to be copied for common use.

Summary written for the Labs; read the chapter itself for the full text.

What happens in this chapter

The last piece of furniture is a small gold altar for incense, one cubit square and two high, set in front of the veil, where Aaron burns incense every morning and evening as he tends the lamps. Four more orders follow. Every man counted in a census pays half a shekel as a ransom, the rich no more and the poor no less, and the money goes to the service of the tent. A bronze basin stands between the tent and the altar so the priests can wash their hands and feet, and Moses is given the recipes for the anointing oil and the incense, both forbidden for private use.

What the lab shows, and where to look

Open the Altar of Incense: it stands in the middle of the holy place just in front of the veil, and the smoke rising from it is drawn by the lab, since the text does not describe it. Enter as a priest walks you through the court into the holy place, lit inside only by the lampstand, as it was when Aaron burned the evening incense. Outside, the Bronze Basin's size and shape are the lab's guess, marked speculative; Priest washing at the basin shows what it was for. The half-shekel turns up again at Silver Sockets: Exodus 38 says the census silver was cast into them.

Questions people ask

Was the incense altar inside or outside the veil?

Exodus puts it before the veil, in the holy place (30:6; 40:26). Hebrews 9:4 seems to place a gold incense object with the most holy place, and its Greek word can mean either an altar of incense or a censer: KJV and the Chinese Union Version both read 'censer'. Some read Hebrews as speaking of the altar's part in the Day of Atonement, when its incense was carried behind the veil; other commentators simply admit a difficulty.

Strongly supported

What was the half-shekel used for?

Every man of twenty and over paid the same half shekel when Israel was counted, as a ransom so that no plague would come (30:12–15). Exodus 38:25–27 says what became of it: the silver from 603,550 men came to a hundred talents and 1,775 shekels, enough to cast the hundred silver sockets under the boards and the veil, with the rest made into hooks and bands. Later Jewish practice made it a yearly temple tax, the background of Matthew 17:24.

Textually stated

What was in the holy anointing oil?

Liquid myrrh 500 shekels, sweet cinnamon 250, sweet calamus 250 and cassia 500, by the sanctuary shekel, with a hin of olive oil (30:23–24). It was used to anoint the tent, every piece of furniture and the priests, and anyone who copied it or put it on an outsider was to be cut off. The plant names are traditional identifications; the 'sweet calamus' in particular is uncertain.

Textually stated

See it in the Labs

People in this chapter

People in the court Priest washing at the basin

Also in this chapter

Bronze Basin Altar of Incense The priests' daily service Sweet incense The golden altar of incense

How sure can we be?

Textually stated
The basin stood between the tent and the altar.
Stated directly in the text.
Textually stated
It stood in the Holy Place, just outside the veil.
Exodus 30:6 puts it 'before the veil'; Hebrews 9:4 associates it with the Most Holy Place, which interpreters reconcile in different ways.
Textually stated
Sweet incense was burned on the golden altar every morning and every evening, when the lamps were tended.
Stated directly in the text; it was to be a 'perpetual incense before the LORD'.
Textually stated
Aaron and his sons kept the lamps in order from evening to morning, tending them each morning and lighting them each evening.
Stated directly in the text. Whether all seven lamps burned all day or only through the night is read both ways.
Textually stated
The incense was stacte, onycha, galbanum and pure frankincense in equal parts, seasoned with salt, and was not to be made for any other use.
Stated directly in the text; the exact identity of stacte, onycha and galbanum is debated.
Textually stated
The incense altar was 1 × 1 cubit and 2 cubits high, with horns.
Stated directly in the text.

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King James Version (KJV) Chinese Union Version, 1919 (Wikisource)