INCENSE
INCENSE
467
Thuu the I., properly understood, is a key to the history of the universe. All history, it lias heen said, is summed up in the three sentences, He is caminfr. He h'ts rome. He mil come again (cf. Rev 22'") ; and certainly tliis is the fundamental teach- ing of Scripture. If the OT foresees (Gal 3') the I., the NT develops its signilicance as an actual event, and persistently points to the return of the In- carnate as the {jo.ol of history. There is no reason for denying a certain advance in the intellectual apprehension and statement of the doctrine of the I. on the part of the apostles, so far as it can be clearly demonstrated. Indeed it is what we should a priori e.\pect. But in this article we have heen concerned with positive and detinito results, with the ultimate position which the NT assigns to Christ ; and it is contended that tlie divergent and varied testimonies of Holy Scripture can only bo satisfactorily adjusted and. reconciled by tlie belief that .Jesus of Nazareth wa.s not only the exjiected Messiah of propliccy, but in a unicjue and absolute sense divine : God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God.
Literature.— Ebrard in Heraogr's RE, 'Jesus Christus der Gottuierisch ■ ; Oeliler, Tlieol. of OT ; Weiss, Bill. Theal. of XT ; Dorner, P'-rson of Chriet; Hooker, Eet-Uitiaftical Polity, bit. v. $5 .'iu-.'iT ; Pearson, On the Crred ; Ilrow-ne. Expoitition of thf .39 Arliclef : An(lrcwe8,5ermOTW on the yutiinty ; Liddon, Batnpton Lecturer; Wilberforce, Doctrine o/ the Incarnation; Dale, The Atonement', Kairbairn. Christ in ilodern Theology; Bruce, The Uumiliation of Christ; Gore, Hampton Lectures; ^'QAt- coit, Christus Consummator; Kinizdon, frod Incarnate ; Ottley, Doct. o/ the Incarnation ; Adanison, Studies of the Mind \n Christ, For the apostolic belief in re^rd to Christ's Person see also Harnack, Uistory o/ /)0(/7na (introductory division).
R. L. Ottley.
INCENSE is AV tr" of two Heb. words which at first were finite distinct in meaning, altlioiigh latterly the second of them came to be pr.acticaily synonymous with the first. 1. .xn^, frankincense (wh. see), ij tr'' ' incense ' by AV in Is 4;i^ GO" 66^, Jer 6-" IT'-" 41', in all of which passages KV accurately substitutes ' frankincense.' The Gr. equivalent is Xifjavos, which appears in NT in Mt 2" and Kev W. 2. n■!l:^7 (in Dt S3" nTiap [cf. the prop, name Kchirah, ."iTDp], in Jer 44-' lap), generally reproduced in LXX by Bviila/xa or Ov- /iid/xttTa (cf. for NT usage Lk l'». Rev 5* 8='- 18'^ in the Last along with Xi^ai-os). In Kx 3(F- " RV substitutes 'incense ' (n-iL-p) for ' perfume,' in 2 Ch 2° ' burn incense ' (Tep.i) for ' burn sacrifice,' and in Rev 5* 18" ' incense ' (Sv/udfjiaTa) for ' odours ' of AV (cf. Rev 8»).
Frankincense was an inCTedient of the holy incen.se. Ex 30'*' ; it was used as incense, Jer C*' ; it was put on the meal oflering (Lv 2'- -• "• " G", cf. 5", Nu 5'°) ; also on tlie shewbread, Lv24'; one form of luxury was to burn it as a perfume, Ca 3' 4°- '■' ; along with gold it is mentioned as part of the tribute to be brought to Israel, Is 60" (cf. Mt 2" of the gifts of the Magi to the infant Jesus). Roth frankincense [Xijiayo^) and incense {Bv/jilaiw.) are mentioned amongst the merchandise of the apoca- lyptic Habylon, Rev 18". On the Arabian tradic in incense see AltAniA, vol. i. y. 134''.
The ottering of incense, which bulks so largely in the later ritual, ai)pears to have been unknown in the earlier stages of Israel's history. Well- hausen (who is followed in his conclusions more or less closely by Kuenen, Nowack, Renzinger, and many others) will have it that the first mention of ottering incense is in Jer G-*. In the older litera- ture icp,* according to him, always refers to the burning of the fat or the meal and making these go up in sweet smoke (cf. Lv 3' [I'] etc.) to .1", while the substantive n-fip in like manner has the
• Tlie fiel of thli verb is u»ed by the older wrlt«r». the Viphit by P and the Chronicler, while in Uip transition ncriod represented by the compiler of Kingv Ibe two formation! ar» used promiscuously.
quite general sense of what is bnmt upon the altar.* The meaning 'incense' belongs to it lor the first time \vith certainty in Ezekiel (8" IG" 23") ; subsequently the wortl occurs frequently in P, always in this sense ; elsewhere only in Pr 27°, where it is used not with a sacred but a secular application (EV 'perfume'). Even in such lata passa^'es as 1 S 2^, Ps GO" 14p WcUhausen denies that it means anj'thing more than sweet smcke, which is the sense he attributes to it in the only two certainly pre-exilic passages where it occurs. Is I" and Dt 33«' (otherwi.se Dillm. and Steueruagel, both of whom find the meaning ' incense ' in Dt 33'°, although Steuem.agel considers that this implies a pretty late date for the passage, which, however, he would make prior to P, because all Levites liave according to it tne prerogative of burning incense to J", whereas in P this duty and jinvilege is assigned only to the seed of Aaron ; cf. Nu 16"- " 17" [Eng. 16«]). Again, in Am 4«- S""-, Is 1"»-, Mic 6'''-, where we have detailed lists of ritual acts, there is no mention of incense, and J E as well as the books of Judges, Samuel, and Kings are equally silent, nj'inj', ' frankincense,' appears first in Jer (ji. 1726 4ii^ elsewhere only in P (Ex .30", Lv 2'- »■ "■ " 5" 6^24', Nu 5"), Deutero-Isaiah (Is 43^ GO' GO'), the Chronicler (1 Ch 9^), and Canticles (3" 4''-'<l.