From all this it may perhaps be inferred that the use of incense was introduced not long before the time of Jeremiah (in G* it is referred to as rare, costly, unnecessary). It may have been connected with the gradual refinement of the cultus, the ex- tension of commerce, and the contagion of the rites of heathen religions (cf. Jer ll'-"- " 48 ', 2 Ch 34^).
In P incense has a very extensive use, and is regarded as extremely sacred. It wa.s to be used with every meal ottering (Lv 2'-'-' etc.), as well as to be ottered alone, in which latter case it safe- guarded the high priest on the Day of Atonement wlicn he entered the Holy of Holies (Lv IG'-') ; and it made atonement for the people after tho rebellion of Korah (Nu 17"'- [Eng. 16"']). The holy incense w.is to be prepared according to a special recipe (Ex 30*"-) from stacte, onyclia, and galbanum (see sep. arts, on these words), along with pure frankincense — an equal weight of ejicli (see Dillm. ad loc.). Josephus states that there were thirteen ingredients used in his day, and that a great store of these w.os always kept in the temple (BJ v. v. 5, VI. viii. 3). It was forbidden (Ex 30''"-) to imitate this preparation for private use ; to bum it was the prerogative of the high priest ; the presumption of the Korahitesin taking It upon them to bum incense was punished with death (Nu IG ; cf. tho Chronicler's account of Uzziah's leprosy, 2 Ch 2G""'-) ; Aaron's own sons died for ottering it improperly (Lv 10"-).
Nothing shows more clearly the L'lowing im- portance attached by P to incense than the c'r- cumstance that finally an altar of incense (nsip nitJiTO) is introduced. Of this there is no trace in Solomon's temple (1 K 7" being part of what ia otherwise known to be a late passage), ami in the account of the Tabernacle it is generally admitted that the mention of the incense altar conies in awkwardly at the end (Ex 30'"-). Hence the majority of moilern critics are disposed to assign the mention of this altar to a late stratum of P. It is pointed out, for instance, that even in the ritual of tho Day of Atonement (Lv 16 [P]) it is not ujHjn an altar but with censers (wh. see) that incense is ollcred (v.'^). Even Pseudollccatanis {ii/>. .I08. c. Ap. i. '22) mentions nothing na U'lng in the interior of the temple but the candlestick and a golden /juM^t, which proliably refers to the table of tho shewbrejul (cf. Elk 41" 44", »'ith Davidson's
* 'The root kaiam in Arsbio wignitlc* to txAaU an odour i» roasting ' (PriTer on Am fi^)
468
INCENSE
INDIA
and Bertholet's notes). Dillmann, wlio does not share Wellliausen's scepticism as to the existence of an altar of incense, admits that at least Kx 30'" is an addition to the ori;;inal law, designed for the purpose of suppleinpntinj Lv 10""'. On this qms- tion, as well as on tlie position of the altar, and the ditliculty occasioned by He 9% see Incense Altar under art. TAliEUNACLE.
According to Ex 30"- incense had to be ofTered on the altar every morning and evening (cf. Joma iii. 5). The Mishnic tract Tamid gives a full account of the ritual of the moruin": service, which may possibly be fairly correct for NT limes, although it is of little value for our knowledge of the ritual some centuries earlier. We are told, inter alia, that it was the custom to decide by lot which of the priests were to perform the various functions (cf. Joma ii. 4), amongst which the oU'ering of incense was counted siiecially solemn, although it was no longer the exclusive prerogative of the high priest. John llyrcanus (Jos. Ant. XJII. X. 3) and Zacharias (Lk l"'-") are both said to have received a divine revelation while engaged in this act. In oli'ering the incense, fire was taken from the altar of bumt-oll'ering and carried into the temple, where it was laid upon the incense altar, and then the incense was emptied from a golden vessel upon the fire. See a full account in Schiirer, HJP II. i. 295.
The use of incense in the temple may have been partly for antiseptic fumigation, but it is largely explained by the partiality of the Oriental to sweet odours. He enjoys these himself, and he oirers them to those whom he desires to honour (cf. Dn 2^^). In India it was customary to scent the roads when the king went out (Curt. vill. ix. 23) ; when Xerxes crossed the Hellespont, incense was burnt on the bridge (Herod, vii. 54) ; as Alexander the Great marched against Babylon, there were altars erected to him and incense burnt (Curt. V. i. 20). It is easy to see how such customs could be transferred to the eultus, in honour of the object of worship. If this cannot be proved for some other Oriental nations, at least it is certain in the case of such neighbours of Israel as the Phffinicians (2 K 23', Jer V 11'^ 32-'» 44"»-, Hos 2"), the Babylonians (Herod, i. 183, possibly Is 65^), and the Egyptians (Plutarch, Isid. 81 ; Dioscor. i. 24). Cf., further, 1 K ll*, 2 K 22", Jer 1" 19", Ezk 6" 23^'. In Israel incense was supposed to be specially acceptable to J" (Dt 33'°), and, as we have seen, to have an atoning efficacy (Nu 17'"' [Eng. 16*"-]). See the very full and interesting note of Dillmann, Ex-Lv^, p. 359 f., from which the above illustrations are taken. AVe may add the explanation of the religious value of frank- incense suggested by \V. K. Smith (i?5' 406): ' frankincense was the gum of a very holy species of tree, which was collected with religious pre- cautions ... it apiiears to have owed its virtue, like the gum of the samora tree, to the idea that it was the blood of an animate and divine plant.'