2. Aaron, as high-priest, was criginalh^ appointed to offer incense, but in tne daily service of the second Tem- ple the office devolved upon the inferior priests, from among whom one was chosen by lot (IVIishna, yoma, ii,
INCENSE
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4; Luke i, 9) each morning and evening (Abarbanel, On Lev. X, 1). A peculiar blessing was supposed to be at- tached to this service, and in order that all might share in it, the lot was cast among those who were " new to the incense," if any remained (INIishna, Yoma, 1. c. ; Bar- tenora. On Tamvl, v, 2). Uzziah was punished for his presumption in attempting to infringe the prerogatives of the descendants of Aaron, who were consecrated to burn incense (2 Chron. xxvi, 16-21 ; Joseph. Ant. ix, 10, 4). The officiating priest appointed another, whose of- fice it was to take the fire from the brazen altar. Ac- cording to JMaimonides (Tamid Uinus, ii, 8; iii, 5), this fire was taken from the second pile, which was over against the 8.E. corner of the altar of biu-nt-offeruig, and was of fig-tree wood. A silver shovel (MJ^np, machiah) was first filled with the live coals, and after- ■warils emptied into a golden one, smaller than the for- mer, so that some of the coals were spilled fMishna, Tamid, v,b; Fomrr, iv, 4; comp. Rev. viii, 5). Another priest cleared the golden altar from the cinders which had been left at the previous oifering of License (Mish- na, Tamid, iii, 6, 9 ; vi, 1).
Tlie times of offering incense were specified in the instructions first given to iNIoses (Exod. xxx, 7, 8). The morning incense was offered when the lamps were trim- med in the holy place, and before the sacrifice, when the watchman sot for the purpose announced the break of day (INIishna, Yoma, iii, 1, 5). When the lamps were lighted •• lietween the evenings," after the evening sac- rifice and before the drink-offerings were offered, in- cense was again burnt on the golden altar wliich " be- longed to the oracle" (1 Kings vi, 22), and stood before the veil which separated the holy place from the Holy of Holies, the throne of God (Rev. viii, 4; Philo, De Anini. idon. § 3).
When the priest entered the holy place with the in- cense, all the people were removed from tlic Temple, and from between the porch and the altar (ilaimonides, Tamid Umu.^, iii, 3 ; comi)are Luke i, 10}. The incense was then brought from the house of Astines in a large vessel of gold called CjS {caph), in which was a phial (""^13, iazii-, proper!}^ "a salver") containing the incense (]VIishna, Tamid, v, 4). The assistant priests who at- tended to the lamps, the clearing of the golden altar from the cinders, and the fetching fire from the altar of burnt-offering, performed their offices singh-, bowed to- wards the ark of the covenant, and left the holy place before the priest, whose lot it was to offer incense, en- tered. Profound silence was observed among the con- gregation who were praying without (comp. Rev. viii, 1), and at a signal from the prefect the priest cast the incense on the fire (Mishna, Tamid, vi, 3), and, bowing reverently towards the Holy of HoUes, retired slowly backwards, not prolonging his prayer that he might not alarm the congregation, or cause them to fear that he had been struck dead for offering unworthily (Lev. xvi, 13; Luke i, 21; Mishna, Yoma, v, 1). When he came out he pronounced the blessing in Xumb. vi, 24-20, the "magrephah" sounded, and the Levites burst forth into song, accompanied by the full swell of the Temple mu- sic, the sountl of which, say the Rabbins, could be heard as far as Jericho (Jlishna, Tamid, iii, 8). It is possible that this may be alluded to in Rev. viii, 5. The priest then emptied the censer in a clean place, and hung it on one of the horns of the altar of burnt-offering. See Censer.
On the day of atonement the service was different. The high-jiriist. after >a<rificing the l)ullock as a sin- offering for himself and liis family, took incense in his left hand, and a golden shovel filletl with live coals from the west side of the brazen altar (Jarchi, On Lev. xvi, 12) in his right, and went into the Holy of Holies. He then placed the shovel upon the ark between the two bars. In the second Temple, where there was no ark, a stone was substituted. Then, sprinkling the incense upon the coals, he staved till the house was filled with
smoke, and, walking slowly backwards, came without tha veil, where he prayed for a short time (Jlaimonides, Yom hakkippin; (juoted by Ainsworth, On Lev. xvi ; Ou~ tram, De Sacrijidis, i, 8, § 11). See Atonejient, Day
OF.
3. With regard to the sjTnbolical meaning of incense, opinions have been many and widely different. While Maimonides regarded it merely as a perfume designed to counteract the effluvia arising from the beasts which were slaughtered for the daily sacrifice, other interpret- ers have allowed their imaginations to run riot, and vied with the wildest speculations of the Midrashim. I'hilo {Quis rer. div. hmr.sit. § 41, p. 501) conceives the stacte and onycha to be symbolical of water and earth ; galba- num and frankincense of air and fire. Josephus, follow- ing the traditions of his time, believed that the ingredi- ents of the incense were chosen from the products of the sea, the inhabited and the uninhabited parts of the earth, to indicate that all things are of God and for God (!)'<(/•, v, 5, 5). As the Temple or tabernacle was the palace of Jehovah, the theocratic king of Israel, and the ark of the covenant his throne, so the incense, in the opinion of some, corresponded to the perfumes in which the luxurious monarchs of the East delighted. It may mean all this, but it must mean much more. Grotius, on Exod. xxx, 1, says the mystical signification is '• sur- sum habenda corda." Cornelius h Lapide, on Exod. xxx, 34, considers it as an apt emblem of propitiation, and finds a symbolical meanmg in the several ingredi- ents. Fairbairn {Typology of Scripture, ii, 320), with many others, looks upon prayer as the reality of which incense is the symbol, founding his conclusion upon Psa. cxli, 2 ; Rev. V, 8 ; viii, 3, 4. Bahr {Symh. d. Mos. Cidt. vol. i, c. vi, § 4) opposes this view of the subject on the grouad that the chief thing in offering incense is not the producing of the smoke, which presses like prayer towards heaven, but the spreading of the fragrance. His own exposition may be summed up as l')liows. Prayer, among all Oriental nations, signifies calling upon tlie name of God. Tlie oldest prayers corsisted in tlie mere enumeration of the several titles of God. The Scripture places incense in close relationship to praver, so that offering ii:cense is S3'nonymous with worship. Hence incense itself is a symbol of the name of God. The ingredients of the incense correspond severally to the perfections of God, though it is impossible to decide to which of the four names of God each belongs. Per- haps stacte corresponds to iTliT|' {Jehovah), onycha to D'^njJN {Elohim), galbanum to "^n (chat), and frankin- cense to UJinp (Iddosh). Such is Biihr's exposition of the sj^mbolism of incense, rather ingenious than logical. Looking upon incense in connection with the other cer- emoTiial observances of the Mosaic ritual, it would rath- er seem to be symbolical, not of prayer itself, but of that which makes prayer acceptable, tlie intercession of Christ. In Rev. viii, 3, 4, the incense is spoken of as something distinct from, though offered with, the pray- ers of all the saints (comp. Luke i, 10) ; and ui Rev. v, 8 it is the golden vials, and not the odors or incense, which are said to be the prayers of saints. Psa. cxli, 2, at first sight, appears to militate against this conclusion ; but if it be argued from this passage that incense is an em- blem of prayer, it must also be allowed that the even- ing sacrifice has the same symbolical meaning. — Ivitto ; Smith. See Perfl'me.