Perfume (P'^y^, titter, n-itip, ketoretk). The strong and offensive exhalations of animal bodies in a hot climate nnist be regarded as the original cause of the high value (Prov. xxvii, 9) ascribed to perfumery, and its generally extended use (see Anoint; Oil; and comp. Plut. De hide, ch. 80), although luxury and self- indulgence had much to do with its extension and re- finement. It is still customary in the Orient, as it was of old, to perfume thoroughly not only rooms, clothing, etc. (comp. Cant, iii, G), but in the houses of chief per- sons to sprinkle perfumes on the persons of guests, at their arrival or departure (comp. Maundrell, Irav. p. 40 sq. ; Harmer, Obs. ii, 83 sq. ; Rosenmuller, Mor- (jenland, iy, 157). On anointing the beard, see Beard. Perfumed fans were carried (Curt, viii, 9, 23) before princes ; and at their public entry into cities altars of incense were erected on the streets (Herodian, iv, 8, 19; Rosenmiiller, Morgenkind, iv, 195). Such attestation of honor and means of enjoyment were at an earh' period transferred also to the gods, in the belief that they in- haled with pleasure the odors offered them (IJeut. xxxiii, 10), and this burning of incense is hence very often alluded to among the ceremonies of heathen religions (1 Kings xi, 8 ; 2 Kings xxii, 17; xxiii, 5; Jer. i, IG; vii, 9; xliv, 3 sq. ; Hoseaii, 13; xi, 2; Isa. Ixv, 3 ; 2 Chron. xxv, 14 ; xxviii, 3 ; Ezek. vi, 13 ; xxiii, 41 ; 1 Mace, ii, 15. Comp. Iliad, vi, £69 sq. ; Virg. ^^n. i, 420 sq. ; Ovid, Fasti, i, £39 sq. ; ii, 573; Aristoph. V(sp. 94 sq. ; Lucian, Jvp. Trar/ced. 45; Plinj-, xiii, 1). Some deities were worshipped with no other offerings than incense and perfumes (Biihr, Syinhol. i, 478), but their use was also included in the instituted worship of Jehovah (Deut. xxxiii, 10), for the Israelites were required to add sacred incense to manj- of their sacrifices, which was burned with them on the altar (Lev. ii, 1 sq. ; xvi, 6, 15) ; and daily, morning and evening, in trimming and lighting their lamps, an especial incense-oftering was made upon its own separate altar over against the ark of the cov- enant (Exod. xl, 27 ; xxx, 7 sq. Comp. Luke i, 9). No doubt the incense was useful in destroying the damp vapors in the confined space of the sanctuaiy, as well as the exhalations frcm the animals burned as sacrifices (Rosenmullcr on Exod. xxx, 7), but the pur- pose of the incense seems to have been religious. Thus the seer of the Apocalypse represents the angel in the heavenly sanctuary as burning incense after the type of the earthh'. But it does not follow, because incense and prayer were often united (Jer. i, 10; Psa. cxli, 2; Biihr's other citations are irrelevant), that in the Jew- ish sanctuary the incense -oflering had sensualized prayer (comp. Ilofmann, Weissag. i, 144 sq.). Still less can we adopt Biihr's view {Spiibol. i, 4G2 sq.) that incense is a symbol of God's name, invoked in prayer. Besides the ingredients of this incense enumerated in Exod. xxx, 38, the Talmud adds seven other compo- nents, and hence calls the whole the eleven odt. rs ("inx ■^JTa-O "ITU", Midrash Shir Ilashir, xii, 4; xxi, 3; and R. Abr. ben-David, Comm. de svffiiu ex Shille Ilaggihor. in Ugolini Thesnur. xi). According to the Talmud, half a pound of this incense was to be burned morning and evening (Gem. Shebuoth, x, 2. See esp. Lightfoot, Ilor. Hebr. p. 715). Exaggerated accounts are given as to the distance from Jerusalem at which the incense could be smelled (Mishna, Tamid, iii, 8). The most important incense-offering was that which the high- priest made before the ark of the covenant on tlie great day of atonement (Lev. xvi, 12 sq.). The man- agement of the daily incense in the second Temple is detailed in the Mishna (Tamid, 5, G). One priest carried incense in a vessel (CIS), another burning coals
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from the altar of burnt -offering in a golden censer (q. v.), and, passing into the holy place, the latter scattered the coals upon the altar of incense, and the former spread the incense upon them (Tanikl, i, 2 sq.). These priestly duties, like the others of the office (1 Sam. ii, 28 ; 2 Ciiron. xxvi, 18), were daily distributed bj' lot (comp. Luke i, 9). But, according to the Mish- na {Tamid, v, 2 ; Yoma, ii, 4), those priests who had once performed the office M'ere afterwards shut out from the lot, on the ground that, as the Gemara says that this dutj' enriches with divine blessings (Deut. xxxiii, 10 sq.), this advantage might thus be as wide- 1}' distributed as possilile. (On these later Jewish su- perstitions, see G. Michaelis, Ohsei-vat. Sacr. p. 71 sq.) It is possible that the distinction which this office gave the priest, bringing him into the nearest relation with the Deitj' of all the duties of the sanctuary, rendered such an arrangement proper. Perhaps also the be- lief that tlie special revelations of God would be made first to the priest thus officiating, may have contributed to cause this duty to be equally divided. (Comp. Jo- seph. Ant. xiii, 10, 3 ; Luke i, 11, and Wetstein, ad loc.} During the burning of incense in the sanctuarj' the people stood praying in the court (Luke i, 10), and, after the fulfilment of his office, they received from the priest his blessing (Reland, Antiq. Sacr. ii, 5, 5). The burning of incense to the honor of Jehovah out of the national sanctuar\', on high places, or in cities, was accounted illegal after David's time (1 Kings iii, 3 ; xxii, 44 ; 2 Kings xii, 3 ; xv, 4 ; xvi, 4. Comp. 2 Chron. xxxii, 12 ; 1 Mace, i, 58). In the idolatries of the ten tribes of Israel, arranged by Jeroboam, the burning of incense found a place (1 Kings xiii, 1 ; 2 Kings xvii, 11). See Carpzov, Apj)ar. p. 275 sq. ; Braun, Selecta Sacr. p. 225 sq. ; Schlichter, De suffiiu sacr. Hebr. (Hal. 1754). — Winer, ii, 303. See Incense.