Messianic Education Trust
		Tetzaveh   (Ex 27:20 - 30:10)

Shemot/Exodus 30:9   You shall not bring up on it strange incense, or a burnt offering, or a grain offering; a drink offering you shall not pour out on it.

View whole verse and interlinear translation ...

Remembering that biblical Hebrew does not use the imperative form with either negative particle,לֹא or אַל, it forms negative instructions by using the appropriate negative particle - לֹא meaning "not never", אַל meaning "not now" - followed by a second person prefix verb: "not // you-shall ..." Our text uses this syntactical device twice: as the first two words, לֹא־תַעֲלוּ, "not you shall bring up", and the penultimate two words, לֹא תִסְּכוּ, "not you shall pout out". Both verbs are here being used in their cultic sense; these are ritual activities - bringing an offering up onto an altar and pouring out a drink offering on an altar - that are allowed elsewhere within the overall operation of the Tabernacle, but are explicitly forbidden for the incense altar. Both, in fact, take place on the main bronze altar, outside the Tabernacle itself, although immediately opposite the doorway to the Tabernacle.

Much rabbinic debate turns on the meaning of the word , here translated 'strange', but rendered "strange, alien, removed or foreign" in other versions. Nahum Sarna explains that the word is used "in cultic contexts to refer to an outsider or an unauthorised person or thing in relation to specific roles or functions." The debate started early, with the two targums. What Is ...

Targum Onkelos: An early (1^st-2^nd Century CE) translation/paraphrase of the Torah into Aramaic; attributed to a Roman convert to Judaism, Onkelos; used in Babylonian synagogues during the Talmudic era
Targum Onkelos interprets 'strange' to mean incense that is made of other ingredients than those to be shortly specified in the authorised formula: "the herbs stacte, onycha, and galbanum -- these herbs together with pure frankincense; let there be an equal part of each" (Shemot 30:34, NJPS). What Is ...

Targum Jonathan: An early (1^st-2^nd Century CE) translation/paraphrase of the Prophets into Aramaic; attributed to the 1^st century Jewish scholar Jonathan ben Uzziel; similar to Targum Onkelos, but at times a looser paraphrase
Targum Jonathan, on the other hand, interprets it to be "the incense of a non-Jew." The great commentators all pile in behind. Who Is ...

Abraham Ibn Ezra: (1089-1167 CE), born in Tudela, Spain; died in the South of France after wandering all around the shores of the Mediterranean and England; a philosopher, astronomer, doctor, poet and linguist; wrote a Hebrew grammar and a commentary on the Bible
Ibn Ezra is quite brief - "not 'alien incense' but 'other incense' than that described in 30:34" - while the Who Is ...

Ramban: Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman Girondi or Nachmanides (born in Gerona, 1194; died in Israel 1270), Spanish rabbi, author and physician; defended Judaism in the Christian debates in Barcelona before making aliyah
Ramban is a little more expansive: "alien incense made of any spices other than the ones that G-d would command them to use. Even if one were to use the commanded spices but add others to them, it would violate this prohibition." Rabbi Who Is ...

Hirsch: Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888 CE), German rabbi, author and educator; staunch opponent of the Reform movement in Germany and one of the fathers of Orthodox Judaism
Hirsch pragmatically comments that "any bringing of incense other than as prescribed here is to be considered as זָרָה. Thus, every arbitrary forming of the highest ideal of life is excluded. Hence there is not a highest ideal of life. There is only the highest ideal of life."

At this point, Sarna makes the significant comparison to "the infraction of the cultic rules" by Aharon's two sons, Nadav and Avihu, only recently anointed as priests who "each took his fire pan, put fire in it, and laid incense on it; and they offered before HaShem אֵשׁזָרָה strange fire, which He had not commanded them" (Vayikra 10:1) and immediately, "fire came forth from HaShem and consumed them" (v. 2). Their death is a sharp reminder by The Name ...

HaShem: literally, Hebrew for 'The Name' - an allusion used to avoid pronouncing the Tetragrammaton, the so-called 'ineffable' name of G–d
HaShem to Aharon and his sons that "through those near to Me I show Myself holy, and gain glory before all the people" (v. 3, NJPS). The rules must be followed, most especially by those practically close to HaShem - the priesthood - whom the people expect to know what to do and do it perfectly each and every time. Richard Elliott Friedman puts it this way: "It establishes the extreme importance of precise obedience to the ritual commandments, especially by those who are closest to the realm of the holy: the priests." As Jonathan Sacks reminds us, "the priest functioned in cyclical time - the day that is like yesterday or tomorrow ... the service of the priest never changed ... the priest speaks the word of G-d for all time."¹

Who Is ...

Rashi: Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (1040-1105 CE), French rabbi who wrote commentaries on the Torah, the Prophets and the Talmud, lived in Troyes where he founded a yeshiva in 1067; focuses on the plain meaning (p'shat) of the text, although sometimes quite cryptic in his brevity
Rashi takes a slightly different turn by suggesting that "foreign incense" is any incense brought as a donation. His reasoning is that "they are all foreign to it except for this incense which is offered on it every day." HaShem has explicitly commanded that the priest attending to the menorah should offer this incense, according to this precise formulation exactly twice - and no more - each day. Any other incense, whether of the same or a different composition. offered at any other time, by anyone else, would be 'foreign' to the exact cultic regulations specified by HaShem and is therefore prohibited. Rashi makes the point that other incense is acceptable to HaShem as a donation - "the princes of the tribes offered such incense when they dedicated the altar, "one gold ladle of 10 shekels, filled with incense" (B'Midbar 7:14,20,26, etc., NJPS) - but it was to be offered on the bronze altar in the courtyard, not this incense altar in the Holy Place. This too is what happens on a routine basis to all grain offerings: "The priest shall scoop out of it a handful of its choice flour and oil, as well as all of its frankincense; and this token portion he shall turn into smoke on the altar, as an offering by fire, of pleasing odour to the L-RD" (Vayikra 2:2, NJPS).

Going back to the start of the instructions for the incense altar, we read, "You shall make an altar for burning incense" (Shemot 30:1). Does that strike you as odd? The Hebrew word for 'altar' is מִזְבֵּחַ, literally a place for slaughtering, from the root זָבַח,"to slaughter or kill animals, especially for sacrifice" (Davidson). Yet this altar is only for burning incense, no other form of offering is allowed. Leon Kass shrewdly observes that "this carefully designed altar will not be an altar at all, a message underscored by the explicit injunction not to offer on it sin offerings or meal offerings or wine libations."² Just as the Tabernacle constantly makes comparisons - gold is not bronze, the Tabernacle is not the courtyard, the Cohen Gadol is not the people - was can see that the incense is not the same as animal sacrifices. Kass again: "the incense is literally the anti-sacrifice."³ As the Who Is ...

Sforno: Rabbi Ovadiah Sforno (1470-1550 CE), Italian rabbi, philosopher and physician; born in Cesena, he went to Rome to study medicine; left in 1525 and after some years of travel, settled in Bologna where he founded a yeshiva which he conducted until his death
Sforno writes, "the purpose of this altar was to honour G-d, the Blessed One, after He comes to accept with favour the service of His people (through) the morning and evening sacrifices, and to welcome His presence with the offering of incense, similar to 'Ascribe to the L-RD the glory of His name, bring tribute and enter before Him, bow down to the LORD majestic in holiness' (1 Chronicles 16:29, NJPS)."

Although the incense offering is highly ritualised, this is worship in an entirely different or 'other' way. Not grounded in physical sacrifices of flesh, grain, oil or wine - all forms of life that humans could consume and therefore an offering of physical life substance - the incense is compounded from herbs, spices and resins that would not normally be consumed, therefore being an offering that is not physical life substance but instead speaks of the spiritual world. The cloud of smoke that Aharon produces by burning the incense is both a sign of and a response to the presence of the L-rd Himself. As HaShem appears as a voice speaking from a cloud, so the High Priest prepares a could in order to meet with G-d.

Significantly, the two largest moments of revelation (or theophany) during Yeshua's ministry both involved G-d speaking from heaven. At Yeshua's baptism, "as He was coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens ripping open and the Ruach as a dove coming down upon Him. And there came a voice from the heavens: 'You are My Son, whom I love; with You I am well pleased'" (Mark 1:10-11, TLV), the voice was directed to Him, so no cloud; at the transfiguration, "then a cloud came, overshadowing them; and out of the cloud came a voice, 'This is My Son, whom I love. Listen to Him!'" (9:7, TLV), the voice is directed to the disciples, so the cloud hides G-d's face.

What can we learn form the ritual of the incense altar and its permitted offerings to encourage us in our relationship with G-d today? Firstly that there is a difference between the things we give to G-d - and that covers both gifts of money and materials, and the time that we dedicate in service to him, whether as volunteers or workers - and the relationship we have with Him. Just as gold is not bronze and the Tabernacle is not the courtyard, so intimate personal worship is not public worship. Both are necessary and appropriate, in their place and context, but they represent different parts of our life with G-d. Singing praise songs with others is not the same as devoted time given in individual prayer; corporate worship is not the same as moments of awe in the midst of individual precise study in the Scriptures. You cannot substitute one for the other; just as our physical bodies cannot live exclusively on protein or carbohydrates, so our spirits need full and balanced nourishment in order to thrive.

Secondly, that although the public and bouncy moments are easier to give and, sadly, to manufacture, the individual and precisely choreographed moments of ritual when we approach our G-d in a cloud of incense - enabled by Yeshua and empowered by the Spirit - are just as much required for a healthy spiritual life. Indeed, it could be argued, that without those moments of intimacy, we have no spiritual life. Those moments are solo events, just Him and you and cannot be shared with, inspired by or scripted by anyone else. They take more work, more effort and concentration, more regular commitment - every morning and evening when tending the lamps on the menorah - but when we show up, He shows up. He is already waiting for us.

1. - Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, Covenant and Conversation: Exodus, (Jerusalem, Maggid Books, 2010), pages 221-222.

2. - Leon R. Kass, Founding G-d's Nation - Reading Exodus (New Have, Yale University Press, 2021), page 510.

3. - Ibid.

Further Study: Ezekiel 1:28; Malachi 1:11; Revelation 8:2-4

Application: Reach out today and ask Yeshua to envelop you in His cloud and draw you into moments of intimacy with Him - just the two of you - away from the madding crowd and hustle and bustle of the courtyard. Ask Him humbly to approach you and show you how to enter the cloud with Him more often.

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© Jonathan Allen, 2024

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