^30:18“You are also to make a large bronze³⁹ basin with a bronze stand⁴⁰ for washing. You are to put it between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it,⁴¹^30:19and Aaron and his sons must wash their hands and their feet from it.⁴²^30:20When they enter⁴³ the tent of meeting, they must wash with⁴⁴ water so that they do not die.⁴⁵ Also, when they approach⁴⁶ the altar to minister by burning incense⁴⁷ as an offering made by fire⁴⁸ to the Lord, ^30:21they must wash⁴⁹ their hands and their feet so that they do not die. And this⁵⁰ will be a perpetual ordinance for them and for their descendants⁵¹ throughout their generations.”⁵²

Oil and Incense

^30:22⁵³ The Lord spoke to Moses:⁵⁴^30:23“Take⁵⁵ choice spices:⁵⁶ twelve and a half pounds⁵⁷ of free-flowing myrrh,⁵⁸ half that—about six and a quarter pounds—of sweet-smelling cinnamon, six and a quarter pounds of sweet-smelling cane, ^30:24and twelve and a half pounds of cassia, all weighed⁵⁹ according to the sanctuary shekel, and four quarts⁶⁰ of olive oil. ^30:25You are to make this⁶¹ into⁶² a sacred anointing oil, a perfumed compound,⁶³ the work of a perfumer. It will be sacred anointing oil.

^30:26“With it you are to anoint the tent of meeting, the ark of the testimony, ^30:27the table and all its utensils, the lampstand and its utensils, the altar of incense, ^30:28the altar for the burnt offering and all its utensils, and the laver and its base.

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Footnotes

39 The metal for this object was obtained from the women from their mirrors (see Exod 38:8).
40 Heb “and its stand bronze.”
41 The form is the adverb “there” with the directive qamets-he (ָה).
42 That is, from water from it.
43 The form is an infinitive construct with the temporal preposition bet (ב), and a suffixed subjective genitive: “in their going in,” or, whenever they enter.
44 “Water” is an adverbial accusative of means, and so is translated “with water.” Gesenius classifies this with verbs of “covering with something.” But he prefers to emend the text with a preposition (see §117.y, n. 1).
45 The verb is a Qal imperfect with a nuance of final imperfect. The purpose/result clause here is indicated only with the conjunction: “and they do not die.” But clearly from the context this is the intended result of their washing—it is in order that they not die.
46 Here, too, the infinitive is used in a temporal clause construction. The verb נָגַשׁ (nagash) is the common verb used for drawing near to the altar to make offerings—the official duties of the priest.
47 The text uses two infinitives construct: “to minister to burn incense”; the first is the general term and expresses the purpose of the drawing near, and the second infinitive is epexegetical, explaining the first infinitive.
48 The translation “as an offering made by fire” is a standard rendering of the one word in the text that appears to refer to “fire.” Milgrom and others contend that it simply means a “gift” (Leviticus 1–16, 161).
49 Heb “and [then] they will wash.”
50 The verb is “it will be.”
51 Heb “for his seed.”
52 Or “for generations to come”; it literally is “to their generations.” The symbolic meaning of washing has been taught throughout the ages. This was a practical matter of cleaning hands and feet, but it was also symbolic of purification before Yahweh. It was an outward sign of inner spiritual cleansing, or forgiveness. Jesus washed the disciples feet (Jn 13) to show this same teaching; he asked the disciples if they knew what he had done (so it was more than washing feet). In this passage the theological points for the outline would be these: I. God provides the means of cleansing; II. Cleansing is a prerequisite for participating in the worship, and III. (Believers) priests must regularly appropriate God’s provision of cleansing.
53 The chapter ends with these two sections. The oil (22–33) is the mark of consecration, and the incense (34–38) is a mark of pleasing service, especially in prayer. So the essence of the message of the chapter is that the servants of God must be set apart by the Spirit for ministry and must be pleasing to God in the ministry.
54 Heb “and Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying.”
55 The construction uses the imperative “take,” but before it is the independent pronoun to add emphasis to it. After the imperative is the ethical dative (lit. “to you”) to stress the task to Moses as a personal responsibility: “and you, take to yourself.”
56 Heb “spices head.” This must mean the chief spices, or perhaps the top spice, meaning fine spices or choice spices. See Song 4:14; Ezek 27:22.
57 Or “500 shekels.” Verse 24 specifies that the sanctuary shekel was the unit for weighing the spices. The total of 1500 shekels for the four spices is estimated at between 77 and 100 pounds, or 17 to 22 kilograms, depending on how much a shekel weighed (C. Houtman, Exodus, 3:576).
58 Myrrh is an aromatic substance that flows from the bark of certain trees in Arabia and Africa and then hardens. “The hardened globules of the gum appear also to have been ground into a powder that would have been easy to store and would have been poured from a container” (J. Durham, Exodus [], 3:).
59 The words “all weighed” are added for clarity in English.
60 Or “a hin.” A hin of oil is estimated at around one gallon (J. Durham, Exodus [], 3:).
61 Heb “it.”
62 The word “oil” is an adverbial accusative, indicating the product that results from the verb (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, §52).
63 The somewhat rare words rendered “a perfumed compound” are both associated with a verbal root having to do with mixing spices and other ingredients to make fragrant ointments. They are used with the next phrase, “the work of a perfumer,” to describe the finished oil as a special mixture of aromatic spices and one requiring the knowledge and skills of an experienced maker.