The Altar of Incense and the Census Tax (Exodus 29:1-16)
1 “You shall make an altar on which to burn incense [which symbolized prayers to God]; you shall make it of acacia wood. 2 A cubit shall be its length, and a cubit its breadth. It shall be square, and two cubits shall be its height. [It was 18” x 18” x 36”.] Its horns [like the bronze altar] shall be of one piece with it. 3 You shall overlay it with pure gold, its top and around its sides and its horns. And you shall make a molding of gold around it [like the table and ark]. 4 And you shall make two golden rings for it. Under its molding on two opposite sides of it you shall make them, and they shall be holders for poles with which to carry it. 5 You shall make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. 6 And you shall put it in front of the veil that is above the ark of the testimony, in front of the mercy seat that is above the testimony, where I will meet with you. [Location is everything, and the altar of incense is placed so the symbolic prayers of incense would enter into the holy of holies to offer its sweet aroma to God.] 7 And Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it. Every morning when he dresses the lamps he shall burn it, 8 and when Aaron sets up the lamps at twilight, he shall burn it, a regular incense offering before the Lord throughout your generations. [The lighting of the lampstand, the extinguishing of the lamps, the burning of the incense and the offering of the two lambs all happened together at the same time. This represented, in a sense, around the clock worship, a continual vigil of prayer and sacrifice.] 9 You shall not offer unauthorized incense on it, or a burnt offering, or a grain offering, and you shall not pour a drink offering on it. 10 Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once a year. With the blood of the sin offering of atonement he shall make atonement for it once in the year throughout your generations. It is most holy to the Lord.” [There is an act of annual sin removal on the Day of Atonement to be described later in Leviticus 16.]
11 The Lord said to Moses, 12 “When you take the census of the people of Israel, then each shall give a ransom for his life to the Lord when you number them, that there be no plague among them when you number them. [These instructions are given to caution the Israelites in taking a census. Why? Hint: in the ancient world there were only two reasons for taking a census: taxes and planning for war. A plague was, by definition, a judgement on the corporate rather than the individual. It would be imposed when a ransom system was not in place, not upon individuals who could not pay or fail to pay the full amount. The ransom recognized two important facts: 1) God owns the lives of his people, and 2) although he would have the right to require them to lose their lives in battle, he generously gave them back to enjoy life within his covenant protection.] 13 Each one who is numbered in the census shall give this: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs), half a shekel as an offering to the Lord [about a fifth of an ounce of silver, not a fortune but still an expense]. 14 Everyone who is numbered in the census, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the Lord's offering. 15 The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel, when you give the Lord's offering to make atonement for your lives [substituting something for one’s life]. [In the eyes of God, every man is of equal value to him.] 16 You shall take the atonement money from the people of Israel and shall give it for the service of the tent of meeting, that it may bring the people of Israel to remembrance before the Lord, so as to make atonement for your lives.” [Why insert this requirement at this point in the narrative?]
[The interconnection of ransoming and redeeming is also found in the New Testament:
[if !supportLists]1. [endif]Matthew 20:28 “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
[if !supportLists]2. [endif]1 Timothy 2:5-6 “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all . . .”
[if !supportLists]3. [endif]Hebrews 9:15 “Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.”
[if !supportLists]4. [endif]Galatians 4:5 “When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”
[if !supportLists]5. [endif]Titus 2:12-14 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.]