30:1 ¶ And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense
upon: of shittim wood shalt thou make it. 2 A cubit shall be the length thereof,
and a cubit the breadth thereof; foursquare shall it be: and two cubits shall
be the height thereof: the horns thereof shall be of the same.
3 And thou shalt overlay it with pure
gold, the top thereof, and the sides thereof round about, and the horns
thereof; and thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about. 4 And two golden rings shalt thou make to it
under the crown of it, by the two corners thereof, upon the two sides of it
shalt thou make it; and they shall be for places for the staves to bear
it withal. 5 And thou shalt make the
staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold. 6 And thou shalt put it before the vail that is
by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the
testimony, where I will meet with thee. 7
And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning: when he
dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. 8 And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he
shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your
generations. 9 Ye shall offer no strange
incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering; neither shall ye pour
drink offering thereon. 10 And Aaron
shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of
the sin offering of atonements: once in the year shall he make atonement upon
it throughout your generations: it is most holy unto the LORD.
In verse 7 there is a form of the verb to dress. To dress
something in this context means to prepare it, make ready for use, to maintain.
For instance, in dressing an animal one has slaughtered for a meal, caring for
a garden, or washing one’s feet.
Genesis 18:7 And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetcht a
calf tender and good, and gave it
unto a young man; and he hasted to dress
it.
Genesis 2:15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him
into the garden of Eden to dress it and
to keep it.
2Samuel 19:24 And Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to
meet the king, and had neither dressed
his feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes, from the day the
king departed until the day he came again
in peace.
Paying particular attention to verse 9 you can see again that God
does not want pagan worship mingled in with His worship. He demands that no strange incense on this altar. Strange is a synonym for foreign or
alien as stranger is a foreigner or
alien.
Genesis 35:2 Then Jacob said unto his household, and to
all that were with him, Put
away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and
change your garments:
Exodus 2:22 And she bare him a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he said, I have
been a stranger in a strange land.
Exodus 18:3 And her two sons; of which the name of the
one was Gershom; for he said, I
have been an alien in a strange land:
Psalm 69:8 I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother’s children.
Ephesians 2:19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but
fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, will violate this command of God
and die for it.
Leviticus 10:1 And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took
either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and
offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. 2 And there went out fire from the LORD, and
devoured them, and they died before the LORD.
What can we take away from this? It reinforces that God does not
want pagan elements mixed in with His worship.
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