Today's Daily Bread

BURN FRAGRANT INCENSE ON THE ALTAR

Date : Monday, August 03, 2026
Passage : Exodus 30:1~21
Keyverse : 7,8  
1
"Make an altar of acacia wood for burning incense.
2
It is to be square, a cubit long and a cubit wide, and two cubits high - its horns of one piece with it.
3
Overlay the top and all the sides and the horns with pure gold, and make a gold molding around it.
4
Make two gold rings for the altar below the molding - two on each of the opposite sides - to hold the poles used to carry it.
5
Make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.
6
Put the altar in front of the curtain that shields the ark of the covenant law - before the atonement cover that is over the tablets of the covenant law - where I will meet with you.
7
"Aaron must burn fragrant incense on the altar every morning when he tends the lamps.
8
He must burn incense again when he lights the lamps at twilight so incense will burn regularly before the LORD for the generations to come.
9
Do not offer on this altar any other incense or any burnt offering or grain offering, and do not pour a drink offering on it.
10
Once a year Aaron shall make atonement on its horns. This annual atonement must be made with the blood of the atoning sin offering for the generations to come. It is most holy to the LORD."
11
Then the LORD said to Moses,
12
"When you take a census of the Israelites to count them, each one must pay the LORD a ransom for his life at the time he is counted. Then no plague will come on them when you number them.
13
Each one who crosses over to those already counted is to give a half shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs. This half shekel is an offering to the LORD.
14
All who cross over, those twenty years old or more, are to give an offering to the LORD.
15
The rich are not to give more than a half shekel and the poor are not to give less when you make the offering to the LORD to atone for your lives.
16
Receive the atonement money from the Israelites and use it for the service of the tent of meeting. It will be a memorial for the Israelites before the LORD, making atonement for your lives."
17
Then the LORD said to Moses,
18
"Make a bronze basin, with its bronze stand, for washing. Place it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it.
19
Aaron and his sons are to wash their hands and feet with water from it.
20
Whenever they enter the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water so that they will not die. Also, when they approach the altar to minister by presenting a food offering to the LORD,
21
they shall wash their hands and feet so that they will not die. This is to be a lasting ordinance for Aaron and his descendants for the generations to come."
God commanded that an altar of incense be made and placed in the Holy Place. As befitting an article of the Holy Place, the altar of incense was overlaid with gold and was therefore called the “golden altar” (Num 4:11). Its location was in front of the curtain, the place closest to God, which signifies drawing near to him. The priests were to burn incense every morning and evening, and no other incense was to be burned on this altar. This symbolizes that prayer must be offered to God daily and that our prayers must be directed solely to him.

When the Israelites were counted, each person was required to offer a ransom to God. This ransom served as a sign of atonement for one’s life. It was an act of acknowledging that all people are sinners before God and that their lives have been redeemed by his grace. Both the rich and the poor were to pay the same amount, showing that no one can live apart from God’s grace. We must constantly remember his grace and live by it.

A bronze basin should be placed before the tabernacle for the priests to wash their hands and feet before serving their work. Purity is essential to approach God. If the priests did not wash, they could die. We must be cleansed daily by God’s word and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Prayer: Lord, I come to you just as I am in prayer. Forgive me and help me live by your grace.
One Word: Offer the fragrant incense of prayer