ALTAR OF INCENSE (EX.30)
Then make another altar of acacia wood for burning incense. Make it 46cm square and 92cm high, with horns at the corners carved from the same piece of wood as the altar itself. Overlay the top, sides, and horns of the altar with pure gold, and run a gold molding around the entire altar. Make two gold rings, and attach them on opposite sides of the altar below the gold molding to hold the carrying poles. Make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. Place the incense altar just outside the veil that shields the Ark of the Blood-Covenant-Witness, in front of the Lid of Atonement that covers the tablets (ketubah) inscribed with the terms of the Eternal Blood-Covenant of Deliverance. And I’ll meet with you right there.
EVEN THOUGH ANIMAL SACRIFICES, INCENSE BURNING AND CHANTING PRAYERS WERE ALREADY COMMON PAGAN PRACTICES AT THE TIME, THE BIG DIFFERENCE BETWEEN YISHARAL AND THE NATIONS WAS THAT YAHUSHA HAD SPECIFICALLY INSTRUCTED THEM HOW TO BEHAVE, AND OFTEN HE USES PRACTICES OUR SIMPLE MINDS CAN GRASP EASILY IN ORDER TO COMPREHEND HIM. BUT ONLY IF HE COMMANDS IT. PAGAN RITUALS WERE ALL ABOUT SATISFYING THE NEEDS OF A PARTICULAR DEITY/IDOL HOWEVER YAHUSHA’S ORDER OF APPROACHING HIM WAS FOR THEIR BENEFIT SO THAT THEY COULD BE ATONED, CLEANSED AND HAVE A SUITABLE ENVIRONMENT FOR HIM TO COME AND DWELL IN - BRINGING HIS POWER, FAVOR AND BLESSINGS WITH HIM.
Every morning when Aaron maintains the lamps, he must burn sweet fragrant incense on the altar. And each evening when he lights the lamps, he must again burn incense before Me. This must be done from generation to generation. Do not offer any strange `OUTSIDE’ incense on this altar, or any burnt (ASCENDING-NEAR) offerings, love-grain offerings, or drink offerings. Once a year Aaron must cleanse the altar by smearing its horns with blood from the offering made to atone the people from their lawlessness. This will be a regular, annual event from generation to generation, for THIS IS MY MOST SET-APART ALTAR.
MONEY FOR THE TABERNACLE
Whenever you take a census of the children of Yisharal, each man who is counted must pay a ransom (give an atonement) for himself to Me. Then no plague will strike the people as you count them. Each person who is counted must give a small piece of silver (6g) as a contribution to Me. All men who are 20 years old must give this contribution to Me. When this offering is given Me to make atonement for your lives, making you right with Me, the rich must not give more than the specified amount, and the poor must not give less. Receive this atonement money from Yisharal, and use it for the care of the Tent of Meeting. It will bring the children of Yisharal to My attention, and it will cleanse your lives.
YAHUSHA WAS TEACHING YISHARAL THAT EVERY LIFE HAD A COST AND SOMEONE HAD TO PAY IT. YAHUSHA IS THE DEBTOR AND MANKIND IS BORN INTO EVIL SINCE THE GARDEN, SO ALL LIFE NEEDS TO BE BOUGHT BACK AT A PRICE OTHERWISE ALL EVIL MANKIND MUST BE DESTROYED.
THE BRAZEN LAVER
Make a bronze wash basin with a bronze stand. Place it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and fill it with water. Aaron and his sons will wash their hands and feet there. They must wash with water whenever they go into the Tent of Meeting to appear before Me and when they come near to attend to the altar to burn an offering with fire, or they will die! They must always wash their hands and feet, or they will die. This is a law forever for Aaron and his descendants, to be observed from generation to generation.
ANOITING OIL
Collect choice spices, 5.7kg of pure myrrh, 2.9kg of fragrant cinnamon, 2.9kg of fragrant kanna bosim (cannabis), and 5.7kg of cassia, also get 3.8litres of olive oil. Like a skilled incense maker, blend these ingredients to make a set-apart anointing oil. Use this sacred oil to anoint the Tent of Meeting, the Ark of the Blood-Covenant-Witness, the table and all its utensils, the lampstand and all its accessories, the incense altar, the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the brass basin with its stand. Set them apart to make them absolutely clean and separate. After this, whatever touches them will also become set-apart. Anoint Aaron and his sons also, setting them apart to serve Me as priests. And say to the children of Yisharal, ‘This special anointing oil is reserved for Me from generation to generation. It must never be used to anoint anyone else, and YOU MUST NEVER MAKE ANY BLEND LIKE IT FOR YOURSELVES. It is set-apart, and you must treat it as such. Anyone who makes a blend like it or anoints someone other than a priest WILL BE CUT OFF from the nation of Yisharal’.
THE HEBREW WORD FOR `CUT OFF’ DESCRIBES MUCH MORE THAN BEING KICKED OUT OF THE CAMP, BUT PHYSICAL DEATH AND ETERNAL DESTRUCTION (SEVERING A PERSON’S EXISTENCE FROM BOTH PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL PLANES). RATHER THAN COMING FROM THE OFFERINGS THE PEOPLE GAVE FOR THE TABERNACLE THE MONEY AND INGREDIENTS WERE TO COME FROM THE TRIBAL CHIEFS BECAUSE THE SPICES WERE SO RARE AND EXPENSIVE AND SOME OF THE INGREDIENTS ACTUALLY HAD TO BE IMPORTED FROM ARABIA, INDIA, AND CHINA AND WERE DIFFICULT TO MANUFACTURE.
THE INCENSE
Gather fragrant spices, resin gum, cinnamon and galbanam, and clear frankincense and mix all these fragrant spices, weighing them out in equal amounts. Using the usual techniques of the incense maker, blend the spices together and sprinkle them with salt to pstickuce a pure and set-apart incense. Grind some of the mixture into a very fine powder and put it in front of the Ark of the Blood-Covenant-Witness, where I will meet with you in the Tent of Meeting. You must treat this incense as most set-apart and special. Never use this formula to make this incense for yourselves. It is reserved for Me, and you must treat it as such. Anyone who makes incense like this for personal use (for air deodorising etc) will be cut off from the nation of Yisharal.
