Behind | Incense and Mediation

Like many things in the Tabernacle, incense likely served a practical purpose. It masked the smell of recently butchered animals and sacrifice. But it also had a deeper meaning. In Israel, the incense altar stood between the Ark and the priest in the Holy of Holies; it mediated the encounter between God and humanity. The smoke from the incense provided a cloak of good air that lent the scent of divinity to the human priest and prevented an immediate encounter. Direct contact with God in the Holy of Holies, by touch or by sight, would have meant death for Aaron and his sons.

This meaning is also reflected elsewhere in the ancient Near East. In Egypt, incense smoke served two complementary purposes. First, it made it possible for humans to join the gods in heaven, and second, it made it possible for the gods to join humans on earth. In an utterance for a king during the time of the Old Kingdom, we find the following explanation of incense on behalf of the king: “My sweat is the sweat of Horus, my odor is the odor of Horus.” Beyond masking him in its scent, the incense was also understood to carry the dead king into the sky, to provide a type of stairway to heaven. 

Listen to this from some Egyptian verses:

The incense is laid on the fire, the incense shines. 
Your perfume comes to me, O Incense;
May my perfume come to you, O Incense.
…
May I be with you, you gods;
May you be with me, you gods.
…
Here comes the ascender, here comes the ascender! 
Here comes the climber, here comes the climber!
Here comes he who flew up, here comes he who flew up! 
I ascend upon the thighs of Isis,
I climb up upon the thighs of Nephthys,
My father Atum seizes my hand for me,
And he assigns me to those excellent and wise gods, 
The Imperishable Stars.

Incense appears to have served some of the same function in ancient Mesopotamia—of preparing people for an encounter with the divine, and making them compatible with divine presence. Listen to this from an old Babylonian text:

O, Shamash! I am placing in my mouth pure cedar (resin), I am wrapping it for you in the locks of my hair;
I am placing for you in my lap compact cedar (resin),
…
Being now clean to the assembly of the gods, I shall draw near for judgment. 

The use of incense in Israel and the ancient Near East finds a parallel in the story of Jesus in the New Testament. In the Gospel of Matthew, wise men bring the infant Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. The gift of gold has obvious value, but the two spices may need explaining. Myrrh was a burial spice used for dressing dead bodies. Frankincense was an ingredient in the incense burned on the altar of incense, positioned in front of the veil and the mercy seat where the High Priest would encounter God. Together these spices foreshadowed the death of Jesus that mediates our relationship with God today. 

As with Israel’s incense, Jesus’ life, death and resurrection make our own encounter with God possible. As with incense in Egypt and Mesopotamia, Jesus joined to humanity on earth and made it possible for humans to join God in heaven. In the words of Athanasius of Alexandria: “Our Lord, being (the) Son of God, bore a body, and became Son of Man, that, having become Mediator between God and men, He might minister the things of God to us, and ours to God.” Amazingly, the promise of this future event is evident already in rituals of the desert Tabernacle. 

Egyptian verse quoted from: Kjeld Nielsen, Incense in Ancient Israel, pp. 9-10, 31. 

Sources: Moshe Weinfeld, Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomic School, 2014, p. 203; Michael B. Hundley, Keeping Heaven on Earth, 2011, pp. 107-108.