Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
The altar of incense is described. Secondly, at verse 12, in the census of the people each person is ordered to pay half a shekel. Thirdly, at verse 18, a bronze laver is ordered to be made for the washing of the priests. Fourthly, at verse 23, the composition of the ointment is described, with which the priests and sacred vessels are to be anointed. Fifthly, at verse 34, the composition of the incense is described, which was to be burned on the altar of incense.
Vulgate Text: Exodus 30:1-38
1. You shall also make an altar for burning incense, of acacia wood, 2. having one cubit in length and another in width, that is, square, and two cubits in height. Horns shall proceed from it. 3. And you shall overlay it with the purest gold, both its grating and the walls all around and the horns. And you shall make for it a golden crown around it, 4. and two golden rings under the crown on each side, so that poles may be put through them and the altar may be carried. 5. You shall also make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. 6. And you shall place the altar before the veil that hangs before the ark of the testimony, before the propitiatory with which the testimony is covered, where I will speak to you. 7. And Aaron shall burn sweet-smelling incense upon it in the morning. When he arranges the lamps, he shall light it; 8. and when he sets them up in the evening, he shall burn perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations. 9. You shall not offer upon it incense of another composition, nor an oblation, nor a victim, nor shall you pour out libations. 10. And Aaron shall pray upon its horns once a year, with the blood that was offered for sin, and he shall make atonement upon it throughout your generations. It shall be the Holy of Holies to the Lord.
11. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 12. When you shall take the sum of the children of Israel according to their number, each shall give a price for their souls to the Lord, and there shall be no plague among them when they are counted. 13. And this shall everyone give who passes to be counted: half a shekel according to the measure of the temple. A shekel has twenty obols. Half a shekel shall be offered to the Lord. 14. He who is counted, from twenty years old and above, shall give the price. 15. The rich shall not add to the half shekel, and the poor shall not diminish. 16. And the money received, which was collected from the children of Israel, you shall deliver for the uses of the tabernacle of the testimony, that it may be a memorial for them before the Lord, and He may be propitious to their souls. 17. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 18. You shall also make a bronze laver with its base for washing, and you shall place it between the tabernacle of the testimony and the altar. And having put in water, 19. Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and feet in it, 20. when they are about to enter the tabernacle of the testimony, and when they are about to approach the altar, to offer incense upon it to the Lord, 21. lest perhaps they die: it shall be an everlasting law for him and for his seed through their generations. 22. And the Lord spoke to Moses, 23. saying: Take for yourself spices, of the finest and choicest myrrh five hundred shekels, and of cinnamon half as much, that is, two hundred and fifty shekels, and of calamus likewise two hundred and fifty, 24. and of cassia five hundred shekels by the weight of the sanctuary, and a hin measure of olive oil; 25. and you shall make a holy oil of anointing, an ointment compounded by the work of a perfumer, 26. and you shall anoint with it the tabernacle of the testimony, and the ark of the covenant, 27. and the table with its vessels, and the lampstand and its utensils, and the altars of incense, 28. and of holocaust, and all the furnishings that pertain to their service. 29. And you shall sanctify all things, and they shall be the Holy of Holies: whoever touches them shall be sanctified. 30. You shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and you shall sanctify them, that they may serve Me in the priesthood. 31. And you shall say to the children of Israel: This oil of anointing shall be holy to Me throughout your generations. 32. The flesh of man shall not be anointed with it, and you shall not make another of the same composition; because it is sanctified, and it shall be holy to you. 33. Whatever man shall compound such a thing, and shall give of it to a stranger, shall be cut off from his people. 34. And the Lord said to Moses: Take for yourself spices, storax and onycha, galbanum of good odor, and the clearest frankincense; all shall be of equal weight; 35. and you shall make an incense compounded by the work of a perfumer, carefully mixed, and pure, and most worthy of sanctification. 36. And when you shall have beaten all into the finest powder, you shall place some of it before the tabernacle of the testimony, in which place I will appear to you. It shall be to you the Holy of Holies, this incense. 37. Such a composition you shall not make for your own uses, because it is holy to the Lord. 38. Whatever man shall make the like, to enjoy its fragrance, shall perish from his peoples.
Verse 1: You Shall Make an Altar for Burning Incense
1. YOU SHALL ALSO MAKE AN ALTAR FOR BURNING INCENSE. — Here is described the altar of incense, on which no victims, but only incense was burned for God, not only by the high priest, but also by the lesser priests, who ordinarily performed this duty, and that twice daily, namely in the morning and in the evening, after the manner of the daily sacrifice. Hence this altar was called the altar of incense; or, as it is in Hebrew, the altar of the burning of incense.
Note first: This altar was made of gilded acacia wood, and it was one cubit long, one cubit wide, and two cubits high.
Note secondly: This altar was in the Holy Place, in the middle between the lampstand and the table, and it faced the propitiatory or oracle, which was in the Holy of Holies above the ark, supported by the two Cherubim; hence this altar is called the altar of the oracle: for it so faced the oracle that through the opening which was above in the wall dividing the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies, the smoke of the spices burned on the altar of incense would ascend and waft into the oracle itself, so that by this fumigation God residing in the oracle might be honored.
Thirdly, God willed that these fragrances be burned before Him, not because He is delighted by the smell of incense, since He has no sense of smell, nor nostrils, nor a body; but because among men it is considered a great honor to set out or fumigate someone with sweet fragrances: hence God, who deals with men in a human manner, willed that the same be burned before Him for His worship. So by the custom and rite of all nations, the burning of frankincense and fragrances was attributed to God; hence the Poets call "the honors of frankincense" divine honors, and the three Magi gave these three gifts to Christ, namely: "gold to a king, frankincense to God, and myrrh to one buried." Whence we Christians also offer incense to God;
Fourthly, this altar had four horns, and a golden crown around it: in the middle it had a latticed grating, through which the ashes and cinders of the burned spices would fall beneath the altar, and from there they were removed at their appointed times.
Fifthly, this altar had four rings, through which two poles were inserted, by which it was carried and borne by the priests through the desert.
Tropologically: This altar, says Bede, signifies the life of the perfect, who are placed, as it were, in the vicinity of the oracle: because having abandoned the lowest pleasures, they devote all their care solely to entering the heavenly kingdom. Whence it is fitting that on this altar not the flesh of animals, but only incense was burned: because such persons no longer need to slay in themselves the sins of the flesh and the allurements of thoughts, but offer almost only the fragrances of spiritual prayers and heavenly desires through the fire of interior love in the sight of their Creator.
Hence this altar is made of acacia wood, because such persons ought to be beautiful in virtues and incorruptible against vices; it is also square, because such persons are firm and immovable, so as to say: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Secondly, it is overlaid with gold, because such persons ought to shine with outstanding charity. Nine, according to Pliny, book 33, chapter 3, are the excellences and qualities of gold, namely: "wonderful origin, splendor, weight, facility of material (for gold is ductile into the thinnest surfaces, lines, and points), constancy, purity, medicinal properties, wonders, price;" which he pursues at length, and Alcazar applies individually to charity in the Apocalypse.
Third, they have a cubit of length and width, because they maintain equal patience in whatever adversities come upon them from any quarter, because in all things they think of one thing, that is, God, from whom they know these things are sent, and for whose honor and will they willingly endure all things; they also have two cubits in height, because they are borne both in body and mind toward heavenly things, and say with the Psalmist, Psalm 83: "My heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God."
Fourth, they have four horns, that is, the four cardinal virtues flowing from the altar, that is, from the very depths and disposition of the heart. Fifth, the grating is their heart, in which those spices are burned for God, and in which if any earthly ash falls, it falls away, so that their prayer and praise of God may be pure, and the desires of their heart may be pure. Sixth, the golden crown signifies the crown prepared for them in heaven. Seventh, the four rings with poles are the gifts of the Holy Spirit, by which the just are easily moved by Him and stirred to noble deeds. Eighth, incense was offered at the same time as the perpetual sacrifice, because these two things, namely mortification, which the perpetual sacrifice or immolation of the lamb represents, and the ardor of contemplation, which the incense represents, must be joined: for one cannot exist without the other; hence in Canticles 5, the Bridegroom says: "I have gathered my myrrh with my spices." Where by myrrh mortification is understood, and by spices divine love and contemplation.
At which point note that Christ compares Himself in His passion to a harvester, both to signify the joy of spirit with which He suffered, and to indicate the abundant fruit of His passion, which even then by suffering He seemed to be reaping and gathering: and so Christ's very passion was like a certain harvest and gathering of fruits.
Would that our heart were an altar of incense, exhaling perpetual incense, that is, pious and frequent vows, desires, and sighs to God! So Saint John saw an angel take fire from the altar of incense, and offer to God bowls full of fragrances, which are the prayers of the Saints, Revelation 8:3 and 5. Hence Pope Urban IV, explaining that verse of Psalm 50, Then shall they place upon Your altar young bulls: "This is the altar," he says, "of Your holy temple, which I am, beside which stands the angel appointed for its guarding, having a golden censer in his hand, so that with much incense he may present before You, O Lord, the prayers poured forth with tears. This is an altar that is hollow and empty, emptied of all earthly affections, which You commanded to be made, for storing the ashes of our memory of death."
Moral teaching on the fruit, miracles, and examples of prayer.
"Many," says Saint Augustine on Psalm 65, "grow languid in praying, and in the freshness of their conversion they pray fervently; afterward languidly, afterward coldly, afterward negligently, as if they were safe: the enemy keeps watch -- are you sleeping?" The same to Proba: "The brethren in Egypt are said to have frequent prayers, but very brief ones, swiftly shot forth: lest that vigilantly raised attention, which is most necessary for one praying, should vanish and become dulled through longer delays." The same again: "Prayer," he says, "is the defense of the holy soul, the consolation of a good angel, the torment of the devil, a pleasing service to God, and the total praise of penance and religion, perfect glory, sure hope, uncorrupted health." The same to Dioscorus: "This business," he says, "is carried on more by groans than by words, more by weeping than by speech." For, as Saint Chrysostom says, "God is not a hearer of the voice, but of the heart."
And Saint Jerome in his Epistle: "Let prayer," he says, "arm those going out from their lodging; let it meet those returning from the street: let the body not rest on its seat before prayer has fed the soul."
And Saint Isidore, Book III of On the Supreme Good, chapter 8: "He who wishes," he says, "to always be with God, ought to pray and read frequently. For when we pray, we speak with God; but when we read, God speaks with us." And shortly after: "This is the remedy for one who burns with the temptations of vices: as often as he is touched by any vice, so often let him apply prayer; because frequent prayer extinguishes the assault of vices." And again: "In two ways," he says, "prayer is hindered from obtaining what is sought: either if the one praying still commits evil, or if he does not forgive the debts owed to him by one who offends him."
Saint Basil asks, in Book I of the Hexameron: "How will anyone obtain that his mind not wander in prayer?" and he answers: "If he thinks of himself as standing before the eyes of the Lord."
"Prayer," says Cassiodorus, "calms the heart, draws it away from earthly things, cleanses it from vices, raises it to heavenly things, makes the heart more capable and more worthy of receiving spiritual goods."
Abbot John used to say: Just as a man seeing wild beasts flees and climbs a tree, so when evil thoughts come, flee through prayer to the Lord, and you will be saved. For just as water extinguishes fire, so prayer extinguishes temptation. In the Lives of the Fathers, Book III, last chapter, number 208.
Another used to say: One must pray that the soul be purged from sins and passions; because just as nothing is seen in murky water, so a soul that is disturbed cannot see God.
Do you want examples of those who prayed and obtained? The prayers of Moses, Elijah, David, and others in Scripture are well known.
Ruffinus, in the Lives of the Fathers, Book III, number 194, tells of a Religious man chanting psalms, that while he was singing, from his mouth with each verse a torch of fire went forth and ascended to heaven.
Saint Anthony and Arsenius often prayed through entire nights, and in the morning they were found standing in the very same spot where they had begun to stand in the evening, gazing toward heaven; through prayer they overcame all the temptations and snares of the devil.
Abbot Bessarion prayed for 14 continuous days with his hands extended toward heaven. By this he rendered the water of the sea sweet, as Ruffinus reports, Book III of the Lives of the Fathers, number 215, and Book V, chapter 12, number 3.
James of Nisibis by prayer defended the city of Nisibis against Sapor, and rendered all his schemes futile, as Theodoret testifies in his Life.
Publius by prayer stopped a devil sent by Julian the Apostate, as is found in the Lives of the Fathers, Book VI, chapter 2, number 12.
Simeon Stylites by prayer obtained water, and performed very many miracles, as Theodoret testifies.
Abbot Theonas by prayer rendered robbers immobile. Zuchaeus averted a plague from Caesarea. Saint Hilarion cast out demons.
By prayer and a seven-day fast, Macarius the Egyptian cast out a gluttonous demon, as his Life reports.
Prayer is therefore a conversation with God, a prelude to future blessedness, the work of angels, the victory over all difficulties, medicine for the weak on the way of God, the correction of the mind, the fruitfulness of the soul, the kindling of the spirit, joy and jubilation.
Verse 2: It Shall Be Square
2. It shall be square, that is, quadrangular; for it had a cubit both in length and in width. Our translator therefore calls the square "quadrangular," because it had four horns and corners.
HORNS SHALL PROCEED FROM IT. These horns, therefore, were not added on, but rose from the four corner beams, which served as feet, skillfully crafted in the manner of obelisks. They were like four elegant rays, raised upward upon the four corners of the altar, so that they projected and rose from the four beams that supported the altar. So say Cajetan, Lipomanus, Ribera, and Vilalpando, in whose work you may see their figure and design on page 336 in The Construction of the Temple. Lyranus, however, and the Hebrews think these horns were certain small knobs placed at those four corners for the beauty and adornment of the altar; but these knobs are not horns.
Abulensis notes, Question II, that nothing was hung on these horns; but all the vessels pertaining to the altar of incense were stored at the altar of holocausts and hung from it.
Verse 3: Its Grating
3. ITS GRATING. So also the Septuagint translates the Hebrew gaggo, that is, its roof or covering. This grating was latticed, so that through its openings the ash of the incense, or of the burned spices, falling down might slip to the ground beneath the altar. This grating, therefore, upon which the fire was placed with the incense, was golden; the remaining part of the altar's surface, although it was wooden, was nevertheless covered with rather thick plates of gold in such a way that no access of fire to the wooden boards was possible -- although Saint Jerome in his commentary on Ezekiel chapter 12 says these boards were from wood brought from paradise, which is not harmed by fire, but becomes purer by it, like asbestos. But who brought this wood from paradise? Adam, or afterward someone else, having obtained permission from the Cherubim guarding paradise?
Note: The incense with fire was not placed immediately upon this grating (for otherwise the gold would have been melted by the fire and darkened by the ash), but in a bronze censer, which was placed upon the grating itself, as is clear from Leviticus 10:1.
AND YOU SHALL MAKE FOR IT A CROWN, a rim, or border similar to that which the table of the showbread had, about which I spoke in chapter 25, verse 23. This crown was square, as was the altar itself: it is called a crown, however, because it encircled the entire altar all around.
Verse 6: You Shall Place the Altar Before the Veil
6. AND YOU SHALL PLACE THE ALTAR BEFORE THE VEIL (which separates the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies), WHICH HANGS BEFORE THE ARK OF THE TESTIMONY (that is, before the ark of the covenant), BEFORE THE PROPITIATORY WHICH COVERS THE TESTIMONY -- that is, which covers the ark of the testimony or covenant; it is a metonymy. From this it is clear that the altar of incense was not in the Holy of Holies, as Saint Augustine supposed, but in the Holy Place, as I shall show more fully in chapter 40, verses 4 and 5.
Verse 8: He Shall Burn Perpetual Incense
8. HE SHALL BURN PERPETUAL INCENSE. Not that incense is kindled or burns all day long, but that it is to be burned regularly each day once in the morning and once in the evening. Moreover, this was the manner and rite of the offering of burning incense, as Abulensis rightly teaches, Question VII. First, the priest went to the altar of holocausts, from whose horns censers and fire-receptacles hung, and from there he took one censer, and in it he placed the coals of fire that he took from the altar of holocausts. Then he entered the Holy Place, and there he took incense from the censers that were upon the table of the showbread, and placed it in his censer and upon the fire; next he placed his censer with the fire and incense upon the altar of incense, and there the incense was burned and consumed. When it was consumed, the priest took his censer, and going out beyond the camp he emptied it and poured out the ashes in a clean place, and finally he brought back the censer to the altar of holocausts and hung it again from its horns, whence he had taken it.
Verse 9: You Shall Not Offer Incense of Any Other Composition
9. YOU SHALL NOT OFFER UPON IT INCENSE OF ANY OTHER COMPOSITION. "Other," namely than what I shall prescribe for you in verse 34. On the altar of incense, therefore, it was not permitted to offer a victim, nor to pour a libation, nor even to offer any other incense, however precious, compounded by human skill; but only that which the Lord commands to be compounded in verse 34.
Verse 10: Aaron Shall Make Atonement upon Its Horns Once a Year
10. AND AARON SHALL MAKE ATONEMENT UPON ITS HORNS ONCE A YEAR. Here Moses passes, says Cajetan, from the daily office of this altar to the annual office to be performed upon the same altar, which pertained not to the lesser priests but to Aaron alone, that is, the high priest; to be performed, I say, on the Day of Atonement, which was celebrated on the tenth day of the seventh month. For on that day the high priest, after the expiation of the Holy of Holies, returning from there to the Holy Place and the altar of incense, prayed there for his sins and dipped the horns of the altar in the blood that he carried with him in a small vessel, with which he had already sprinkled the Holy of Holies, Leviticus chapter 16:18, and this is what is said here: "He shall make atonement with the blood (that is, through the blood, or by dipping the horns of the altar in its blood, namely of the animal, that is, the bull and the goat), which (animal) was offered for sin." For this purification of the altar was done by the sprinkling of blood for this purpose: that through it the altar might be expiated, as having been contaminated by the sins of the entire people, in whose midst it stood, committed throughout the whole year, and therefore needing to be purified and reconciled by this lustration and expiation.
AND HE SHALL APPEASE, namely Aaron the high priest shall appease God.
IT SHALL BE MOST HOLY TO THE LORD, as if to say: This rite of expiation shall be most holy; the altar also shall be most holy, which is thus expiated; for the phrase "holy of holies" can refer both to the altar and to the rite of expiation. So Abulensis.
Note: The Hebrews express intensification, or the superlative degree, by an abstract noun, or by a doubled concrete noun, as Holy of holies, that is, most holy.
Verse 12: When You Shall Take the Sum of the Children of Israel
12. When you shall take the sum (in Hebrew "head," that is, heads, that is, the sum of heads) OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL ACCORDING TO THEIR NUMBER, EACH SHALL GIVE A RANSOM FOR HIS SOUL TO THE LORD: AND THERE SHALL BE NO PLAGUE AMONG THEM WHEN THEY ARE NUMBERED -- as if to say: As often as you take a census of the people, not out of vanity or pride (as David did, whose numbering or census of the people was therefore a sin, and was severely punished by God), but either at My command, or for public necessity, such as tribute, war, or some other just cause: so often each person numbered shall pay a ransom for his soul, by which, that is, he may as it were redeem his soul, that is, his life, from God, so that God may preserve them in life and not send upon them plague or any other affliction, according to this quasi-law and agreement. For if you do not redeem yourself, O Hebrew, with the price, when you have been numbered, the Lord will punish you as a transgressor of this law and pact with some plague, as He did in the time of David, when he numbered the people but did not collect the census-tax prescribed here. Although there the fault was also of another kind, namely pride, as I have already said. By this census-price, therefore, according to this law and quasi-pact with God, the Hebrews redeemed their life, so as to escape the plague and other deadly afflictions that befell those who withheld this census-price from God and the temple. So too today those who steal tithes from the temple and from God not infrequently fall into serious plagues and calamities, by which they are impoverished or consumed.
God willed that this ransom-price be paid to Him in the census by every Hebrew, first, for this purpose: that the Hebrews might know and remember that this multiplication of their people was from God and from the promise made to their fathers; and that God cares for His people and, as it were, wishes to hold them in His account. For this is what is signified by the tribute paid to the temple.
Second, to teach that no one is master of his own life or his own head, but that all have one master, namely God, says Saint Cyril, Book II on John, chapter 92.
Third, so that through this temporal tribute might be signified the spiritual tribute of the new law, which is to worship God in spirit and in truth, which everyone numbered by God, that is, every Christian, ought to pay to Him. So Saint Cyril.
The Emperor Vespasian imposed the same payment on the conquered Jews: "He imposed a tax," says Josephus, Book VII of the War, chapter 27, "on the Jews wherever they lived, and ordered them to bring two drachmas each year to the Capitol, just as they had previously paid to the temple in Jerusalem."
Anagogically, Bede, Book III On the Tabernacle, chapter 13: The sum, he says, of the children of Israel signifies the sum of all the elect, who by the price of ten obols, that is, by the observance of the Decalogue, redeem their souls and merit the denarius of eternal life, to be received in the evening, that is, at the end of life.
Verse 13: Half a Shekel According to the Measure of the Temple
13. AND EVERYONE WHO PASSES TO THE NUMBERING SHALL GIVE HALF A SHEKEL ACCORDING TO THE MEASURE OF THE TEMPLE. "Everyone who passes to the numbering," in Hebrew everyone who passes to the numbered, that is, everyone who is counted, or whose name is registered, namely from the age of twenty and above, as is clear from verse 14; for from that age the Jews were assessed and numbered, as fit for war. Hence our Translator, in chapter 38:23, where he first enumerates the census of the people, says this census-price was offered by six hundred thousand armed men, although the word "armed" is not found in the Hebrew: for the Translator rightly understood that only those were counted who were fit to bear arms, and consequently were armed men in this army and battle-line of the Hebrews.
Half a shekel. The shekel was a coin formerly very commonly used among the Hebrews, which was also called a stater; in Hebrew it is called shekel, that is, something weighed, something ponderated. For the root sakal means to weigh and to ponder. For the ancient Jews, as also the Romans, used a rough mass of bronze, silver, or gold of a certain weight in place of money and currency. Later they also minted and cast stamped money, but they would always weigh it at the just weight. So Pliny testifies, Book XXXIII, chapter 3, that the Romans first began to use minted silver after the defeat of Pyrrhus, which was in the year of the City 585, and therefore before the first Punic War; and that the gold coin was minted 62 years later.
Bronze was minted earlier, namely among the ancients by Saturn, and among the Latins by Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, who marked it with images and inscribed it with the title of his name, and from Numa the word numus or nummus (coin) received its name, says Isidore, Book XVI, chapter 17, Cedrenus, and Epiphanius in his book On Weights, at the end.
The weight of the shekel was four Attic drachmas, or half an ounce, as Josephus testifies, Book III of the Antiquities, chapter 9. The silver shekel therefore weighed and was equivalent to four Spanish reales, that is, it was worth one Brabantine florin. There was also a bronze and a gold shekel, all of equal weight, but of unequal value on account of the material. For one drachma of gold is worth ten or twelve drachmas of silver: for the price of gold is ten or twelve times the price of silver. The gold shekel, therefore, was worth ten silver shekels. Arias Montanus describes the minting of the shekel in his book On Measures: namely, that the shekel had on one side an urn with manna, with this inscription (in the ancient Samaritan letters) shekel Israel, that is, shekel of Israel; and on the other side it had Aaron's flowering rod, with this inscription: Jerusalem kedoshah, that is, holy Jerusalem.
See here how small a tribute, namely half a shekel, and one to be paid only rarely, God demands for Himself. Let princes imitate this.
The Emperor Constans, as Eutropius reports, used to say that "public wealth is better held by many private persons than reserved within the one treasury of the prince."
The Emperor Trajan called the public treasury a spleen, because when it grows, all the other members waste away. Fabricius the Roman, when Cineas, the ambassador of the Epirotes, offered him a great amount of gold, refused to accept it, saying that "he preferred to rule over those who had gold than to have gold himself."
ACCORDING TO THE MEASURE OF THE TEMPLE. Many have thought that the shekel of the sanctuary differed in weight and value from the common shekel. For some judged it to be smaller than the common one. So Rabbi Solomon and Lyranus assign twenty-four obols to the common shekel, but twenty to the sacred. Others supposed the sacred shekel to be larger than the common. So Pagninus assigns forty obols to the sanctuary shekel, but twenty to the common. Vatablus, however, and following him Lipomanus and Covarruvias, in his book On Coins, chapter 2, number 9, assign ten obols to the common shekel, but twenty to the sacred.
But this distinction between the sacred and common shekel was unknown to the ancients, namely to Josephus, Saint Jerome, and others; indeed, that these shekels were equal is clear from Ezekiel chapter 45, verse 12; for there the common shekel is said to have twenty obols, the same number that the sacred is said to have here. That Ezekiel is speaking of the common shekel of laypeople, rich and poor, is clear from the preceding context. So Ribera on Amos chapter 8, number 15 and following; Vilalpando, Part II of The Equipment of the Temple, Book II, chapter 28.
You will object: The Septuagint commonly here, in Leviticus chapter 23, Numbers 3, and elsewhere, translates the shekel as a didrachm; therefore this sacred shekel was less than the common shekel, since the common one, according to Josephus, weighed four drachmas. Hence Epiphanius calls the sacred shekel half a stater, that is, half the common shekel. "The shekel," says Epiphanius, "which is also called a quadrans, is the fourth part of an ounce, half a stater, having two drachmas;" and a little before: "A pound is twelve ounces; an ounce has two staters; a stater is half an ounce; but it has two didrachms."
I respond: The Septuagint takes didrachm in the Hebrew sense, not the Attic sense. The Hebrew didrachm was the Attic tetradrachm: for one Hebrew drachma equaled two Attic drachmas. The Septuagint, therefore, calls a didrachm two Hebrew silver coins, each of which weighed two Attic drachmas, as Budaeus testifies, Book V of On the As. Although there was also another larger silver coin of the same value and price as the shekel and stater, namely worth a didrachm, as is clear from comparing the Septuagint version with ours, Genesis chapter 20, verse 16; for there our translator renders it a thousand silver coins; the Septuagint, however, a thousand didrachms. Conversely, in Matthew chapter 17, verse 24, the foreign tax that the publicans sought from Christ was an Attic didrachm, namely half a shekel; for there Christ paid one shekel or stater, namely half for Himself and half for Peter.
You will say: If the sacred shekel and the common shekel were the same, why then does Scripture here and elsewhere specify the shekel and call it the shekel of the sanctuary?
I respond that this is done because in the sanctuary, as in a sacred and secure place, a shekel of the most exact weight was kept, against which all others could be weighed and tested, so that there would be no room for fraud, that is, for clipping and diminution -- just as among the Romans a public measure of the foot existed, as the primary and most certain standard for all others, and a public measure of the amphora existed on the Capitol, about which Priscian says:
"An amphora was made, and lest anyone violate its standard, The Quirites consecrated it to Jupiter on the Tarpeian mount."
Scripture therefore calls the shekel here "according to the measure of the temple," meaning a shekel of the most exact weight; this is clear from Leviticus, last chapter, verse 25, where it says: "Every valuation shall be weighed by the shekel of the sanctuary" (not "computed," which it would have had to say if this sacred shekel had been worth more), where the Septuagint translates: and every price shall be according to holy measures, as if to say: Every shekel, and every weight and price, shall be weighed by the shekel and by the most exact measure that is kept for this purpose in the sanctuary. To Epiphanius I respond that he suffered a lapse of memory, or that an error crept into his manuscript: for Epiphanius clearly contradicts the Septuagint, who call the didrachm a stater or shekel.
THE SHEKEL HAS TWENTY OBOLS -- Jewish ones, that is; for it had twenty-four Attic ones, since four Attic drachmas, which equal the shekel, make that many obols. The obol was therefore the twentieth part of a shekel, that is, of a Brabantine florin, which is worth twenty stuivers; the obol was therefore a stuiver, and the shekel, being worth twenty obols, was worth twenty stuivers.
Tropologically, Radulphus, Book III on Leviticus, chapter 8: The half shekel, he says, or denarius of obols, signifies the integrity of faith. This must have the measure of the temple, because it ought to conform not to the doctrine of heretics, but of the holy Fathers. It is a half, because although it contains everything necessary for human salvation, nevertheless it does not reach the fullness of the vision of God: from this neither the poor nor the rich may subtract anything.
Verse 15: The Rich Shall Not Add to the Half Shekel
15. THE RICH SHALL NOT ADD TO THE HALF SHEKEL -- so that, first, the number of the people may be determined from the shekels; second, so that in the census no occasion of pride be given to the rich, nor of despising their poor fellow countryman; third, because the soul of all human beings is one, whether you be Croesus or Irus; fourth, because in God's sight riches are not worth more than poverty; fifth, because every person's life and soul is equally precious to God, inasmuch as for each individual's redemption the Son of God poured out His precious blood on the altar of the cross; sixth, because everyone, whoever he may be, ought to render equal thanks to God, as far as lies in him, whether he has received riches from Him or labors in want. A mirror of this equity was Saint Job, who, having become utterly poor from being extremely rich, rendered thanks to God: "The Lord gave," he says, showing Himself munificent and generous; "the Lord has taken away" what was His own, when He judged it would be less profitable for me. For my life, therefore, and my soul, preserved by Him amid so many dangers of death, I will give Him the sacred didrachm, the price of my soul, namely praise and thanksgiving, saying: "Blessed be the name of the Lord."
Verse 16: You Shall Deliver the Money for the Uses of the Tabernacle
16. And you shall deliver the money received FOR THE USES OF THE TABERNACLE. The expenses of the tabernacle were great, and those of the temple were greater, in so vast a construction, in feeding and clothing so many thousands of priests and Levites, in victims, in transporting wood, water, etc. Hence the Hebrews report that each year at the feast of expiation this collection of the half shekel was made from each person. So Lipomanus.
THAT IT MAY BE A MEMORIAL BEFORE THE LORD -- as if to say: You will give this census-price, namely half a shekel, to the temple and to God, so that through this God may remember you and be propitious to you.
Verse 18: You Shall Make a Bronze Laver
18. AND YOU SHALL MAKE A BRONZE LAVER WITH ITS BASE FOR WASHING. For "laver" the Hebrew is kiyor, that is, a basin; the Septuagint has louter, as if to say a washing-place, from louein, that is, from washing. For this vessel was made to contain water, with which, first, the priests were washed before they approached sacred duties; second, the parts of victims that were immolated. So Abulensis and Lipomanus. Hence this laver was placed between the tabernacle, that is, the Holy Place, and the altar of holocausts, as follows: for the priests had to perform their sacred duties both in the Holy Place and at the altar of holocausts, which they could not do unless they were first washed.
Solomon fabricated a similar vessel for the same purpose, but much larger, which on account of its immense capacity was called the bronze sea; for it was like an immense hemisphere, whose upper and wider circumference was thirty cubits, so that this entire vessel contained three thousand measures: a measure (metreta) contains seventy-two sextarii, or twelve congii.
Moreover, Moses fabricated this basin, or laver, from the bronze mirrors of the women who kept watch at the door of the tabernacle, Exodus 38:8.
Mystically, some understand by this laver and washing baptism; but because this laver was in the court, which signified the Church, and not before the court or at its entrance, to which baptism is likened, hence it is better, with Saint Gregory, Homily 47 on the Gospels, and Bede, Book III On the Tabernacle, last chapter, to understand by this laver penance, or the Sacrament of Penance. For first, this laver is made from the mirrors of women, that is, from the contemplation of the last things, and from the precepts of God, in which faithful souls see themselves and discover and correct their blemishes.
Hear Saint Gregory: "Moses sets up a bronze laver in which the priests must be washed before entering the Holy of Holies, because the law of God first commands us to be washed through compunction, so that our uncleanness may not be unworthy to penetrate the purity of God's secrets." He then adds why this laver was made from the mirrors of women: "For the mirrors of women are the precepts of God, in which holy souls always look at themselves, and if there are any stains of ugliness in them, they detect them. They correct the faults of their thoughts, and arrange, as it were, their resisting countenances, as if from a reflected image; because while they diligently attend to the Lord's precepts, in them they undoubtedly recognize either what in them pleases the heavenly Bridegroom, or what displeases Him." He adds why these women keep watch at the door of the tabernacle: "Because holy souls, even though they are still burdened with the weakness of the flesh, nevertheless with constant love watch the entrance to the eternal dwelling. Moses, therefore, made the laver for the priests from the mirrors of women, because the law of God offers a washing of compunction for the stains of our sins, while it presents for our contemplation those heavenly precepts by which holy souls have pleased the heavenly Bridegroom. If we diligently attend to them, we see the stains of our interior image; and seeing the stains, we are pierced with the sorrow of penance; and being pierced, we are washed, as it were, in the laver made from the mirrors of women. Moreover, it is very necessary that when we are moved to compunction about ourselves, we also be zealous for the lives of those entrusted to us."
King Lysimachus, when he had surrendered his army to the enemy on account of thirst, after he received water as a captive and drank it, said: "O God! For the sake of how small a pleasure, how great a good, how great a kingdom have I lost, and made myself from a king into a slave!" Let the penitent say this: Good God, for the sake of gluttony, for the pleasure of one quarter of an hour, how great a good, how great the delights of heaven have I lost, and made myself a slave of the devil, of death, and of hell, and that forever!
Second, in this laver our priests must wash when they are about to offer the sacred victim, and other faithful who are also in some measure priests, and who offer the calves of their lips and hands, that is, praises and holy works, and become partakers of the sacred victim.
Third, this laver is placed between the altar of holocausts and the tabernacle, that is, the Holy Place, in which was the altar of incense; because, in order to enter the interior altar, namely the altar of incense, exterior mortification is not sufficient, but interior penance is also required, by which we purge the affections themselves.
See Ribera, Book II On the Temple, chapter 17, adapting each detail minutely.
Verse 19: They Shall Wash in It
19. And having poured water, they shall wash in it. It should be read "in it" (feminine, referring to water), not "in it" (masculine, referring to the laver). For the priests did not wash themselves in the laver (for they would have defiled it), but in water flowing from the laver through a pipe, which could be opened and closed by a spigot. Therefore what the Hebrew says, "they shall wash from it," understand: from the water that flows from the laver through the pipe. So Cajetan. In the same way, we are said to drink wine from a vessel, that is, from a cup that has been drawn from the vessel.
Their hands and their feet. Hence Cajetan, Lipomanus, and Ribera plausibly hold that the priests ministered barefoot in the tabernacle (which they did twice a day, namely morning and evening, as I said above). For they seem to have washed their feet for this purpose, lest they defile the tabernacle with dirty feet. For if they had afterward put shoes and leggings back on their feet, what need would there have been to wash them? For this washing was done only for the cleanliness and dignity both of their feet and of the tabernacle. As a symbol of this, Moses was commanded on Sinai, as in a holy place, when he was about to speak with God, to remove his sandals, Exodus 3:5. The Lord wished by this ceremony of bare feet to teach the priests that dignity and reverence in divine worship, even externally, must be observed.
Second, by this He wished to remind them of interior purity, so that the priests might remember that henceforth they must walk not on the ground but through the heavens, says Philo, in his book On Victims. The Gentiles imitated this in their profane rites. Hence that saying of Hesiod: "To handle sacred things with unwashed hands is sacrilege."
Hence the priests of the new law also wash their hands in the Mass, and indeed all Christians formerly, when about to enter the church and to receive communion, washed their hands, both to be reminded of interior purity, and because they were about to receive the sacred Eucharist in their hands: and for that reason, at the doors of the church a vessel of water was placed for purification; in its place there later remained a small vessel of holy water placed at the entrance of the church, as I showed in 1 Timothy 2. Indeed, Pythagoras too had the maxim: "Sacrifice with bare feet;" which both others and the Lacedaemonians adopted.
Josephus also writes that Berenice, the sister of King Agrippa, when she had gone to Jerusalem on account of a vow, to perform a sacred rite, did the same thing, and so stood barefoot before the tribunal of the governor Florus. Hence also that exclamation of Saint Leo in a certain sermon on fasting, speaking of the fasting of the Hebrews: "Let them have their bare-foot processions, and in the sadness of their countenances let them display their idle fasts."
Even now the Moors and Saracens do not enter the temples in which they are about to perform sacred rites except with their shoes removed. Therefore I think Pythagoras was admonishing that while sacrificing they should be clean, and having set aside worldly cares and having been purged from the defilements of sins, they should devote themselves to the divine service.
For to wash the feet mystically means to purify the mind. On this subject our Theologians also explain the Lord's command about the washing of feet, and likewise the injunction to shake the dust from one's feet. Euthymius also interprets "feet" as thoughts in Psalm 72: "By feet," he says, "he means thoughts, as things that, like feet, guide and sustain the religious life of our soul."
Our priests, however, celebrate wearing shoes, not barefoot, both on account of modesty and decorum, and because they are soldiers and leaders of Christ (whom it befits to be shod, indeed booted), always ready for battle against demons and for preaching the Gospel everywhere: hence they must have "their feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace," as the Apostle says, Ephesians 6:15. See the commentary there.
Verse 21: Lest They Die
21. LEST THEY DIE -- lest I punish them with death (if they neglect this ceremony of washing prescribed by Me) as disobedient and irreverent. Think the same if they were to omit any other ceremonies prescribed by God, especially if this were done out of contempt.
A STATUTE -- that is, this law shall be eternal for you, that you may always observe it.
Verse 23: Take for Yourself Spices, of Prime and Choice Myrrh
23. TAKE FOR YOURSELF SPICES, OF PRIME AND CHOICE MYRRH. So also the Chaldean and the Septuagint; but the more recent Hebrews punctuate their texts differently and read in this manner: Take for yourself the chief spices, that is, the first and most excellent, namely of choice myrrh.
Saint Jerome, however, the Chaldean, and the Septuagint punctuate and translate thus: Take for yourself spices, the head of free myrrh, that is, freely flowing or distilling myrrh. Now the head of free myrrh is stacte, which is the flower of myrrh (as the Septuagint and Saint Jerome translate in his letter to Principia), that is, the tear of myrrh, namely the liquid spontaneously flowing and distilling from myrrh, which is the purest, choicest, and most excellent myrrh. Hence in Hebrew it is called the head of myrrh, that is, that which is first and most excellent in myrrh.
Here is described the composition of the ointment with which the priests were to be anointed and consecrated, likewise the tabernacle and its vessels. For this ointment was prepared from five spices and oil, Exodus 30:23-25.
This ointment was prepared by mixing five ingredients and olive oil, so that it would be like an ointment skillfully compounded by perfumers. Moreover, these five spices were the following: First, choice and free myrrh, that is, spontaneously flowing, of the weight of five hundred shekels. Second, cinnamon, whose weight was half of the preceding, namely two hundred and fifty shekels. Third, aromatic calamus, of the same weight. Fourth, cassia, of the weight of five hundred shekels. Fifth, olive oil, of the measure of one hin, that is, twelve sextarii.
Of five hundred shekels. The Hebrew shekel contains, as I said, four Attic drachmas, or half an ounce. Therefore five hundred shekels make one hundred ounces, which is eight pounds and a quarter of a pound. Similarly, two hundred and fifty shekels make fifty ounces, that is, four pounds and an eighth.
See here how heavy these spices were; how precious even then were the ingredients that today are cheap and common. Hence Saint Jerome: "Cinnamon," he says, "was once among the gifts sent by kings." For if the first spice, namely myrrh, weighed five hundred shekels, that is, eight pounds and a quarter, and cassia likewise, and cinnamon half that, calamus half: the total of all was twenty pounds and a half, or three quarters of a pound above twenty -- which is certainly a great weight and, as we have said, a great price in those days.
OF CALAMUS. — Understand here the fragrant or aromatic reed, as is clear from the Hebrew, Chaldean, and Septuagint, about which see Theophrastus, book IX of the History of Plants, chapter 7; Pliny, book XII, chapter 22; Galen, book VIII of Simple Medicines; Dioscorides, book I, chapter 17.
24. OF CASSIA FIVE HUNDRED SHEKELS IN THE WEIGHT OF THE SANCTUARY — that is, I take the shekel here as being of that weight which was the shekel of the sanctuary, or a shekel that is of as much weight as the shekel of the sanctuary weighs, not because it is greater than the common shekel, but because it is of the most exact measure, as I said at verse 13.
For it is not necessary to posit, with Arias Montanus, that there is here a different shekel of weight, distinct from the shekel of coinage, as if this shekel were a kind of weight that was not equal in balance to the coin shekel, but had a different weight from it: for Scripture gives no indication of this difference of shekel. Wherefore it is more probable that the Hebrews transferred the weight of the coin shekel to other things as well: just as we too sometimes do in familiar speech, when we say that rare and precious things weigh two, three, or four royals; especially because the ancients used coinage -- for example, the shekel -- not as a struck coin, but weighed out by balance, and by that means they priced their merchandise and goods, as I said at verse 43. The shekel therefore by its origin, as also by its etymology, was a measure of weight as much as of coinage.
Verse 25: The Holy Oil of Anointing
Scripture then calls this anointing "the holy oil of anointing," because by it the priests, the tabernacle, and its vessels were consecrated.
25. And you shall make the holy oil of anointing, an ointment compounded by the work of a perfumer. In Hebrew, the work of a perfumer or apothecary. The Septuagint, the work of a perfumer. All these mean one and the same thing.
Verse 26: You Shall Anoint the Tabernacle of the Testimony
26. AND YOU SHALL ANOINT WITH IT THE TABERNACLE OF THE TESTIMONY. — In Hebrew moed, that is, of assembly or of testimony, about which I spoke in the preceding chapter, verse 43.
Note, says Abulensis, that this anointing of the altars, the tabernacle, etc., was not done daily or periodically, but only once at the original consecration -- just as our churches, altars, and chalices too are consecrated only once.
The priests, however, were anointed with oil daily when they ministered in the sanctuary.
Verse 29: They Shall Be Most Holy
29. THEY SHALL BE MOST HOLY — they shall be most holy by this consecration.
WHOEVER TOUCHES THEM SHALL BE SANCTIFIED — that is, by touching the sacred vessels, he who touches them will be sanctified, says Rabbi Solomon: but I showed this to be false at chapter 29, verse 37. "Shall be sanctified" therefore means, he ought to be sanctified, so that if he is unclean, he should purify himself with the water of lustration, about which see Leviticus 14 and Numbers 19, before he touches the altar or other sacred vessels, says Abulensis.
Verse 30: You Shall Anoint Aaron and His Sons
30. You shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and you shall sanctify them, that they may exercise the priesthood for Me. This anointing of priests was twofold. The first was common to all priests, by which oil was poured into the hands of the priest, and from there he himself anointed his forehead. The second was proper to the High Priest, by which oil was poured upon his head, Psalm 132: "Like the ointment on the head, that runs down upon the beard, the beard of Aaron."
Verse 32: The Flesh of Man Shall Not Be Anointed with It
32. THE FLESH OF MAN SHALL NOT BE ANOINTED WITH IT -- that is, no layperson, no profane person shall be anointed with this ointment, but only priests and sacred things.
Nor shall you make another according to its composition. It was therefore forbidden for others to mix these ingredients for profane and common use. For this sacred oil had to be singular and proper to sacred things alone.
Verse 33: Whoever Shall Compound Such a Thing
33. Whatever man shall have compounded the like, and shall have given of it to a stranger, he shall be cut off from his people -- that is, he shall be punished with death. Note: The Hebrews understand by "cutting off" death, whether natural or violent.
Note also the mystical, allegorical, anagogical, and tropological meanings of this ointment and of each of its ingredients as handed down by the Fathers, which for the sake of brevity I pass over. See Bede, Book III On the Tabernacle; Origen, Homily 9 on Leviticus, and others. Myrrh signifies the mortification of the flesh; cinnamon, the fervor of the spirit and of charity; aromatic calamus, good reputation; cassia, integrity and perseverance; oil, mercy and grace. These five, like five fingers of one hand, compose the sacred anointing of chrism.
"To a stranger," that is, to anyone who is not a priest or of priestly lineage: for just as He previously forbade anyone from compounding such priestly ointment for his own use, so here He forbids that it be done for the uses of strangers. So Augustine, Question 135.
Verse 34: Take for Yourself Spices, Stacte and Onycha
34. TAKE FOR YOURSELF SPICES, STACTE AND ONYCHA, GALBANUM OF GOOD ODOR, AND THE PUREST FRANKINCENSE. Four species of incense are enumerated here; add therefore a fourth, as the Hebrew has it, and there will be five. For the Hebrew reads thus: Take for yourself spices, stacte and onycha and galbanum, spices and pure frankincense. The repetition of "spices" indicates another, that is, a fifth species, different from the four already enumerated.
Here is described the composition of the incense with which the altar of incense was to be burned. This incense consisted of four or five spices, namely stacte, which is the flower or tear of myrrh; onycha, which is the lid of a fragrant sea-shell; galbanum, which is the resin of a certain plant; the purest frankincense; and perhaps a fifth spice, which the Hebrews call "spices," that is, fragrant ingredients not named elsewhere.
All shall be of equal weight -- that is, each shall be taken in equal weight, so that the weight of each is equal. You shall make incense compounded by the work of a perfumer, carefully mixed and pure.
We recognize that as with the holy oil, so also the composition of the incense is forbidden to others, lest it be used for profane purposes. Thus all sacred things ought to be kept separate from the profane.
This incense should be prepared and mixed from stacte, onyx, galbanum, and frankincense. For just as God, in an anthropopathic manner, willed to be fed with sacrifices, so He willed also to be refreshed with fragrances, and thus to be appeased, because a sign of anger and indignation is in the nostrils. Hence in Job chapter 41, verse 11, it is said: "From his nostrils proceeds smoke;" but the nostrils are soothed by a sweet fragrance. Hence this is a fitting symbol of appeasement. So Arias Montanus and Alcazar on Apocalypse chapter 5, verse 8, note 3.
Note first: Stacte is a tear of myrrh, as I said at verse 23.
Second, "Galbanum is a sap," says Dioscorides, book III, chapter 81, "of a fennel plant growing in Syria, which some call metopium: the most esteemed is cartilaginous and fatty (whence perhaps in Hebrew it is called chelbana; for cheleb signifies fatness); galbanum draws out the menses and afterbirth either by application or by fumigation; it counteracts poisons, kills serpents, is swallowed for chronic cough, difficulty in breathing, and other conditions to be soothed." Pliny also writes about galbanum, book XII, chapter 25, and book XXIV, chapter 5, and Galen, in his book on Simple Medicines. Scripture adds and requires that the galbanum be of good fragrance, in Hebrew sammim, that is, aromatic, to signify that it should be select and fragrant. For Dioscorides asserts that galbanum has a heavy odor; and Pliny says that galbanum stinks and smells of castoreum: which he perhaps understands of the more earthy parts of galbanum, but not of the more refined parts, as I shall presently say about onyx, and therefore our Translator adds "of good fragrance."
Third, the onyx, says the Gloss, is a small fragrant shellfish resembling a human fingernail; indeed I think the onyx is that which Dioscorides calls the fragrant nail, book II, chapter 8; and he says it is the covering of a shellfish in the nard-bearing marshes of India, and therefore it breathes forth a sweet fragrance, because the shellfish there feed on nard as their food: the onyx is used as incense for the sake of its fragrance, but it smells somewhat of castoreum; understand with Mathiolus, if after its thin fragrant parts have been exhaled, the remaining shell is burned: for otherwise Propertius sings thus of onyx:
"And let the myrrh-scented onyx anoint the nostrils with saffron."
Pharmacists call the onyx the Blattum Byzantium, as attested by Amatus and Mathiolus in their commentary on Dioscorides.
Tropologically, Saint Gregory, book I of the Moralia, chapter 39: "We make incense composed of aromatics," he says, "when on the altar of good work we give off fragrance through the multiplicity of virtues." And fittingly you may understand frankincense as religion and prayer, stacte as mortification, galbanum (being hot and fatty) as charity and mercy, and onyx (being similar in color to a fingernail and in fragrance to nard) as chastity.
Hence symbolically, Saint Basil on chapter 1 of Isaiah, before the middle: This incense, he says, is the holiness of the body through temperance, and the bridle of reason over the body, which consists of four elements: stacte refers to water, frankincense to air, onyx to earth because of its dryness, galbanum to fire because of its intense heat. Therefore holiness tempers and moderates these among themselves, as it were a holy incense. But above all, incense is prayer.
Alluding to this incense, Saint John, Apocalypse 5:8, says that to those four holy living creatures were given bowls full of fragrances, which are "the prayers of the Saints;" and in chapter 8, verse 3: "There were given to him," he says, "many incenses."
Here note: The prayers of the Saints are here compared to fumigation, not of just anything, but of fragrances. First, because prayer, like frankincense, ascends upward -- Psalm 140: "Let my prayer be directed like incense in Your sight." Second, because just as frankincense is fragrant, so the prayers of the Saints delight God. Third, just as frankincense drives away stench, so prayer drives away sin and mitigates God's anger. Fourth, incense was made from crushed aromatics: so prayer ought to proceed from a mortified and humble soul. Fifth, incense was burned in fire: so prayer blazes forth in the fire of tribulations. Hence in the Song of Songs 4, the Bride says: "I will go to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense."
Verse 35: You Shall Make Incense, Mixed Diligently
35. And you shall make incense, etc., mixed diligently, and pure, and most worthy of sanctification. — In Hebrew, "for sanctification," that is, You shall make incense so well, purely, and diligently mixed and composed, that it may be worthy of being sanctified to God, that is, of being burned, offered, and kindled.
Verse 36: When You Shall Have Ground It All into the Finest Powder
36. And when you shall have ground it all into the finest powder — so that the mixture may be more perfect, and thereby the incense more fragrant.
Tropologically, Saint Gregory, at the end of book I of the Moralia: "We grind all the aromatics into the finest powder," he says, "when we pound our good deeds, as if in the mortar of the heart, by hidden examination, and if they are truly good, we carefully reconsider them." Hence among the ancients, a heart placed in a censer hieroglyphically signified prayers and petitions poured forth to God from a pure, humble, contrite, and ardent heart, says Pierius, Hieroglyphic 34.
You shall place of it (the incense) before the tabernacle of the testimony — namely, on the altar of incense, which is before or in front of the tabernacle of the testimony, that is, before the Holy of Holies. For there was, as it were, a double tabernacle, because of its two parts: one was called the Holy Place, the other the Holy of Holies; Scripture speaks here of the second.
In which place (namely, in the tabernacle just mentioned, that is, in the Holy of Holies) I will appear to you. MOST HOLY (that is, most sacred) SHALL THIS INCENSE BE.
Verse 38: Whoever Shall Make Anything Like It
38. Whoever shall make anything like it, so as to enjoy its fragrance, shall perish from his peoples. — In Hebrew it is, "he shall be cut off from his peoples," because, namely, God will kill him, as disobedient and sacrilegious, with some plague of this life, or at least will punish him eternally in hell. For thus, conversely, "to be gathered to one's people" signifies to be joined to the company of the Saints and the Blessed.
The Lord forbade under so grave a penalty anyone from using the composition of incense for profane purposes, to the end that sacred things and the things of the temple might not be profaned, or the Ecclesiastical ministry become cheap and despised.
Moreover, He wished to unteach them the softness of anointing; for this sacred rite was employed not for softness, but for a sacred symbol and signification, and for reverence of the priesthood.
The pagans likewise taught the same. Socrates said that perfumes should be left to women; that in young men no perfume smells better than the oil they used while exercising. For with marjoram or foliatum perfume, a slave and a freeman immediately smell the same. Asked what old men ought to smell of: Probity, he said. Asked where this perfume was sold, he recited the verse of Theognis:
"From good men you will learn good things."
He who is good, learn good things from him.
Xenophon collects some things of this kind in his Symposium; Erasmus, book III of the Apophthegms.
When the same Socrates was criticizing those anointed with perfumes, and Phaedo was asked who was so anointed with perfumes, Aristippus replied: "I am," he said, "the unfortunate one: but far more unfortunate than I is the king of the Persians. But see to it," he said, "that just as in this regard he is superior to none of the other animals, so neither may he be superior to any of men." By this remark he meant that a man is made no better by perfumes and fragrances, since even a horse smeared with balsam would smell the same as a king; and a beggar anointed with a similar perfume would smell no less well than the high priest. Laertius, book II.
Diogenes, having obtained some perfume, anointed his feet with it contrary to the public custom. When people marveled at this, he said: Because perfume poured on the head evaporates into the air; but from the feet it ascends to the nostrils. Similarly, another criticized the public custom of placing garlands on the head, since it would be more fitting to place them below the nostrils, because the vapor of fragrance does not so much descend as ascend. Laertius, book VI.
The same Diogenes, to someone who had his hair anointed with perfume: "Beware," he said, "lest the sweet scent of the head bring on a foul smell of life;" for we have tried somehow to render the pleasant affinity of the Greek words, euodian and dysodian. For perfume in a man betrays softness of life; moreover, reputation is like a man's odor. Martial said something similar:
"Posthumus, he does not smell well who always smells well."
So Laertius, book VI.
The same said that the gods are easy in granting life to men: but that this life is unknown to those who seek perfumes. Laertius, ibid.
Lycurgus expelled perfumes from the state as being the corruption and ruin of oil. For oil, he said, spoiled with fragrances has no use, neither for eating nor for anointing the limbs; and while they corrupt a necessary thing for the sake of luxuries, the supply becomes smaller. Plutarch in the Laconian Apophthegms.
When a certain young man was thanking Flavius Vespasian for an obtained prefecture, since he reeked of perfume, he was both scorned with a nod and severely rebuked: "I would have preferred," said Vespasian, "that you had smelled of garlic." And soon afterwards he revoked the letters of appointment he had granted. Suetonius in his Life.
Anacharsis said that oil was a poison that engenders madness, because he saw athletes, once anointed, raging against one another. Nor did the Scythians know the use of oil, as I believe, since it neither grew among them nor was imported from elsewhere. Athletes do not fight unless anointed: for they think the body becomes stronger; and the Scythian pretended to believe that oil was the cause of their madness. Laertius, book I, chapter 9.