Alter of Incense Why was the "Alter of Incense" important in temple worship and what does it have to do with us in modern times? In order to understand this question, we first must look at the rich prophetic symbolism through John's eye witness account of God's throne. First we look at the alter service of the priest (sons of Levi)in offering incense before the ark of God. This service was offered morning and evening with out fail. The Priest looked forward to his turn to burn the holy incense. To this day the Jews believe God would bestow honor and blessing upon each priest who offers incense upon the Golden Alter. We see this as a type and shaddow of things to come and yet there it is in Revelations 8:3-5; incense, Golden alter, offering, smoke and fire from the alter in heaven now! On Earth the Holy Incense was a continual reminder to God of the future resoration of all things under the Son of his love and His kingdoms rule. In heaven the fragrance of the Son is always in harmony with the Father. Jesus is that fragrant offering and the incense of His prayers that are offered continually before His Father. Jesus prayer represented in the incense added to the prayers of the saints. Rev 8:3 And another angel came and stood over the altar. He had a golden censer, and he was given very much incense (fragrant spices and gums which exhale perfume when burned), that he might mingle it with the prayers of all the people of God (the saints) upon the golden altar before the throne. [Ps. 141:2.] Rev 8:4 And the smoke of the incense (the perfume) arose in the presence of God, with the prayers of the people of God (the saints), from the hand of the angel. Rev 8:5 So the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and cast it upon the earth. Then there followed peals of thunder and loud rumblings and blasts and noises, and flashes of lightning and an earthquake. [Lev. 16:12; Ezek. 10:2.] Why are these verses important? Because we see a pattern of "Thy Kingdom come". There was/is in heaven both alter and incense and these used with refernce to the prayers of the saints. When the people of God pray according to God's will, He hears us, our prayers are then added to the prayers of the Jesus who is always in agreement with His Father. Together they are cast to the earth thus bringing Judgement upon sin in the world.

History of incense and the spice routes We have been doing extensive study about the history of incense and the spice routes. The faciating part is that the majority of biblical scents mentioned were imported from countries as far away as China and as close as Lebanon. God not only chose to import these spices from foriegn lands but also chose to plant them in these lands. God fully knowing at a particular point in the history of Israel He would gather these spices to present this sweet smelling oblation to Himself through the levitical priests.   Seeing that these spices represent a prophetic declaration both unto the Lord and for the Lord. I believe this gathering of spices from other nations and most often through Egypt, speaks to us of God's intention to gather the nations unto Himself in Jesus. As an offering or sweet smelling sacrifice of prayer that has entered into the Chists sufferings of intercession for a lost and dieing world. although I believe the Incense actually spoke of Jesus and His ministry to His father while on earth.  I  also see great significance in the fact that the herbs, resins and spices used for worship, not having their origin in Israel, speaks of God's intentions to draw out of the nations a people for Himself. Israel was not to be alone in the service of worship and prayer ministring to God. Eventually the invitation to all who would willingly come would be issued and we the gentile nations would respond and there by recieve the free gift of salvation.

Holy Incense (Qetoret) L ooking into Jewish text and their history. So we could gain a better undrestanding of what practices and the process were required for making the Holy Incense (Qetoret) required tenacity. An intresting fact began to surface rather than the four ingredience according to scripture.  The Talmud records actually eleven spices and according to Jewish tradition with only the Avitas family as authorized to make it.  With the discovery of an actual sample hidden away in the Qumran caves no one knew the exact biblical botanicals used. The Qetoret (Temple Incense) Vendyl Jones examines samples of temple incense found in 1992 dig. An estimated 600 lbs. of what looked like "reddish earth" was uncovered at the North entrance of the Cave of the Column by excavation volunteers in the late Spring of 1992. Team members reported detecting the smell of cinnamon present in the substance. Preliminary analysis by Dr. Marvin Antelman of the Wiezmann Institute revealed that the find was indeed, organic. "Density indicates that the material which is lighter than water is excluded from the category of red soil or red minerals......also the high percentage of ash is typical of plant source." Dr. Antelman later told the Jerusalem Post in a story dated May 1, 1992, "I'm very excited about this find. He added that he had positively identified borit karshina (karsina lye)which is one of the ingredients spelled out in the Talmud." Recently, Dr. Terry Hutter performed a more exhaustive analysis and stated that, "the red-brown spice sample is composed of nine different and unique plants. The plants are recognizable both by pollen and organic maceral types." Dr. Hutter listed these as : Three kinds of Cinnamon, Saffron Balsam, Myrrh, Galbanum, Cassia, Frankincense . The quantity of the Incense is also significant. It corresponds to the amount prepared for one year of daily Temple service. The Torah only lists four ingredients for the Qetoret. The Mishna lists eleven, in addition to Sodom salt and Karcina lye. The latter text also tells of the Avtinas family and how they were charged with the secret of compounding these precious spices. The fragrance of the Qetoret was said to be so powerful that that when it was being prepared, one could smell it as far away as Jericho where the women it was also said did not wear perfume because of the scent.  Which was about 12 miles to the north of Qumran. Curiously, when young Muhammed edh-Dhib, discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947, only two of the ten clay jars contained anything. One of the pots held the Scrolls and the other was filled with what was descbribed as a  "reddish earth." The Eleven Qetoret Spices as listed in the Talmud and Siddur: Ingredient Amount %Comp   1) ha'tzori — balsamv 70 maneh 13.0% 2) ha'tziporen — onycha 70 maneh 13.0% 3) ha'chelbenah — galbanum 70 maneh 13.0% 4) ha'levonah — frankincense 70 maneh 13.0% 5) mor — myrrh 16 maneh 3.0% 6) ketzia — cassia 16 maneh 3.0% 7) shibolet nerd — spikenard 16 maneh 3.0% 8) kharkom — saffron 16 maneh 3.0% 9) ha'kosht — costus 12 maneh 2.2% 10) k'lufah — aromatic bark 3 maneh 0.6% 11) kinnamon — cinnamon 9 maneh 1.7%   A) Borit Karshina — lye 9 kab 14.3% B) Yein Kafrisin — Cypress wine 3 se'in/3kabin 16.8% C) Melach Sedomit — Sodom salt 1/4 kab 0.3% D) Maaleh Ashan — Smoke producer kol shehu 0.1% E) Kipat HaYarden — Jordan amber kol shehu 0.1%                                     Other ingredients used to prepare the eleven primary spices were: 9 kabin (9 quarts according to Kaplan) of Karshina-vetch lye, 3 se'in and 3 kabin (21 quarts) of Cyprus-caper wine or aged white wine, 1/4 kab (1 cup) of Sodom salt-nitrate, as well as small amounts of maaleh ashan ("smoke-producing herb" — probably leptadenia pyrotechnica which contains nitric acid), and Jordan amber (probably cyclomen).