Scripture Daily

Context No. 3786 of 4322 · Exodus

Context · Reflection

Exodus 30:34-38: in context

34The LORD said to Moses, “Take to yourself sweet spices, gum resin, onycha, and galbanum: sweet spices with pure frankincense. There shall be an equal weight of each. 35You shall make incense of it, a perfume after the art of the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy. 36You shall beat some of it very small, and put some of it before the covenant in the Tent of Meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be to you most holy. 37You shall not make this incense, according to its composition, for yourselves: it shall be to you holy for the LORD. 38Whoever shall make any like that, to smell of it, he shall be cut off from his people.”

God gives Moses the recipe for the sacred incense used in the tabernacle, a fragrant blend of spices, and then adds a striking command: this incense is holy to the LORD, and no one is to make it for their own use; whoever makes any like it, to enjoy its fragrance, is to be cut off from the people.

Something set apart entirely for God was not to be taken for common, personal enjoyment. Behind this lies the idea of holiness, of things wholly dedicated to God that are not ours to use for ourselves. The incense belonged to the worship of God alone; to make it for one's own pleasure would be to take what was consecrated to God and turn it to private use. There is a principle here worth pondering. What is dedicated to God is his, and treating sacred things as though they were ours to enjoy or exploit for ourselves is a serious matter. God calls us to honor what is holy as holy, to reverence what belongs to him rather than pulling it down to serve our own comfort or gain.

Do I reverence what is dedicated to God as truly his, honoring holy things rather than treating them as mine to use for my own comfort or gain?

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