In last week’s Torah reading, Terumah, we read the details of the construction of
the Tabernacle, the sanctuary in the desert. This week’s Parshah, Tetzaveh, we
discover the special garments worn by the priests and high priest when serving in the
Tabernacle. Following that, we read God’s instructions to Moses regarding the seven-day
inauguration for the Tabernacle. The portion concludes with a description of one of the
vessels of the Tabernacle–the Incense Altar.
Let’s read from the parsha:
Exo 30:1 “You shall make an altar on which to burn incense; you shall make it of acacia
wood.
Exo 30:2 A cubit shall be its length, and a cubit its breadth. It shall be square, and two
cubits shall be its height. Its horns shall be of one piece with it.
Exo 30:3 You shall overlay it with pure gold, its top and around its sides and its horns.
And you shall make a molding of gold around it.
…
Exo 30:7 And Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it. Every morning when he dresses
the lamps he shall burn it,
Exo 30:8 and when Aaron sets up the lamps at twilight, he shall burn it, a regular incense
offering before the LORD throughout your generations.
A central focus of Judaism through the ages is the Temple in Jerusalem, the point where
the world and God meet almost tangibly. The Torah describes in detail the prototype of
the Temple, the portable Sanctuary built by Moses and the Jewish people in the Sinai
desert.
Last week’s Torah portion described how the Sanctuary should be built. It depicted
the Courtyard, with the Copper Altar for offerings. Then, in the west, the actual inner
Sanctuary, with walls of cedar wood overlaid with gold and a roof formed of delicate
tapestry. Last week’s portion also described most of the sacred objects which were to be
placed in the inner Sanctuary: the Golden Ark, containing the Tablets of the Law; the
Golden Table; the seven branched Golden Menorah oil lamp. However, one important
object was left out.
At the very end of this week’s Torah portion, one last item is described. This is the
Golden Altar, on which the priest would offer incense twice a day, every morning and
afternoon. It was placed in the inner Sanctuary, near the Golden Menorah.
The sages ask a question: why is this important part of the Sanctuary left to the very end?
Surely it belongs in last week’s portion, in which all the other details of the Sanctuary
were described?
One answer is: the Golden Altar is left to the end because it expresses the purpose of the
entire Sanctuary.
This is because the service at the Golden Altar was solitary. Other services in the
Sanctuary were public. The Jerusalem Talmud (Yoma 5:2) states that when the priest
entered the Sanctuary to offer incense on the Golden Altar, he was alone with God. This
is as close as any priest other than the High Priest could come to the Most Holy Place.
This is a big deal.
Let’s read about this in the Gospel of Luke:
Luk 1:5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named
Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her
name was Elisabeth.
Luk 1:6 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments
and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
Luk 1:7 And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were
now well stricken in years.
Luk 1:8 And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest’s office before God in the
order of his course,
Luk 1:9 According to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to burn incense when
he went into the temple of the Lord.
This is a HUGE deal. You might serve as priest your whole life and never have the
opportunity to offer the incense. Also, this was truly a once in a lifetime thing. Once your
lot came up, you were removed from the drawing – you had your chance to be alone with
God. Can you imagine Zacharias’ emotions at that point. He makes all of the preparations
and gathers his thoughts. We all know the he encounters an angel who appears from
behind the curtain separating the Holy of Holies.
From this we learn that our private time spent in the presence of God is even more
important that the time we spend here as a congregation. Here, as a body, we offer God
our worship and praise and we are taught from the scriptures. But it is in the service of
the incense altar that we learn that God wants to be alone with us, one on one. It’s at
these times that he can reveal His plans for us directly to us. God is always waiting, it’s
up to us to go into the Holy place alone with the incense of our prayers and make the
offering to our Heavenly Father.
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