Chapter Overview
Summary
Exodus 30 adds four concluding tabernacle-elements: the altar of incense (vv. 1–10), the half-shekel atonement tax (vv. 11–16), the bronze basin for priestly washing (vv. 17–21), the holy anointing oil (vv. 22–33), and the sacred incense compound (vv. 34–38). LXX Exodus 30 tracks MT closely. The half-shekel at 30:13 is the didrachma of Matthew 17:24. The anointing-oil formula at 30:22–25 is the chrisma lexical ancestor of 'Christ.' The once-a-year atonement at 30:10 is referenced in Hebrews 9:7.
Notable Variants
The annual atonement at 30:10 cited implicitly at Heb 9:7; the 'half-shekel by the sanctuary standard' at 30:13 (to didrachmon kata ton siklon ton hagion) supplying Matt 17:24's temple-tax vocabulary; the anointing-oil composition at 30:22–25 whose chrisma root yields 'Christ'; the Ex 30:6 altar-of-incense placement (adjacent to the veil, technically outside the Most Holy Place) that Heb 9:4 apparently assumes is inside.
Structural Notes
LXX Exodus 30 preserves MT's 38-verse structure.
"You shall make an altar for burning incense. Make it of acacia wood.
The altar of incense (thymiatērion) construction tracks MT.
It shall be one cubit long and one cubit wide — square — and two cubits high. Its horns shall be of one piece with it.
Dimensions (1 × 1 × 2 cubits) track MT.
Overlay it with pure gold — its top, its sides all around, and its horns — and make a gold molding around it.
Gold overlay tracks MT.
Make two gold rings for it below the molding, on its two sides — on opposite sides — as holders for the poles used to carry it.
Gold rings for carrying-poles track MT.
Make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.
Gold-overlaid acacia poles track MT.
Place it in front of the veil that screens the ark of the testimony — before the atonement cover that is over the testimony — where I will meet with you.
Masoretic (WLC)
לִפְנֵי הַפָּרֹכֶת אֲשֶׁר עַל־אֲרֹן הָעֵדֻת לִפְנֵי הַכַּפֹּרֶת
in front of the veil that screens the ark of the testimony — before the atonement cover
Septuagint (LXX)
ἀπέναντι τοῦ καταπετάσματος τοῦ ὄντος ἐπὶ τῆς κιβωτοῦ τῶν μαρτυρίων
opposite the veil that is on the ark of the testimonies
The altar of incense placement is a famous Hebrews-interpretive crux. MT clearly places the altar outside the veil, in the Holy Place (before the veil).
Hebrews 9:3–4 seems to place the altar inside the Most Holy Place: 'behind the second veil was a tent called the Most Holy, containing … the altar of incense and the ark of the covenant.'
Possible resolutions: (a) Hebrews uses echousa ('has/contains') loosely to mean 'associated with' rather than 'contained within'; (b) Hebrews follows a tradition that distinguishes the Holy Place's altar from a Yom Kippur portable censer; (c) the Hebrews author is working from a different tabernacle-tradition. The LXX preserves the MT's clear outside-the-veil placement.
Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it every morning — when he tends the lamps, he shall burn it.
Daily morning incense-burning tracks MT. The LXX's thymiama ('incense') supplies Revelation 5:8, 8:3–4's golden-bowls-of-incense = prayers-of-the-saints imagery.
When Aaron lights the lamps at twilight, he shall burn it — perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations.
Twilight incense-burning tracks MT. Luke 1:9–10 places Zechariah's incense-offering at the exact cultic moment LXX Exodus 30:8 prescribes — the setting of John the Baptist's announcement.
You must not offer unauthorized incense on it, nor burnt offering, nor grain offering, and you must not pour a drink offering on it.
Prohibition against unauthorized incense tracks MT. Numbers 16 (Korah's rebellion) and 1 Chronicles 13 (Uzzah and the ark) are the dramatic narrative consequences of unauthorized cultic approach.
Once a year Aaron shall make atonement on its horns — with the blood of the purification offering of atonement, once a year he shall purify it throughout your generations. It is most holy to the LORD."
Masoretic (WLC)
וְכִפֶּר אַהֲרֹן עַל־קַרְנֹתָיו אַחַת בַּשָּׁנָה
Once a year Aaron shall make atonement on its horns
Septuagint (LXX)
καὶ ἐξιλάσεται ἐπ᾽ αὐτὸ Ααρων ἐπὶ τῶν κεράτων αὐτοῦ ἅπαξ τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ
Once a year Aaron shall make propitiation upon its horns
The annual Yom Kippur atonement on the incense altar establishes the 'once a year' rhythm. Hebrews 9:7 cites this pattern explicitly: 'only the high priest goes into the second [tent], and he but once a year, and not without taking blood.'
The contrast Hebrews draws is with Christ's hapax ('once for all,' Heb 9:12, 9:26, 10:10). The LXX's hapax tou eniautou ('once a year') is the vocabulary Hebrews inverts into the ephapax ('once for all') of Christ's definitive offering.
The LXX's exilaskomai ('make propitiation, atone') recurs; the same root as hilastērion.
The LORD spoke to Moses:
Divine speech formula tracks MT.
"When you take a census of the Israelites by counting them, each person shall give a ransom for his life to the LORD at the time of the counting, so that no plague will strike them when they are counted.
The census-ransom-for-life principle tracks MT. The ransom (lytron) prevents plague — life-threatening divine judgment averted through voluntary payment. 1 Peter 1:18–19 ('you were ransomed … not with silver or gold') explicitly engages this census-ransom theology.
This is what each person who is registered shall give: half a shekel by the sanctuary standard (the shekel being twenty gerahs) — a half shekel as a contribution to the LORD.
Masoretic (WLC)
מַחֲצִית הַשֶּׁקֶל בְּשֶׁקֶל הַקֹּדֶשׁ
half a shekel by the sanctuary standard
Septuagint (LXX)
τὸ ἥμισυ τοῦ διδράχμου ὅ ἐστιν κατὰ τὸ δίδραχμον τὸ ἅγιον
half a didrachma which is by the holy didrachma
The half-shekel tax becomes Matthew 17:24's temple tax: 'those who collected the two-drachma tax (ta didrachma) came to Peter.' Jesus' response — 'the fish will have a coin in its mouth (stater), pay for both of us' — uses the precise LXX-Exodus 30:13 didrachma vocabulary.
Each half-shekel was two didrachmas; the combined two-person tax was a stater (= four drachmas). Matthew's numismatic detail fits the LXX-Exodus 30:13 math exactly.
The post-70-CE Jewish tax (fiscus Judaicus) preserved a form of this half-shekel cultic-tribute transferred to Roman Jupiter-temple usage. The tax carried a long political life.
Everyone who is registered, from twenty years old and above, shall give the LORD's contribution.
Twenty-years-and-above obligation tracks MT.
The wealthy must not give more, and the poor must not give less than the half shekel, when giving the LORD's contribution to make atonement for your lives.
Rich-and-poor equal contribution tracks MT. 'The wealthy must not give more, the poor must not give less' is one of the Torah's strongest egalitarian provisions — no one can purchase extra atonement. 2 Corinthians 8:13–15's equality-theology develops this principle.
Take the atonement money from the Israelites and designate it for the service of the tent of meeting. It shall serve as a memorial for the Israelites before the LORD, to make atonement for your lives."
Atonement-money for tabernacle service tracks MT.
The LORD spoke to Moses:
Divine speech introduces the basin instructions.
"Make a bronze basin with a bronze stand for washing. Place it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it.
The bronze basin (loutēr) construction tracks MT. Titus 3:5 ('the washing [loutron] of regeneration') draws on this basin-of-washing imagery.
Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and feet from it.
Priestly hand-and-foot washing tracks MT. John 13:5–10 (Jesus' footwashing of the disciples) may deliberately invert the priestly-washing paradigm — the Master washes the disciples' feet, consecrating them as priests.
When they enter the tent of meeting they shall wash with water so they will not die, or when they approach the altar to serve, turning fire offerings into smoke for the LORD.
The entering-or-approaching washing requirement tracks MT.
They shall wash their hands and feet so they will not die — a permanent statute for him and his descendants throughout their generations."
Permanent-statute closure tracks MT.
The LORD spoke to Moses:
Divine speech introduces the anointing-oil instructions.
"Take the finest spices: five hundred shekels of liquid myrrh, half that amount — two hundred fifty — of fragrant cinnamon, two hundred fifty of fragrant cane,
The spice compounds (myrrh, cinnamon, fragrant cane) track MT. Matthew 2:11 (the Magi's myrrh) and John 19:39 (Nicodemus's myrrh-and-aloes) both use myrrh with cultic-anointing overtones.
five hundred of cassia — all by the sanctuary standard — and a hin of olive oil.
Cassia and olive oil — the base — tracks MT.
Make it into a sacred anointing oil — a perfumer's compound, expertly blended. It shall be a sacred anointing oil.
The 'sacred anointing oil' formula tracks MT. The LXX's elaion chrisma (anointing oil) is the compound whose application constitutes the consecration that defines the christos.
With it you shall anoint the tent of meeting and the ark of the testimony,
Anointing of the tent and ark tracks MT.
the table and all its utensils, the lampstand and its utensils, the altar of incense,
Anointing of table, lampstand, incense altar tracks MT.
the burnt offering altar and all its utensils, and the basin and its stand.
Anointing of burnt-offering altar and basin tracks MT.
You shall consecrate them so they become most holy. Whatever touches them becomes holy.
Consecration-making-most-holy tracks MT. 'Whatever touches them becomes holy' continues the holiness-contagion principle.
You shall anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them to serve Me as priests.
Anointing of Aaron and his sons tracks MT.
Tell the Israelites: This shall be My sacred anointing oil throughout your generations.
The perpetual-sacred-oil principle tracks MT.
It must not be poured on the body of any ordinary person, and you must not make anything with the same formula. It is holy — it shall be holy to you.
Prohibition of personal use or duplicating the formula tracks MT. Unique-covenantal-oil: no private use of Israel's sanctifying substance.
Anyone who blends something like it, or who puts any of it on an unauthorized person, shall be cut off from their people."
'Cut off' penalty for unauthorized anointing tracks MT.
The LORD said to Moses, "Take aromatic spices — stacte, onycha, and galbanum — these spices along with pure frankincense, in equal parts.
The incense compound (stacte, onycha, galbanum, frankincense) tracks MT. The four-ingredient incense is a sacred compound analogous to the four-ingredient oil of v. 23.
Blend it into incense — a perfumer's compound, salted, pure, and holy.
Masoretic (WLC)
מְמֻלָּח טָהוֹר קֹדֶשׁ
a perfumer's compound, salted, pure, and holy
Septuagint (LXX)
ἔργον μυρεψοῦ μεμιγμένον καθαρὸν ἔργον ἅγιον
a perfumer's work, mixed, pure, a holy work
MT's 'salted' (memullach) is an unusual cultic attribute for incense. LXX does not render 'salted' — it reads memullach as 'mixed' (memigmenon). Hebrew m-l-ch can mean either 'salt' or 'mix' depending on vocalization.
Mark 9:49 ('everyone will be salted with fire, and every sacrifice will be salted with salt,' pas pyri halisthēsetai) may reflect the MT salted-sacrifice tradition behind Leviticus 2:13 — but the LXX's 'mixed' reading doesn't support the same association.
This is a minor case of LXX and MT pointing to different cultic-ritual specifics from the same consonantal text.
Grind some of it to a fine powder and place it before the testimony in the tent of meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be most holy to you.
Grinding-to-powder and placement before the Testimony tracks MT.
The incense that you make — you must not make any with the same formula for your own use. It shall be holy to you, reserved for the LORD.
Prohibition against making personal incense with the same formula tracks MT.
Anyone who makes incense like it for personal enjoyment shall be cut off from their people."
'Cut off' penalty for unauthorized incense-making tracks MT. The chapter closes with the strict-protection of sacred compounds — they belong only to cultic service.