Consider the Spices and Fragrances

Exodus ch.30 begins with instructions for constructing the altar of incense. Burning coals from the brazen altar of sacrifice were placed here and then chosen spices were sprinkled on the flames producing a fragrant aroma which permeated through-out the tabernacle. The fragrance was the odour of God and must have awakened desire for His companionship – He was so close, just beyond the vail. Thus, we see that these spices, were an integral part of the ambiance of the tabernacle. In ch.30 we are in the priest’s pharmacy and we are fascinated by the various labels on the jars of spices. Three times Moses refers to “the art of the apothecary” (Exod.30:25, 35; 37:29). This skill was gained in Egypt as were all their other skills and they are now employed in the service of the tabernacle. Their skills are employed to produce holy anointing oil for the priests, perfume, and incense for the altar.

This chapter is a unique and fascinating chapter in the Bible and important if you reflect on the phenomenal significance of spices in the ancient world and the spice routes which trafficked them. We read about the perfume, “the sweet incense” which was tempered together, pure, and holy, the perfume of God - the fragrance of His nature. The incense employed in the service of the tabernacle was compounded of the perfumes: stacte, onycha, galbanum and pure frankincense. All incense which was not made of these ingredients was forbidden to be offered (Ex.30:9). In 30:36, Moses writes: “And you shall beat some of it very small and put of it before the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation where I will meet with you: it shall be unto you most holy.”

These finely grounded spices were kept exclusively for the Day of Atonement.

The “sweet incense beaten fine” pointed to the holy and loving character of Jesus who under the indescribable sufferings of the cross, manifested the depths of God’s inner nature of suffering love. What a priceless gift and love offering this was to Father. The odour of God was uniquely fragranced from the Person of Jesus in His suffering and death but from birth His nature was fragrant to Father.

In Lev.ch.30 Moses writes about the art of the apothecary who grinds the spices with his mortar and pestle; thus, Jesus was ground down to exceptionally fine powder when He suffered on the cross and thus from His beautiful nature was emitted the sweetest and most intense fragrance. When Isaiah speaks of the pleasure of the LORD in bruising Him, he is surely referring to the manifestation of Jesus’ nature in suffering the agonies of the cross. The analogy of the finely grounded spices points to the way in which He suffered and endured. Instead of curses, resentment and anger, there came from Him the sweet odour of His nature in the crucible of suffering. Jesus said that when He was lifted up on to the cross that He would draw all men to Himself. How does He draw by personal attraction? This is the enigma of the cross. How, can a “crucified God” draw men and women to Himself, through the spectacle of such human cruelty and Christ’s agonized suffering? Perhaps, the cross only begins to yield up to us its attractiveness when we truly begin to love Jesus in our deepest heart and when we have tasted a measure of that suffering in our own lives. Isaiah ch.53 is a place where we behold Him in His painful crucifixion and death. Mary of Bethany discerned the heart and mind of Jesus as He prepared himself and His disciples for His “going away” from them to be lifted up on the cross. In her supreme public act of devotion to Jesus, she breaks open a jar of costly nard and proceeds to pour it on Jesus, her beloved Saviour. Mary’s anointing oil was upon the garments of Jesus (as with the priests), but she poured it also on His body, so that when He was crucified and when His life-less body lay in the tomb, the fragrance of the spices on his body filled the most holy place of the tomb. When the disciples of Jesus criticised Mary for her extravagant act of anointing, Jesus rebuked them by saying, “For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial” (Mat.26:12). He was also saying to Mary that He understood her thinking behind her action.