12. THE INCENSE TO BE BURNED ON: [The Altar Of Tncense]
BOOK THREE
30:6 And you shall place the altar in front of the curtain that hangs before the ark of the testimony, in front of the propitiatory with which the testimony is covered, where I will speak to you. As we explained in its proper place,' the ark designates the Lord Saviour, and the curtain that hung before the ark designates heaven itself, into which the Lord entered when he conquered deathso that he may now appear in the presence ofGod on our behalfT as the Apostle says.2 The altar stands in front of the curtain that was hung before the ark when the righteous direct their every intention to entering the kingdom of heaven. It stands in front of the propitiatory with which the ark is covered when they draw near to the vision of their Creator with purity of mind, and when they have a life in heaven,' quite closed off from the body.
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12. THE INCENSE TO BE BURNED ON
[THE ALTAR OF TNCENSE]
30:7-8 And Aaron shall bum sweet-smelling incense upon it; in the morning when he dresses the lamps, he shall bum it, and when he sets them up in the evening. It is well known that incense or thimiama4 represents the way of prayer, for the psalmist says, 'Let my prayer be directed as incense in your sight, '5 and in the Apocalypse John saw that the saints had golden bowk full of aromatic spices: which he immedlately explained by adding, which are the prayers of the saints. And since Aaron, as we have said above,7 designates both the High Priest himself in particular
(that is, the Lord Saviour) and also the priests of our line, Aaron shall burn sweet-smelling incense upon h s altar in the morning when the Lord himself incites the hearts of the faithful to the sweetness of prayer, having newly illuminated them with the radiance of his grace, or when those who share in his priesthood stimulate the faithful by diligently exhorting them to pray before the face of their Creator.
Now the priest burns incense not only in the morning but also in the evening. For incense is burned in the morning so that whenever we are
1 Ekde, De rub. 1,3; 2, 8 (CCSr. 119A: 13,321-2; 71, 1137) 2 Heb. 9:24
3 Phil. 3:20
4 incensurn sive rhimrama, Bede indicates that the two words for 'incense' used in the Vulgate are equivalent terms, one derived from the Latin verb rncendo ('to kindle') and the other a transliterated form of the Greek h p i p
5 Ps. 141:2 (140:2) 6 Rev. 5:8
7 Ekde, De tab., 1, 1; 3, 1 (CCSL 119A: 7,81; 95, 104.5)
BEDE: ON THE TABERNACLE
disposed to begin a good deed with God's inspiration we will invoke his help in order to bring it to completion, and it is burned in the evening so that when we have finished the things that we began so well we will return prayers of thanks to the one who has given us everythmg that we have received. Or perhaps it is because in the morning and at sunrise we clearly see everything around us in all directions, but when evening comes we are left in the dark, with unsure vision, and therefore require light from a lamp in order to see whatever we wish [to see]. Thus, in so far as we are now able to distinguish the sacraments or the sayings of our Redeemer plainly, even in accordance with the limits of human reason, it is as if we are seeing them in the daytime. Whenever human reason is insufficient, however, and we can only follow the authority of Holy Scripture, then the eye of our understanding is in the dark, as if it were night, but the lamp of God's Word assists our feet,' lest we should accidentally stumble and deviate from the way of truth. For this reason, when Peter is talking about the sacmment of faith in the Lord, he says. And we have thejrmer prophetic message. You do well to attend to it as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
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Therefore, it is properly said, And Aaron shall burn sweet-smelling incense upon it; in the morning when he dresses the lamps, he shall bum it, and when he sets them up in the evening. Aaron bums incense upon the altar in the morning when the Lord sets the hearts of the faithful on fire for the grace of compunction by means of those hidden truths which they are already able to understand. He burns it in the evening when he sets up the lamps when [the Lord] uses even those things that they are not yet capable of grasping, but which they do not hesitate to accept as holy and divine, to fashion them for the love of the things of heaven, where all secrets are brought to light. And he burns sweet-smelling incense when they receive the divine touch of sudden compunction which moves them to devote themselves sweetly to nothing but tears and prayers. Now there properly follows:
30:8 He shall bum an everlasting incense before the Lord throughout your generations, because it is doubtless necessary that the soul should not turn away from prayer and lamentation to idle words or deeds. Even when its pmyer is finished, it should maintain the same vigour of devotion that it assumed in prayer, in accordance with the example of Hannah, of whom it
1 Ps. 119:105 (118:lOS) 2 2 Pet. 1:19
BOOK THREE
was said that after she had prayed, her countenance was no longer changed in diverse things.
30:9 You shall not offer upon it incense of anothercomposition. Later in this book the spices from which this incense was to be composed are specified by name: stacte and onycha, galbanum of pleasing ftagrance, and the purest frankincense.' It is obvious that all of these signify the eternal goods which we ought to seek from the Lord before anything else. Consequently, upon the altar of gold they were not supposed to offer incense of any composition other than that which the Lord had decreed because when we pray we ought to seek from the Lord nothing other than that which he himself has commanded and has promised to give us, and we ought to believe nothing concerning him other than that which he himself has taught.
Neither victim nor libation was to be offered upon it.3 All these things pertain to the exterior altar, since they designate the life of those who are just beginning, and of those who are still malung progress. For the life of those who are perfectly righteous is so sublime that it is impossible to find in it anyhng that they need to sacrifice to the Lord. It is common knowledge that libations of wine sometimes designate the great power of spiritual grace, whether it be the cup of doctrine, or the chalice of the passion, or the intoxification of love that surpasses all things, or the reception of the Holy Spirit itself, or something of that sort. However, whenever libations of wine are offered along with the flesh of victims, according to a tropological exposition they must surely designate the sanctity of those who still have some carnal desires which are opposed to the purity of the spirit, and which ought to be burned on the altar of the heart by the fire of the Holy Spirit. But those who are perfectly righteous can say,
(1321 'My heart and my flesh havesailed; you are the God o$my heart and the God who is my portion firever. * It is as if they have ceased the libations
[poured out upon] victims, which pertain to the bronze altar set outside, and offer to the Lord nothing but the spices of heavenly desire on the golden altar within. Since they are already quite confident about the remission of their sins, they mourn only on account of their delayed entrance into the eternal kingdom, and they water their couch every night with sweet streams of tears.' There is now properly added concerning this altar:
1 I Sam. 1:18
2 Exod. 30:34
3 Exod. 30:9
4 Ps. 73~26 (72.26) 5 Ps. 6:6 (6:7)
BEDE: ON THE TABERNACLE
30: 10 And once a year Aaron shall make intercession upon its horns with the blood of the sin offering. Surely our High Priest offered his own blood for the sins of the whole world once in a year. That was the year in which, as he himself says through Isaiah, he came topreach the acceptable year of the Lord,' referring thereby to this entire period of time in which he has deigned to join the Church to b e l f . In the holy font, he has also given each believer a bath in the mystery of his own blood once for all, to break the bonds of sin The difference between the figures is pleasing in every way. The high priest is commanded to make intercession upon the horns of the altar with the blood of the offering once a year, but to bum sweet-smelling incense upon it daily, because our Lord and Saviour daily renews his faithful by enkindling in them the grace of inner compunction, but he redeemed them once for all when he overcame death by the sacrifice of his blood. Therefore, the faithful themselves, who are accustomed to wash away their daily sins with daily prayers and tears, rejoice that in the sacrament of his passion they have been set free from all their sins once for all.
[The Lord] makes intercession upon the horns of the altar, because he not only prayed for human beings while he himself lived among them, but he also intercedes for us now that he is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven.2 And since he dwells in the hearts of the elect through faith, he is rightly said to be making intercession when he arouses them to prayer.
Moreover, Aaron makes intercession upon the horns of the altar when the Lord commends his own elect to the Father by recalling the virtuous deeds that they have done. Accordingly, as if he is holding the horns of the altar of gold, he speaks of the disciples' devotion: 'Those whom you gave me from the world were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they have come to know that everything you havegiven me
(1331 isfrom you. He also makes intercession for them, adding, 'I am asking on their behag I am not asking on behayof the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. And because the Lord frequently takes pity on our infirmity on account of the merits and the intercessions of noble men, there is rightly added:
30: 10 And he shall make atonement upon it throughout your generations. It shall be most holy to the Lord. Aaron makes atonement upon the altar of incense when the Lord is appeased toward us on account of the 1 Bede quotes from Luke 4: 19, where Jesus was himself quoting Isa 61 :2.
2 Rom. 8:34
3 John 17:6-7 4 John 17:9
BOOK THREE
righteousness of the saints whom we ask to be our intercessors and patrons.
Accordingly, when Hezekiah was besieged by enemies and was calling upon him for help, [the Lord] said, 'I will de@nd this cip and save it, for myownsakeandforthesakeofmyservantDavid.
J Inthe same way, when Moses was interceding on behalf of the sinful people he too invoked the memory of the fathers and said, as if he were endeavouring to appease the Lord by making intercession upon the horns of the altar, 'Letyour anger cease, and be appeased toward the wickedness ofyour people. Remember
Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore byyour own se5 saying, 'Y will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven. "*'
Perhaps it would be possible for us to interpret these altars in anothcr way as well. The bronze altar, on which the flesh of victims was burned and their blood was poured out, we might understand as the whole Church of this present time, in which there is no one who has lived on earth for even one day who is without sin, no one who has not been born according to the flesh through the sin of Adam's transgression, no one who does not need to be reborn in Christ, no one whose spirit does not need to be cleansed by fire. The golden altar, however, can signify the Lord himself, who derived true flcsh from Adam in such a wonderful and ineffable manner that he was truly free from the sin of Adam's flesh, just as the two altars werc made from one and the same kind of wood, but thcy were not both covered with gold. Only spices were burned on th~s altar, nothing fleshly being offcrcd upon it, because when the Lord poured forth prayers or tears3 he was not doing this on account of his own errors, for he had none,4 but rather for the sake of our salvation. For just as the ark which was set within the curtain signifies the God-man sitting at the right hand of Majcsty on high. so might the same Mediator between God and humankind' be figuratively expressed by the altar which was set outside the curtain but near to its entrance. Among human beings he lived in the manner of humans, but with thc power of his divinity he penetrates the innermost parts of heaven.
The altar of incense stood in the sanctuary where the lampstand and the table were also, because the Word was tnadeflesh and dwelt atnong us.
The ark stood within the curtain, because after his passion and rcsurrcction the same Lord Jesus was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right
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1 2 Kgs. 19:34
2 Exod. 32:12-13 3 Heb. 5:7
4 Heb. 4:15; 1 John 3:5
5 1 Tim. 2:5
6 John 1:14