Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - Exodus 30:1-38
The Census and Its Religious Aspect Exodus 30:12 I. This first census of which we have any recorded history took place more than three thousand years ago. It was taken in the wilderness, and in a very different way from that in which our census is taken. From the grouped tribes every man of twenty years of age and upwards was called out, and afterwards passed over to the crowd of the 'numbered'. No women or children were numbered. Women and children owe even more than men to the influence of... read more
John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Exodus 30:1-38
The Altar of Incense. The Ransom Money. The Laver. The Anointing Oil. The Incense1-10. The Altar of Incense. The use of incense in worship was probably due to the worshipper’s desire to honour God by offering to Him what he enjoys himself. ’Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart’ (Proverbs 27:9). It served also to counteract the strong smell of burning flesh, and was therefore usually presented as an accompaniment of sacrifice, and offered either in censers (Leviticus 10:1; Leviticus 16:12;... read more