INCENSE. Material which is burned to make a fragrant smoke or the fragrant smoke thus produced.

1. Words translated “incense.”Words in the OT tr. “incense” include: קְטֹ֫רֶת, H7792, (the most common); קְטﯴרָה, H7777, (Deut 33:10); קִטֵּ֗ר (Jer 44:21); נִיחﯴחַ, H10478, (Dan 2:46; RSV); מֻקְטָר, H5231, and לְבֹנָה, H4247, (1 Chron 9:29; Jer 41:5, KJV in Isa 43:23; 60:6; 66:3; Jer 6:20; 17:26; 41:5; usually tr. “frankincense”). In the NT RSV always and KJV usually trs. θυμίαμα, G2592, by “incense,” but KJV has “odours” (Rev 5:8; 18:13). Often RSV and KJV tr. forms of קִטֵּר, H7789, and of הִקְטִיר (the Pi’el and Hiph’il of the verb קָטַר֒, H7787) by “burn incense,” even though there is no noun in the original for incense as object. Similarly in the NT the verb θυμιάω, G2594, is tr. “burn incense” (Luke 1:9). Several names for instruments used in offering incense have trs. including the word “incense,” though there is no separate word for incense in the original: חַמָּן, H2802, “incense altar” (RSV); כַּף, H4090, “dish for incense” (RSV); מְקַטֶּ֫רֶת, H5232, “altar for burning incense” (RSV).

2. Incense in the ancient Near East. From the earliest times for which there are records about worship, incense was used by the Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Arabians, and Canaanites. The Canaanites, who were the nearest neighbors of the Hebrews, have left various incense stands, altars, censers, and spoons in city levels dated in the second millennium b.c. Egyptian representations of sieges of Canaanite cities sometimes show a man on the wall holding a stand in which incense is smoking, doubtless to reinforce the prayers offered by men standing behind him with upraised arms.

3. Sources of incense. Incense came from S Arabia (frankincense, myrrh), Somaliland (frankincense), Palestine (saffron, stacte), Red Sea (onycha), Persia (galbanum), India (nard), and Ceylon (cinnamon). Arabs controlled much of the incense trade (Gen 37:25; 1 Kings 10:10; Ezek 27:22), and this trade brought wealth to Sheba and other kingdoms of S Arabia.

4. Kinds and preparation of incense

a. In the Bible. The incense most often mentioned in the Bible is frankincense, sometimes used alone and also in the holy incense. Equal parts of this and of stacte, onycha, and galbanum with a little salt (RSV) were mixed together to make the holy incense used on the incense altar (Exod 30:34, 35; cf. Ecclus 24:15). This formula was not to be used for secular purposes (Exod 30:38). Gifts provided incense for use in the sanctuary (Num 7:14-86; Jer 17:26; 41:5), and it was stored in the Temple (Neh 13:5, 9).

b. In extra-Biblical sources. The writer of Jubilees, reflecting the Jewish practice of the 2nd cent. b.c., attributed incense offerings to the patriarchs, to Adam: frankincense and galbanum (3:27), to Abraham: frankincense, galbanum, stacte, nard, myrrh, spice, and costus (16:24), and to Jacob: incense (32:6). Josephus says that in the temple of his day (1st cent. a.d.) thirteen elements were used in the holy incense (War V. v. 5). According to the Talmud (Kerithoth 6a), the following ingredients were used in making the holy incense of the second temple: resin (corresponding to stacte in Exod 30:34), onycha, galbanum, frankincense, each seventy manehs; myrrh, cassia, spikenard, saffron, each sixteen manehs; costus, twelve manehs; aromatic rind, three manehs; cinnamon, nine manehs; lye from leeks, six kabs; Cyprus wine, three seahs and three kabs; salt of Sodom, one quarter kab; smoke-raiser, a small quantity; and, according to Rabbi Nathan, also Jordan resin, a small quantity, a total of 368 to Plutarch (Isis and Osiris, 80), the Egyp. incense called kyphi had sixteen elements, and several materials were combined in Babylonian and Assyrian incense offerings. The priestly family of Abtinas was in charge of pounding and mixing the holy incense, and only they knew the secret of making incense whose smoke rose straight up (Talmud, Yoma, 38a).

5. Incense in common life. Incense (“perfume” RSV) brings joy (Prov 27:9). It could be burned by a prostitute at a revel (Ezek 23:41) and was passed around in bowls after a banquet (Mishnah, Berakoth, VI. 6). It perfumed the litter of Solomon (Song of Solomon 3:6) and was an element of the luxurious life at Rome (Rev 18:13). Numbers 16:46-48 illustrates the fumigatory use of incense to stop a plague. Incense was burned at the funerals of kings (2 Chron 16:14; 21:19; Jer 34:5), and perhaps Amos 6:9, 10 points to the same custom among the common people.

6. Religious use of incense. The worship of Baal, the queen of heaven, and other foreign gods by means of incense often is condemned in the OT (e.g. 1 Kings 11:8; Ep Jer 43). Also condemned are the pagan “incense altars” KJV usually “images” (Lev 26:30), and the “altars for burning incense” (2 Chron 30:14).

The burning of incense at the shrines on “high places” also is often criticized (e.g. 1 Kings 22:43), either because these high places were associated with idolatry (14:23) or because they conflicted with the centralization of worship in Jerusalem (3:2).

The prophetic criticism of incense offering in the worship of the Lord (Isa 1:13; 66:3; Jer 6:20) is not an absolute negation but only part of the prophets’ condemnation of empty formalism.

The bronze serpent (Num 21:9) was worshiped with incense until Hezekiah removed this temptation to idolatry (2 Kings 18:4).

Incense evidently was thought to help in the exorcism of demons (Tobit 6:7; 8:2, 3).

According to the law only the priests descended from Aaron could offer incense (Lev 2:2). Those who tried to usurp the priestly function of offering incense were punished by death (Num 16:31, 32) or disease (2 Chron 26:19), and even priests who offered incense improperly were killed (Lev 10:1, 2).

In the special case of a plague Aaron offered the incense with a censer, not in the sanctuary as usually, but in the camp (Num 16:46, 47).

Frankincense was added to various meal offerings on the altar of burnt offering (Lev 2:1, 2, 15, 16; 6:15). It also was added to the bread of the Presence (Lev 24:7) in two dishes (Mishnah, Menahoth XI. 5, 7, 8), which Josephus says were of gold (Antiq. III. x. 7). After a week this frankincense accompanying the bread was burned on the altar of burnt offering (Jos., ibid.).

The priest offered the compounded holy incense morning and evening on the goldcovered altar in front of the veil. According to Exodus 30:1-10, Aaron, the high priest did this; later priests were chosen by lot to perform this function (Mishnah, Tamid II. 5; V. 2, 4; VI. 1-3; Luke 1:9).

On the Day of Atonement the high priest offered the compounded incense in a censer on the Ark, or, in the second temple, on a stone in the holy of holies (Lev 16:12, 13; Mishnah, Yoma I. 2; II. 4; III. 3, 4; V. 1, 2; VII. 4).

7. Figurative references to incense. The beauty of wisdom (Ecclus 24:15) and the memory of Josiah (49:1) are compared to incense. In the NT incense is used as a symbol of the knowledge of Christ (2 Cor 2:14), of the Philippians’ offering to Paul (Phil 4:18), and of the prayers of the saints (Rev 5:8; 8:3, 4). Philo (Who Is the Heir of Divine Things?, 41) and Josephus (War V. v. 5) interpret the varied materials of the holy incense allegorically as symbolic of God’s proprietorship over the whole world.

8. The function of the incense offering. The basic purpose of incense, as of other offerings, was to honor God (Mal 1:11). Incense symbolized and expressed prayer (Ps 141:2; Judith 9:1; Luke 1:10; Rev 5:8; 8:3, 4). The offering of incense made atonement for sin (Num 16:46, 47). The smoke of the incense on the Day of Atonement veiled the mercy seat from the eyes of the high priest so that he would not die from seeing God’s glory (Lev 16:13). Divine revelations were given to Hyrcanus (Jos., Antiq. XIII. x. 3) and to Zechariah (Luke 1:5-21) while they were offering incense. Maimonides, a physician, suggested that incense also may have had the practical value of counteracting the smell of the bloody sacrifices (Guide of the Perplexed III. 45). See Worship of Church.

Bibliography A. Schmidt, Drogen und Drogenhandel im Altertum (1924); M. Löhr, Das Räucheropfer im Alten Testament (1927); F. Blome, Die Opfermaterie in Babylonien und Israel (1934); G. W. Van Beek, “Frankincense and Myrrh,” BA, XXLII (1960), 70-95; M. Haran, “The Use of Incense,” VT, X (1960), 113-129.