Exodus 30:34-38

Exodus 30:34-38

[34] And the LORD  said  unto Moses,  Take  unto thee sweet spices,  stacte,  and onycha,  and galbanum;  these sweet  with pure  frankincense:  of each  weight: [35] And thou shalt make  it a perfume,  a confection  after the art  of the apothecary,  tempered  together, pure  and holy:  [36] And thou shalt beat  some of it very small,  and put  of it before  the testimony  in the tabernacle  of the congregation,  where I will meet  with thee: it shall be unto you most  [37] And as for the perfume  which thou shalt make,  to yourselves according to the composition  thereof: it shall be unto thee holy  for the LORD.  [38] Whosoever  shall make  like unto that, to smell  thereto, shall even be cut off  from his people. 

What does Exodus 30:34-38 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

As with the anointing oil, only a certain mixture of four ingredients was acceptable as incense for burning on the incense altar. Similarly not just any prayer is acceptable to God; only prayers offered as He has instructed will be acceptable (cf. 1 John 5:14).
"Stacte is a fragrant resin obtained from some species of cistus, or "rockrose." Onycha is the horny plate that covers a species of mussel found in the lakes of India which, when burned, emits a musky odor. Galbanum is a pleasantly aromatic gum resin derived from certain umbelliferous plants. Frankincense (from the Old French for "pure incense"), as used by the Jews, Greeks, and Romans , was a gum resin now called olibanum which was derived from certain trees of the genus boswellia found growing on the limestone of South Arabia and Somaliland. Thus, three of the four ingredients in the incense burned on the golden altar were gum resins. Gum resins are mixtures of gum and resin obtained from plants or trees by incision. Resins burn readily because they contain volatile oils." [1]