censer Summary and Overview

the vessel in which incense was presented on "the golden altar" before the Lord in the temple (Ex. 30:1-9). The priest filled the censer with live coal from the sacred fire on the altar of burnt-offering, and having carried it into the sanctuary, there threw upon the burning coals the sweet incense (Lev. 16:12, 13), which sent up a cloud of smoke, filling the apartment with fragrance. The censers in daily use were of brass (Num. 16:39), and were designated by a different Hebrew name, "miktereth" (2 Chr. 26:19; Ezek. 8:11): while those used on the day of Atonement were of gold, and were denoted by a word (mahtah) meaning "something to take fire with;" LXX. pureion = a fire-pan. Solomon prepared for the temple censers of pure gold (1 Kings 7:50; 2 Chr. 4:22). The angel in the Apocalypse is represented with a golden censer (Rev. 8:3, 5). Paul speaks of the golden censer as belonging to the tabernacle (Heb. 9:4). The Greek word thumiaterion, here rendered "censer," may more appropriately denote, as in the margin of Revised Version, "the altar of incense." Paul does not here say that the thumiaterion was in the holiest, for it was in the holy place, but that the holiest had it, i.e., that it belonged to the holiest (1 Kings 6:22). It was intimately connected with the high priest's service in the holiest. The manner in which the censer is to be used is described in Num. 4:14; Lev. 16:12.

A small portable vessel of metal fitted to receive burning coals from the altar, and on which the incense for burning was sprinkled. #2Ch 26:19; Lu 1:9| The only distinct precepts regarding the use of the censer are found in #Le 16:12| and in #Nu 4:14| Solomon prepared "censers of pure gold" as part of the temple furniture. #1Ki 7:50; 2Ch 4:22| The word rendered "censer" in #Heb 9:4| probably means the "altar of incense."

CEN'SER . Lev 10:1. A vessel used in the temple-service for the purpose of carrying the fire in which the incense was burned, taken from the perpetual supply on the altar of burnt offering. It was sometimes made of pure gold. 1 Kgs 7:50; 2 Chr 26:16, Acts 1:19. The censer was held in one Egyptian Censers. ( Wilkinson.) hand, and the incense was carried in the other hand. The priest strewed the pulverized incense upon the fire, and the cloud of smoke ascended up in a dark volume and filled the apartment with its fragrance. The word rendered "censer" in Heb 9:4 means a golden altar of incense.

An instrument to seize or hold burning coals. Latterly the portable metal vessel for receiving from the altar burning coals, on which the priest sprinkled the incense for burning (2 Chronicles 26:16; 2 Chronicles 26:18-19; Luke 1:9). Korah and his company were told to take censers, with which they had furnished themselves as aspiring to share in Aaron's priesthood. So Uzziah. So Ezekiel 8:11. But Aaron was told to take "the censer" (Hebrew), namely, that of the sanctuary or of the high priest, and make atonement to stay the plague (Numbers 16:46). On the day of atonement the high priest was to carry the censer of the golden altar within the most holy place, and put the incense on the fire in the censer "before the Lord" (Leviticus 16:12-13).

Solomon made censers of pure gold, probably to take fire from the brazen altar, and to convey incense to the golden altar on which it was to be offered morning and evening (Exodus 30:7-8; 1 Kings 7:50). In Revelation 8:3-4 the "angel" is not Christ, who always has His own title in Revelation, but a ministering spirit. The incense, i.e. Christ's meritorious obedience and death, is given to the angel that he may give it to (so the Greek) the prayers of all saints, to render them a sweet smelling savor to God. "The golden altar," moreover, is Christ Himself (Hebrews 13:10), resting on whom alone prayer is accepted before God. How the angels' ministry exactly is exercised we know not, but we do know they are not to be prayed to (Revelation 19:10).

If we send an offering to the King, the King's messenger is not to appropriate what is due to the King alone. In Hebrews 9:4 "the holiest ... had the golden censer "does not mean it was deposited there, for then the high priest would have had to go in and bring it out before burning incense in it, but that the golden censer was one of the articles belonging to the yearly service in the holiest place; it was taken into the holiest on that anni