The Development of incense Cult in Israel.

• Author: WRIGHT, DAVID P.
• Position: Review

The Development of incense Cult in Israel. By PAUL HEGER. Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, vol. 245. Berlin: WALTER DE GRUYTER, 1997. Pp. ix + 314. DM 188.

This book, originally the author's doctoral dissertation at the University of Toronto, examines mainly the evidence from the Hebrew Bible, and to some extent that from early Bible translations and from early Jewish and Rabbinic texts, to chart in detail the development of incense customs in ancient Israel and early Judaism. Heger's reconstruction, in short, is this: the offering of incense was adopted from Assyrian and Babylonian practice. It is found in ancient Israel as early as the middle eighth century B.C.E., mainly in the worship of foreign deities. It flourished at the beginning of the sixth century, as indicated by the abundant attestation of the root qtr in the book of Jeremiah. Though still mainly found in connection with foreign gods, the practice began to appear in the worship of Israel's God at this time. The practice was largely a popular one, with people making offerings even at their homes. At this stage, incense could be offered as an accompaniment to cereal offerings. Only in the Second Tem ple period was the offering of incense absorbed into the temple cult where it became a priestly prerogative. The priestly writings of the Pentateuch hint at the details of the latest stages of the custom's development. The priests restricted the practice among the people by associating it with theophany, the appearance of the deity in fire and smoke. Only the priests could now make an independent incense offering, and this was done on a censer in the most holy place of the temple (cf. Lev 16:2, 12-13). About this time, levites struggled with priests for the right of making censer offerings, but failed in their attempts, as encoded in the story of Korah's rebellion (Numbers 16). Later, various priestly groups struggled for exclusive rights to the offering, as indicated by the story in Leviticus 10:1-4. The priests represented by Nadab and Abihu failed to exert their claim. A still later struggle took place. This led to a non-violent compromise: priests represented by the figure of Aaron could continue offering incense in the most holy place, but this was now limited to once a year (Leviticus 16), and all priests could offer incense daily on a new altar constructed and dedicated to this purpose (Exod 30:1-10, a late addition to the text).

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