Read Exodus 30.

In Exodus 30, the LORD instructed Moses to construct an altar of shittim wood specifically for burning incense. The altar was to be square in shape, measuring one cubit by one cubit and two cubits tall, with horns projecting from its four corners. It was to be overlaid with pure gold on its top, sides, and horns, with a golden crown around it and two golden rings on opposite sides to hold the staves used for carrying it. The LORD specified that this altar was to be placed before the veil that concealed the ark of the testimony, in front of the mercy seat. Aaron was commanded to burn sweet incense upon it every morning and every evening when he tended the lamps, so that incense would rise continually before the LORD throughout all generations. The LORD strictly forbade the offering of any strange incense, burnt offerings, or meat offerings upon it, and no drink offering was to be poured upon it. The only exception was the annual atonement made on its horns with the blood of the sin offering, performed once a year to cleanse and consecrate the altar.

The LORD then gave Moses instructions regarding a ransom offering to be collected whenever a census was taken of the Israelites. Every man counted was to pay half a shekel as an offering to the LORD — a ransom for his soul so that no plague would fall upon the people on account of the numbering. This half shekel was to be the same for rich and poor alike, with no distinction between them. The money collected was to be used for the service of the tabernacle and would serve as a memorial for the children of Israel before the LORD.

The LORD next directed Moses to make a laver of brass (along with a brass base) and to place it between the tabernacle and the altar. This basin was to be filled with water so that Aaron and his sons could wash their hands and feet before entering the tabernacle or approaching the altar to minister or offer burnt offerings. The LORD made clear that this washing was not optional; any priest who failed to wash would die. This ordinance was declared a perpetual statute for Aaron and his descendants throughout their generations.

The LORD then provided Moses with the precise formula for the holy anointing oil, a carefully blended mixture of myrrh, sweet cinnamon, sweet calamus, cassia, and olive oil. This oil was to be used to anoint the tabernacle and all of its furnishings (including the ark, the table, the candlestick, the altars, and the laver) consecrating them as most holy. Aaron and his sons were also to be anointed with it, setting them apart for the priesthood. The LORD commanded that this specific formula was not to be replicated for ordinary use, and anyone who made a similar compound for common purposes, or who put any of it on a stranger, was to be cut off from among the people.

Finally, the LORD gave Moses the recipe for a sacred perfume made from sweet spices — stacte, onycha, galbanum, and pure frankincense — blended together in equal parts, tempered with salt, to be pure and holy. This compound was to be burned as incense before the LORD and was declared most holy. Like the anointing oil, it was strictly forbidden to reproduce this incense for personal enjoyment, and anyone who did so was likewise to be cut off from the people.