Hebrews 9:4

Verse 4. Having the golden censer. What is meant by this is uncertain, no mention being made of a golden censer in either part of the tabernacle made by the order of Moses, which the apostle here speaks of. Some say that the high priest, when he entered once a year into the holy of holies, made use of a golden censer, which he left there: but this is merely a conjecture. Others think that by the golden censer is meant the altar of perfumes, or where perfumes were burnt, which was, as it were a large censer, and is called by the same Greek word by Josephus, the historian; but then there occurs this difficulty, that this altar was in that first part called the holy, not in the holy of holies, to which the same interpreters answer, that this altar was placed just at the entrance into the holy of holies, and so may be looked upon as belonging to the holy of holies: not does the text say it was in the holy of holies, but only having, and so forth as a town may be said to have fortifications which are not within the town itself.—And the tables of the testament, or covenant. The ark was certainly in the holy of holies, in which [2] was the golden urn, with a measure of manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the testament, or the tables of stone, on which were engraven the ten commandments. Nothing but these tables were within the ark: (see 3 Kennicott. 8 and 2 Chronicles 5:10) so that when it is said, in which was the golden urn and the rod of Aaron, the meaning seems to be, that they were indeed in the holy of holies with the ark, but not within the ark. Witham.—In the Greek it is easy to confound the word θυσιαστηριον, which signifies altar, with θυμιατηριον, which means censer. It was placed adjoining the inward veil, so that the clouds of the incense filled the holy of holies; and hence it is mentioned by Saint Paul as contained therein.—The apostle describes these things as they were in the tabernacle which Moses constructed in the desert. V.—We see with what great and continued respect and veneration the manna and Aaron’s rod, and so forth were kept by the Jews, and shall not Christians be allowed to preserve with equal respect the monuments of God’s mercies, and tokens of Christ’s passion? See S. Cyril, (l. iv. cont. Julianum) where he defends against the apostate, the keeping and honouring the cross on which Christ died. See also in Saint Jerome (ep. xvii. chapter 5.) and in S. Paulinus, (ep. 11.) what reverence the faithful in those early periods of the Church paid to the sepulchres of Christ and his martyrs, as also to their relics. “We reverence and worship,” says the latter, “the sepulchres of the martyrs; and, if we can, we apply the holy ashes to our eyes and mouth.”