1 You will make an altar to burn incense on of acacia wood.
2 It will be 18" x 18" and three feet tall with horns in the corners carved from the same piece of wood.
3 And you will cover it with pure gold, top and sides all around, including the horns. Make a molding of gold around the top.
4 Under the molding, put two golden rings on two sides, opposite each other for places to put the staves to carry it with.
5 You will make the staves of acacia wood, and cover them with gold.
6 Put the Incense Alter in front of the veil that hangs in front of the Ark of the Testimony with the Mercy Seat lid where I will meet you.
7 And Aaron will burn on it sweet incense every morning when he lights the lamps.
8 And when he lights the lamps every evening he will burn incense on it, a continual incense before the I AM forever.
9 Don't offer any unauthorized incense on it, and don't burn sacrifices or meat offerings or pour out drink offerings on it.
10 Aaron will purify the horns of it once a year with the blood of the sin offering. He will do this once a year forever. It is most holy to the I AM.
Taking a Census
11 And the I AM spoke to Moses, saying,12 When you count the children of Israel, every man will give a ransom for his soul to the I AM, so that there will not be any plague among them when you count them.
For some reason God wanted a tax to be levied every time a census was taken. Maybe this was so the people would make sure there were not too many taken and the leaders of the country begin to trust in their numbers instead of God?
13 Everyone that is counted will give a half shekel according to the sanctuary shekel which weighs 20 gerahs (about $800 in today's money) as an offering to the I AM.
14 Everyone that is counted from twenty years old and older will give an offering to the I AM.
This appears to be the age God begins to hold someone accountable, the age He considers them an adult.
Now, children can certainly work for Him to great effect. And most probably married younger than this. But this is the time God included them with the adults.
15 The rich will not give more, and the poor will not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering to the I AM, to make a ransom for your souls.
A truly fair tax; everyone is of equal value and pays the same amount. The government is not tempted to favor the rich because they pay more. They are worth exactly the same.
This gives dignity to the poor, too. They are not worth any less than the rich.
All men are created equal.
16 And you will take the ransom money from the children of Israel and use it for the service of the Tabernacle of the Congregation, so it can be a memorial to the children of Israel before the I AM, to make a ransom for your souls.
This tax was to be used for the church, not government purposes.
Back to the Tabernacle
17 And the I AM spoke to Moses, saying,18 You will also make a brass wash basin with a pedestal of brass to wash in. Put it between the Tabernacle of the Congregation and the altar, and put water in it.
19 For Aaron and his sons will wash their hands and their feet in it.
20 When they go into the Tabernacle of the Congregation, they will wash with water, so that they don't die, or when they come to the altar to minister, to burn offerings made by fire to the I AM.
21 So they will wash their hands and feet, so that they don't die, and it will be a law forever for them, even to him and to his descendants forever.
God wants us clean in our hearts. This washing of the outside was symbolic of that.
22 Also the I AM spoke to Moses, saying,
23 Also, take the finest spices; 12- 1/2 pounds of pure myrrh, 6-1/4 pounds of fragrant cinnamon, 6-1/4 pounds of fragrant aromatic cane,
24 and 12- 1/2 pounds of cassia--as measured by the weight of the sanctuary shekel. Also get one gallon of olive oil.
25 Make these into a sacred anointing oil, a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer. It will be the sacred anointing oil.
26 And you will anoint the Tabernacle of the Congregation with it, and the Ark of the Testimony,
27 And the table and all its dishes, and the candlestick and its tools, and the altar of incense,
28 And the altar of burnt offering with all its tools, and the wash basin and its pedestal.
29 And you will dedicate the, so they will be sacred. Whatever touches them will be holy.
30 And you will anoint Aaron and his sons, and dedicate them, that they may minister to Me in the priest's office.
31 And you will speak to the children of Israel, saying, "This will be a holy anointing oil to Me forever.
32 "It will not be poured on anyone else, and you will not use the same formula to make any for yourselves. It is sacred, and you will treat it as sacred."
This special oil was to only be used for sacred things and no other oil was to be used for sacred things.
33 Whoever makes any like it, or whoever puts any of it on anyone else, will be kicked out of Israel.
34 Then the I AM said to Moses, "Gather fragrant spices--resin droplets, mollusk shell, and galbanum--and mix these fragrant spices with pure frankincense, weighed out in equal amounts.
35 "And make a perfume, an incense, using the art of the perfumer, blended together, pure and holy,
36 "And you will beat some of it very small, and put of it before the Ark of the Testimony in the Tabernacle of the Congregation, where I will meet with you. It will most sacred to you.
37 "And as for this perfume which you will make, you will not make it for yourselves using the same formula. It will be to you sacred just for the I AM.
38 "Whoever will make any like it, to smell it, will even be kicked out of Israel."
"30:22-38 Directions are here given for making the holy anointing oil, and the incense to be used in the service of the tabernacle. To show the excellency of holiness, there was this spiced oil in the tabernacle, which was grateful to the sight and to the smell. Christ's name is as ointment poured forth, So 1:3, and the good name of Christians is like precious ointment, Ec 7:1. The incense burned upon the golden altar was prepared of sweet spices. When it was used, it was to be beaten very small; thus it pleased the Lord to bruise the Redeemer, when he offered himself for a sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savour. The like should not be made for any common use. Thus God would keep in the people's minds reverence for his own services, and teach us not to profane or abuse any thing whereby God makes himself known. It is a great affront to God to jest with sacred things, and to make sport with his word and ordinances. It is most dangerous and fatal to use professions of the gospel of Christ to forward wordly interests." - Matthew Henry Commentary