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Bible Dictionaries
Burn Incense
Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words
or A. Verb.
Qâṭar (קָטַר, Strong's #6999), “to burn incense, cause to rise up in smoke.” The primary stem of this verb appears in Akkadian. Related forms appear in Ugaritic, Arabic, Phoenician, and postbiblical Hebrew. The use of this verb in biblical Hebrew is never in the primary stem, but only in the causative and intensive stems (and their passives).
The first biblical occurrence of qâṭar is in Exod. 29:13: “And thou shalt take all the fat that covereth the inwards, and caul that is above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and offer them up in smoke on the altar.” Technically this verb means “offering true offerings” every time it appears in the causative stem (cf. Hos. 4:13; 11:2), although it may refer only to the “burning of incense” (2 Chron. 13:11). Offerings are burned in order to change the thing offered into smoke (the ethereal essence of the offering), which would ascend to God as a pleasing or placating savor. The things sacrificed were mostly common foods, and in this way Israel offered up to God life itself, their labors, and the fruit of their labors.
Such offerings represent both the giving of the thing offered and a vicarious substitution of the offering for the offerer (cf. John 17:19; Eph. 5:2). Because of man’s sinfulness (Gen. 8:21; Rom. 5:12), he was unable to initiate a relationship with God. Therefore, God Himself told man what was necessary in order to worship and serve Him. God specified that only the choicest of one’s possessions could be offered, and the best of the offering belonged to Him (Lev. 4:10). Only His priests were to offer sacrifices (2 Kings 16:13). All offerings were to be made at the designated place; after the conquest, this was the central sanctuary (Lev. 17:6).
Some of Israel’s kings tried to legitimatize their idolatrous offerings, although they were in open violation of God’s directives. Thus the causative stem is used to describe, for example, Jeroboam’s idolatrous worship: “So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Beth-el the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel: and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense” (1 Kings 12:33; cf. 2 Kings 16:13; 2 Chron. 28:4).
The intensive stem (occurring only after the Pentateuch) always represents “false worship.” This form of qâṭar may represent the “total act of ritual” (2 Chron. 25:14). Such an act was usually a conscious act of idolatry, imitative of Canaanite worship (Isa. 65:7). Such worship was blasphemous and shameful (Jer. 11:17). Those who performed this “incense-burning” were guilty of forgetting God (Jer. 19:4), while the practice itself held no hope for those who were involved in it (Jer. 11:12). Amos ironically told Israelites to come to Gilgal and Bethel (idolatrous altars) and “offer” a thank offering. This irony is even clearer in the Hebrew, for Amos uses qâṭar in the intensive stem.
B. Nouns.
Qeṭôreth (קְטֹרֶת, Strong's #7004), “incense.” The first biblical occurrence of qeṭôreth is in Exod. 25:6, and the word is used about 60 times in all. The word represents “perfume” in Prov. 27:9. Qittter means “incense.” This word appears once in the Old Testament, in Jer. 44:21. Another noun, qetorah also means “incense.” This word’s only appearance is in Deut. 33:10. Qitor refers to “smoke; vapor.” This word does not refer to the smoke of an offering, but to other kinds of smoke or vapor. The reference in Ps. 148:8 (“vapor”) is one of its four biblical occurrences. Muqtar means “the kindling of incense.” The word is used only once, and that is in Mal. 1:11: “… And in every place incense shall boffered unto my name.…”
Miqteret means “censer; incense.” The word occurs twice. Miqteret represents a “censer”—a utensil in which coals are carried—in 2 Chron. 26:19. The word refers to “incense” in Ezek. 8:11. Meqatterah refers to “incense altar.” The word occurs once (2 Chron. 26:19). Miqtar means a “place of sacrificial smoke; altar.” The word appears once (Exod. 30:1).
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Vines, W. E., M. A. Entry for 'Burn Incense'. Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/vot/b/burn-incense.html. 1940.
