or basins for washing, which have no
importance for the cultus, properly so called, should be either
passed over altogether, or merely brought in as an appendix. The
case is not at all parallel with the omission of the most important
utensil of the sanctuary from the very passage to which it
necessarily belongs.
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And the phenomenon is repeated; the altar of incense occurs only
in certain portions of the Priestly Code, and is absent from
others where it could not possibly have been omitted, had it been
known. The rite of the most solemn atoning sacrifice takes place
in Leviticus iv. indeed on the golden altar, but in Exodus xxix.,
Leviticus viii., ix., without its use. A still more striking
circumstance is, that in passages where the holiest incense-offering
itself is spoken of, no trace can be discovered of the corresponding
altar. This is particularly the case in Leviticus xvi. To burn incense
in the sanctuary, Aaron takes a censer, fills it with coals from the
altar of burnt-offering (ver. 12, 18-20), and lays the incense
upon them in the adytum. Similarly in Leviticus x.
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