In Hebrews 9:1 Paul tells us that the first covenant or the Mosaic Covenant had ordinances of divine worship to which the Levitical priesthood and the people had to comply. In addition to religious rituals, Paul tells us, they also had a worldly Sanctuary. The fact that Paul describes the Sanctuary as worldly[1] is by no means disrespectful. What is meant here is that it was a visible, shadowy Sanctuary, which was made with hands and was a pattern of the Reality that was not made with hands.
Within the Tabernacle or Temple there was the first sanctuary (G39) or holy place, wherein were the Table of Shewbread and the Lampstand (Hebrews 9:2). The second sanctuary, described as the Holy of Holies (G39 of G39) was separated from the first sanctuary with a veil (Hebrews 9:3), thus making the Tabernacle or Temple two rooms. The text says the second sanctuary had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant, plus the pot made of gold, which held the sample of manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the Tables of the Covenant (Hebrews 9:3-4).
Notice that Paul says the Holy of Holies had the golden censer, but the golden censor is never mentioned in the Old Covenant as part of the furniture of the Tabernacle or the Temple. In fact, it isn’t even mentioned in the Law that the censer was made of gold. While King Solomon did make the censers of the Temple of pure gold (1Kings 7:50; 2Chronicles 4:22), the word is in the plural, and none of them were singled out as **the** golden censor that was to be a part of the furniture of the Temple. In fact, the Scriptures tell us that the censer (H4289) used by Aaron, the High Priest, on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:12) was made of brass (Exodus 27:3) but there the same Hebrew word is translated fire pan.
Other than Hebrews 9:4 the term **a** golden censer is mentioned in Revelation 8:3, which was used before **the** golden altar. The word Paul uses for censer is thumiasterion (G2369), and it is used only here in Hebrews 9:4. The same word, however, is used by Josephus[2] to indicate the golden altar. It seems this Greek word can be used for anything holding an offering of incense. The fact that Paul seems to place the golden altar inside the Holy of Holies can be explained in that the text says the Holy of Holies had (G2192 – echo) the golden altar. In other words, the altar belonged to the Holy of Holies in the same way a sign placed on a sidewalk outside a restaurant, upon which a menu is written, belongs to the restaurant inside. The same Greek word is used in Matthew 3:9 for the Jews having Abraham as their father and in 1Peter 2:16 for using one’s liberty as a cloak for evil. So, the golden altar was inside the Holy Place, but pertained to or used for the Most Holy Place (cf. Exodus 30:6; 1Kings 6:22).
Another seeming discrepancy in Paul’s description of the furniture of the Tabernacle is that the text seems to place inside the Ark of the Covenant the sample of the manna and Aaron’s rod that budded (Hebrews 9:4). The Scriptures specifically state, however, the only things inside the Mercy Seat were the Tables of the Covenant (Deuteronomy 9:9; 10:1-5; 1Kings 8:9; 2Chronicles 5:10). Nevertheless, the golden pot of manna and Aaron’s rod were set before the Mercy Seat (Exodus 16:33-34; Numbers 17:10).
In Hebrews 9:4 Paul uses two Greek words (G1722; G3729), which the translators use for wherein or in which, giving the idea that all three items were placed inside the Ark of the Covenant. However, G1722 is usually translated among, while G3729 is translated into which. The text, therefore, can be translated among which were the three items mentioned above, and what appears to be a contradiction vanishes (John 10:35).
Hebrews 9:5 says that over it, i.e. over the Ark of the Covenant, were the cherubim of glory, which covered the Mercy Seat, which was the lid of the Ark. This should be understood as the cherubim of the Shekinah Glory, which was the cloud that indicated the Presence of God. The cherubim were given the task of guarding the Way of the Tree of Life (Christ) in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:24). The veil represents the barrier between Eden and the Garden of Eden, out of which the Lord cast Adam and Eve, and the cherubim guarded that Way (cf. John 14:6). The Mercy Seat is hilasterion in the Greek (G2435), which is used only here and in Romans 3:25, where Paul says God made Jesus the propitiation for our sins. The word means covering, and in Hebrews 9:5 we are told the Mercy Seat, i.e. the Propitiation or the Covering covered the Ark in which were kept the Tables of the Covenant, the Law, which accused us. The Septuagint used this same word (G2435) for the Mercy Seat or Propitiatory, calling it a lid (Exodus 25:17). So, these cherubim covered the Propitiatory, which is where the Shekinah Glory rested, over and hid the Law, which accused men of sins.
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[1] The KJV and other translations use worldly, but probably most translate it earthly. Moffatt describes it as material, while the RV has “of this world” and the WNT has “belonging to this world”.
[2] Antiquities of the Jews Book 3; chapter 6; section 8
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