Pharisees vs Sadducees
Historical & Halakhic Context (Pharisees vs Sadducees)
“It is said: ‘And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the LORD’ — and not that it should already be [lit/smoking].”
This exact statement addresses one of the most famous theological and procedural debates between the Pharisees (Chakhamim / Rabbinic Sages) and the Sadducees regarding the High Priest’s Yom Kippur service in the Holy of Holies (Yoma 53a):
- The Sadducee Position: the Sadducees held that the High Priest must place the incense onto the hot coals outside the Holy of Holies (in the Heikhal / Sanctuary) and enter only after the cloud of smoke had already formed. They derived this from Leviticus 16:2 “for I appear in the cloud upon the ark-cover” — arguing that entering without a pre-existing cloud of smoke would expose the priest to the unveiled Divine Presence.
- The Pharisaic / Rabbinic Position: the Sages countered using Leviticus 16:13 “And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the LORD” — demonstrating that the actual placement of the incense onto the burning coals must occur “before the LORD” (inside the Holy of Holies itself). The smoke should not already be burning prior to his entry (“ולא שהיה כבר”).
Thus, according to Rabbinic law, the High Priest carried the pan of glowing coals in one hand and a scoop of fine incense in the other into the Holy of Holies, only placing the incense onto the fire once he stepped inside.
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Scriptures referred to from above
and the Lord said unto Moses, “Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the Holy Place within the veil before the mercy seat which is upon the ark, that he die not; for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat. Leviticus 16:2
And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not. Leviticus 16:13
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Joel
A Prophecy of Esau and Jacob 