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Beit HaMikdash

מחתה וכף

Incense implements

The fire-pan, the ladle and the vessels for clearing the inner altar and the Menorah.

Text, diagram and reconstruction

וְלָקַח מְלֹא־הַמַּחְתָּה גַּחֲלֵי־אֵשׁ מֵעַל הַמִּזְבֵּחַ מִלִּפְנֵי ה׳ וּמְלֹא חָפְנָיו קְטֹרֶת סַמִּים דַּקָּה וְהֵבִיא מִבֵּית לַפָּרֹכֶת׃ וְנָתַן אֶת־הַקְּטֹרֶת עַל־הָאֵשׁ לִפְנֵי ה׳ וְכִסָּה עֲנַן הַקְּטֹרֶת אֶת־הַכַּפֹּרֶת אֲשֶׁר עַל־הָעֵדוּת וְלֹא יָמוּת׃

And he shall take a censer full of coals of fire from off the altar before the LORD, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the veil. And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the ark-cover that is upon the testimony, that he die not.
The Holy Scriptures: A New Translation

Dimensions and materials

Teni
Gold, holding two and a half kavMishnah / Talmud: Recorded in the Mishnah or Talmud, the rabbinic texts that preserve Temple practice and law.

Gold and silver vessels; Rambam requires metal for all service vessels.

Function

Carrying coals and incense; clearing ash from the inner altar (teni) and the lamps (kuz).

Daily and annual use

Carried in by the priests chosen by lot each morning.

On Yom Kippur the High Priest carried the fire-pan and ladle into the Holy of Holies.

Interpretations

The site does not add symbolic readings here.

Historical questions

  • Their precise forms are only partly described.

In the Third Temple

Halachah: Rambam: Codified as Jewish law by Maimonides (Rambam) in the Mishneh Torah.

Service vessels are made of metal (Rambam).

All sources for this object