The frankincense was added to the cakes upon the table in order to express another aspect and truth respecting the Lord Jesus as man, namely, the purity and fragrance manifested by Him towards God in all His ways, actions and thoughts. The purity of the ways and words of Jesus was not an affected sanctity, neither was it attained by separation from the haunts of men; it was not the mere result of habit, because observed by others, nor was its object the applause of men, but it was the natural result of the spotlessness of His own nature. And it was ever before God He lived and thought and acted. If evil came from Satan or from man, even in that His comfort was to trace the will of God. In Him there were no mistrusts, no suspicions, as well as no murmurings of heart against God. His own character and ways were white and pure like the frankincense, and He knew the Father whom He so loved was good at all times and in all circumstances. All was open and transparent in Christ; He had nothing to conceal; He had no ambiguities, no double intentions, for He was single-eyed. His actions, therefore, and His words were the transcript of Himself, the spontaneous exhibition of what He was intrinsically — all purity and fragrance. How wonderful, and yet how blessed, that a tree of earth should produce this sweet-smelling, pure frankincense—that a world, from whence sin and uncleanness and abomination had ceaselessly sent up an ill savor, should at length find one in its midst whose inmost thoughts as well as outward ways were pure and unsullied and fragrant like the frankincense before God! What, therefore, the Lord intrinsically was as man typified by the fine flour, such also was He in all the pure and fragrant development of His character as represented by the frankincense, and the eye and heart of God could rest on all this and take delight in the beloved Son, ever well-pleasing to the Father, who truly had the blessing of being “pure in heart,” and was therefore fit to be under the eye of God.
H. W. Soltau