Exodus 30:37-38: “And as for the perfume which thou shalt make, ye shall not make to yourselves according to the composition thereof: it shall be unto thee holy for the Lord.  Whosoever shall make like unto that, to smell thereto, shall be cut off from his people.”

When I was a student at Moody Bible Institute I decided to go into the perfume business. I saw a little distiller in a magazine and ordered and set up a letting perfume factory in my dorm room. My little business was shut down by the dean because my distiller required the use of a Bunsen Burner and I was not allowed to have an open flame in the dormitory.  I don’t doubt that to be the reason although there was some old boy living across the hall from the deep South who insisted I was running a still.  Since I was at a Bible College, the least the dean could have done was invoke some Scripture reference such as Exodus 30:37-38 as a reason for shutting down my little enterprise. After all I was making the perfume for no other reason than to smell it. Although I must admit my initial smells would have surely cut me off from His people.

The sages taught that perfume symbolizes the saintly people. The word perfume is ketoreth.  The root word is used two different ways.  Rabbi Yehoshua Starrett explains that the first use expresses the literal meaning and the second use expresses a deeper spiritual meaning. The first use is fragrance, perfume, incense. However, if you were to trace this word ketoreth to its Semitic origins you find it has a use of binding. When you apply the perfume to your body you are binding that fragrance to your body.  It is not your natural odor but has been grafted or bonded onto you.

The rabbis teach that the reason you are forbidden to smell the perfume is because it represents the people of God.  When you consider the dual nature of ketoreth as a bonding agent you begin to get the deeper understanding. What this command is expressing is that anyone who imitates the conduct of a saint who binds himself to God for his personal benefit is by definition – his own inner experience- cut off from God and automatically from his/His people.

I recall when I was working as a youth director we had a young teenage girl who fell in love with a young man who was not a believer. The young man was just as smitten but he was smart enough to know that he would not win the girl and win over the parents unless he became a Christian. So he went through all the motions of being a believer. He said the sinner’s prayer, he faithfully attended church, carry his Bible and even gave a beautiful testimony.  As with many romances that passionate flame soon died out and each went in search of a new conquest. The young man never showed his face in church again, went back to his gang and drinking buddies and even laughed about his religious period.  I believe this is what the rabbis were talking about. When you wear perfume you mask your rather offensive body odor by binding yourself to a fragrance that is not your normal body fragrance. It smells good and people like it, but it is not your own inner experience. You wear the fragrance simply to be recognized and accepted.  Many become believers simply to please someone, to be a part of an organization or a group. They really do not want to have a relationship with God; they are more interested in other types of relationships.

I remember attending a church one time where they were doing something rather strange. Apparently, at some point in the history of the church someone was really filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and during a prayer meeting he pretty well took over the whole service praying out loud. The other members of the congregation present were not put off by this as they really recognized that this dear saint was just overflowing with the presence of God. He was allowed to take over a whole prayer service week after week.  They fell into a pattern of letting this saint pray out loud for an hour while everyone else prayed silently. One day the Lord took the old boy home and, of course, by this time the pattern was set so someone was designated to be the loud out spoken prayer warrior. Jealousies soon arose over why a certain individual should hold such esteem position and there were argument over who was the most spiritual to lead, sides were formed and before there was a split in the church and those who did not like the current prayer leader left.

What they were doing was making their own perfume unto themselves. Where it should have been holy unto God the prayer leader was using it so people would smell him and as a result many were cut off from the fellowship.

In Exodus 30:37-38 The Hebrews were commanded to not duplicate the perfume to smell it. Or on its deeper level to duplicate, for their own benefit. God is infinite and there are more ways to worship Him and bring Him pleasure than there are people on this planet.  The idea is not to duplicate someone else’s perfume but to distill your own label and offer it to God.

Someone sees a saint express some manifestation like grunting, moaning, rolling, shouting Yippee and all that.  This person may be really moving under the power of the Spirit of God. Someone else watching this thinks, “Well, I can do that.” Then he starts grunting, moaning, rolling and shouting Yippee and all that.

Now don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against grunting, moaning, rolling, and shouting Yippee and all that so long as it is truly of the Spirit of God.  What I am saying, if you see someone saying “yahoo,” and you are about to respond with a “yahoo” of your own, stop and think about Exodus 30:37-38. Ask yourself, “Am I saying yahoo because I am just so filled with the Spirit of God that I cannot contain myself?  Or am I yahooing because I am trying to duplicate this saint who really is motivated by the Spirit of God and I want to do it for personal benefit, so people will see how spiritual I am.”

The danger of trying to duplicate the experience of another Christian or imitate the experience of another Christian is that you will cut yourself off from God who wants to do something special and unique in you. Rather than observe another saint’s manifestation and saying “I can do that.” Say: “God, what can I do that is unique between you and me?” This can open an exciting adventure that exist just between and the God you love.