This was the incense commanded to be burned in the Holy of Holies by Aaron the high priest of Israel the Kohen Gadol. It was comprised of 11 dry raw ingredients and had to be painstakingly made in a specific order. It was made with the musical, numeric and highest spiritual understanding.
Furthermore, it was a secret how it was made because of its power to heal. This incense can heal the whole nation that was struck with the plague. It had done so in the past. (Num. 16:35) Furthermore, it brought great wealth to the priest who served it in the Holy Temple. This was and is the real deal that was powerful stuff. It was so delicate to administer that priests died if they did it wrong and we all know the story of Nadav and Avihu the sons of Aaron.
G-d would dwell in the shekinah glory cloud of this incense we know as ketoret and sit on the teva -mercy seat in the smallest space between the Cherubims where their faces met. The incense was more important to G-d and it had to be done in a certain order in a certain way and served in a precise way in G-d’s holy Home the Beis HaMikdash. There was only one family that made it and even they would not reveal the secrets of how it was made. The Ketoret was made up of 11 ingredients. They are as follows:1. Balsam 2. Onycha (clove) 3. Galbanum 4. Frankincense 5. Myrrh 6. Cassia 7. Spikenard (nard) 8. saffron 9. Costus 10. Cinnamon bark 11. Cinnamon Leaf.
So we see the spice trade was not about seasoning your food or even about nice smelling stuff. It was about ritual Incense to serve our Creator who truly loves the Aroma. The problem was if you were not appointed to make the incense… You die… It was and is that serious. So the selected family by G-d would not reveal its process.
Along with the Dead Sea scrolls in Qumran the archeologists also found 600 kilos of the Ketoret Temple incense. A cache of nearly 600 kilos of what is believed to be ketoret (incense used in the Temple service) was discovered by a team of Bnei Noach (Noahides) in 1992. Could its discovery be connected to the reestablishment of the Third Temple and the Messianic era?
The purpose of the Ketoret was to purify space so that G-d could dwell in the Temple with his people, Ketoret is like a Mystical Umbilical cord if you will. Only one family knew the secret to make it right. It was G-d who selected this priestly family. The secret ingredient would cause the smoke to go straight up in a pillar. It didn’t waft or dissipate like the stuff we see nowadays. It was a pillar of smoke literally. The family that made the incense was the House of Avtinas. They never taught anyone how to do it because Hashem kept the art in their memory solely and was sworn to never show anyone outside their family the secret of the Ketoret Sod.
The Egyptians and Romans tried to copy it and even hired them and paid them double to make it for them, but they never did learn the secret. Well, the secret ingredient is only this selected family was to make it and it was to only be burned in the Holy Temple that they built for the sole purpose that the smoke would go only straight to the heavens and into G-d’s Nostrils and only could it does this is when the Kohen Gadol is doing the Ketoret service.
Each Priest got to serve the Ketoret only once in their lifetime It was a great honor. The secret is it had to be served by only G-d’s chosen people the elect people and made only by G-d’s chosen priestly family the elect family.
Moshiach is a conduit as well, and he will be an example for us to show the rest of the nation how it is done. Moshiach will not only be from the bloodline of great King as David, but he will also be from high priest lineage or to put it simply bloodline. (see Psalms 110) The Kabbalist rabbis and Jewish sages commentaries tell us that Moshiach will be like no other king because he not only be the Messianic King he will also be the priest of the third Holy Temple in the Olam Haba (World to come- Messianic era). It is also taught that he would not be just any Priest but from the selected Avtines family.
The Rabbi understood the bridge between the physical and spiritual planes and how to close the gap. Our Rabbis have this information, but they don’t have the spiritual spark if you will (the bloodline component from Moshiach).
The rabbis and sages have the recipe, but they cannot recreate the true Ketoret without this one missing link who will be first to burn it in the coming Messianic age of the Third Temple. Interesting to note Sages teach that this family will only reveal themselves when Moshiach arrives. This family will go and meet their brother their kin the next member of the family to make and serve the Holy Ketoret incense.
The Ketoret is one of the most sacred mixtures in the Universe and anyone outside this family that tries to mimic it by creating the dry grounded incense is a counterfeit and is, in fact, messing with G-d’s sacred incense fragrance. The same goes if the nations of the world try trying to replace the People, the faith, our way of observance, take the land that G-d gave his people are in fact a counterfeit. The Holy Land-only blossomed for the Jewish people. Therefore, the Ketoret is for G-d’s people, the honor to once again be burned in the Holy Temple will be the privilege of the coming Moshiach to do.
(1) The Power of Ketoret – Ancient Biblical formula to banish plagues – YouTube