Verse 9 The description of the altar of incense, and of the institution of the rite, is contained in Exodus 30:1-8. Burning the incense in the temple was a duty of the highest interest and solemnity. The number of priests was so large that the falling of the lot to any individual was an important event in his life. He was to go alone into one of the most magnificent apartments in the world, and one which was connected, in the mind of every Jew, with associations of the deepest religious veneration and awe. There he was to perform a most solemn ceremony,--to burn incense, in the very antechamber, and almost in the presence of Jehovah, while thousands were waiting without in silence and solemnity. Thus this first announcement of the approach of the Messiah was made at a time and in a place in keeping with the moral grandeur of the events involved in the annunciation. Luke 1:11,12. There is something mysterious in the strange, unearthly terror, with which the idea of any communication from the world of spirits is associated in the minds of men, in all ages of the world, and under every variety of circumstance. What had Zacharias to fear?