Small Limestone Incense Altar from Lachish

This altar from Lachish was originally about 20 inches (0.5 m) high, and it seems to have had horns at the upper corners (not shown here). There is a relief of a life-size hand on one side and, on the other (not shown here), a human figure with arms upraised. Both reliefs signify prayer and seem to indicate a connection between prayer and incense. Compare Psalm 141:2, “Take my prayer as an offering of incense, my upraised hands as an evening sacrifice [lit. ‘offering’].”