CENSER (si:n'ser), a (trepan; mik-leh'reth, from tatur', incense), the vessel in which incense was presented in the temple (2 Citron. xxvi:19; Ezek. Ecclus. I:9).
Censers were used in the daily offering of in cense and yearly on the day of atonement, when the high-priest entered the Holy of Holies. On the latter occasion the priest filled the censer with live coals from the sacred fire on the altar of burnt-offering, and bore it into the sanctuary, where he threw upon the burning coals the 'sweet incense beaten small' which he had brought in his hand (Lev. xvi :12, 13). In this case the in cense was burnt while the high-priest held the censer in his hand, but in the daily offering the censer in which the live coals were brought from the altar of burnt-offering was set down upon the altar of incense. This alone would suggest the probability of some difference of shape between the censers used on these occasions. The daily censers must have had a base or stand to admit of their being placed on the golden altar, while those employed on the day of atonement were probably furnished with a handle. In fact,
there are different names for these vessels. Those in daily use were called miktereth, from the He brew word denoting incense; whereas that used on the day of atonement is distinguished by the title of michtah or 'coal-pan.' \Ve learn also that the daily censers were of brass (Num. xvi:39), whereas the yearly one was of gold.
'f he numerous figures of Egyptian censers, con sisting of a small cup at the end of a long shaft or handle (often in the shape of a hand), probably offer adequate illustration of those em ployed by the Jews on the day of atonement. It is observable that in all cases the Egyp tian priests had their costly incense made up into small round pellets, which they projected successively from between their finger and thumb into the censer, at such a distance that the opera tion must have required a peculiar knack, to be acquired only by much practice. As the incense used by the lews was made up into a kind of paste, it was probably employed in the same manner.