As I studied about incense and some of the related symbolism (see this recent post), I came across an alternative translation for Genesis 8:21, which describes God's response to Noah's sacrifice after the flood. The KJV translates this "a sweet savour" but the 1599 Geneva Bible translates the same words this way:
And the Lord smelled a savor of rest... (source)
Here is the accompanying footnote: "That is, thereby he showeth himself appeased and his anger to rest." What is so sweet that it can appease God and put His anger to rest? The Hebrew word is:
Biblehub goes on to say this word derives from "nuach" (to rest), from which the name Noah is derived. So the "sweet savor" of the sacrifice is part of the deeper wordplay on the name of the central character in the story. Noah's sacrifice, a symbol of his consecrated life, pleases God and allows Noah to enter into His rest.
The NIDOTTE connects this willing sacrifice to the consecrated life of a Christian:
Perhaps the most theologically significant of all the occasions of the word is the last one (Ezekiel 20:41), where God says that the people themselves will be the “fragrant incense” to the Lord when he brings them home from the nations. As all the prophets had said again and again, it was not the people’s sacrifices that God wanted, but it was themselves, as symbolized in their sacrifices. (New international dictionary of Old Testament theology & exegesis, Vol. 3, p. 59, emphasis added by me)
What a beautiful symbol of the temple! In the temple, we willingly "enter in" to covenants with God, wherein we promise to consecrate our lives to Him. The "sweet savor" isn't about merely burning a precious substance. It is a symbol of a consecrated life.
In the next post, we'll carry this symbolism a little bit further by looking at the deeper meaning of an important Hebrew term for consecrate: male’ yad