The Hyperlinked Bible
Intertextuality Pair
Allusion
Later text
Luke 1:8-10BSB
One day while Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And at the hour of the incense offering, the whole congregation was praying outside.
Earlier text
Exodus 30:7BSB
And Aaron is to burn fragrant incense on it every morning when he tends the lamps.
Earlier text
Ezra 9:5BSB
At the evening offering, I got up from my humiliation with my tunic and cloak torn, and I fell on my knees, spread out my hands to the LORD my God,
Luke opens his Gospel at the very altar of incense: Zechariah, chosen by lot, enters the temple to burn incense (Ex 30:7's morning-and-evening rite) while the people pray outside — and in that moment Gabriel announces Messiah's forerunner. The connection is narrative-historical, not typological: Luke types nothing about the altar itself; rather he locates the threshold of the gospel at the point where the Mosaic incense-mediation stands, marking the redemptive-historical transition from the old covenant's continual rite to its fulfillment in Christ's perpetual heavenly intercession. The scene is the hinge on the storyline — the last faithful priest still serving the shadow at the instant the substance is announced — which is why the Trajectory Table files it under "NT Threshold" rather than as an item-level type.