THEOSISJohn Chrysostom
In the outer sanctuary stood a brass altar, where each evening a lamb was sacrificed and consumed by fire. This ritual was known as the evening offering, as there was also a morning offering, and the altar was to be ignited twice daily along with other offerings presented by the people. It was established by divine decree that the priests, in the absence of individual offerings, were to present and burn a lamb in the morning and another in the evening on their own behalf; the first was designated as the morning offering, while the latter was the evening offering. This ordinance was established by God to ensure that they served Him consistently at both dawn and dusk.
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Such an offering, along with its accompanying incense, was always pleasing to the Lord; however, a sin offering varied in acceptability depending on the moral state of those making it, being either favorable or unfavorable based on their virtue or vice. In contrast, offerings made not for the sins of others but as an act of lawful devotion and routine service were perpetually pleasing. The Psalmist therefore petitions that his prayer be akin to this sacrificial offering, untainted by any impurity, and like this incense, pure and holy. The prophet likewise desires that his prayer emulate the censer and the imposition of hands, likening it to the evening offering, for both are favorable to God. How so? If both are pure, if both are blameless—both the words spoken and the hands raised—these being free from greed and wrongdoing, and the speech devoid of malignancy.