נכנס לבית קדש הקדשים להוציא את הכף ואת המחתה שהכניס בשחרית
“He entered to the Holy of Holies to bring out the ladle and the fire-pan which he had taken in during the morning service.”

QUESTION: In the morning he entered holding a ketoret-pan with glowing coals in his right hand and a ladle with incense in his left. He transferred all the incense from the ladle into his hands and put them on the glowing coals and waited there till the Holy of Holies became filled with smoke. Why didn’t he take out the empty ladle immediately upon leaving?

ANSWER: The Sadducees denied the validity of the Oral Tradition of the Jewish people and misinterpreted Scripture in accordance with their whims. The Torah says, “He [the Kohen Gadol] shall not come at all times into the Holy within the Curtain [i.e., Holy of Holies], for with a cloud I will be seen upon the Ark-cover” (Vayikra 16:2). The Sadducees expounded this incorrectly as meaning that the Kohen Gadol should not enter with unburned ketoret; rather he should place the incense on the burning coals before entering.

Thus, according to them, the Kohen Gadol brings in only the fire-pan with the incense on it and there is no need at all to bring in the ladle. Our rabbis strongly disagreed with them and therefore made the Kohen swear that he would do it the traditional way and not like the Sadducees (see Yoma 19b).

In order to negate the view of the Sadducees, the Kohen Gadol would bring in the ladle filled with unburned incense. Additionally, to further emphasize their error, the empty ladle was left there till the afternoon and a special entry was made to remove it at the end of the special services of the day.

(שו"ת תירוש ויצהר סי' נ"ד – הקושיא הובא בס' עבודת ישראל מהמגיד מקוזניץ בשם האברבנאל)