For the source text click/tap here: Yoma 48
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In our daf we discuss the role of chafina, the scooping of ketoret (incense) on Yom Kippur, performed immediately by the kohen gadol before he entered the inner sanctum to burn these spices upon the aron ha-kodesh.
The prooftext is Lev
יב וְלָקַח מְלֹא-הַמַּחְתָּה גַּחֲלֵי-אֵשׁ מֵעַל הַמִּזְבֵּחַ, מִלִּפְנֵי יְהוָה, וּמְלֹא חָפְנָיו, קְטֹרֶת סַמִּים דַּקָּה; וְהֵבִיא, מִבֵּית לַפָּרֹכֶת.
LEV 16:12
this leads us to a midrashic musing on the "full hand" in
Vayikra Rabba 3:1, a petichta which offers multiple explanations of Kohelet 4:6,
ו טוֹב, מְלֹא כַף נָחַת--מִמְּלֹא חָפְנַיִם עָמָל, וּרְעוּת רוּחַ.
6 Better is a handful of quietness, than both the hands full of labour and striving after wind.
the petichta verse contrasts two different sacrifices. One sacrifice is brought on behalf of all of Israel by the High Priest himself in the Holy of Holies on the holiest day of the year. The other is brought by a pauper who has no resources to bring an animal sacrifice.
One would think that the incense of Yom Kippur would be considered among the most sublime of sacrifices while the poor man’s meal offering would be considered a common sacrifice of little stature. However, the midrash insists that it precisely the poor man’s sacrifice which is of the greater significance.