Exodus 27: 1-8: “And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof shall be three cubits. And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof: his horns shall be of the same: and thou shalt overlay it with brass. And thou shalt make his pans to receive his ashes, and his shovels, and his basons, and his fleshhooks, and his firepans: all the vessels thereof thou shalt make of brass. And thou shalt make for it a grate of network of brass; and upon the net shalt thou make four brasen rings in the four corners thereof. And thou shalt put it under the compass of the altar beneath, that the net may be even to the midst of the altar. And thou shalt make staves for the altar, staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with brass. And the staves shall be put into the rings, and the staves shall be upon the two sides of the altar, to bear it. Hollow with boards shalt thou make it: as it was shewed thee in the mount, so shall they make it.”
An altar is used for offering sacrifices. The concept of a blood sacrifice being used for sin first came into our consciousness on the day that sin entered into the world. The Lord told Adam and Eve that they would surely die on the day that they ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen 2: 17, “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”) On that day the Lord clothed Adam and Eve with animal skins because they were naked and ashamed. It is impossible to take and animal’s skin without killing the animal so we can be sure that the animals died in place of Adam and Eve on that day. The altar was covered with brass rather than gold because animals offered on the altar were also burnt so the altar had to be sufficiently robust to take the fire as well. There were utensils to take away the ashes of the burnt animals. The altar also had flesh hooks because when the animals were burnt the carcasses would tend to twist and turn off the fire. This means they had to be held in place. The fire also reminds us that there our times in our lives when the Lord allows us to go through a time of trial so that we can mature in our appreciation of His love. We need to have our own flesh hooks that keep us following the Lord through the hard times. This altar was also carried on the shoulders of the Tabernacle servants as it was very holy.
(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
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