Exo 27:1-8 | Clarke | STEP | The altar of burnt-offerings, and its dimensions, ; its horns, ; pans, shovels, etc., ; its grate and net work, , ; its staves, , . Court of the tabernacle, with its pillars and hangings, . Gate of the court, its pillars, hangings, length, breadth, and height, . All the vessels used in the court of the tabernacle to be of brass, . The Israelites to provide pure olive oil for the light, . Every thing to be ordered by Aaron and his sons, . Verse 1 Thou shalt make an altar - מזבח mizbeach, from זבח zabach, to slay: Septuagint, θυσιαστηριον, from θυσιαζω, to sacrifice or from θυω to kill, etc. See Clarke's note on . Four square - As this altar was five cubits long and five broad, and the cubit is reckoned to be twenty-one inches, hence it must have been eight feet nine inches square, and about five feet three inches in height, the amount of three cubits, taken at the same ratio.

Exodus 27:1-8

Introduction

The altar of burnt-offerings, and its dimensions, Exo 27:1; its horns, Exo 27:2; pans, shovels, etc., Exo 27:3; its grate and net work, Exo 27:4, Exo 27:5; its staves, Exo 27:6, Exo 27:7. Court of the tabernacle, with its pillars and hangings, Exo 27:9-15. Gate of the court, its pillars, hangings, length, breadth, and height, Exo 27:16-18. All the vessels used in the court of the tabernacle to be of brass, Exo 27:19. The Israelites to provide pure olive oil for the light, Exo 27:20. Every thing to be ordered by Aaron and his sons, Exo 27:21.

Verse 1

Thou shalt make an altar - מזבח mizbeach, from זבח zabach, to slay: Septuagint, θυσιαστηριον, from θυσιαζω, to sacrifice or from θυω to kill, etc. See Clarke's note on Gen 8:20.

Four square - As this altar was five cubits long and five broad, and the cubit is reckoned to be twenty-one inches, hence it must have been eight feet nine inches square, and about five feet three inches in height, the amount of three cubits, taken at the same ratio. Verse 2

Thou shalt make the horns of it - The horns might have three uses:

1. For ornament.

2. To prevent carcasses, etc., from falling off.

3. To tie the victim to, previously to its being sacrificed.

So David: Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar; Psa 118:27. Horns were much used in all ancient altars among the heathen, and some of them were entirely constructed of the horns of the beasts that had been offered in sacrifice; but such altars appear to be erected rather as trophies in honor of their gods. On the reverses of several medals we find altars represented with horns at the corners. There is a medal of Antoninus on the reverse of which is an altar, on which a fire burns, consecrated Divi Pio, where the horns appear on each of the corners.

There is one of Faustina, on which the altar and its horns are very distinct, the legend Pietas Augusta. All the following have altars with horns. One of Valerian, legend Consecratio; one of Claudius Gothicus, same legend; one of Quintillus, same legend; one of Crispina, with the legend Diis Genitalibus; and several others. See Numismatica Antiq., a Musellio, under Consecratio, in the index.

Callimachus, in his Hymn to Apollo, line 60 introduces him constructing an altar of the horns of the animals slain by Diana: - πηξε δε βωμον Εκ κεραων κ. τ. λ.

Martial has these words: Cornibus ara frequens. Verse 3

Thou shalt make his pans - סירתיו sirothaiv, a sort or large brazen dishes, which stood under the altar to receive the ashes that fell through the grating.

His shovels - יעיו yaaiv. Some render this besoms; but as these were brazen instruments, it is more natural to suppose that some kind of fire-shovels are intended, or scuttles, which were used to carry off the ashes that fell through the grating into the large pan or siroth.

His basins - מזרקתיו mizrekothaiv, from זרק zarak, to sprinkle or disperse; bowls or basins to receive the blood of the sacrifices, in order that it might be sprinkled on the people before the altar, etc.

His flesh-hooks - מזלגתיו mizlegothaiu. That this word is rightly translated flesh-hooks is fully evident from 1Sam 2:13, where the same word is used in such a connection as demonstrates its meaning: And the priest's custom with the people was, that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant came, while the flesh was in the seething, with a Flesh-Hook (מזלג mazleg) of three teeth (prongs) in his hand, and he struck it into the pan, etc.; all that the Flesh-Hook (מזלג mazleg) brought up, the priest took for himself. It was probably a kind of trident, or fork with three prongs, and these bent to a right angle at the middle, as the ideal meaning of the Hebrew seems to imply crookedness or curvature in general.

His fire-pans - מחתתיו machtothaiu. Bishop Patrick and others suppose that "this was a larger sort of vessel, wherein, probably, the sacred fire which came down from heaven (Lev 9:24) was kept burning, whilst they cleansed the altar and the grate from the coals and the ashes; and while the altar was carried from one place to another, as it often was in the wilderness. Verse 4

Thou shalt make for it a grate - Calmet supposes this altar to have been a sort of box, covered with brass plates, on the top of which was a grating to supply the fire with air, and permit the ashes to fall through into the siroth or pan that was placed below. At the four corners of the grating were four rings and four chains, by which it was attached to the four horns; and at the sides were rings for the poles of shittim wood with which it was carried. Even on this there is a great variety of opinions. Verse 8

Hollow with boards - It seems to have been a kind of frame-work, and to have had nothing solid in the inside, and only covered with the grating at the top. This rendered it more light and portable.