Exo 27:2 | KD | STEP | The Altar of Burnt-Offering (cf. ). - “ Make the altar (the altar of burnt-offering, according to ) of acacia-wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad (רבוּע “foured,” i.e., four-sided or quadrangular), and three cubits high. At its four corners shall its horns be from (out of) it, ” i.e., not removable, but as if growing out of it. These horns were projections at the corners of the altar, formed to imitate in all probability the horns of oxen, and in these the whole force of the altar was concentrated. The blood of the sin-offering was therefore smeared upon them ( ), and those who fled to the altar to save their lives laid hold of them (vid., , and 1Ki 1:50; also my commentary on the passage). The altar was to be covered with copper or brass, and all the things used in connection with it were to be made of brass. These were, - (1) the pans , to cleanse it of the ashes of the fat ( : דּשּׁן, a denom . verb from דּשׁן the ashes of fat, that is to say, the ashes that arose from burning the flesh of the sacrifice upon the altar, has a privative meaning, and signifies “to ash away,” i.e., to cleanse from ashes); (2) יעים shovels , from יעה to take away ( ); ( ) מזרקות, things used for sprinkling the blood, from fzarq to sprinkle; (4) מזלגות forks , flesh-hooks (cf. מזלג ); ( ) מחתּת coal-scoops (cf. ). וגו לכל־כּליו: either “for all the vessels thereof thou shalt make brass,” or “as for all its vessels, thou shalt make (them) of brass.”

‏ Exodus 27:2

The Altar of Burnt-Offering (cf. Exo 38:1-7). - “Make the altar (the altar of burnt-offering, according to Exo 38:1) of acacia-wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad (רבוּע “foured,” i.e., four-sided or quadrangular), and three cubits high. At its four corners shall its horns be from (out of) it,” i.e., not removable, but as if growing out of it. These horns were projections at the corners of the altar, formed to imitate in all probability the horns of oxen, and in these the whole force of the altar was concentrated. The blood of the sin-offering was therefore smeared upon them (Lev 4:7), and those who fled to the altar to save their lives laid hold of them (vid., Exo 21:14, and 1Ki 1:50; also my commentary on the passage). The altar was to be covered with copper or brass, and all the things used in connection with it were to be made of brass. These were, - (1) the pans, to cleanse it of the ashes of the fat (Exo 27:3 : דּשּׁן, a denom. verb from דּשׁן the ashes of fat, that is to say, the ashes that arose from burning the flesh of the sacrifice upon the altar, has a privative meaning, and signifies “to ash away,” i.e., to cleanse from ashes); (2) יעים shovels, from יעה to take away (Isa 28:17); (3) מזרקות, things used for sprinkling the blood, from fzarq to sprinkle; (4) מזלגות forks, flesh-hooks (cf. מזלג 1Sa 3:13); (5) מחתּת coal-scoops (cf. Exo 25:38). וגו לכל־כּליו: either “for all the vessels thereof thou shalt make brass,” or “as for all its vessels, thou shalt make (them) of brass.”