Altar(golden altar)
“Place of slaughter or sacrifice”
Summary
A structure on which sacrifices were offered to God, central to Old Testament worship and serving as the appointed place of meeting between God and the sinner through shed blood.
☩Early Altars
Noah built the first recorded altar after leaving the ark and offered burnt offerings of every clean animal. The patriarchs built altars at places of divine revelation—Abraham at Shechem, Bethel, and Hebron; Isaac at Beersheba; and Jacob at Shechem and Bethel. These early altars were simple structures of earth or unhewn stone, as God commanded that no tool should be lifted upon altar stones, for human craftsmanship would defile them. Altars were typically erected where God revealed Himself, on hilltops, or at significant locations, marking them as places of encounter with the divine.
☩The Brazen Altar
The altar of burnt offering in the tabernacle was made of acacia wood overlaid with bronze, five cubits square and three cubits high, with horns at the four corners. It stood in the outer court before the entrance to the holy place and was the first object encountered by anyone approaching God's dwelling. All animal sacrifices were offered upon it, with blood applied to its horns for certain offerings. The fire upon it was never to go out, symbolizing the perpetuity of Israel's worship and the constant need for atonement. Solomon's temple had a much larger bronze altar, twenty cubits square and ten cubits high.
☩The Golden Altar
The altar of incense, also called the golden altar, stood within the holy place before the veil separating it from the Most Holy Place. Made of acacia wood overlaid with gold, it was smaller—one cubit square and two cubits high—with horns like the outer altar. Incense was burned upon it morning and evening when the lamps were trimmed, representing the prayers of God's people ascending before Him. Once a year on the Day of Atonement, the high priest applied blood to its horns, connecting it to the atoning work performed at the brazen altar.
☩Symbolism and Typology
The altar sanctified the gift placed upon it, as Jesus affirmed when rebuking the Pharisees' distinctions between swearing by the altar and by the gift. The horns represented power and salvation, and grasping them provided asylum for those fleeing judgment. Hebrews declares that Christians have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat, pointing to Christ whose sacrifice was wholly consumed outside the camp. Christ is the true altar, His divine nature sanctifying the humanity He offered; believers approach God only through Him.
Related Verses381 mentions
See Also
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Altar," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. I (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.James Orr (ed.), "Altar," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. I (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 3.James Hastings (ed.), "Altar," in Dictionary of the Apostolic Church, vol. I (T. & T. Clark, 1915–1918).
- 4.James Hastings (ed.), "Altar," in Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels, vol. I (T. & T. Clark, 1906–1908).
- 5.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Altar," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).
- 6.George Morrish, "Altar," in Morrish's Concise Bible Dictionary (George Morrish, 1898).
- 7.Philip Schaff and Johann Herzog (ed.), "Altar," in The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, vol. I (Funk and Wagnalls, 1908–1914).
- 8.F. N. Peloubet & M. A. Peloubet (ed.), "Altar," in Smith's Bible Dictionary (Porter & Coates, 1884).