2 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.

3 And thou shalt make his pans to receive his ashes, and his shovels, and his basins, and his fleshhooks, and his firepans: all the vessels thereof thou shalt make of brass.

4 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.

5 And thou shalt put it under the compass of the altar beneath, that the net may be even to the midst of the altar.

Yesterday we heard the dimensions and underlying structure of the altar in the tabernacle courtyard and now we hear how it was to be overlaid and adorned. First, we are told that four horns were to be erected on its four corners. These might have been in the shape of actual horns like one might see on an animal, or perhaps they were a vague, raised shape like a pyramid or an obelisk. There is no special symbolism described for the four horns, but we hear from later passages that the guilty would sometimes go and cling to them as a way of seeking sanctuary.

All of the altar, we are told, was to be covered in brass, the same as the sockets of the outer pillars of the tabernacle. Just as gold adorned everything within the tabernacle, the less-valuable brass will be used to adorn everything in the courtyard. Of course, of all the metals brass is one of the most visually similar to gold. They both share a particular yellowish-brown color. Thus, even while making the exterior portion of the tabernacle distinct from the interior, they do still appear to be connected. So, too, our journey to God goes through multiple stages, but all of it is part of the same process.

Finally, we are told of the instruments for the altar. There are, of course, two main components to the altar.

1. The fire burning at the bottom, for which there were to be fashioned brass shovels and firepans.
2. The animal to be burned in that fire, for which there were to be fashioned brass basins and fleshhooks.

Finally, mediating between these two is the brass grate that was to rest halfway down the interior of the altar. The animal carcass, of course, would rest upon this as it was burned, the animal not passing down into the coals, but the heat passing up into the flesh. The grate is therefore both a separator and a unifier. It is a symbol for Christ who stands between God and man, simultaneously keeping us separate from the divine justice that would condemn us, while also bringing us in contact with the divine grace that will redeem us.

Note: It can be difficult to visualize some of the structures described in these verses. Here is an excellent and extremely focused series of animations that show the visual form of the temple and its instruments, built up verse-by-verse from the Exodus record: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpjohncRg94EZ55nJrbaKfi-lfeo3MFgl&si=6wm1J9Sdnu7LKYC_