Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 30:7-10

7 And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it.

8 And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations.

9 Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering; neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon.

10 And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonements: once in the year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations: it is most holy unto the Lord.

Yesterday I compared the offerings of incense upon the altar inside of the tabernacle to the silent, personal adjustments that we make each day, rejecting temptation and choosing the higher road. That comparison is further reinforced by today’s verses which say there was to be a perpetual offering upon the incense altar, constantly being replaced every morning and night, just as many the disciple has found that he must perpetually recommit himself to the Lord every morning and night.

We also learn from today’s verses that once every year the blood from an atonement offering would be applied to the horns of the incense altar. Periodic, deep sacrifice would be used to maintain the quieter, more perpetual ones. This, too, often happens in the path of discipleship, where the occasional great sacrifice renews and invigorates our smaller, daily commitments.

God also makes clear that they must not offer any “strange incense thereon,” nor any other kind of non-incense offering. Even approved animal sacrifices were forbidden from being performed upon this altar. Every offering had to be made in the correct way. Such is the rule of the rightly ordered life. For example, it is right to offer our worldly goods to sustain and improve the lives of our children, but we must never offer them the worship that is only for God.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 30:1-6

1 And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon: of shittim wood shalt thou make it.

2 A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof; foursquare shall it be: and two cubits shall be the height thereof: the horns thereof shall be of the same.

3 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof, and the sides thereof round about, and the horns thereof; and thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about.

4 And two golden rings shalt thou make to it under the crown of it, by the two corners thereof, upon the two sides of it shalt thou make it; and they shall be for places for the staves to bear it withal.

5 And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold.

6 And thou shalt put it before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee.

We begin this chapter by learning of another piece of furniture for the tabernacle services, the incense altar. As the name suggests, this is where incense would be burned to provide a pleasant scent.

It is referred to as an altar, and just like the altar of sacrifice, it would be adorned with horns. Where it differs from the altar of sacrifice, however, is that would be overlaid with gold, instead of brass. Gold overlay, of course, was used for the ark of the covenant, the candlestick, and the table of shewbread. Those were all placed within the tabernacle itself, and as we see in verse 6, that was where the altar of incense was placed as well, so a matching gold overlay makes sense.

To me this suggests that the offerings made upon the altar of incense, though less dramatic, were considered more sacred. They were silent offerings, made within the holy place, out of view of the rest of the world. That sounds just like the sacrifices that are most sacred in the life of a disciple today. That isn’t to say that the public and dramatic turning of one’s life isn’t of value, it absolutely is, but lasting discipleship is defined far more by all the multitude of silent sacrifices that follow thereafter.

The incense altar represents the battles that take place only within our own heart, such as when we renounce temptation, and no one even knows we ever considered otherwise. It represents the quiet good that we do, such as leaving an anonymous gift for the family in need. It represents the giving up of our time to align with God, such as when we spend hours in secret prayer when no one to witness it. These moments define us best because they are the times we choose the right purely for our own conscience. They are moments just between us and God.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 27:6-8

6 And thou shalt make staves for the altar, staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with brass.

7 And the staves shall be put into the rings, and the staves shall be upon the two sides of the altar, to bear it.

8 Hollow with boards shalt thou make it: as it was shewed thee in the mount, so shall they make it.

As with the Ark of the Covenant and the table of shewbread, the altar would have rings and staves. These staves were to be overlaid with brass, to match the metal of the altar, just as the previous staves had been overlaid in gold to match their respective counterparts.

The altar was considerably larger than either the table or the ark. It was probably quite heavy, even with its hollow interior. Of course, the length of the staves is not specified, and perhaps they extended far enough out for several men to lift each side. Presumably the rings on the side were very solid, so that they wouldn’t snap off under the weight.

There were other elements included as part of the tabernacle: the laver of water in the courtyard and the incense altar in the holy place, but we will not hear about these until chapter 30. For now, we are finished reading about the instruments of the tabernacle, and all that remains is to hear the description of the wall around the courtyard. We will move on to those with the next verses.

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_

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 27:2-5

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_

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 27:1

1 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.

We have finished for the time being with the tabernacle, and now turn our attention to the outer courtyard that the tabernacle would sit within. As with the tabernacle, we start by describing the instruments and edifices that were to be placed within the courtyard, the first of which being the sacrificial altar.

In today’s verse we hear the dimensions of the altar. It is a square, five cubits by five, or 7.5 feet on each side. It is three cubits tall, or 4.5 feet, which is a pretty ideal height for laying things down to be burned. As with all the other elements of the temple, its body would be composed of shittim wood. We will hear of its overlaying and adornment in tomorrow’s verses.

This altar would, of course, be used for the offering of every large animal. Later verses, such as Exodus 29:11, seem to suggest that the animal may not have been slaughtered and prepared upon the altar, but was only burned there. Therefore, the altar is not an instrument of death, but the instrument by which that which is already dead is transformed into smoke, which is obviously a symbol of spirit. It is a place where those that have perished are consumed by the fire of God in order to be transformed to a new and better state. It is a hopeful, joyful instrument.

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_

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 20:24-26

24 An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.

25 And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it.

26 Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.

In the last post we discussed how the Israelites were not to create any graven image, even of the Lord Himself. Today we see that this forbidding of graven religious artifacts extended also to the altar upon which they would make their sacrifices. They were not to carve the stone into closely-fitting shapes, but instead would lay the rocks in a rough and natural pile.

God goes so far as to say that using a tool on the stone would pollute it. The altar was the most sacred place in the Jewish faith, and so it was to be a work of God alone. God crafted the rocks of the earth, and man was not supposed to try and improve on that. If they did, it would be an altar of men, not of the Lord.

Neither were they to craft stairs leading up to the altar, but approach it on level ground. The reason given is not because the stairs would be a constructed edifice, though, but because there might be a risk of the priestly skirt exposing a man as he ascended the stairs. For later altars the Lord would instruct the Israelites to elevate it up in the air, but by that point He also would have instructed the priests to wear breeches underneath their skirts.

This is a recurring pattern in the Biblical account. The Lord requires a holy practice of His people, but He modifies its requirement according to their capability at the time. Another example would be how the newly-freed Israelites, wandering back-and-forth through the wilderness, were told to construct a tabernacle that was portable and modest, whereas at the height of their power—under the reign of King Solomon—the temple would be a vast and permanent construction. In some things the Lord demands sudden, dramatic changes, but in other things He leads His people by degrees.

Posted on by Abe Austin

The Nature of Sacrifice- 1 Corinthians 5:7, 1 Peter 2:5

Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

COMMENTARY

Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump
To offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ
Continuing the point from before, this new verse also speaks of how we are meant to change our old nature to align with Christ. And this change necessarily requires some sort of sacrifice. Quite simply we cannot put on a new piece of our Savior, until we have first made space for it by getting rid of something else. Thus, sacrifice.
This is why animal sacrifice was never sufficient to save souls, for it did not require any actual change. Those that came to the temple to only give up an animal missed the whole point of it. That offering was always meant to be coupled with one of these “spiritual sacrifices” that Peter mentions.

Even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us
When we see the sacrament prepared on the altar, we are witnessing what God is willing to offer to save us: the life of His son. But if we eat and drink, say “thank you,” and leave, then we, too, are missing the entire point. Because God’s offering was always meant to be matched with another…the “spiritual sacrifice” that we bring in return. The ancient Israelites never came to the altar empty handed, and neither should we.
Of course what we offer will not be on the same order of magnitude as what God has. That’s alright, it doesn’t have to be equal. But we should be offering something. Perhaps we could be giving up an old sin? Perhaps we could be making a new commitment for good? Just so long as it is something which states “I see what you have given up for me, God, and I will honor it by giving up my own inferior part, and taking the better one that you offer to replace it.”