And thou shalt make the altar of acacia-wood, five cubits the length, and five cubits the breadth; the altar shall be square; and the height thereof three cubits.
The tabernacle court opens with one large object: a square altar of acacia wood, standing where every visitor saw it first. Commentators read its wood, its size and the metal that covered it — brass in older translations, bronze in the ESV — as a picture of the cross.
The tabernacle had many parts. The order in which a person met them carried meaning.
"You shall make the altar of acacia wood … and you shall overlay it with bronze" (Ex. 27:1-2). There we find an unmistakable figure and type of the cross of Christ, where Christ met all the claims of God. If anybody went towards the tabernacle in that day, what was the first thing that met his eye? The brazen altar and the sin offering on it. I draw near to God through that brazen altar. On the cross Christ has met all the claims of God. Any claim that God could bring against me as a sinner, the Lord Jesus Christ has answered and met.
Inside the tent, gold covered the wood. Out here a different metal covers the same wood, and the change means something.
The ark and the table of showbread were made of acacia wood covered with pure gold. The Brazen Altar was different: acacia wood covered with brass. Brass — copper, to be exact — resists fire better than any other metal… Brass (or copper) shows the fierceness of God's wrath against sin… As another has said, "Gold is the righteousness of God for drawing near where God is; brass, the righteousness of God for dealing with man's evil where man is."
The altar is not the victim. It holds the victim up under the fire, and one writer says the altar too is a picture of Christ.
This altar shows Christ as the way a sinful being can approach the holy sanctuary of God — which seems impossible. It also shows how, as he comes, he can be freed from his defiling guilt and released from sin's terrible curse and penalty — which seems even more impossible… The familiar thought is that the sacrifice on the altar is a picture of Christ offered, suffering and slain as the atoning Victim. But in the altar itself, which holds the sacrifice up, we have to see the same divine Person in another light. Its wood pictures His humanity, and the fire-enduring metal covered that wood. This means our Lord's infinite power to bear and endure the fire of judgment is the ground His sacrifice rests on. Being infinite, His atonement was infinite, because His sufferings were infinite.
Commentators read the numbers themselves as part of the message.
The altar was square, five cubits long and five wide. The number five stresses that Christ has taken, of His own will, the responsibility for solving the great problem of man's sin and of sins before God… The height was three cubits. That adds the wonderful truth of Christ's resurrection. In fact, His resurrection is the proof of the great value of His sacrifice.
The altar's shape matters as much as its size.
The size of the Brazen Altar was striking. It was as if God would make it very plain: no one can come to Him except through an atoning sacrifice. "Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins" (Heb. 9:22). The Brazen Altar was also foursquare. That shows the Gospel message is for the whole world — north, south, east and west, for Jew and Gentile… for princes and beggars, for learned and ignorant, for religious and irreligious, for rich and poor, for young and old.
Bringing an animal here said something about the person who brought it, and it did something for him too.
So when an Israelite brought a sacrifice, that act was his own admission. He could not meet God's righteous claims himself. He was a sinner, and as such had forfeited his life. So he brought another life to be offered up in his place. Coming this way, he identified himself with the sacrifice, and he showed it by putting his hand on its head… Two things followed. His sins were put out of God's sight, and he was brought before God in all the acceptance of Christ.
- Place. The altar stood first in the court, so no one reached God without passing the place where God's claims were met.
- Person. Wood covered with brass pictures a real humanity that can stand in the fire. The altar holds the sacrifice up, and its worth gives the offering its worth.
- Price. Its metal speaks of righteousness dealing with man's evil. The worshipper laid his hand on the victim and admitted that his own life was forfeit.
- Proportion. Five cubits square, three cubits high: responsibility met in full, and resurrection proving the value of His sacrifice.
- Proclamation. Foursquare, it faced every direction — an altar that invites the whole world, not a few.
And thou shalt make its horns at the four corners thereof; its horns shall be of itself; and thou shalt overlay it with copper.
The altar of burnt offering stood in the courtyard. A worshipper met it first on entering. Horns rose at its four corners, made of one piece with the altar itself. Two details carry the weight of this verse: the metal that covered it, and the horns that crowned it.
The altar shared the same acacia wood as the ark inside the tent, but not the same covering. One commentator draws the meaning out of that difference, using the older English name for bronze: brass.
Acacia wood appears here just as with the ark, the table, and so on. But it was overlaid with brass instead of gold. Brass, in fact, is its defining feature. Now brass is divine righteousness. The gold symbolises a different kind: righteousness that matches what He is in Himself and suits the divine nature. Brass is righteousness as it tests man in his responsibility. Because of this it always carries a judicial side. Meeting man in his responsibility, it must judge him, because he is a sinner. The altar as a whole, then, is God shown in righteousness. So it became the meeting place between God and the sinner.
The two metals of the tabernacle mark out two different settings.
Gold is the righteousness of God for drawing near where God is; brass is the righteousness of God for dealing with man's evil where man is.
The horn is a picture used across Scripture.
Horns in Scripture symbolize strength: "You have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox" (Ps. 92:10). They were the badge or symbol of power: "My horn is exalted in the Lord" (1 Sam. 2:1). It was also a symbol of Messiah's kingdom: "There I will make a horn to sprout for David" (Ps. 132:17). The horns of the altar suggest that everything the altar stood for came into focus here and grew intense. Here it came to a point.
Certain offerings called for blood on these four points. That turns the altar's strength around.
There were four — one on each corner (v. 2). In certain cases the blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled on these, as for example in the sin offering for the ruler or for one of the common people (Lev. 4:25, 30). The horn is a symbol of strength. The whole strength of the altar had stood against the sinner. Blood sprinkled on the horns turns it around: that strength, displayed in all its completeness, now works for him. So the horns became a place of refuge, a sanctuary no one could violate. They sheltered all who had a right to their protection on the ground of the sprinkled blood.
Two men in Israel's history ran to these horns and grabbed them. They did not both walk away.
We read too of Adonijah, who for fear of judgment went and caught hold of the horns of the altar (1 Kings 1:50) and was spared at the time. Later Joab attempted the same thing, but having proved himself treacherous, was killed (1 Kings 2:13-28). For it was not faith that moved him, but fear.
One commentator states the other side of the case in the strongest terms.
Wherever there is trust in the value of the sacrifice offered to God on the altar, no power in earth or hell can touch the soul that rests under its shelter and protection.
The horns face outward. One writer reads a scope in that.
The altar, as we have seen, was the moral centre of the first of the two squares that made up the court. It was four-square, and it faced the four quarters of the earth. So its symbols of power — the horns on its four corners — looked outward toward the whole circle of the world. Spiritually speaking, the altar was the centre for humanity in approaching God. The altar and its sacrifices are figures of Christ and His offering up of Himself on the cross. He is the centre God has given, the point at which all the world may meet God. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).
The horns were part of the altar itself, and they held the sacrifice in place. One commentator traces that power to the One the altar pictures.
Its "horns" are the symbols of the authority by which it claimed, and the power by which it held, the victim marked out for its terrible purpose. "Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar" (Ps. 118:27). In the One the type points to, He used this power Himself in deliberate self-surrender and solemn self-dedication.
- Bronze claims. Bronze marks God's righteousness as it tests man where man is. So the altar is where God and the sinner meet.
- Horns concentrate. At the four corners, everything the altar stands for comes to a point: strength.
- Blood redirects. With blood on the horns, the strength that stood against the sinner now works for him.
- Horns reach. Facing the four quarters of the earth, they look outward to the whole world, not to a few.
- Grasp by faith. Adonijah was spared and Joab was not; the shelter holds for the one who trusts the sacrifice.
And thou shalt make its pots to cleanse it of the fat, its shovels, and its bowls, and its forks, and its firepans; for all the utensils thereof thou shalt employ copper.
This verse reads like a hardware list. Five plain tools are named for the altar, and one instruction covers them all: make them of bronze. Commentators ask why God named such ordinary items at all, and why the metal never varied.
The ark in the most holy place was gold; this altar is bronze. One writer explains what the two metals say:
No less than the ark, the golden throne of God in the most holy place, the bronze altar shows us God's righteousness. But there is a difference. Gold is the righteousness of God for drawing near where God is. Bronze is the righteousness of God for dealing with man's evil where man is.
A list of tools looks like filler. One writer refuses that reading. He finds in each item a picture of what the sacrifice cost:
Only to trivial minds are such words trivial. To others they hold hints of an infinite depth of feeling, thoughts that lie too deep for tears. Each figure is a picture of suffering; each implement a symbol of pain and death. The same God who gave solemn directions about the ashes of the sacrifice also ordained that reverent hands and loving hearts would tend the dead Christ and shield Him from insult.
The first tool named is the pan for the ashes. The Hebrew here is not the ordinary word for ashes, and that choice carries weight:
There are two words for "ashes." One is the general term, used often in the language of mourning. It also shows the emptiness and vanity of things: "He feeds on ashes." The other word belongs only to the sacrifices, and literally means "fat."... Ashes are the witness that the fire has done its work, the witness of a finished and accepted sacrifice. This witness is not a sign of sorrow, nor of worthlessness and vanity. There is nothing worthless in connection with the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The ashes were not swept aside. They went first to the east side of the altar, then out to a clean place. The same writer sees that care again in the honour given to the body of Jesus after His death. He calls the metal copper, the word older translations use for bronze:
No one was allowed to treat that precious body as a criminal's. Legal authority handed it over to those who loved Him. They wrapped it in fragrant and costly perfume and laid it in a new grave cut out of the rock... No wonder the pan that carried the ashes to the clean place, and the shovel that put them into the pan, were of copper. The same unyielding judgment that had dealt with Him on the cross now demanded the fullest honour for Him, as legal testimony to the acceptance of His sacrifice. The east side of the altar, the sunrise side where the ashes were placed, is the witness of accepted sacrifice and the pledge of resurrection.
Two more tools follow. One is named from what it did with the blood. For the other, Scripture does not state the use:
The basins (mizrekoth, from a word meaning "to sprinkle") were of copper. They received the blood, and from them it was poured or sprinkled on the altar. The full measure of judgment had been poured out... The use of the forks (mizlegoth, from a root meaning to "draw up") is not stated. They were apparently for handling the various parts of the sacrifice, at different stages. All was in accord with divine justice, to which the Holy One willingly submitted.
The last item takes its name from taking up fire. The same word covers the pans used for incense, and the whole set of tools ends with one verdict:
One other class of utensils remains — the fire-pans (mahathoth, from a root meaning to "take up" — as fire)... The same word also covers censers, the pans which held fire with incense sprinkled on it... At the altar of burnt offering these fire-pans were to be of copper. All the utensils unite in one voice with the materials of the grate and the covering. They declare that God's judgment is, like all His attributes, inflexible, and that the One who alone could bear that judgment is the divine-human Son.
- Metal. Gold is God's righteousness where God is. Bronze is His righteousness where man's evil is — so the altar's tools are bronze.
- Cost. Every tool in the list is a picture of suffering. The details look small only to a careless reader.
- Proof. The word here is not the ashes of mourning but the ashes of sacrifice. The fire has done its work; the offering is accepted.
- Pledge. A bronze pan carried the ashes from the sunrise side to a clean place — honour for the body of Jesus, and a pledge of resurrection.
- Verdict. Basins, forks and fire-pans speak with one voice — judgment is inflexible, and only the divine-human Son could bear it.
And thou shalt make for it a grating of network of copper; and on the net shalt thou make four copper rings at its four corners;
Exodus 27:4 adds one fitting to the bronze altar: a grating of network with a ring at each corner. Most comment on this verse asks two things. Where did the grating sit, and why did the fire burn inside the altar instead of on top?
The words used here are unusual, and one writer traces them first.
There is some question about the "grate of network" — its form, place and use. Most agree the translation is correct, though the word for "grate" appears only here. It comes from a word meaning to "plait," and from the same root we get the word "sieve" in Amos 9:9. The "network" that describes it is obvious.
So where did the grating hang? One writer places it inside the altar.
The grate (v. 4) was evidently inside the altar, halfway between the top and bottom. This was for the fire that burned the offerings, and was also of copper. In each of the four corners was a ring. These are thought to have reached through holes in the corners. The rings would then sit on the outside, so the poles could be put through them for carrying.
The grating is the same metal as the whole altar; some writers call that metal copper. One writer sets it beside the gold of the ark.
The bronze altar shows us God's righteousness just as much as the ark, the golden throne of God in the most holy place. But there is this difference. Gold is the righteousness of God for drawing near where God is. Bronze is the righteousness of God for dealing with man's evil where man is. That is the line which divides them.
Bronze was also the only metal fit for the task: "The grate must be of copper, or it could not stand the fire put upon it" (Samuel Ridout).
The altar was hollow, and the fire burned inside it. One writer sees there a picture of how deep the sufferings of Christ went.
And what does the bronze grate "beneath," "in the midst of the altar," speak of but the deep capacity for suffering that it implies? He was one blessed Person in whom Godhead and manhood met. In the depths of His being, like the grate inside the altar, the fire of the cross could and did burn. It burned in depths of nameless suffering that no other sorrow can match. To try to fathom or define it would be presumption.
The same detail rules out a shallow reading of the cross — one that stops at what men did to His body.
Our Lord did not bear the fire of divine judgment in any external, superficial way. Think of the persecution by ungodly men, or even the malice of Satan who urged them on. That view of those sufferings is only feeble and partial. Sin is not an external thing, though it mars the outward man. Its source is the heart, the centre of man's being. So in the sinless Substitute the flame searched down into His holy soul.
The grating held the sacrifice in place. One writer draws out what that meant.
The grate was a network of bronze. Four rings at the four corners of the altar held it, so the net sat securely in the middle of the altar. There was to be no escape for the victim. The sacrifice lay right in the heart of the altar, and there the fire consumed it.
The contrast with an earlier altar makes the point sharper. When Abraham raised the knife over his son, God stopped his hand and provided a ram instead; "but when our Lord was placed upon the cross, there was no substitute for Him, no escape from the ordeal of the cross" (A. J. Pollock).
The rings belonged to the grating, not just to the altar frame. That link carries a practical lesson.
Four rings sat on the four corners of the network. The two poles passed through them, and the Levites carried the altar on their shoulders as the people travelled. This directly connects the carriers with the network on which the fire lay. Surely this shows how, as we travel, we should carry about in our bodies the dying of our Lord Jesus. We do not merely remember the fact. We apply to ourselves the truth of the judgment of God, dealing with Him, and with us in Him, at Calvary.
- Inside, not on top. The grating was plaited bronze, hung halfway down the hollow altar. Writers note some question over its exact place.
- Inside means bronze. Bronze is righteousness meeting man where he is, and it is the only metal that could bear the fire laid on it.
- Inside means depth. The fire burned in the heart of the altar. It pictures suffering that went down into the soul of Christ, not just on His body.
- Inside means no exit. The sacrifice lay in the centre of the altar with no way out; for Christ there was no substitute and no escape.
- Inside, then carried. The rings that held the grating also took the poles. So the altar travelled with the people, and the death it pictures is meant to be carried through daily life.
and thou shalt put it under the ledge of the altar beneath, and the net shall be to the very middle of the altar.
Exodus 27:5 says where to fix the grating in the bronze altar: under the ledge, sunk halfway down. That sounds like a builder's footnote, but commentators read the place of that net as a picture of how deep the fire of judgment went into Christ.
Two of the words here occur nowhere else in the Bible.
There is some question about the "grate of network" — its form, place and use. The word for "grate" occurs only here. It comes from a word meaning to "plait," and from the same root we get the word "sieve" in Amos 9:9. This grating was under the "compass" of the altar. Here too we have a word used nowhere else, and one whose derivation is not absolutely clear. It is said to come from a word meaning to "surround," so "border" or "compass" would be the right rendering.
Commentators differ on the mechanics. One reading starts from the plain purpose of a grate — it holds fire — and lets that settle where it sat.
We return then to the primary and natural thought of the "grate." It was for fire, therefore it must have been within the compass of the altar, not outside of it. But here we have a hint about the "compass": it was not something made, but simply the rim. The grating was under this rim, not level with it but below it — in fact, midway between the top and the bottom of the altar. The only difficulty of a mechanical kind would be the rings. If the grate was inside the altar and halfway down, how could they hold the poles that carried the altar? We admit there is a question here. We can only suggest that these rings may have passed through holes in the corners of the altar. That way they reached the outside and served their purpose.
This is more than a building detail. A grate halfway down makes the altar hold the fire inside instead of carrying it on top, and that changes the picture. The quotes below use an older wording: "the midst of the altar" is the ESV's "halfway down".
This vessel has a bronze network sunk halfway down, as I understand it: "that the net may be even to the midst of the altar." Such a design makes the altar hold the fire inside it, and the sacrifices as well. Many pictures show the grating across the top, with fire and offerings lying on it. That second way is certainly not in the text. It would picture our Lord Jesus bearing judgment only outwardly, on the surface. It was not so. What formed the essence of atonement was His real bearing of judgment, measured by His inward ability to weigh it with God.
If the fire burned inside, the picture points to a capacity for suffering deep in the Person of the sacrifice.
And what does the bronze grate "beneath," "in the midst of the altar," speak of but the deep capacity for suffering implied here? ... He was one blessed Person in whom Godhead and manhood met. In the depths of His being, like the grate within the altar, the fire of the cross could and did burn. It burned in depths of nameless suffering that no other sorrow can match. To try to fathom or define it would be presumption.
The fire in the altar stands for the judgment of God. That raises a question: who could endure it?
Who could stand for one moment in that dreadful day of the wrath of God? There was one Person, and only one place, where that fire could burn and find everything able to endure it. All was according to His holy nature. The grate-work, where the fire of divine judgment could burn, was the heart of the Son of God. Here was One who could righteously be the Substitute for guilty sinners... The fire of the thrice-holy God could and did burn there. It found nothing to consume except the sins which our Lord in grace had taken upon Himself.
The verse ties the grate to the four rings, and so to the poles by which the whole altar travelled with Israel.
Four rings sat on the four corners of the network. The two poles passed through them, so the Levites could carry the altar on their shoulders as the people travelled. This directly connects the carriers with the network on which the fire lay. Surely this shows how, as we travel, we should carry about in our bodies the dying of our Lord Jesus (2 Corinthians 4:10-11). We do not just remember the fact. We apply to ourselves the truth of the judgment of God dealing with Him, and with us in Him, at Calvary.
- Words. "Grate" and "compass" each appear only here. One root means to plait, the other to surround.
- Place. A grate exists to hold fire, so it sat inside the altar, below the rim and halfway down. Commentators differ on how the rings then reached the poles.
- Depth. Fire inside the altar, not on top of it, pictures suffering that was not external or surface-level.
- Person. Only the Son of God offered a nature in which that fire could burn. It found nothing to consume but the sins He had taken on Himself.
- Journey. The rings on that same net carried the altar through the wilderness. We are to carry the cross with us, not just remember it.
And thou shalt make staves for the altar, staves of acacia-wood, and overlay them with copper.
Two carrying poles may look like a small practical detail. Yet they match the altar's own wood and metal, so why did this altar need poles at all, and what do those two materials mean?
The rings for the poles sat on the grating, and the grating was inside the altar. So how did the poles reach them? One writer traces the rings out through the altar's corners:
The grate (v. 4) was clearly inside the altar, halfway between the top and the bottom. It held the fire that burned the offerings, and it was also made of copper. There was a ring at each of its four corners. These rings are thought to have reached far enough to pass through holes in the corners. That put the rings on the outside, so the poles of acacia wood overlaid with copper could be pushed through them to carry the altar (vv. 6-7).
The poles use the altar's own two materials: wood inside, metal outside. The metal covering points to what makes the sacrifice possible:
The flame-enduring metal covered the wood of His symbolic humanity. That metal stands for our Lord's infinite capacity to support and endure the fire of judgment, and His sacrifice rests on that capacity. Being infinite, His atonement was infinite, because His sufferings were infinite. That is why the brazen altar is larger than the other furnishings of the tabernacle.
The wood carries its own meaning, and it touches the question of death's claim:
It speaks of the sinless humanity of our Lord, which could not decay and so was not subject to death. How fitting, then, that it stands with the one thing that always witnesses to death — the altar. Our Lord did not have to die, so He could lay down His life. Judgment had a claim on everyone else.
The metal here is brass, not the gold of the ark inside. The difference in metal marks a difference in where God meets people:
Like the ark, the golden throne of God in the most holy place, this altar shows us God's righteousness. But there is this difference between them. Gold is the righteousness of God for drawing near where God is. Brass is the righteousness of God for dealing with man's evil where man is. That is the line which divides them.
Poles belong to people on the move. This altar had to travel:
Finally, poles of acacia wood overlaid with brass remind us that this present time has the character of a wilderness. Thank God, the wilderness is not forever.
The rings that held the poles speak of the purpose behind the journey:
What brought our Lord down here in the first place? It was His heart of love to God and to man. And what carried Him through His life of lowly suffering and rejection, right up to Calvary? It was the same love. Those copper rings tell of a purpose which nothing could turn aside. In keeping with that devotedness to God and man, our Lord goes with His people every step of their journey through this wilderness. All the way He bears witness to the value of His cross. These "rings" link every blessing, every care and every mercy to that Heart which bore the judgment we deserved.
The poles ran through rings on the grating. So the men who lifted the altar took hold at the very place where the fire burned:
This connects the carriers with the network on which the fire lay. Surely it shows us how we should travel: carrying in our bodies the dying of our Lord Jesus (2 Cor. 4:10-11). We do not simply remember the fact. We apply to ourselves the truth that God's judgment dealt with Him, and with us in Him, at Calvary.
God designs the way to Himself, and man does not get to improve on it. One writer shows where a taste for a handsomer altar led:
A king like Ahaz, charmed by the beauty of the Syrian altar, may reject the altar of God (2 Kings 16). But it was the ruin of him and of all Israel. In the same way men may refuse the preaching of the cross of Christ. To their minds it is either a stumbling block or foolishness. So they choose an altar for their worship that suits their own taste in beauty. But, as with Ahaz, it can only end in their everlasting ruin. God alone can prescribe the right way and method of access to Himself.
- Same materials — The poles copy the altar. Wood speaks of sinless humanity; the metal speaks of power to endure the fire of judgment.
- Same metal, different place — Brass, not gold. Gold is for drawing near where God is; brass deals with man's evil where man is.
- Same fire — The rings sat where the fire burned. Those who carried the altar carried the dying of Jesus in their own bodies.
- Same road — Poles are for travellers. The altar moved with Israel, and Christ goes every step of the wilderness with His people.
- Same pattern — God designs the way to Himself. Taste does not choose it. Ahaz preferred a handsomer altar and lost everything.
And its staves shall be put into the rings, that the staves may be on both sides of the altar, when it is carried.
The altar of burnt offering stood in the open courtyard, the first thing anyone met on the way in. Yet this verse is not about sacrifice — it is about travel, and about why a place of judgment needed poles to carry it.
Before asking why the altar moved, it helps to know what it was. The wood was the same as in the ark and the table, but the covering metal was different, and that difference carries the meaning:
The acacia wood is found here just as with the ark, the table, and so on. But it was overlaid with brass instead of gold. Brass, in fact, is its defining feature. Now brass is divine righteousness. Gold symbolises righteousness that matches what God is in Himself and suits the divine nature. Brass is righteousness that tests man in his responsibility... The altar as a whole, then, is God shown in righteousness. So it became the meeting place between God and the sinner... But then it was an altar — and as such it was a symbol of the cross of Christ.
The verse assumes the rings are already there. They raise a real question, because the grating they belonged to sat inside the altar. One writer admits the problem instead of smoothing it over:
The "grate" was for fire, so it must have sat inside the altar, not outside it. It sat under the rim — not level with the rim, but below it; in fact, halfway between the top and bottom of the altar. The only mechanical difficulty would be the rings. If the grate was inside the altar and halfway down, how could they receive the poles by which the altar was carried? It is admitted that there is a question here. We can only suggest that these rings may have been passed through holes in the corners of the altar. That way they reached the outside, where they would serve their intended purpose. This would give security to the altar as it was being carried.
The poles did not move themselves. One writer names the men who took the weight:
Surrounding the Altar was a brass grating, with rings in its four corners, for the poles of acacia wood overlaid with brass to be inserted. On the march, some of the Kohathites carried the altar on their shoulders by those poles.
The rings sat at the four corners, tied to the grate where the fire burned. One writer sees more than engineering in that:
The rings that carried the whole altar were placed at its corners. Does this thought of the grate not show how fitting that was? What was it that brought our Lord down in the first place? It was His heart of love to God and to man. And what carried Him through His life of lowly suffering and rejection, right up to Calvary? It was the same. Those copper rings tell of a purpose that nothing could turn aside. And in keeping with that devotion to God and man, our Lord goes with His people every step of their journey through this wilderness scene. He bears witness to the value of His cross. These "rings" link every blessing, every care, every mercy to that Heart which bore the judgment we deserved. The four rings — four being the number of the earth and of need — may well underline these thoughts.
The same carrying has a daily counterpart for anyone on the move:
On the four corners of the network were four rings. The two poles went through them, so that the Levites could carry the altar on their shoulders during the journeys of the people. This directly connects the carriers with the network on which the fire lay. Surely this points us to the way we should, as we travel, carry about in our bodies the dying of our Lord Jesus (2 Cor. 4:10-11). We should not merely remember the fact. We should apply to ourselves the truth of the judgment of God dealing with Him, and with us in Him, at Calvary.
- The altar — wood covered in brass. Brass stands for righteousness that tests man in his responsibility. So the altar is where God meets the sinner, and it is a symbol of the cross.
- The rings — set at the four corners of the grate where the fire burned. How they reached the outside is not certain. One writer suggests holes cut through the corners, which held the altar secure on the move.
- The poles — the Kohathites carried them on their shoulders. The place of sacrifice travelled with the camp at every stage.
- The reach — love to God and man brought Christ down and carried Him to Calvary. That same devotion keeps Him with His people every step of the wilderness journey.
- The result — those rings link every blessing, care and mercy to the Heart that bore our judgment. So we carry about in our bodies the dying of the Lord Jesus.
Hollow with boards shalt thou make it as it hath been shewn thee on the mountain, so shall they make [it].
Exodus 27 ends its instructions for the bronze altar with two short orders. Make it hollow, out of boards. Then copy exactly the pattern Moses saw on the mountain. The first says what this altar was. The second rules out any improvement on it.
The altar was not a solid block. It was a case, open in the middle.
It was, it seems, a hollow case (Ex. 27:8), very probably filled with earth whenever Israel set the tabernacle up at a camp in the wilderness.
That empty centre had a purpose, and it points to the cross.
The altar was hollow, so that it took the fire into itself… But at the cross He took the burning fire of God's judgment into His own soul. He took it for those whose sins He died for (Isa. 53:10). The value of His person gives wonderful value to His sacrifice.
Another writer reads the emptiness itself as a picture of Christ:
It is "hollow with boards": He emptied Himself.
The boards were acacia wood, and bronze covered them. Each material says something about the One the altar pictures.
It speaks of the sinless humanity of our Lord, which could not decay and was not subject to death. How fitting, then, that it is joined to the constant witness of death — the altar. Our Lord did not have to die, so He could lay down His life. Judgment had a claim on everyone else. No one else, then, could make atonement even for himself, much less for others.
The bronze over the wood speaks of strength to stand the fire. It also explains the altar's size.
Metal that could stand flame covered the wood of its symbolic humanity. This shows that His sacrifice rests on our Lord's infinite capacity to bear and endure the fire of judgment. Being infinite, His atonement was infinite, because His sufferings were infinite. That is why the bronze altar is larger than the other furnishings of the tabernacle. Only a limited number are lit by the lampstand, or represented on the table of showbread, or allowed to approach the golden altar. But of the sacrifice at the bronze altar we read, "He tasted death for everyone."
The bronze on the altar carries its own meaning, and so does where the altar stood.
Bronze is divine righteousness — not the righteousness pictured by gold, which answers to what God is in Himself, but righteousness that tests man in his responsibility… The altar as a whole, then, is God shown in righteousness. So it became the meeting-place between God and the sinner… So the altar was the first thing a sinner saw as he came up out of the world into the court of the tabernacle. But then it was an altar — and as such was a symbol of the cross of Christ. So the sinner came to the altar trusting the value of the sacrifice. The altar tested him in responsibility, yet he found that all his sins were gone.
The last words of the verse send Moses back to the pattern he saw on the mountain.
It is enough here to remember that this left nothing to the natural mind of Moses… God has left nothing to the mind of fallen man. He has revealed everything fully in His Word — no longer a "pattern," but Him who is His very image. The "pattern" will be full of Him in its smallest details.
One writer adds a warning, using a later king of Judah who replaced God's altar with one he liked better.
The wisdom of God alone could devise the altar which was to embody so many blessed truths. A king like Ahaz, charmed by the beauty of the Syrian altar, may reject the altar of God (2 Kings 16). It ruined him and all Israel. So now men may refuse the preaching of the cross of Christ… and choose an altar for their worship that suits their own taste and will not offend the prejudices of the natural man. But, as with Ahaz, it can only end in their everlasting ruin. Only God can set the way of access to Himself.
- Hollow — the altar was a case of boards, not a solid block. The fire burned inside it.
- Within — that inner fire pictures Christ taking God's judgment into His own soul. His person gives the sacrifice its value.
- Covered — the acacia wood speaks of sinless humanity that death had no claim on. The bronze over it speaks of strength to endure the fire.
- Large — this altar was bigger than every other furnishing. The sacrifice on it was for everyone.
- Patterned — God left nothing to Moses' own mind. An altar chosen to suit human taste, like the one Ahaz copied, ends in ruin.