And thou shalt anoint the altar of burnt-offering, and all its utensils; and thou shalt hallow the altar, and the altar shall be most holy.
On the day Moses set up the tabernacle, God told him to anoint the altar in the open courtyard — the place of blood and fire. Why anoint that altar at all, and how can something outside the curtained sanctuary count as most holy?
Position mattered.
The altar as a whole, then, is God manifested in righteousness. So it formed the meeting-place between God and the sinner. As long as the sinner is in his sins, God can meet him only on that ground, where he stands under responsibility. So the altar was the first thing that met the sinner's eyes. He saw it as he came up out of the world into the court of the tabernacle. But then it was an altar — and as such it was a symbol of the cross of Christ. So the sinner came to the altar believing in the value of the sacrifice. The altar tested him in responsibility, yet he found that all his sins were gone.
The metal on this altar carries meaning. Commentators read copper as a fixed statement about God's character.
This brings us back to the altar of burnt-offering, which was covered with copper. It is in perfect agreement with the whole truth set forth in the altar: God's unchanging judgment of sin, which must bring wrath on the ungodly. But in the cross of Christ that judgment finds expression not in the punishment of the sinner, but in the pouring out of judgment on the sinless Substitute. Righteousness and judgment are the foundation of God's throne. He must judge sin.
The verse calls it the altar of burnt offering, and that name matters.
It was the burnt offering, and not the sin offering, that was placed on the copper altar. The sin offering was burned outside the camp. The copper altar teaches instead what God found — His part — in the death of Christ. Only when we have learnt this truth can we draw near with holy boldness into His presence.
Oil pictures the Holy Spirit. On this altar it points past the furniture to a Person.
Again, the altar of burnt offering was anointed with oil (Ex. 40:10). Here we see Jesus as the Son of God set apart for the work of redemption, and "who, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without blemish to God" (Heb. 9:14).
Anointing is never only ceremony. Where the oil goes, God stakes a claim.
Notice also the effect. Everything is sanctified. Through the anointing it becomes "most holy," so that whatever touches anything the oil has been put on should likewise be counted holy. This is the effect of the action of the Spirit of God. Whatever His power rests on is set apart for God, and everything that comes under His action, even by contact, is also claimed as holy.
The altar did not become "most holy" by anointing alone. Blood had a part too, and the pairing is deliberate.
Atonement was necessary because Israel was a sinful people. Sprinkling blood on the altar made that atonement — this was in view of the people; the anointing set it apart to the Lord. The worship of the people could then begin on these two grounds... By atonement and anointing it was made most holy — "holy of holies," though it stood in the court of the tabernacle. There is nothing like the cross, the place where the Lord Jesus Christ was lifted up, whether for earth or for heaven — nothing so holy.
The oil did not stop at this altar. One writer reads its wider sweep as God's claim on far more than a tent.
It is remarkable that on this occasion the tabernacle and everything in it were anointed with oil. So, whatever our sin may call for, we have here the whole scene of creation — all things in heaven and all things on earth. It is claimed in the power of the Spirit by virtue of Christ's person and title. Christ Himself was anointed in just the same way, with the Holy Spirit and with power, apart from any shedding of blood.
- Judgment. The copper altar stands for God's unchanging judgment of sin. That judgment fell on the sinless Substitute, not on the sinner.
- Meeting. It was the first thing a person saw on entering the court. There God could meet someone still in his sins.
- Anointing. The oil pictures the Spirit. Here it points to the Son of God, set apart for the work of redemption, who offered Himself through the eternal Spirit.
- Holiness. Blood and oil together — atonement and anointing — made the altar "most holy." Yet it stood in the open court, not behind the curtain.
- Reach. Holiness spreads. God claims whatever the Spirit's power rests on, and the anointing of the whole tabernacle pictures His claim on heaven and earth through Christ.
And thou shalt anoint the laver and its stand, and hallow it.
Exodus 40 tells Moses how to set up the tabernacle, and once every piece stands in place God tells him to anoint it all with oil. Verse 11 names the last item on that list — the washing basin, or laver, out in the open courtyard — and it raises a question: why is a basin for dirty hands and feet called holy?
Anyone crossing the courtyard passed two things before reaching the tent. The order was fixed, and no worshipper could reverse it.
Anyone who entered the Court could see that there was no way to the Tabernacle except by the Altar and the Laver. Whoever would draw near into the holy place must first make use of both of them. It is just as instructive to notice that he must use them in that order — first the Altar, then the Laver. Death must come first: the death of a substitute, and that substitute able to bear divine judgment for others. The worshipper who makes use of that death must acknowledge it, before the Laver could be needed.
The altar dealt with guilt once. The basin dealt with something else, over and over.
The laver speaks of moral cleansing by the water of the Word of God (Eph. 5:26). Every time a priest entered the tabernacle, he had to wash his hands and feet first. Earlier, at their consecration, the priests had their whole bodies washed with water (Ex. 29:4). This speaks of the washing of new birth, which happens only once (Heb. 10:22)... Yet a believer, though fully cleansed in principle, lives where his feet get dirty through contact with the evil around him. So he often needs his feet washed (John 13:5-10).
Without that provision, a priest could not serve at all.
Without provision for these defilements, they could not have carried on their priestly work in the sanctuary. How could they have gone in before God with dirty hands and feet — into the presence of the One of whom Scripture says, "Holiness befits your house"? So came this gracious provision of the water — a symbol of the Word — so that before they entered the holy place, they might wash their hands and feet clean from the defilements they had picked up.
Scripture could have said "the basin" and stopped. It names the stand too, and commentators have asked why.
We may not, then, be dogmatic about the use of the "foot," but confine ourselves to what is obvious. The word would suggest a solid basis for the laver. This must be our primary thought. From being spoken of separately, we can at least see that our attention is drawn to it.
The material of that stand carries its own lesson.
The laver was of bronze, the symbol of what endures with divine power. So the Word of God endures, and it stays unchangeable, whatever our wills may be. Its stand, too, is of bronze; for the Word of God rests upon the unchanging nature of God. As He is, so He speaks, and nothing can alter it.
The verse ends with a command to make the basin holy. The oil is what does it.
The tabernacle is the house of God, the place where He shows Himself, the place of priestly service and worship. Everything in it was anointed with the holy oil. That teaches us that everything connected with the house of God — how it is run, its service, all the priestly work carried on in it — must be ordered in the power of the Holy Spirit... So even if everything connected with the house of God were arranged according to His own word, and yet the holy anointing oil — the power of the Holy Spirit — were missing, it could not be acceptable to Him... Notice the effect too: through the anointing everything becomes "most holy," so that whatever touches it should also count as holy. Whatever His power rests on is set apart for God.
At this setting up, oil went on everything and no blood was shed. Commentators read that differently. Some see a claim staked over everything:
It is remarkable that on this occasion the tabernacle and all within it were anointed with oil. So, whatever sin on our part may call for, here we have the whole scene of creation — all things in heaven and all things on earth — claimed in the power of the Spirit because of Christ's person and title. That matches how He Himself was in fact anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power, apart from any shedding of blood.
Others question that reading, because the basin was anointed too:
Some have read the anointing of the tabernacle together with Aaron as showing Christ's personal claim to the universe. But for that, the order would have to be reversed, and it leaves no reason for anointing the altar and laver. These last are certainly connected with the work of human recovery.
- Altar first. No one reached the basin without passing the place of sacrifice. Cleansing for service always follows the death of the substitute.
- Water second. Blood at the altar answers guilt once. Water at the basin answers the daily dirt of walking through the world.
- Base included. The stand is named on purpose — bronze under bronze, a Word that rests on the unchanging nature of God.
- Oil over all. Right arrangement is not enough. Everything in God's house must be carried on in the power of the Spirit, or He cannot accept it.
- Holy by anointing. A vessel for washing dirty feet is called holy — not for what it holds, but for the One who claimed it. Commentators differ on how far that claim reaches.