Exodus 27:2

_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._ No JFB commentary on this verse....

1-8 In the court before the tabernacle, where the people attended, was an altar, to which they must bring their sacrifices, and on which their priests must offer them to God. It was of wood overlaid with brass. A grate of brass was let into the hollow of the altar, about the middle of which the fire was kept, and the sacrifice burnt. It was made of net-work like a sieve, and hung hollow, that the ashes might fall through. This brazen altar was a type of Christ dying to make atonement for our sins. The wood had been consumed by the fire from heaven, if it had not been secured by the brass: nor could the human nature of Christ have borne the wrath of God, if it had not been supported by Divine power....

Verse Exodus 27:2. _THOU SHALT MAKE THE HORNS OF IT_] The horns might have three uses: 1. For ornament. 2. To prevent carcasses, c., from falling off. 3. To tie the victim to, previously to its being sacrificed. So David: _Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns_ _of the altar_ Psalms 118:27. _Horns_ were much used in all ancient altars among the heathen, and some of them were entirely constructed of the horns of the beasts that had been offered in sacrifice; but such altars appear to be erected rather as _trophies_ in honour of their gods. On the _reverses_ of several medals we find _altars_ represented with _horns_ at the corners. There is a medal of _Antoninus_ on the reverse of which is an altar, on which a fire burns, con

(Compare Exodus 38:1.) The great altar which stood in the court immediately in front of the tabernacle was commonly called the altar of burnt-offering, because on it were burnt the whole burnt-offerings, and all those parts of the other animal sacrifices which were offered to the Lord. It was also called the brazen altar, because it was covered with bronze, in distinction from the golden altar or altar of incense Exodus 39:38; Exodus 40:5. Exodus 27:2 HIS HORNS SHALL BE OF THE SAME - These horns were projections pointing upward in the form either of a small obelisk, or of

EXPOSITION THE ALTAR OF BURNT OFFERING. From the description of the tabernacle, or sacred tent in which worship was to be offered by the priests, it followed in natural sequence, that directions should be given concerning the court, or precinct, within which the tabernacle was to stand Ancient temples were almost universally surrounded by precincts, which the Greeks called τεμένη, whereto a sacred character attached; and this was particularly the case in Egypt, where the _temenos_ seems to have been a regular adjunct to the temple. Among the chief uses of such an open space, was the offering of victims on altars, as these could not be conveniently consumed elsewhere than in the open air, on account of the clouds of smoke and the fumes of the sacrifices. As in the description of the tabernacle, the furniture was first described, then the structure, so now the altar take

Ver. 2 AND THOU SHALT MAKE THE HORNS OF IT UPON THE FOUR CORNERS THEREOF,.... Which were either for ornament, or for keeping what was laid upon the altar from falling off, or for the fastening of the sacrifice to them, and were what criminals fled to for refuge, and laid hold on; and may denote the power of Christ, who is the horn of salvation to preserve his people from a final falling away, and from ruin and destruction, and his protection of those that fly to him for refuge; and these horns being at the corners of the altar may respect the four parts of the world, from whence souls come to Christ for everlasting salvation: HIS HORNS SHALL BE OF THE SAME; that is, made of the same wood as the altar itself and so may lead to observe the like things: or "upwards out of it" b, the altar; prominent from it, as the Arabic version, and so the sacrifices could be bound to them,...

BRASS Compare (Numbers 21:9); (John 3:14); (John 12:31), thus fixing the symbolic meaning of brass as divine manifestation in judgment....

CHAPTER 27 THE TABERNACLE CONCLUDED _ 1. The altar of brass (Exodus 27:1)_ 2. The court of the tabernacle (Exodus 27:9) 3. The oil for the lamp (Exodus 27:20) The brazen altar stood at the door of the tabernacle. Later we find in this book the golden altar of incense mentioned. It stood between the golden candlestick and the brazen altar. This altar was likewise of shittim wood. Instead of gold, here was brass, because the altar is the type of the cross where Christ met the burning heat of divine justice. Upon this altar the burnt offering was brought and wholly consumed, speaking of Him who knew no sin and was made sin for us. The altar was hollow, the sacrificial fires burned mostly within.

EXODUS 27. P. ALTAR AND OUTER COURT (_cf. Exodus 38:1_, Exodus 38:9). In strongest contrast to Exodus 20:24, with its sanction of many altars, rudely made of earth or rough stone blocks, we find instructions for the altar to be made of wood plated with bronze, 7½ feet square and 4½ feet high, with horn-like projections at the corners, according to a widespread custom of uncertain meaning (Exodus 27:1 f.). Its vessels were to be of bronze (Exodus 27:3); and the (usual) ledge for the priests to stand on, half way up the altar, was to be supported by a bronz

BRASS, or copper. Perhaps bronze. See Exodus 25:3....