Exodus 27:4

_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._ A grate of network of brass - sunk lattice work to support the first four brasen rings-by which the grating might be lifted and taken away, as occasion required, from the body of the altar....

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 27:4. _THOU SHALT MAKE FOR IT A GRATE_] Calmet supposes this altar to have been a sort of box, covered with brass plates, on the top of which was a grating to supply the fire with air, and permit the ashes to fall through into the _siroth_ or pan that was placed below. At the four corners of the grating were four rings and four chains, by which it was attached to the four horns; and at the sides were rings for the poles of shittim wood with which it was carried. Even on this there is a great variety of opinions....

(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

AND THOU SHALT, MAKE FOR IT A GRATE OF NETWORK OF BRASS,.... Or "sieve", as in Amos 9:9, it was a plate of brass with holes in it, to let through either the blood that drained from the parts of the sacrifice, or the ashes of it; for this was the focus or hearth, on which the sacrifice and the wood were laid and burnt: this, according to the Targum of Jonathan on Exodus 38:4 was to receive the coals and bones which fell from the altar: and so may denote the purity of Christ's sacrifice, which was offered up without spot to God, and the use of him as the altar to sanctify our gifts, and take away the sins of our holy things: AND UPON THE NET SHALT THOU MAKE FOUR BRAZEN RINGS IN THE FOUR CORNERS THEREOF; by which, with chains put into them, the grate was fastened to the four horns of the altar, and the u

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

(cf. Exodus 38:1-7). The _altar of burnt-offering_. This was a hollow frame of acacia planks, overlaid with copper (or bronze) 5 cubits (=7 ½ ft.) in length and breadth, and 3 cubits (1 ½ ft.) in height at each corner, a -horn," of the same material, projected outwards Round the altar, mid-way between top and bottom, ran a projecting ledge, probably for the priests to stand upon when sacrificing, supported at its outer edge by a vertical grating of bronze, that rested on the ground. At the corners of this grating, presumably where it me the ledge, there were rings to receive the poles for carrying the altar....

THE TEXT OF EXODUS TRANSLATION 27 And thou shalt make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof shall be three cubits. (2) And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof; the horns thereof shall be on one piece with it: and thou shalt overlay it with brass. (3) And thou shalt make its pots to take away it ashes, and it shovels, and its basins, and its flesh-hooks, and its firepans: all the vessels thereof thou shalt make of brass. (4) And thou shalt make for it a grating of network of brass; and upon the net shalt thou make four brazen rings in the four corners thereof. (5) And thou shalt put it under the ledge round the altar beneath, that the net may reach halfway up the altar. (6) And thou shalt make staves for the altar, staves of acacia wood, and overlay them with brass. (7) And the sta...