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*ALTAR*
Ref.
1488
*BIBLE READING*: Genesis 8:20
SOURCES: Nelsons illustrated Bible Dictionary, Vine's Expository dictionary of
Bible Words, Easton, Topics, Naves.
A table, platform, or elevated place on which a priest placed a sacrifice as an offering to God.
The nature of altars changed considerably during the several centuries from Old Testament times to New Testament days.
In addition to describing altars dedicated to God, the Bible speaks frequently also of pagan altars, particularly those associated with the false worship of the Canaanites.
Altars in the Old Testament.
The first altar in the Bible was the one built by Noah after the Flood <Gen.
8:20>.
The next several altars mentioned appear in connection with the patriarch Abraham and his wanderings.
His first altar, at Shechem, seemed to serve as a symbol of his possession of the land <Gen.
12:7>.
At his altars between Bethel and Ai <Gen.
12:8> and at Hebron <Gen.
13:18>, he sacrificed animals and called upon the name of the Lord.
Abraham built his last altar on top of a mountain in the land of Moriah <Gen.
22:9>.
To these altars, his son Isaac added one at Beersheba <Gen.
26:25>.
Isaac's son Jacob built no new altars; but he restored those which Abraham had built at Shechem <Gen.
33:20> and Bethel <Gen.
35:1,3>.
The Hebrew word for altar means "a place of slaughter or sacrifice."
But the altars of the Old Testament were not restricted to offerings of animals as sacrifices.
<Joshua 22:26‑29> indicates that altars were occasionally used to remind the Israelites of their heritage or to call attention to a major
event.
Sometimes an altar might even be used as a place for refuge <1 Kin.
1:50‑51; 2:28>.
During the days of Moses, two priestly altars assumed important roles in the ritual of the TABERNACLE in the wilderness.
These were the altar of burnt offering and the altar of incense.
The altar of burnt offering <Ex.
27:1‑8> was placed in front of the entrance to the tabernacle <Ex.
40:6>, where it was used for the daily burnt offering and meal offering.
This altar declared that entry into the presence of God must be preceded by sacrificial ATONEMENT for sin.
The altar of burnt offering was made of acacia wood, overlaid with bronze.
The corners of the altar extended at the top into projections that looked like horns.
The altar of incense <Ex.
30:1‑10> stood just before the veil inside the tabernacle that separated the most holy place from the rest of the worship area <Ex.
40:26‑27>.
Priests burned incense on this altar every day so its fragrance would fill the tabernacle when the sacrificial blood was sprinkled on the altar of burnt offering.
As the first king of Israel, Saul built an altar during his conquest of the Philistines for the sacrifice of sheep, oxen, and calves <1 Sam.
14:35>.
Later David erected an altar on a threshing floor of natural stone that he bought from Araunah the Jebusite <2 Sam.
24:15‑25>.
This site became the central place of sacrifice in the TEMPLE after it was constructed by Solomon, David's son and successor.
Some have identified this site with the large rock structure in the city of Jerusalem now seen under the famous mosque known as the Dome of the Rock.
After building the Temple in Jerusalem, Solomon constructed an altar <2 Chr.
4:1> larger than the one Moses had built, probably adapting it to the size of the Temple.
This was the altar restored later by King Asa <2 Chr.
15:8>.
Still later, King Ahaz had Solomon's altar moved to the northern part of the Temple courtyard <2 Kin.
16:14‑15>.
This was also the same altar cleansed by Hezekiah <2 Chr.
29:18> and rebuilt by Manasseh <2 Chr.
33:16> at later times in Old Testament history.
The incense altar of the tabernacle was also replaced by Solomon's altar made of cedar and overlaid with gold <1 Kin.
6:20,22; 7:48>.
Incense was burned every morning and evening on this altar.
The priest also sprinkled the blood of a sacrificial animal on the incense altar to make atonement for his
sins and the sins of the people.
The incense altar was also symbolic of prayer.
It is the only altar that appears in the heavenly temple <Is.
6:6; Rev. 8:3>.
When the captives returned to Jerusalem following their years of captivity in Babylon, one of their first acts was to build an altar <Ezra 3:3>.
Altars in the New Testament.
In addition to the Temple of the Jewish people with its altars, the New Testament refers to the altar in Athens that was dedicated "TO THE UNKNOWN GOD" <Acts 17:23>.
No physica Christian altar appears in the New Testament.
The statement "we have an altar" <Heb.
13:10> refers to the sacrifice of Christ.
The altar of incense mentioned in <Revelation 8:3> belongs to the heavenly temple.
In this heavenly temple there is no need for an altar of burnt offering since atonement for our sins is now complete through the death of Jesus Christ.
Canaanite Altars.
Archaeology has turned up many Canaanite altars from all periods of Old Testament history.
A kind of table or altar built into the rear wall of a temple in ancient Megiddo has been dated at about 3000 B. C. Also uncovered at Megiddo was a large stone altar from about that same period.
Canaanite altars were constructed of earth, stone, or metal.
Stone altars have been preserved in Israel.
Their form ranges from unworked, detached rocks to carefully cut natural stone.
Altars of earth are mentioned in the ancient records, but none have been preserved, with the possible exception of an Israelite altar at Arad.
These were the simplest altars, probably built by the common people.
References to altars dedicated to pagan gods other than the one true God appear throughout the Old Testament.
They were devoted to the Baals <2 Chr.
33:3> and various other Canaanite gods and goddesses <Deut.
12:3>‑‑ Chemosh the god of Moab, Ashtoreth of the Sidonians, and Molech of the Ammonites <1 Kin.
11:5‑7>.
The Lord gave specific instructions that these pagan altars should be torn down and destroyed before altars dedicated to His worship were built <Deut.
12:2‑3>.
mizbeach ^4196^, "altar."
This noun has cognates in Aramaic, Syriac, and Arabic.
In each of these languages the consonantal root is mdbh.
Mizbeach occurs about 396 times in the Old Testament.
This word signifies a raised place where a sacrifice was made, as in <Gen.
8:20> (its first biblical appearance): "And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar."
In later references, this word may refer to a table upon which incense was burned: "And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon: of shittim wood shalt thou make it" <Exod.
30:1>.
From the dawn of human history, offerings were made on a raised table of stone or ground <Gen.
4:3>.
At first, Israel's altars were to be made of earth ‑ i. e., they were fashioned of material that was strictly the work of God's hands.
If the Jews were to hew stone for altars in the wilderness, they would have been compelled to use war weapons to do the work.
(Notice that in <Exod.
20:25> the word for "tool" is chereb, "sword.")
At Sinai, God directed Israel to fashion altars of valuable woods and metals.
This taught them that true worship required man's best and that it was to conform exactly to God's directives; God, not man, initiated and controlled worship.
The altar that stood before the holy place <Exod.
27:1‑8> and the altar of incense within the holy place <Exod.
30:1‑10> had "horns."
These horns had a vital function in some offerings <Lev.
4:30; 16:18>.
For example, the sacrificial animal may have been bound to these horns in order to allow its blood to drain away completely <Ps.
118:27>.
Mizbeach is also used of pagan altars: "But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves" <Exod.
34:13>.
This noun is derived from the Hebrew verb zabach, which literally means "to slaughter for food" or "to slaughter for sacrifice."
Zabach has cognates in Ugaritic and Arabic (dbh), Akkadian (zibu), and Phoenician (zbh).
Another Old Testament noun derived from zabach is zebach (162 times), which usually refers to a sacrifice that establishes communion between God and those who eat the thing offered.
EASTON # 185
Altar (Heb.
mizbe'ah, from a word meaning "to slay"), any structure of earth #Ex 20:24 or unwrought stone #ex 20:25 on which sacrifices were offered.
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