Exodus 27-Laws On Construction And Use Of Main Altar, Courtyard And Laws On Keeping Lamps Lit
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday April 29, 2012
Journey Through The Bible Series: Exodus 27-Laws On Construction And Use Of Main Altar, Courtyard And Laws On Keeping Lamps Lit
Lesson # 33
Please turn in your Bibles to Exodus 27:1.
Exodus chapter 25 focused upon the furniture in tabernacle.
Chapter 26 focused upon the tabernacle itself, which symbolized God’s dwelling among His people (25:8; 29:45).
Chapter 27 records the Lord giving Moses laws concerning the construction and use of the main altar and courtyard of the tabernacle as well as laws on keeping the lamps on the lampstand in the tabernacle lit.
In Exodus 27:1-8, we have the Lord giving Moses laws concerning the construction and use of main altar.
During Old Testament times, God taught His people that deliverance from sin is through a sacrifice and in particular a substitutionary sacrifice or in other words, a perfect substitute must die in the place of the sinner in order that the sinner may live in God’s presence.
The primary way for this substitutionary sacrifice to take place was at the altar of burnt offering, which resided in the courtyard of the tabernacle.
This substitutionary sacrifice portrayed the substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary.
The altar portrayed the cross.
Thus, in preparation for Christ’s death, the Lord instructed a blood animal sacrifice must be performed on the altar of burnt offering.
Exodus 27:1 “And you shall make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long (seven feet six inches) and five cubits wide; the altar shall be square, and its height shall be three cubits (four feet six inches). 2 You shall make its horns on its four corners; its horns shall be of one piece with it, and you shall overlay it with bronze. 3 You shall make its pails for removing its ashes, and its shovels and its basins and its forks and its firepans; you shall make all its utensils of bronze. 4 You shall make for it a grating of network of bronze, and on the net you shall make four bronze rings at its four corners. 5 You shall put it beneath, under the ledge of the altar, so that the net will reach halfway up the altar. 6 You shall make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with bronze. 7 Its poles shall be inserted into the rings, so that the poles shall be on the two sides of the altar when it is carried. 8 You shall make it hollow with planks; as it was shown to you in the mountain, so they shall make it.” (NASB95)
This passage teaches that in the courtyard of the tabernacle, there was an altar called “the altar of burnt offering” (Exodus 30:28; Leviticus 4:7, 10, 18) and it was also called the “bronze altar” (Exodus 38:30).
Unlike the altar of incense which was located in the Holy of Holies and mentioned in Exodus 30:1-10, this altar was used exclusively for animal sacrifices.
“Altar” is the noun miz∙bēaḥ (מִזְבֵּחַ) (miz-bay´-akh), which was the place where the substitutionary animal was sacrificed, i.e. the burnt offering.
“Burnt offering” is the noun ʿō∙lā(h) (עֹלָה) (o-law), which portrays or typifies that aspect of Jesus Christ’s spiritual and physical deaths on the Cross, which would propitiate the Father (1 John 2:2; 4:10).
The burnt offering in Leviticus 1:2-17 depicts the doctrine of propitiation with emphasis on the work of Christ.
“Propitiation” is the Godward side of salvation whereby the voluntary substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths of the impeccable humanity of Christ in hypostatic union satisfied the righteous demands of a holy God that the sins of the entire world-past, present and future be judged (1 John 2:2; 4:10).
In Exodus 27:1, we are told that the altar of burnt offering or the bronze altar resided in the courtyard and was made of acacia wood and overlaid with bronze rather than gold.
This verse also says that it was five cubits long and five cubits wide and its height three cubits.
This means that it would have been seven feet six inches long and seven feet six inches wide and four feet six inches in height.
Thus, there was a total of fifty-six and one-quarter square feet of grilling area.
Of course, minus whatever was taken up by the corner “horns” and any rim that may have surrounded the top, if either of these imposed upon the total surface top.
Exodus 27:2 records that the corners of the altar had horns, which were actually protrusions, which curved upward from the flat plane of the main surface of the altar.
This contributed in holding anything on the altar from falling over the edge.
The horns were to be covered with blood at the consecration of the priests (Exodus 29:1, 10-12; Leviticus 8:14-15; 9:9) and on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:18).
Leviticus 6:13 teaches that the fire on this altar was never allowed to go out.
In Exodus 27:3-4, the implements to be used in serving at this altar were composed of bronze, which was the metal used outdoors in the ancient world.
The utensils that were used for serving at the altar included: (1) Ash pots to catch the ashes from the surface temporarily before dumping. (2) Shovels for cleaning the altar or removing the ashes and reconfiguring the live coals, which cooked the meat. (3) Sprinkling basins that would hold liquids for sprinkling water on the flames to moderate them or sprinkling cooking oil on the food or on the surface altar. (4) Meat hooks for handling the meat. (5) Firepots to hold live coals for getting new fires going each morning (38:3; Num. 16:17) (6) Snuffers (Ex. 25:38).
In Exodus 27:4-5, the Lord tells Moses that the altar of burnt offering was to have a bronze grilling surface or “grating” and a bronze “network” or netstrainergrillwork, which was to hang below the surface, halfway from the surface to the ground.
Exodus 27:6-7 records the Lord instructing Moses concerning the method of transporting this altar, which was much like the transportation method employed for the ark.
Namely, two acacia wood poles overlaid with metal, which in this case would be bronze and they would be inserted through rings fixed on two sides of the altar.
This was for the purpose that the altar could be carried by a group of Levitical priests.
More than likely there would be eight of these priests transporting the altar.
So this altar described in verses 1-7 taught the Israelites that they, as sinners, could only approach a holy God by means of a substitutionary sacrifice, which would atone for their sins.
Theses sacrifices portrayed the substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths of Jesus Christ on the cross (Hebrews 10:1-18).
Exodus 27:8 makes clear that the altar was to be lightweight and not a solid box.
Rather it was to be a framework of wood overlaid with bronze as well as a bronze top grating along with a wood netstrainergrillwork.
The last part of this verse reminds the reader that there were more details with regards to this altar than have been provided here in writing.
Again, we have the Lord telling Moses to make sure he constructs the altar according to the blueprint He showed him on the mountain.
This of course means that Moses did not simply have verbal or oral instructions but in fact had a visual in the sense that he saw what it was to look like.
The tabernacle and all its contents including this altar would constitute a replica or a small microcosm of the tabernacle residing in the throne room of God in the third heaven.
The altar described in Exodus 27:1-8 was fundamentally different from the pagan altars of the day, which were intended to appease their gods or the feeding of the gods’ appetites in the hope that they might be bribed or cajoled into sparing them from illness or disaster by virtue of the offerings they placed on the altar.
The positioning of the altar in the tabernacle courtyard before the entrance into the tabernacle taught the Israelites that they could not approach a holy God as sinners without a sacrifice.
Exodus 27:9 “You shall make the court of the tabernacle. On the south side there shall be hangings for the court of fine twisted linen one hundred cubits long (150 feet) for one side; 10 and its pillars shall be twenty (30 feet), with their twenty sockets of bronze; the hooks of the pillars and their bands shall be of silver. 11 Likewise for the north side in length there shall be hangings one hundred cubits long, and its twenty pillars with their twenty sockets of bronze; the hooks of the pillars and their bands shall be of silver. 12 For the width of the court on the west side shall be hangings of fifty cubits (75 feet) with their ten pillars and their ten sockets. 13 The width of the court on the east side shall be fifty cubits (75 feet). 14 The hangings for the one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits with their three pillars and their three sockets. 15 And for the other side shall be hangings of fifteen cubits with their three pillars and their three sockets. 16 For the gate of the court there shall be a screen of twenty cubits (30 feet), of blue and purple and scarlet material and fine twisted linen, the work of a weaver, with their four pillars and their four sockets. 17 All the pillars around the court shall be furnished with silver bands with their hooks of silver and their sockets of bronze. 18 The length of the court shall be one hundred cubits (150 feet), and the width fifty (75 feet) throughout, and the height five cubits (7 ½ feet) of fine twisted linen, and their sockets of bronze. 19 All the utensils of the tabernacle used in all its service, and all its pegs, and all the pegs of the court, shall be of bronze.” (NASB95)
Exodus 27:9-19 tell the reader that the tabernacle complex was rectangular in shape.
The courtyard was 150 feet (100 cubits) long and 75 feet (50 cubits) wide, or 11,250 square feet.
This area is about the size of a modest residential lot in the United States (Constable, page 137).
In Exodus 27:9-11, we have the description of the courtyard beginning with the two longest sides, namely the north and the south, each of which had one hundred and fifty feet (one hundred cubits) of curtains made of twisted linen supported by twenty posts (one every seven and a half feet or every five cubits).
The text does not specify what the posts were made of but more than likely it would have been acacia wood.
They were probably not overlaid with any metal, although they have bronze bases which were like the bases of the special pillars at the entrance to the tabernacle.
It has silver bands around them from which were hung the curtains all around by means of silver hooks.
In Exodus 27:12-15, we have a description of the west and east ends of the courtyard, which is half the length of the north and south sides.
The dimensions presented in these verses seem to indicate square curtains which were seven and a half feet (five cubits) on each side, which were attached to poles spaced just like the longer sides.
The east side was the place of entrance is thus treated differently.
It was seventy-five feet (fifty cubits) wide with two curtains coming from each corner toward the center.
The curtains stretched twenty-two and a half feet (fifteen cubits) each, thus leaving a gap in the center of the east side of thirty feet (twenty cubits).
The material of the curtains is not specified but they probably were of the same material used in making the south, west and north sides.
Their supporting bases would be spaced the same as the others were.
These curtains were rectangular and not square since their length of twenty-two and a half feet (fifteen cubits) was three times their height (seven and a half feet or five cubits).
In Exodus 27:16, the Lord tells Moses that a special entrance curtain hung in the center of the east side, which was thirty feet (twenty cubits) wide.
It was composed of material like the inner curtains of the tabernacle with the exception of the cherubim woven into them.
This verse says that this curtain was to have four posts and four bases.
The spaces of the supporting posts for this entrance curtain were the same on average as all the others around the courtyard, namely seven and a half feet or five cubits.
Verse 17 tells the reader that all the posts around the courtyard were same.
The curtain was one piece, which means that it was used for closing up the courtyard at night.
During the daytime, this curtain would be gathered to one side to allow access.
The Lord instructs Moses in Exodus 27:19 that all the metal articles used in the courtyard were to be of bronze.
The reason for this is that the Exodus generation was in the Bronze Age.
Before iron was used on a regular basis in approximately 1200 B.C., bronze was the common metal used in the ancient world.
The ropes and tent pegs mentioned in this verse would serve of course to stabilize the courtyard curtain and keep it from blowing over as a result of strong, gusty winds.
Exodus 27:20 “You shall charge the sons of Israel, that they bring you clear oil of beaten olives for the light, to make a lamp burn continually. 21 In the tent of meeting, outside the veil which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall keep it in order from evening to morning before the Lord; it shall be a perpetual statute throughout their generations for the sons of Israel.” (NASB95)
In verse 20, we see the Lord instructing Moses to command the Israelites to bring pure olive oil for keeping the lamps of the lampstand in the Holy Place lit continually.
In the Israelite homes, the light from the lamps would be extinguished by the last one to bed.
However, the Lord did not sleep, thus the light in His dwelling place was to be continually lit, thus, the reason for this provision.
Warren Wiersbe has the following comment regarding the oil, he writes “Zechariah 4:1–6 indicates that oil for the lampstand is a type of the Holy Spirit of God. One of the ministries of the Spirit is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, just as the light shone on the beautiful golden lampstand (John 16:14). As the priests ministered in the holy place, they walked in the light that God provided (1 John 1:5–10). The lamp was to ‘burn always’ (27:20; Lev. 24:2). It would appear that only the high priest was permitted to dress the wicks and replenish the oil supply. When the high priest burned the incense each morning and evening, he also tended to the lamps (Ex. 30:7–8).”
The golden lampstand symbolized the nation of Israel being a light to the nations and typified Christ as the light of the world, bringing to us the full radiance of divine life (John 8:12; 9:5).
It is noteworthy that natural light was shut out from the Tabernacle.
Just as the light of the lampstand was the only light in the tabernacle so in the same way, only the Spirit of God can show us the things of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:14-15).
The Holy Spirit takes the things of Christ and reveals them to us, as Jesus announced in His Upper Room Discourse (John 16:14-15).
“The testimony” in Exodus 27:21 refers to the Ten Commandments which were written on tablets of stone by the Lord and were put in Ark of the Covenant by Moses according to the Lord’s instructions.
The lampstand would be in front of the Ark though a curtain separated the Most Holy Place or Holy of Holies where the Ark resided and the Holy Place where the lampstand was located.
Verse 21 also reveals that Aaron and his sons had a solemn duty given to them by the Lord, which required that there was enough oil in the tabernacle lamps each evening in order that the lamps would burn continually.
The phrase “the tent of meeting” appears for the first time in the Old Testament in Exodus 27:21 and refers of course to the tabernacle.
In Exodus 33:7, Moses tells the reader the origin of this term.