altar definition bible

The word comes from a Hebrew term meaning "place of slaughter or sacrifice." On the other hand, the shape, pattern and material are of great interest. Altars were generally erected in conspicuous places (Genesis 22:9; Ezekiel 6:3; 2 Kings 23:12; 16:4; 23:8; Acts 14:13). "This altar was a small movable table, made of acacia wood "overlaid with gold (Ex. AL'TAR-CLOTH, noun A cloth to lay upon an altar in churches. 1. ( Genesis 12:7; 13:18; 26:25; 35:1) Though generally erected . It was 1 cubit in length and breadth, and 2 cubits in height. The distinction which has been drawn between lay altars and horned altars helps to make these passages easy to understand. At Sinai took place the great crisis in Israel's national history. One of those verses is 2 Kings 2:1—the start of a story about the prophet Elijah being taken up to heaven in a whirlwind while the prophet Elisha, his apprentice, looks on ().. The reason for this departure from the strict rule of temple ritual was that sweet incense was to be burnt daily upon it at the offering of every daily sacrifice, the lamps being then lit and extinguished (compare Numbers 28:3; Exodus 30:7,8), so that a cloud of smoke might fill the inner chamber at the moment when the sacrificial blood was sprinkled (see MERCY-SEAT). The reason for this inscription cannot now be accurately determined. But a custom of erecting altars might easily lend itself to abuses. The Altar of Incense (Golden Altar)_. An altar means that we do not keep anything for ourselves. The first altar of which we have any account is that built by Noah when he left the ark. A. Gideon's name meant "Warrior". After the exile, the first thing to be rebuilt was the altar. The place of the altar was at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.)" The altar call delayed the beginning of preaching, Harrison wrote, because there "were twenty-five praying at the altar at the top of their voices to be sanctified." Some Baptist observers were disgusted with this display, and at a competing revival meeting they reportedly prayed for God "to stop this heresy or smite the leaders of the . This was made of cedar wood, overlaid with gold (1 Kings 6:20,22; 7:48; 9:25; 2 Chronicles 4:19); hence, was called the "golden altar." THE ALTAR OF BURNT OFFERING; BRAZEN ALTAR_, _III. Hebrews 13:10. Among the trophies carried away by Titus on the destruction of Jerusalem the altar of incense is not found, nor is any mention made of it in Hebrews 9 . That the custom was not peculiar to the Israelites is shown by such instances as that of Balaam (Numbers 23:1, etc.). The altar of incense was placed inside the sanctuary in front of the curtain screening the Holy of Holies. He solved it by asking for two mules' burden of the earth of the "place" (2 Kings 5:17). (noun) The place where a Catholic. Accordingly Moses regulated these lay altars. We'll send you an email with steps on how to reset your password. Altar [ 1,,G2379, thusiasterion] probably the neuter of the adjective thusiasterios, is derived from thusiazo, to sacrifice." Accordingly it denotes an "altar" for the sacrifice of victims, though it was also used for the "altar" of incense, e.g., Luke 1:11.In the NT this word is reserved for the "altar" of the true God, Matthew 5:23-Matthew 5:24; Matthew 23:18-Matthew 23:20, Matthew 23:35 . ( Genesis 12:7 ; 13:18 ; 26:25 ; 35:1 ) Though generally erected for the offering of sacrifice, in some instances they appear to have been only memorials. This of course could only be a table, not in any sense an altar. 1:7) DESCRIPTION—This altar, as erected in the tabernacle, is described in Exodus 27:1-8. The altar of burnt offering ( Ex. It is the only altar which appears in the heavenly temple (Isaiah 6:6; Revelation 8:3, 4). This king saw an altar in Damascus of a different pattern and had a great altar made for the temple on its model. ( Exodus 27:8 ) At the four corners were four projections called horns made, like the altar itself, of shittim wood overlaid with brass, ( Exodus 27:2 ) and to them the victim was bound when about to be sacrificed. For the sake of clearness different terms will be adopted in this article to denote the two kinds of altars. Nearly 200,000 copies sold! Chosen by God by Dr. R. C. Sproul is a contemporary classic on predestination, a doctrine that isnt just for Calvinists. It is a doctrine for all biblical Christians. Interestingly, we are not told if there was a response. II. Genesis 8:20; 12:7; 13:4. It was made of shittim wood, and was overlaid with plates of brass. Blood, believed to contain the "life" of an animal (or a human being), was particularly important in the sacrificial ritual. According to (Leviticus 6:12,13) a perpetual fire was to be kept burning on the altar. The ascent, thirty-two cubits long and sixteen broad, likewise of unhewn stone, was on the south side. For usage information, please read the Baker Book House Copyright Statement. It was a hollow square, 5 cubits in length and in breadth, and 3 cubits in height. of It was probably not made of the same materials, for the word "build" is continually used in connection with it, and this word would scarcely be appropriate for working metal: nor again was it necessarily of the same size, but it was of the same pattern: and it was designed to serve as a witness that the descendants of the men who built it had a portion in the Lord. It shows a historical period in which a horned altar existed at the religious capital side by side with a number of lay altars all over the country, and it negatives the suggestion of G. A. Smith (Jerusalem, II, 64) that the bare rock ec-Cakhra was used by Solomon as the altar, since the unhewn rock obviously could not provide a horned altar such as we find as early as 1 Kings 1:50-53. The altar, like that of Ezekiel's plan, was built in diminishing stages; in the Mishna, one of one cubit, and three of five cubits in height, the topmost stage measuring twenty-six cubits square, or, with deduction of a cubit for the officiating priests, twenty-four cubits. A. It also shows us doing or having a portion in the work of the priest and as having a claim on the sacrifice. On its eastern face the altar had steps looking toward the east (Ezekiel 43:17)--a departure from the earlier practice (for the reason of this, compare Perowne's article "Altar" in Smith, Dictionary of the Bible). Professor Sellin places the date of the altar at about 700 BC. Old Testament The Hebrew word for altar that is used most frequently in the Old Testament is formed from the verb for slaughter and means literally, "slaughter place." Altars were used primarily as places of sacrifice, especially animal sacrifice. The altar is hollow. Before the arrival at Sinai, during the war with Amalek, Moses had built an emergency altar, to which he gave the name Yahweh-Nissi (Exodus 17:15). There were thus four or five spots in Canaan associated at once with the worship of Yahweh, and the name of their great ancestor, which to Hebrews did not lose their sanctity by the passage of time, namely, Shechem, Bethel, Hebron, Moriah and Beersheba. ( Genesis 8:20 ) In the early times altars were usually built in certain spots hallowed by religious associations, e.g., where God appeared. In many churches, the altar is the center for the observance of the Lord's Supper. As America has become more pluralistic, Protestantism, with its long roots in American history and culture, has hardly remained static. When Antiochus Epiphanes pillaged Jerusalem the altar of burnt offering was taken away. Sacrifice was the essential act of external worship. This stupendous 1918 book-perhaps his greatest work-is the result of more than 30 years' worth of, the author informs us, "careful and patient study of the Prophetic Scriptures. As the priests were forbidden to ascend the altar by steps, (Exodus 20:26) it has been conjectured that a slope of earth led gradually up to the ledge from which they officiated. So we put everything on the altar. Endless confusion has been caused, even in our own time, by the failure to note this distinction, and the reader can hope to make sense of the Biblical laws and narratives only if he be very careful to picture to himself in every case the exact object to which his text refers. The word "bottom" (literally, "bosom") in Ezekiel's description is variously interpreted, some regarding it as a "drain" for carrying off the sacrificial blood, others identifying it with the "basement." Learn the true meaning of the altar, and bring hope to the hurting and those seeking a revival in the church. This indignity was repaired by Hezekiah (compare Horn in Hebrew is qeren meaning "horn, hill or ray." This word is used to describe the rays of light rays emanating from the face of Moses after his . It differed in construction at different times. It seems to follow that the pattern of the Tabernacle altar was distinctive and unlike the heathen altars in general use in Palestine and this appears to be confirmed by modern excavations which have revealed high places with altars quite unlike those contemplated by the Pentateuch. (Heb. Bibliography. "Altar " means. Altars had long been used by the patriarchs, including Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob . What was the significance of the altar of incense? The Altar of Burnt Offering . 33:10), Thus the Lord was moved by prayer for the land, and the plague was held back from Israel. According to (Leviticus 6:12,13) a perpetual fire was to be kept burning on the altar. It remained, however, the center of Israelite worship for 2 1/2 centuries, till Ahaz removed it from the forefront of the house, and placed it on the northern side of is Damascene altar (2 Kings 16:14). The high places of Jeroboam (1 Kings 12:28-33) were clearly unlawful and their altars were unlawful altars of the horned type. The altar consisted of four stages lying one above another, gradually diminishing in size till the hearth was reached upon which the fire was literal. They throw light on the Bible chiefly by showing what is forbidden. The message is clear: There will be no place to intercede with God, and no place to claim his sanctuary. The definition of an altar is an elevated place where religious rituals are performed. Found inside – Page iHe tells the stories of the rabbis, mystics, and messiahs of the medieval and early modern periods and guides us through the many varieties of Judaism today. The altar erected by Herod in front of the temple was 15 cubits in height and 50 cubits in length and breadth. Altar : (Heb. Recently several altars have been revealed by excavations. Another altar had meanwhile been raised by David before the tabernacle he had made on Zion, into which the Ark of the Covenant was moved (1 Chronicles 15:1; 16:1). LEVITICUS 8:10,11 Verses in the Bible 10 And Moses took the anointing oil, and anointed the tabernacle and all that was therein, and sanctified them. According to Leviticus 6:12-13, a perpetual fire was to be kept burning on the altar. The word is used in Hebrews 13:10 for the sacrifice offered upon it--the sacrifice Christ offered. This was done "under the mount," where, beside the altar, were reared twelve pillars, emblematic of the twelve tribes of Israel (Exodus 24:4). The temple was ultimately secondary to the altar. The burning of the incense was a type of prayer (Psalms 141:2; Revelation 5:8; 8:3, 4). In ( Acts 17:23 ) reference is made to an alter to an unknown God. This rock seems to have been left intact when Solomon's temple was built. AbrahamGenesis 12:7-8; Genesis 13:18; Genesis 22:9, BalaamNumbers 23:1; Numbers 23:14; Numbers 23:29, Reubenites and GaditesJoshua 22:10; Joshua 22:34, Mosaic commandments prescribing the construction ofExodus 20:24-26; Deuteronomy 27:5-7; Joshua 8:30-31; Ezekiel 43:13, Used in idolatrous worshipJudges 6:25; 1 Kings 12:32; 1 Kings 16:32; 1 Kings 18:26; 2 Kings 16:10; 2 Kings 23:12; 2 Kings 23:15; Isaiah 27:9; Isaiah 65:3; Hosea 8:11; Acts 17:23, Called Brazen AltarExodus 39:39; 1 Kings 8:64, Constructed by BezaleelExodus 38:1-7; Exodus 37:1, Location ofExodus 40:6; Exodus 40:29; Ezekiel 8:16; Matthew 23:35, Furniture ofExodus 27:3-7; Exodus 38:3-7; 1 Samuel 2:13-14, How sanctifiedExodus 29:36-37; Exodus 29:44; Exodus 30:26-28; Exodus 40:10; Leviticus 8:10-11; Leviticus 4:7; Ezekiel 43:18-27Blood, Sanctified everything that touched itExodus 29:37; Exodus 30:29; Matthew 23:18-19, A place of refugeExodus 21:14; 1 Kings 1:50; 1 Kings 2:28, Removed by Ahaz, and one of idolatrous fashion substituted2 Kings 16:14-17, Cleansed by Hezekiah2 Chronicles 29:18-24, Furniture of, taken to Babylon2 Kings 25:14, Ezekiel's vision ofEzekiel 43:13-27Tabernacle; Temple, Called Golden AltarExodus 39:38; Numbers 4:11, Called Altar of Sweet IncenseLeviticus 4:7, Called Altar Before the LordLeviticus 16:18, Location ofExodus 30:6; Exodus 40:5; Exodus 40:26, A cover made for the censers of KorahNumbers 16:36-40, Uses ofExodus 30:7-10; Exodus 30:26-27; Exodus 40:27; Leviticus 4:7; Leviticus 4:18; Leviticus 8:15; Leviticus 9:9; Leviticus 16:12; Leviticus 16:18, In Solomon's temple1 Kings 6:19-20; 1 Kings 7:48; 1 Chronicles 28:18, Seen in John's visionRevelation 8:3; Revelation 9:13. Sometimes referred to as "God's table," the altar is a sacred place in any church. Leaving the occasion of their erection and use to be determined by custom he promulgated the following laws: "An altar of earth mayest thou make unto me, and mayest sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen; in all the place where I record my name I will come unto thee and I will bless thee. An altar was not a pretty sight. Altar. The Israelites, however, needed to perform the act of sacrifice in order to survive ( Exod 30:21 ). Since they knew not what god was offended and required to be propitiated. For example, in Genesis 12, God meets with Abraham and promises to bless him. An altar is a raised area in a house of worship where people can honor God with offerings. Further details of its structure are not given. AL'TARAGE, noun The profits arising to priests from oblations, or on account of the altar. From USCCB Publishing, this revision of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) seeks to promote more conscious, active, and full participation of the faithful in the mystery of the Eucharist. Altars could be natural objects or man-made constructs. Found inside – Page 112as blood is used to make the altar fit for service, so too it is used to ... No item made by humans can, by definition, be pure enough to be used for God's ... It was in all probability the site of the altar of burnt offering. As the priests were forbidden to ascend the altar by steps, ( Exodus 20:26 ) it has been conjectured that a slope of earth led gradually up to the ledge from which they officiated. 1. 1. (Exodus 40:29) (2) In Solomon's temple the altar was considerably larger in its dimensions. .... An incense-altar of exactly the same shape .... but of much smaller size .... has been found quite recently at Gezer in debris of about 1000-600 BC" (Driver, Modern Research, etc., 85). 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