Exodus 27

¹ “You shall make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits broad. The altar shall be square, and its height shall be three cubits. ² And you shall make horns for it on its four corners; its horns shall be of one piece with it, and you shall overlay it with bronze. ³ You shall make pots for it to receive its ashes, and shovels and basins and forks and fire pans. You shall make all its utensils of bronze. ⁴ You shall also make for it a grating, a network of bronze, and on the net you shall make four bronze rings at its four corners. ⁵ And you shall set it under the ledge of the altar so that the net extends halfway down the altar. ⁶ And you shall make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with bronze. ⁷ And the poles shall be put through the rings, so that the poles are on the two sides of the altar when it is carried. ⁸ You shall make it hollow, with boards. As it has been shown you on the mountain, so shall it be made. ⁹ “You shall make the court of the tabernacle. On the south side the court shall have hangings of fine twined linen a hundred cubits long for one side. ¹⁰ Its twenty pillars and their twenty bases shall be of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver. ¹¹ And likewise for its length on the north side there shall be hangings a hundred cubits long, its pillars twenty and their bases twenty, of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver. ¹² And for the breadth of the court on the west side there shall be hangings for fifty cubits, with ten pillars and ten bases. ¹³ The breadth of the court on the front to the east shall be fifty cubits. ¹⁴ The hangings for the one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits, with their three pillars and three bases. ¹⁵ On the other side the hangings shall be fifteen cubits, with their three pillars and three bases. ¹⁶ For the gate of the court there shall be a screen twenty cubits long, of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, embroidered with needlework. It shall have four pillars and with them four bases. ¹⁷ All the pillars around the court shall be filleted with silver. Their hooks shall be of silver, and their bases of bronze. ¹⁸ The length of the court shall be a hundred cubits, the breadth fifty, and the height five cubits, with hangings of fine twined linen and bases of bronze. ¹⁹ All the utensils of the tabernacle for every use, and all its pegs and all the pegs of the court, shall be of bronze. ²⁰ “You shall command the people of Israel that they bring to you pure beaten olive oil for the light, that a lamp may regularly be set up to burn. ²¹ In the tent of meeting, outside the veil that is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall tend it from evening to morning before the Lord. It shall be a statute forever to be observed throughout their generations by the people of Israel.

In an article entitled “Passover Sacrifice Makes Comeback Overlooking Temple Mount” from April 2016, we read the following:

One of the highlights of the Jewish year, the Passover offering, is making a comeback. On Monday, a reenactment presented the Biblical commandment in its full glory, which is fortunate since many rabbis  believe that neglecting this important mitzvah (Torah commandment), even in the absence of a Temple, has grave consequences for Israel.

Just four days before Passover, the day the Bible commands Israel to bring a lamb to the Temple to be sacrificed,  a group of Kohanim (members of the Jewish priestly class) sacrificed a lamb on Mount Scopus overlooking the site of the Temple. The Kohanim wore ritual clothes conforming to Biblical requirements and were accompanied by music played on silver instruments specially made to serve in the Third Temple.

The reenactment included all the steps required for the korban pesach, the Passover Sacrifice: checking the animal for blemishes, slaughtering it, collecting its blood and bringing it to the corner of a model altar, skinning the animal and separating its inner parts, and roasting it whole in a special Passover oven.

All of the utensils used for the sacrifice were prepared by the Temple Institute, which organized the event along with United Mikdash Movements, an organization composed of several Temple movements that promote freedom of worship for all nations, and for Jews in particular on the Temple Mount…

…The initiative for the project comes from the belief that even today, lacking a Temple, Jews are required to sacrifice the Passover lamb. The imperative comes from the grave implications for not doing so. Two positive commandments are specifically mentioned as bringing a punishment called karet if they are omitted:  brit milah (circumcision) and korban pesach. Opinions vary as to the precise nature of Karet, ranging from premature death to being cut off from heaven. Since it is the only punishment divinely implemented, Karet is considered the most severe of all judgements [sic]. For this reason, the desire to perform the korban pesach is greater than for any other aspect of the Temple service.[1]

The article contained pictures of priests killing a lamb and then placing it on the altar. All of the ceremonial aspects were there: the priestly garb, the silver trumpets, the altar, the tools, etc.

It is an interesting thing to see this happening in 2016, the sacrifice of animals on the altar. It shows how seriously many of the Jewish people take the word of God and the commandments of God. It also gives us a bit of a picture of what the act might have looked like in the tabernacle.

As Christians, however, we cannot help but watch this with a mixture of admiration for the faithful intentions of these Jews but also with sadness, for we worship the Lamb who was slain once and for all, the just for the unjust. The whole system of sacrifice had its place in salvation history, but it was, at most, penultimate and never ultimate, preparatory but never fulfilling.

This modern attempt to reinstitute literal sacrifice represents a tragic failure to embrace the cross of Christ even though it isrooted in the commandments of God to Israel very early in her history. It is rooted in texts like Exodus 27 and its prescriptions for tabernacle sacrifice.

The altar

At the center of Israel’s religious life was the concept of sacrifice and at the center of sacrifice was the altar, the sacred place upon which animals and grain were offered to the Lord. In Exodus 27:1-8, God gives instructions for the altar in the courtyard.

¹ “You shall make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits broad. The altar shall be square, and its height shall be three cubits. ² And you shall make horns for it on its four corners; its horns shall be of one piece with it, and you shall overlay it with bronze. ³ You shall make pots for it to receive its ashes, and shovels and basins and forks and fire pans. You shall make all its utensils of bronze. ⁴ You shall also make for it a grating, a network of bronze, and on the net you shall make four bronze rings at its four corners. ⁵ And you shall set it under the ledge of the altar so that the net extends halfway down the altar. ⁶ And you shall make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with bronze. ⁷ And the poles shall be put through the rings, so that the poles are on the two sides of the altar when it is carried. ⁸ You shall make it hollow, with boards. As it has been shown you on the mountain, so shall it be made.

The Lord calls for the construction of a bronze altar with horns on the corners. These structures were not unknown in the ancient world. Peter Enns notes that “the worlds of biblical studies and archaeology come together…with respect to altars” and that a horned altar was discovered in 1974 at Tel Dan, that “an altar found in Arad not only has horns but is five cubits square (as is the altar in Ex. 27:1)” and that “another horned altar was found in Beersheba.” Enns concludes that “the presence of horned altars in antiquity is well established, which lends credence to the historicity of the altar described here.”[2]

That the altar was made of bronze had both a practical and theological significance. Practically, bronze can handle heat better than gold. Theologically, it enforced the idea that as one drew further and further into the sanctuary one drew closer and closer to God. Thus, just as one passed through the court to the holy place to the holy of holies, one also passed from bronze to the gold of the holy places.

The four horns have been widely speculated upon. Old Testament scholar William Propp observes that outside of “their two religious functions” (“for Sin-offerings, they are anointed with purifying blood [29:12…]” and “a fugitive may grasp an altar’s horns to obtain temporary asylum”) there are possible practical functions as well. For instance:

At least in one case, it seems that the horns supported a metal barbecue…And, though somewhat obscure, Ps. 118:27, “bind the hag [festival sacrifice?] with ropes up to [‘ad] the Altar’s horns,” suggests that the meat might be literally tied down…The horn’s function is to contain the fuel and meat while not unduly restricting the airflow.[3]

Regardless of the exact function of the horns, the altar itself was a perpetual reminder both of the people’s distance from God because of their sin and of God’s gracious provision for them to be saved. As the Israelites camped around the tabernacle, they would have seen and smelt the evidence of both of these realities.

While this system offered hope, there was an unsettling aspect to it. Morning and night sacrifices were made, and others in between. This means that the cry of slaughtered animals, the shedding of their blood, and the smell of their cooking flesh would linger about the habitats of the Jews at every point of the day.

How many animals were killed? How much blood was shed? Philip Ryken writes:

God said, “The fire on the altar must be kept burning, it must not go out. Every morning the priest is to add firewood and arrange the burnt offering on the fire and burn the fat of the fellowship offerings on it. The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out” (Lev. 6:12,13). The priests had a responsibility to make sure that the fire was never extinguished. A.W. Pink comments: “There is stood: ever smoking, ever blood-stained, ever open to any guilty Hebrew that might wish to approach it. The sinner, having forfeited his life by sin, another life – an innocent life – must be given in his stead.”…At least two burnt offerings were sacrificed every day for more than 1000 years.[4]

The blood. The fire. The smoke. The priests. The repetition. Over and over and over again. When one considers this, oh how precious the words of 1 Peter 3:18 become!

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit…

See that phrase, and marvel: “Christ also suffered once for sin…”

Once.

Consider too the beautiful words of Hebrew 10.

⁸ First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law. ⁹ Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. ¹⁰ And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Once for all.

The cross is never repeated. The cross need never be repeated. The cross is the altar above all altars bearing the Lamb above all lambs. The altar of the tabernacle had a comma after it. The cross has an explanation point after it. It is the final saving work of God. All who are saved are saved through the shed blood of Christ.

The court

Next the Lord gives instructions for the court of the tabernacle, the open perimeter both in front and around the holy places.

⁹ “You shall make the court of the tabernacle. On the south side the court shall have hangings of fine twined linen a hundred cubits long for one side. ¹⁰ Its twenty pillars and their twenty bases shall be of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver. ¹¹ And likewise for its length on the north side there shall be hangings a hundred cubits long, its pillars twenty and their bases twenty, of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver. ¹² And for the breadth of the court on the west side there shall be hangings for fifty cubits, with ten pillars and ten bases. ¹³ The breadth of the court on the front to the east shall be fifty cubits. ¹⁴ The hangings for the one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits, with their three pillars and three bases. ¹⁵ On the other side the hangings shall be fifteen cubits, with their three pillars and three bases. ¹⁶ For the gate of the court there shall be a screen twenty cubits long, of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, embroidered with needlework. It shall have four pillars and with them four bases. ¹⁷ All the pillars around the court shall be filleted with silver. Their hooks shall be of silver, and their bases of bronze. ¹⁸ The length of the court shall be a hundred cubits, the breadth fifty, and the height five cubits, with hangings of fine twined linen and bases of bronze. ¹⁹ All the utensils of the tabernacle for every use, and all its pegs and all the pegs of the court, shall be of bronze.

The court was the gathering place of the worshipping Jews. It was the size it was because the Jews would eat a portion of the sacrifice and needed a place to gather to do so. Douglas Stuart reminds us that “worshipers ate their portion of sacrificial meals ‘in Yahweh’s presence,’ which means in the tabernacle (and later temple) courtyard.” As such, “there was a constant stream of people during times of sacrifice entering the courtyard, watching their sacrifice prepared, receiving it from the priests, sitting and eating as households, and then departing for their own homes.”[5]

In this way, the court of the tabernacle was a place for both worship and family fellowship, the sacred consuming of the flesh of the animal offered for them. In and out the crowds would have gone looking ever and always inward toward the holy of holies into which they were not allowed to go but which nonetheless spoke of God’s great love and provision for them.

The lamp

Finally, the Lord gave Israel instructions for a lamp that was never to be extinguished.

²⁰ “You shall command the people of Israel that they bring to you pure beaten olive oil for the light, that a lamp may regularly be set up to burn. ²¹ In the tent of meeting, outside the veil that is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall tend it from evening to morning before the Lord. It shall be a statute forever to be observed throughout their generations by the people of Israel.

“Clear olive oil is to be used,” writes Peter Enns, “as it produces little smoke and gives off better light.”[6] This bright lamp was to be maintained therefore by Aaron and his sons as “a statute forever to be observed throughout their generations by the people of Israel.”

It is interesting how often undying fire is used to symbolize the eternal or the transcendent or some great ideal. One thinks of the “copper flame covered in 24K gold” held aloft by the Statue of Liberty.[7] One thinks of the Olympic flame. If you visit the Wikipedia page for “eternal flame” you will see the extremely long list of eternal flame memorials the world over.

In the Bible, fire sometimes signifies judgment. One thinks of the cherubim with flaming swords keeping watch over the garden of Eden after the expulsion of Adam and Eve. One thinks also of the fires of hell. Yet fire also has a positive connotation in the Bible. God is present in the fire of the burning bush as well as in the pillar of fire that led Israel through the wilderness at night. Furthermore, He is present in the descending tongues of flame at Pentecost.

The fire of the lamp meant that God was ever present with His people and that God is of such a nature that He shines in the darkness. As such, the fire must never be extinguished.

In the 2007 film, “No Country for Old Men,” based on Cormac McCarthy’s novel by the same name, the movie ends abruptly after Sherriff Ed Tom Bell, who has just retired after a brutal and traumatic investigation involving a murderous sociopath, drugs, and stolen drug money, recounts two dreams he had the night before. His wife asks him to tell her about the dreams.

Alright then. Two of ’em. Both had my father in ’em . It’s peculiar. I’m older now then he ever was by twenty years. So in a sense he’s the younger man. Anyway, first one I don’t remember too well but it was about meeting him in town somewhere, he’s gonna give me some money. I think I lost it. The second one, it was like we was both back in older times and I was on horseback goin’ through the mountains of a night. Goin’ through this pass in the mountains. It was cold and there was snow on the ground and he rode past me and kept on goin’. Never said nothin’ goin’ by. He just rode on past… and he had his blanket wrapped around him and his head down and when he rode past I seen he was carryin’ fire in a horn the way people used to do and I could see the horn from the light inside of it. ‘Bout the color of the moon. And in the dream I knew that he was goin’ on ahead and he was fixin’ to make a fire somewhere out there in all that dark and all that cold, and I knew that whenever I got there he would be there. And then I woke up…[8]

The flame of the tabernacle lamp pointed to the eternal flame of God that cannot be extinguished. Like the fire in the sherriff’s dream, it is “out there in all that dark and all that cold.” It is out there, it is not quenched, and it gives us hope. In this world of ugliness and sin and evil and death, the fire of God still burns! This is the same image that John painted of Jesus Himself in John 1.

¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Once again the tabernacle points to Jesus. Jesus is the Lamb of lambs and the cross is the altar of altars. Christ Jesus is the fire that cannot be quenched and that is never extinguished. He is the light shining in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.

Christ is our tabernacle.

Come to Him. Come and find and worship the Lord your God.

 

[1] https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/66076/passover-sacrifice-makes-comeback-overlooking-temple-mount-photos/#LYW0c1yUhxbBhDPA.97

[2] Peter Enns, Exodus. The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2000), p.523.

[3] William H.C. Propp, Exodus 19-40. The Anchor Bible. Vol.2A. (New York, NY: Doubleday, 2006), p.421.

[4] Philip Graham Ryken, Exodus. Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2005), p.865.

[5] Douglas K. Stuart, Exodus. The New American Commentary. Vol 2. Gen. Ed., E. Ray Clendenen (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2006), p.597.

[6] Peter Enns, p.525.

[7] https://www.nps.gov/stli/faqs.htm

[8] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0477348/quotes