The altar hearth shall be four cubits high, and four horns shall project upward from the hearth.
Christ is our altar, and these measurements show how His sacrifice sanctifies all our service. The benches where priests stood and handed offerings upward teach us a profound truth: in God's work we must assist one another, each dependent on the next, all moving toward the One who takes away sin.
AI summary
Commenting on Ezekiel 43:13-27
The altar stood ten cubits high, Solomon's own height, and was called Harel, the mountain of God, because it rose like a mountain in the court. Christ our Lord, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, fulfills this altar; He alone was strong enough to bear the sins of men and God's wrath for them, and His four horns signify His power to save all who come to God through Him from every corner of the earth.
AI summary
This altar bore the name Harel, 'mount of God', a high place, yes, but a high place consecrated to God, not idols, and it promised security to restored Israel. The Hebrew terms denote its sacred elevation and strength; some hold that four creatures adorned it, the lion perhaps uppermost, from which the four horns arose.
AI summary