And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof shall be three cubits.
1. And thou shalt make an altar. The altar of whole burnt-offerings (holocaustorum) is here described, which, however, it was called by synecdoche, for not only entire victims were burnt there, but also parts of them only, as we shall see in Leviticus. The burnt-offerings received their name from their ascending, C. alludes to their Hebrew name, עלה, the primary signification of which is mounting upwards.
God set up this altar so His people could meet Him in the court before the tabernacle, where common subjects bring their gifts and priests offer them to the Lord. Wood alone would burn away under divine fire; brass protects it, just as Christ's divine power upholds His human nature against the full weight of God's wrath for our sins.
AI summary
Commenting on Exodus 27:1-8
And thou shall make an altar of shittim wood,.... This is a different altar from that made of earth before the tabernacle was built, Exo 20:24 and from the altar of incense, Exo 30:1 this was to offer burnt offerings on, and was placed at the door of the tabernacle, in the court of the people, where they brought their sacrifices to the priests to...