Exodus 21:14

21:14 But if a man willfully attacks his neighbor to kill him cunningly, 1  you will take him even from my altar that he may die.

Exodus 24:6

24:6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and half of the blood he splashed on the altar. 2 

Exodus 27:7-8

27:7 The poles are to be put 3  into the rings so that the poles will be on two sides of the altar when carrying it. 4  27:8 You are to make the altar hollow, out of boards. Just as it was shown you 5  on the mountain, so they must make it. 6 

Exodus 32:5

32:5 When 7  Aaron saw this, 8  he built an altar before it, 9  and Aaron made a proclamation 10  and said, “Tomorrow will be a feast 11  to the Lord.”

Exodus 35:15-16

35:15 and the altar of incense with its poles, the anointing oil, and the fragrant incense; the hanging for the door at the entrance of the tabernacle; 35:16 the altar for the burnt offering with its bronze grating that is on it, its poles, and all its utensils; the large basin and its pedestal;

Exodus 39:38

39:38 and the gold altar, and the anointing oil, and the fragrant incense; and the curtain for the entrance to the tent;

Exodus 40:5-6

40:5 You are to put 12  the gold altar for incense in front of the ark of the testimony and put the curtain at the entrance to the tabernacle. 40:6 You are to put the altar for the burnt offering in front of the entrance to the tabernacle, the tent of meeting.

Exodus 40:30

40:30 Then he put the large basin between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it 13  for washing.

Exodus 40:32-33

40:32 Whenever they entered 14  the tent of meeting, and whenever they approached 15  the altar, they would wash, 16  just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

40:33 And he set up the courtyard around the tabernacle and the altar, and put the curtain at the gate of the courtyard. So Moses finished the work.

1 tn The word עָרְמָה (’ormah) is problematic. It could mean with prior intent, which would be connected with the word in Prov 8:5, 12 which means “understanding” (or “prudence” – fully aware of the way things are). It could be connected also to an Arabic word for “enemy” which would indicate this was done with malice or evil intentions (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 270). The use here seems parallel to the one in Josh 9:4, an instance involving intentionality and clever deception.

2 sn The people and Yahweh through this will be united by blood, for half was spattered on the altar and the other half spattered on/toward the people (v. 8).

3 tn The verb is a Hophal perfect with vav consecutive: וְהוּבָא (vÿhuva’, “and it will be brought”). The particle אֶת (’et) here introduces the subject of the passive verb (see a similar use in 21:28, “and its flesh will not be eaten”).

4 tn The construction is the infinitive construct with bet (ב) preposition: “in carrying it.” Here the meaning must be that the poles are not left in the rings, but only put into the rings when they carried it.

5 tn The verb is used impersonally; it reads “just as he showed you.” This form then can be made a passive in the translation.

6 tn Heb “thus they will make.” Here too it could be given a passive translation since the subject is not expressed. But “they” would normally refer to the people who will be making this and so can be retained in the translation.

sn Nothing is said about the top of the altar. Some commentators suggest, in view of the previous instruction for making an altar out of earth and stone, that when this one was to be used it would be filled up with dirt clods and the animal burnt on the top of that. If the animal was burnt inside it, the wood would quickly burn. A number of recent scholars think this was simply an imagined plan to make a portable altar after the pattern of Solomon’s – but that is an unsatisfactory suggestion. This construction must simply represent a portable frame for the altar in the courtyard, an improvement over the field altar. The purpose and function of the altar are not in question. Here worshipers would make their sacrifices to God in order to find forgiveness and atonement, and in order to celebrate in worship with him. No one could worship God apart from this; no one could approach God apart from this. So too the truths that this altar communicated form the basis and center of all Christian worship. One could word an applicable lesson this way: Believers must ensure that the foundation and center of their worship is the altar, i.e., the sacrificial atonement.

7 tn The preterite with the vav (ו) consecutive is subordinated as a temporal clause to the next preterite.

8 tn The word “this” has been supplied.

9 tn “Before it” means before the deity in the form of the calf. Aaron tried to redirect their worship to Yahweh, but the people had already broken down the barrier and were beyond control (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 413).

10 tn Heb “called.”

11 sn The word is חַג (khag), the pilgrim’s festival. This was the word used by Moses for their pilgrimage into the wilderness. Aaron seems here to be trying to do what Moses had intended they do, make a feast to Yahweh at Sinai, but his efforts will not compete with the idol. As B. Jacob says, Aaron saw all this happening and tried to rescue the true belief (Exodus, 941).

12 tn Heb “give” (also four additional times in vv. 6-8).

13 tn Heb “there.”

14 tn The construction is the infinitive construct with the temporal preposition and the suffixed subjective genitive. This temporal clause indicates that the verb in the preceding verse was frequentative.

15 tn This is another infinitive construct in a temporal clause.

16 tn In this explanatory verse the verb is a customary imperfect.