ALTARS
Since altars were the first physical structures that God instructed his followers to build, we will begin by exposing their symbolic meaning. Here is God’s instruction on how to build an altar:
Deuteronomy 27:5-6 “Moreover, you shall build there an altar to the LORD your God, an altar of stones; you shall not wield an iron tool on them. 6 “You shall build the altar of the LORD your God of uncut stones, and you shall offer on it burnt offerings to the LORD your God;
Joshua 8:30-32 Then Joshua built an altar to the LORD , the God of Israel, in Mount Ebal, 31 just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the sons of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of uncut stones on which no man had wielded an iron tool; and they offered burnt offerings on it to the LORD, and sacrificed peace offerings. 32 He wrote there on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written, in the presence of the sons of Israel.
COMMENTARY ON HOW TO BUILD ALTARS:
| Uncut stones: | Symbolically speaking, people (i.e. hearts) are stones. An uncut stone has not been shaped by another human. That means that a heart has not been shaped by the words (i.e. teaching) of another human. |
| No tools used: | The kind of altar that God recognizes is a clean, pure heart. Only God can do the miracle of changing evil, impure hearts into clean, pure hears. He does this by the power of his spoken word. His directions on how to build an altar, therefore, rule out any human efforts (e.g. religious programs, prayers, rituals, etc.) that might be employed to build altars. |
| Made of earth: | The kind of altar that God recognizes is a clean, pure, human heart which is symbolically called earth. He does not recognize altars made of natural materials such as wood or stone. |
| No steps: | God forbids physical altars with steps because human effort (i.e. flesh) is required to go up steps. The only place he wants his people to worship him is in their hearts. |
We learn from the following scriptures that God is very serious regarding his expectations about how to build an altar and what kind of sacrifices to offer on them:
2-Chronicles 4:1-6: He made an altar of bronze, twenty cubits long, and twenty cubits wide, and ten cubits high. 2 Then he made the molten sea; it was round, ten cubits from brim to brim, and five cubits high, and a line of thirty cubits measured its circumference. 3 Under it were figures of gourds, for thirty cubits, compassing the sea round about; the gourds were in two rows, cast with it when it was cast. 4 It stood upon twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east; the sea was set upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward. 5 Its thickness was a handbreadth; and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily; it held over three thousand baths. 6 He also made ten lavers in which to wash, and set five on the south side, and five on the north side. In these they were to rinse off what was used for the burnt offering, and the sea was for the priests to wash in.
COMMENTARY: This is the story of Solomon building his temple. In doing this, Solomon violated all of God’s instructions about altars and tabernacles. He did this because he did not understand that the pattern shown to Moses on the mountain symbolized the heart and was never intended to be a physical structure.
Solomon’s altar and temple is not a structure to be admired and replicated. It is the perfect example of the opposite of what God wanted. It symbolizes religion in all of its ostentatious opulence. That is why Jesus said he would destroy it because it was a work of the devil.
Deuteronomy 27:5 KJV: And there shalt thou build an altar unto the LORD thy God, an altar of stones: thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them.
COMMENTARY: See Stones for understanding that people are symbolically represented as stones. With this understanding we conclude that this scripture is God’s command to New Covenant disciples to consider their hearts to be altars in which they worship.
An altar which has not been shaped by a tool is an altar that has not been shaped by human hands with tools. This is a symbolic reference to the heart.
Deuteronomy 27:6 KJV: Thou shalt build the altar of the LORD thy God of whole stones: and thou shalt offer burnt offerings thereon unto the LORD thy God:
COMMENTARY: See Stones for understanding that people are symbolically represented as stones. With this understanding we conclude that this scripture is God’s command to New Covenant disciples to consider their hearts to be altars where they bring spiritual offerings.
A whole stone is an altar that has not been shaped by human hands with tools. This is a symbolic reference to the heart.
See Sacrifices, Tithes and Offerings for understanding of offerings.
Joshua 8:31 KJV: As Moses the servant of the LORD commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones, over which no man hath lift up any iron: and they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the LORD, and sacrificed peace offerings.
COMMENTARY: See commentaries above.
We also know that the ten northern tribes strayed from God’s commands when they built many altars on high places surrounded by Asherah groves (called poles in the NIV, Ashe’rim in the RSV) where the goddess Ashtoreth was worshiped. We will discuss high places in the following page, but here we will look at scriptures about the altars where Ashtoreth was worshiped:
Isaiah 17:8: And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made , either the groves, or the images.
COMMENTARY: This is a command to not build physical altars and idols.
Judges 3:7: And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgat the LORD their God, and served Baalim and the groves.
COMMENTARY: See Numbers 23; Numbers 24; Numbers 25:1-9 for the story of how Israel was seduced to worship at physical altars.
Exodus 34:13: But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves:
Judges 2:11-13:And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim: 12 And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followedother gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger . 13 And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.
COMMENTARY: See Numbers 23; Numbers 24; Numbers 25:1-9 for the story of how Israel was seduced to worship at physical altars.
2 Chronicles 34: 7: And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.
COMMENTARY: Josiah was a good king who did right in the eyes of the Lord.We conclude from these scriptures that God does not want his people to worship at physical altars. He does not want them to worship in physical places because the heart is the place where true worship (i.e. in spirit and truth) occur.
The symbolism of these instructions is that our hearts are the place where we worship. That being the case, we have no need to go to a particular building or location to worship God and have no need to build physical altars for worship. More importantly, God has actually forbidden the construction of physical altars which have always been common features of religion.