Among all ancient peoples, sacrifice remained the chief form of communion with God, whether the question was of the One God or of pagan gods. So in the court of the Tabernacle...
Among all ancient peoples, sacrifice remained the chief form of communion with God, whether the question was of the One God or of pagan gods. So in the court of the Tabernacle there was to be a special altar which, like the whole Tabernacle, was light enough to be moved, if necessary, together with the tent.
The court was necessary because sacrifices were always made under the open sky; inside a building, and still more inside a tent, it would be at least problematic to kindle a sacrificial fire. At the same time, altars usually appeared not where it was convenient for people, but where divine power had in some way manifested itself, whether the power of some pagan god or spirit or the power of the One. Such places, properly speaking, were called sacred in antiquity: divine power sanctified them.
If a place was not sacred, there was no point in building an altar or sacrificial altar there; it was assumed that gods and spirits visited only familiar places, where they could be met. The first Yahwistic altars in Palestine appeared on the same basis: a theophany, a manifestation of God, was necessary in order for an altar to appear at its site. Of course, there was still much here that was pagan, but human consciousness in general does not change very quickly. Besides, one has to take into account that before the coming of Christ, God truly was not present everywhere, and at that time He chose the places of His presence, from the human point of view, in roughly the same way pagan gods and spirits did.
In reality God had His own plan for the places where He manifested His presence, and that plan had nothing to do with any human considerations. But for human beings it sometimes looked as if God arbitrarily appeared now here, now there, like pagan gods and spirits. As for Sinai, there, as in Egypt, there could by definition have been no traditional Yahwistic altars.
Neither Egypt nor Sinai was God's land in the sense in which the land promised by God to Abraham was. God's presence was "at home" only there, in God's land, intended by God for His people. In the wilderness, however, God accompanies His people without having a permanent home there, just as those whom He is leading have none there. That is why only a portable sanctuary is possible here, until the arrival in that land about which Abraham had already been promised that it would belong to his descendants.
27 In this chapter directions are given,
27:1 As God intended in the tabernacle to manifest his presence among his people, so there they were to pay their devotions to him; not in the tabernacle itself, into that only the priests entered as God's domestic servants, but in the court before the tabernacle, where, as common subjects they attended. There an altar was ordered so be set up, to which they must bring their sacrifices; and this altar was to sanctify their gifts; from hence they were to present their services to God, as from the mercy - seat he gave his oracles to them; and thus a communion was settled between God and Israel.
27:2 The horns of it, were for ornament and for use; the sacrifices were bound with cords to the horns of the altar, and to them malefactors fled for refuge.
27:4 The grate was set into the hollow of the altar, about the middle of it, in which the fire was kept, and the sacrifice burnt; it was made of net - work like a sieve, and hung hollow, that the fire might burn the better, and that the ashes might fall through. Now, this brazen altar was a type of Christ dying to make atonement for our sins. Christ sanctified himself for his church as their altar, Joh 17:19, and by his mediation sanctifies the daily services of his people. To the horns of this altar poor sinners fly for refuge, and are safe in virtue of the sacrifice there offered.
27:9 Before the tabernacle there was to be a court, enclosed with hangings of fine linen. This court, according to the common computation, was 50 yards long, and 25 broad. Pillars were set up at convenient distances, in sockets of brass, the pillars filleted with silver, and silver tenterhooks in them, on which the linen hangings were fastened: the hanging which served for the gate was finer than the rest. This court was a type of the church, enclosed, and distinguished from the rest of the world; the inclosure supported by pillars, noting the stability of the church hung with the clean linen, which is said to be the righteousness of saints, Rev 19:8. Yet this court would contain but a few worshippers; thanks be to God, now the inclosure is taken down; and there is room for all that in every place call on the name of Christ.
27:20 We read of the candlestick in the 25th chapter; here is order given for the keeping of the lamps constantly burning in it. The pure oil signified the gifts and graces of the Spirit, which are communicated to all believers from Christ the good olive, of whose fulness we receive, Zec 4:11-12. The priests were to light the lamps, and to tend them; to cause the lamp to burn always, night and day. Thus it is the work of ministers to preach and expound the scriptures, which are as a lamp to enlighten the church. This is to be a statute for ever, that the lamps of the word be lighted as duly as the incense of prayer and praise is offered.