1 Kings 9:25

The Two Altars of Judaism.

This text is somewhat remarkable as brining before us at the same moment the two altars of the Jewish Church—the great brazen altar of sacrifice and the golden altar of incense. The present is therefore, perhaps, a fitting place to study their use and significance.

For it is with good reason that they are here joined together. Though the ritual of the first was quite distinct from that of the second, yet each was an essential part of the same religious system; each was a centre of Hebrew worship. Moreover the second was the complement of the first. Incense was the appropriate adjunct of sacrifice. And the two together formed practically the sum of the ordinary ceremonial of the children of the old covenant.

The altars themselves, however, will require but little notice, for they both alike derived their interest and importance from the purposes they served. The altar of sacrifice is not even mentioned by our historian in his account of the temple arrangements; while the chronicler dismisses it in a single verse. And neither the Kings nor the Chronicles describe the size, structure, etc; of the altar of incense. It is true the altar "sanctified the gift" ( Matthew 23:19 ; Exodus 29:1-46 :87, 44), perhaps sanctified the incense also (but see Exodus 30:1-38 :85-37), but all the same, the sacrifice and the incense, not the brazen or the golden altars, are the important and significant things. The two altars, that is to say, really bring before us the two questions of Sacrifice and Incense .

I. THE ALTAR OF SACRIFICE . But before we turn our thoughts to the sacrifices smoking on the altar, let us glance for a moment at the altar itself. Observe—

1. Its position . Outside the temple, the "house of sacrifice" ( 2 Chronicles 7:12 ; Matthew 23:35 ), but in the court of the priests, and, therefore, exclusively for the service of the priests.

2. Its dimensions . It was fifteen feet high, and its top was a square of thirty feet ( 2 Chronicles 4:1 ). It was designedly high—the altar of the tabernacle was but four and a half feet high. It was high, despite the inconveniences resulting therefrom. The height required that a ledge or platform should be constructed round it; that a long slope or flight of steps should be ascended in order to reach it; and that the layers and sea should be high in proportion ( 1 Kings 7:23 , 1 Kings 7:25 , 1 Kings 7:27 , 1 Kings 7:38 ). Its great size and capacity—it presented a superficies of 900 square feet—was because of the great number of victims which were occasionally offered upon it at one time.

3. Its horns . These were no freak of the architect, but were of the essence of the structure, and of Divine obligation ( Exodus 27:2 ). The blood was put upon them ( Exodus 29:12 ; Le Exodus 4:7 , Exodus 4:18 , Exodus 4:30 , 34; Exodus 8:15 ; Exodus 9:9 , etc.); the sacrifice, at least in early times, was bound to them ( Psalms 118:27 ); the suppliant for life clung to them ( 1 Kings 1:50 ; 1 Kings 2:28 , etc.) The altar was designed, that is to say, for sacrifice; but it also served at the same time for sanctuary.

And now let us look at the sacrifice, at "the gift upon the altar." Observe—

1. It is an offering . Whatever the character of the sacrifice, burnt offering, sin offering, peace offering, meat offering, it was an offering, a gift. Whether whole bullocks were consumed, or only the fat, kidneys, etc; it had been first consecrated, devoted, given, to God. This is, perhaps, the primary idea of sacrifice. The victim must be presented before it could be immolated.

2. It was ordinarily an offering made by fire ( 1 Samuel 2:28 ). The holy fire kindled by God (Le 1 Kings 9:24 ), and which for long centuries was never suffered to go out (Le 1 Kings 6:13 ), the element which at that time, and ever since, has been regarded in the East as an image of the Godhead, if not a sign of His presence, this consumed everything. The tongues of flame not only carried the smoke and smell of the sacrifice—hecatomb, holocaust, whatever it was—up into the blue sky and to the throne of God, but they, so to speak, devoured the victim; they feasted on the sacrifice.

3. It was an offering of life . Not only was this a matter of fact—that the victim was first slain, then offered on the altar, but this idea was expressed in the ritual of the sacrifice. The blood was poured out at the foot of the altar, or sprinkled on its horns, or borne into the most holy place. But the blood is the life of the flesh (Le 1 Kings 17:11 ), and hence the sprinkling of the blood was the core and centre of all sacrifice. The very separation of the elements again—the blood poured in one place, the flesh or fat burnt at another—pictured death; for when the blood is withdrawn from the body death ensues. The consuming fire, too, spoke of death. So that in sacrifice men offered to God the most mysterious and precious of man's possessions and of God's gifts, the life, the ψυχή , which came from God and went back to God. It was an old and reasonable belief that the gods would have our nearest and dearest—see Tennyson's beautiful poem, "The Victim"—hence the gift to the altar was the life.

4. It was an offering for life . The full significance of sacrifice, we may readily believe, the Jew did not know. It is doubtful whether even the high priest comprehended the blessed meaning of those solemn rites in which he bore a part. But this they did know, that the life offered at the altar was an atonement for their life. The lex talionis, "an eye for an eye," etc. ( Exodus 21:24 ), had taught them this. So had much of their expressive ceremonial, e . g ; the laying of the hands on the head of the victim, etc. (Le 1 Kings 3:2 ; 1 Kings 4:4 , etc.) So above all had the express words of Scripture, "The life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar for an atonement for your souls (Heb. lives, same word as above), for it is the blood that maketh atonement for the soul" (Heb. through the life, sc . of the blood) Le 1 Kings 17:11 . They understood, that is, that sacrifice was not only eucharistic, but that it was also deprecatory and in some way expiatory. They hoped that it would somehow reconcile them and restore them to communion with God, the Life, the Anima animantium .

More than this, however, the Jewish worshipper did not see in the sacrifice. But for us who turn our gaze to Mount Moriah from the hill of Calvary, it has an additional significance. We may see in it—

5. A picture of the offering of Jesus Christ . An imperfect picture, no doubt—a shadow, a type, a parable, but still the outline is clear and distinct. We see here the priest, the victim, the altar, the mactation, the blood pouring, the elevation, the death. As a picture, indeed, all sacrifice "showed the Lord's death" ( 1 Corinthians 11:26 ) much more vividly and touchingly than the Holy Communion does.

6 . A pleading of the death of Christ . This is the crown and blossom of sacrifice. It was an ἀνάμνησις , a silent but eloquent memorial before God. Only thus can we adequately explain the elaborate sacrificial system of Moses. From any other point of view sacrifices are, as Coleridge confessed, an enigma. But see in them tokens, memorials, pleadings of the one vicarious death, and all is clear. Then we can comprehend why they should have offered thousands of victims "year by year continually." Every bullock, every sheep, was, though the worshippers knew it not, a mute reminder of the one sacrifice for sin. Each was a foreshadowing of the death; the death of Him who is "the life" ( John 14:6 ); each spoke to the heart of God of the precious blood of Christ. Let us trace the parallel a little more in detail.

1. The Altar prefigured the Cross .

"Lord, on the cross Thine arms were stretched,

To draw Thy people nigh," etc.

2. The Sacrifice prefigured the Crucifixion . It is hardly needful or possible here to point out in what manifold ways the various sacrifices of the Law foreshadowed the oblation of Calvary. It must suffice to say here that this too was a voluntary offering ( Hebrews 9:14 ), a whole offering ( כָלִיל —cf. Hebrews 10:10 , etc.), the grateful savour of which ascended (the idea of the word עֹלָה ) to heaven ( Genesis 8:21 ; Ephesians 5:2 ); that the life was given ( Matthew 20:28 ) and blood poured ( 1 Peter 1:2 ); that the blood was poured for the remission of sins ( Matthew 26:28 ; Hebrews 9:22 ), and the life given for the life of the world ( John 6:51 ). It is for us to lay our hands on the head of the sacrifice, and the analogy is complete. We must bring no offering of our own merits, but must take refuge under the arms of the Cross—

"Nothing in my hand I bring,

Simply to thy Cross I cling."

It must not be supposed, however, that because sacrifices, properly so called, have ceased, because they have found their blessed fulfilment in "the one offering," "once for all" ( Hebrews 10:10 , Hebrews 10:14 ), therefore the pictures and pleadings of that offering have ceased also. On the contrary, the death of Calvary, which cannot be repeated, is forever pleaded ( Revelation 5:6 ) in the heavenly temple. In this sense it is a con tinual offering ( Exodus 29:42 ). And it is also pleaded by the Church on earth. For the holy sacrament, like the sacrifice, tells of death, and of the same vicarious and victorious death. The sacrifice pleaded the merits of Him who should come; the sacrament the merits of One who has come. The first was, the second is, an ἀνάμνησις of the death which won our life.

II. THE ALTAR OF INCENSE . It is often forgotten that Judaism had two altars. But who shall say that the altar of incense was less important or less gracious than that of sacrifice.

A few simple questions will perhaps best bring this subject of incense before us. Let us therefore ask—

1. What was the incense! It was (see Exodus 30:34 sqq.)

2. Where was it offered? In two places. Occasionally in the most holy place; usually on the golden altar which stood before that place. Hence this altar is spoken of as "before the Lord," and is called "the altar that belongeth to the oracle" ( 1 Kings 6:22 ). It was clearly, therefore, and peculiarly an offering to God, whose throne was in the sanctuary, and whose palace was the temple. It was burnt before the Presence, whose seat was between the cherubim. Indeed, it is not improbable that it was only burnt outside the oracle, because the priests must not enter the most holy place. (The golden altar, as we have just seen, really "belonged to the oracle.") When the high priest did enter, on the day of atonement, the incense was burnt within the veil. And the Sadducees were accounted heretical because they contended that the incense might be kindled outside and then carried inside the holy of holies.

3. When was it burned? It was burned

4. By whom was it offered?

5. Why was it offered? Maimonides held that it was merely, or principally, designed to counteract the stench which would arise from the victims slain for the morning and evening sacrifice. Others have beheld in it merely a recognition of the majesty and sovereignty of God, and have seen its counterpart in the perfumes which were offered before the monarchs of the East (cf. Matthew 2:11 ). But a moment's reflection will show that both these conceptions are miserably inadequate and unworthy. It is inconceivable that so prominent and essential a part of the Jewish system can have had no higher meaning or have no analogue in Christianity. It is universally admitted that the brazen altar and its sacrifices were fall of symbolism. How can we think that while these prefigured Christ's death the golden altar and its incense foreshadowed nothing. No, they must have typified something, and something connected with the work of the eternal Son of God.

For observe, just as there is an altar raised on Calvary, just as there is a sacrificial altar of which we Christians eat ( Hebrews 13:10 ), so is there an altar in heaven ( Revelation 8:3 ). Nor will this surprise us if we bear in mind that the Mosaic worship was fashioned after the mode of the heavenly, and that the tabernacle and its furniture were made according to the pattern showed in the Mount.

What, then, did incense symbolize? Was it prayer? It has been very. generally supposed (after Psalms 141:2 ) to be an emblem of prayer. But this is a view which reflection hardly justifies. For

No, the incense offered day by day, and century after century, prefigured the gracious intercession of Christ, that intercession through which alone our prayers are presented, which alone ensures their acceptance, and without which sinful man cannot draw near to God. When the high priest entered the oracle, as the representative of the congregation, the cloud of incense must cover him lest he should die. We have but to notice how close is the correspondence between type and antitype to be convinced that this is its true meaning.

So that both the altars of Judaism speak to us of Christ: the one of His death, the other of His "endless life;" the first of the "one offering," the second of the ceaseless intercession. And between them they shadowed forth the fulness and completeness of our salvation. "We have an Advocate with the Father"—this is the gospel of the incense. "We have a great High Priest"—this is the evangel of incense and sacrifice alike.

HOMILIES BY A. ROWLAND