“When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns, the people assembled as one man in Jerusalem.
Then Jeshua son of Jozadak and his fellow priests and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his associates began to build the altar of the God of Israel to sacrifice burnt offerings on it, in accordance with what is written in the Law of Moses the man of God…”
So our group has been settling in their various towns (2:70). After three months of setting up house, they assembled “as one man” back in Jerusalem.
What would you have done first? If you were the spiritual (Jeshua) or civil (Zerubbabel) leader of these 40,000 people?
I love how they immediately “began to build the altar of the God of Israel…”
Mind you, there is no actual temple yet. No walls, nothing. But first thing’s first.
There are two altars described in the Holy Scriptures: The Bronze Altar (Altar of Burnt Offerings) in Exodus 39:39, and the Altar of Incense in Exodus 30:1-10. The altar in our text is the former.
This Altar of Burnt Offerings is first described in Exodus 29:
“For seven days make atonement for the altar and consecrate it. Then the altar will be most holy, and whatever touches it will be holy…
For generations to come this burnt offering is to be made regularly at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting before the LORD. There I will meet with you and speak to you; there also I will meet with the Israelites, and the place will be consecrated by my glory…
Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. They will know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the LORD their God.” (Exodus 29:37,42-43, 45)
Later it was this altar Solomon stood before as he dedicated the Temple of the LORD:
“Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven and said:
‘O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below – you who keep your covenant of love…
The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! May your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, this place of which you said, ‘My Name shall be there’…” (1 Kings 8:22-23, 27,29)
This was the altar visible to all the people. The one every person, no matter how rich or poor, could bring their appropriate sacrifice and worship Covenant Yahweh.
In contrast, the Altar of Incense was in the Holy Place, just before the curtain into the Holy of Holies.
In the wilderness, it might have looked like this:
With our Altar of Burnt Offerings for all to see in the courtyard, while the Altar of Incense is inside the Tent of Meeting.
In Solomon’s Temple it was positioned like this:
With our Altar of Burnt Offerings in the Outer Court, and the Altar of Incense inside the Holy Place (number 5).
The instructions for how to perform the burnt offerings are in Leviticus 6:
“The burnt offering is to remain on the altar hearth throughout the night, till morning, and the fire must be kept burning on the altar…The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not go out…The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out.” (Lev 6:9b, 12, 13)
This repeated command must be important. And it is. The first time the burnt offering was consumed by fire, it came directly from the LORD:
“Moses and Aaron then went into the Tent of Meeting. When they came out, they blessed the people; and the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people. Fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown.” (Exodus 9:23-24)
Then later, when Solomon’s Temple was being dedicated, a similar thing happened:
“When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offerings and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. The priests could not enter the temple of the LORD because the glory of the LORD filled it. When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the LORD above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying,
‘He is good;
His love endures forever.'” (2 Chronicles 7:1-3)
Oh yes, He is a Consuming Fire.
But there’s another, tender reason this is so important. Just like the first covenant with Abram, when the Smoking Firepot alone passed through the pieces, the only way for the sacrifice of man to be acceptable to God is if God Himself lit the fire on the altar. The atonement required for the people could only be made through Him.
Salvation is from the LORD.
Even under a Covenant that required sacrifice for every sin by the people, our Covenant God was the initiator. He alone made the way for the sacrifice to be acceptable.
Friends, how much more under the New Covenant? Jesus alone was the acceptable sacrifice. He makes the way. He is the Way.
And we get to rest there. We receive and rest. We cannot earn it or do enough. We just rest in that perfect Love that had a Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.
“He is good,
His love endures forever.”
Salvation is from the LORD.