Altar

"altar." This noun has cognates in Aramaic, Syriac, and Arabic. In each of these languages the consonantal root is mdbh. Mizbeah occurs about 396 times in the Old Testament. This word signifies a raised place where a sacrifice was made, as in Gen 8:20 (its first biblical appearance): "And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar." In later references, this word may refer to a table upon which incense was burned: "And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon: of shittim wood shalt thou make it" (Exod 30:1).

From the dawn of human history, offerings were made on a raised table of stone or ground (Gen 4:3). At first, Israel's altars were to be made of earth, i.e., they were fashioned of material that was strictly the work of God's hands. If the Jews were to hew stone for altars in the wilderness, they would have been compelled to use war weapons to do the work. (Notice that in Exod 20:25 the word for "tool" is hereb, "sword.")

At Sinai, God directed Israel to fashion altars of valuable woods and metals. This taught them that true worship required man's best and that it was to conform exactly to God's directives; God, not man, initiated and controlled worship. The altar that stood before the holy place (Exod 27:1-8) and the altar of incense within the holy place (Exod 30:1-10) had "horns." These horns had a vital function in some offerings (Lev 4:30; Lev 16:18). For example, the sacrificial animal may have been bound to these horns in order to allow its blood to drain away completely (Psa 118:27). Mizbeah is also used of pagan altars: "But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves" (Exod 34:13).

This noun is derived from the Hebrew verb zabah, which literally means "to slaughter for food" or "to slaughter for sacrifice." Zabah has cognates in Ugaritic and Arabic (dbh), Akkadian (zibu), and Phoenician (zbh). Another Old Testament noun derived from zabah is zebah (162 times), which usually refers to a sacrifice that establishes communion between God and those who eat the thing offered.

probably the neuter of the adjective thusiasterios, is derived from thusiazo, "to sacrifice." Accordingly it denotes an "altar" for the sacrifice of victims, though it was also used for the "altar" of incense, e.g., Luk 1:11. In the NT this word is reserved for the "altar" of the true God, Mat 1:5-24, Mat 1:23-20, Mat 23:35, Luk 11:51, 1Co 9:13, 1Co 10:18, in contrast to bomos, No. 2, below. In the Sept. thusiasterion is mostly, but not entirely, used for the divienely appointed altar; it is used for idol "altars," e.g., in Jdg 2:2, Jdg 6:25, 2Ki 16:10.

properly, "an elevated place," always denotes either a pagan "altar" or an "altar" reared without Divine appointment. In the NT the only place where this is found is Act 17:23, as this is the only mention of such. Three times in the Sept., but only in the Apocrypha, bomos is used for the Divine altar. In Joshua 22 the Sept. translators have carefully observed the distinction, using bomos for the altar which the two and a half tribes erected, Jos 1:22-11, Jos 22:16, Jos 22:19, Jos 22:23, Jos 22:26, Jos 22:34, no Divine injunction being given for this; in Jos 22:19, Jos 1:22-29, where the altar ordained of God is mentioned, thusiasterion is used.