Two altars, plus one

Since I never made it to Moses’ tabernacle,

I can get tripped up when Leviticus tells me

about the various offerings one could do upon the altars.

And it is that “s” on the altar that I wrote in the last sentence that trips me up.

There are two altars that come into play.

There is one in the front yard—OK, Moses calls it the courtyard—

right in front of the entrance.

And another inside, in the holy place.

The former is overlaid with bronze—so that you could do a rip-roaring Elijah-type fire on it

and not cause damage.

The latter was covered with gold, strictly for burning incense.

Both had horns.

Pretty much all the sacrifices started outside at the burnt offering altar.

Lots of wood (where did they find the wood in the desert?, my friend Roland asks),

lots of fire, lots of blood. 

Only certain special cases got taken into the holy place and its altar of incense.

For instance, if the priest sinned (4.3; 4.7),

or the entire congregation (4.13; 4,18) sinned,

they do a slash and burn at the first altar,

and then a rub-some-blood at the second.

On the other hand, if it is just a “leader” (4.22) who blew it,

or the “common people” (4.27),

everything gets taken care of at altar #1.

And then there is us:

We have an altar from which those who served in the tabernacle have no right to eat.

Hebrews 13.10

Nor do they need to burn, or smear with blood.

It is finished.

Absolutely amazing