Commentaria in Exodum
Further, in this place he omitted the bowls, which are expressed in the Hebrew, because he had named them in chap. 25:29, where was their proper place; for these bowls were kept not on the altar of holocausts, but on the table of the loaves of proposition, to be carried out from thence when they were needed for pouring libations on the altar of holocausts.
AND FLESH-HOOKS,—with which the flesh is drawn out of the pot. Whence the Septuagint render them flesh-hooks, from taking flesh, whether they were tridents or of one tooth. Whence our Interpreter renders the Hebrew word mizleget as flesh-hooks, tridents, and hooks, that is, flesh-hooks as well of three teeth as of one.
AND RECEPTACLES FOR FIRE,—that is, vessels for taking up live coals. Whence some render them censers; the Septuagint, hearth: these vessels served, among other uses, for this, that the holy fire taken from the altar of holocaust might be carried in them to the altar of incense, evening and morning, for the incense to be burned in them; for, as I shall say chap. 30, the incense was burned not immediately on the altar itself, but in these censers placed upon the altar. So Bede, book 2, chap. 11.
4. AND A BRAZEN GRATING IN THE MANNER OF A NET.—The Hebrews, Abulensis and Lyranus think that this grating was not usually let down inside the altar, but ran round about it, like a kind of girdle raised one cubit and a half, up to the middle of the altar, and that only for the decoration and beauty of the altar. But this opinion is repugnant to the text of Holy Scripture, which places this grating not within but above the altar.
I say, then: This grating covered the upper part, or surface, of the altar, yet so that it could conveniently be let down into the altar and drawn out again when need required. On this grating the flesh of the victims to be burned was laid, and therefore it was wholly of brass, and made in the manner of a net; from this grating hung a little hearth, of the same length and breadth as the grating. This hearth was attached to the upper grating by long brazen nails, or rather rods or plates, so that between the grating and the hearth there was a space of a cubit and a half; for the grating was in the middle of the altar, as is said chap. 38, verse 4; and the height of the altar was three cubits, whence the grating is said here, verse 9, to reach to the middle of the altar, not of itself, but by means of this hearth attached to it; for this hearth was as it were the bottom of the grating, in which the body of the grating itself as it were ended.
This hearth was like a fireplace, in which the fire burned and wood was laid on it for burning the sacrifices placed upon the grating; and therefore it was wholly of brass, like the grating itself. Hence it is likely that there was a window, or small door, in the side of the altar, by which wood was put in, and ashes and coals taken out, as Bede relates from the description of Cassiodorus, book 2, chap. 12, and Richard of St. Victor, though Ribera denies this little door: Because, he says, the grating could be drawn upwards, and the wood then laid on its hearth. But this would have been difficult and troublesome, especially when the victims had already been laid upon the grating; for wood had often to be put beneath the same victims that they might be wholly burned; whence it would have been necessary to take out the grating many times for the same victim.
Again, on this hearth there were four brazen rings, into which two bars were inserted, to carry it with the grating separately from the boards of the altar. These rings were at the four lowest extremities of the hearth, and therefore here, verse 5, they are said to be beneath the hearth.
Hence it is evident that what Abulensis and Villalpandus think, book 4 On the Temple, chap. 81, is not true, namely, that the wood itself had to be laid not on the hearth or brazier (which they deny to the grating itself), but on the altar or the grating above, and the flesh of the victims to be burned laid upon it. For from what has been said it is clear that the wood was laid upon the fire which was under the altar in the hearth; yet I do not deny that wood was also laid on the altar or grating itself, especially if the victim were large, and on account of the multitude of victims had to be quickly burned and consumed; for the fire, broken and blunted by the net of the grating, had not strength enough to burn the larger victims at once; but it had strength enough to consume the perpetual evening holocaust: for this had to be burned the whole night with a slow fire, as is plain from Levit. 6:9.
Finally, around this altar there was a very great multitude of priests and Levites, especially on feast days, when many victims were to be sacrificed. For some slew them, others flayed them, others cut them up, others washed them, etc., but all in wonderful silence and reverence. Hear Aristeas, in his book on the Seventy Interpreters: “There is such silence that, although nearly seven hundred ministers are continually present, and the multitude of those who offer sacrifices is immense, you would think that not a single man was in the place; for all things are performed with the utmost veneration and with great piety toward God.”
5. THOU SHALT MAKE IT HOLLOW WITHIN.—That is, that in this cavity of the altar there might be within a place for the fire and the wood, for burning the flesh laid on the grating above. Understand that this altar was hollow up to its middle: for from thence to the pavement it was full of earth, or rather of unhewn stone, as already
9. THOU SHALT MAKE ALSO THE COURT OF THE TABERNACLE.—Note: This court was made to surround the tabernacle and the altar of holocausts on every side, both as an ornament and for reverence. The tabernacle therefore stood in the middle of the court, which surrounded it as the dwelling of the glory of God conversing with men, hearing and directing them, that the Hebrews, invited by this presence and providential government, might worship the one true God alone and abstain from idolatry. Secondly, this court was not roofed above, but was under the open sky, such as Daniel Barbarus in Vitruvius, book 6, chap. 5, calls a cavaedium; whence Villalpandus, book 3 On the Temple, chap. 25, p. 201, thinks the court (atrium) so called from the Greek aithrion, as if you should say, “open to the air,” in the air, under the sky; though others will have it that the atrium is so called because it rises from the earth, as it were aterreum or aterium; others again, because the first atria before houses were built at Atria in Etruria. This court, however, was surrounded on the sides all about with hangings, that is, with veils or curtains made of twisted fine linen, and these hangings were to the court itself like walls. These hangings were hung from brazen pillars, which were clothed with plates of silver, and had capitals of silver, but bases of brass.
Thirdly, the court was quadrangular, or rather four-sided; for it was 100 cubits long, 50 broad, and 5 high, as is plain from verse 18; it was enclosed with sixty brazen pillars, namely 20 on the south side, and each pillar was distant from the next by 5 cubits: moreover on the pillars pegs stood out, that is, nails, from which the hangings, that is, the curtains, were hung, as I have said.
Fourthly, the court at the entrance had, say Philo and Abulensis, 50 cubits of length up to the tabernacle, and as many of breadth, to hold the people. For this court was the place of prayer of the people: whence it is called the temple by the Evangelists and by Josephus. In this court Christ moved about and taught, and from it cast out the sellers and buyers; for Christ never entered the tabernacle or the Holy Place; for this was permitted to the Aaronic priests alone. In this court, therefore, the laity prayed, offered their victims to the priests, looked on at the sacrifices, and feasted upon them, eating the peace-offerings before the Lord, that is, before the tabernacle, which was as it were the house of God, as is plain from Deuter. 12:7 and chap. 16:11; for the laity could never approach the court of the priests, and consequently not the altar of holocausts which was in it. Finally, at the gate of this court women after childbirth, lepers and other unclean persons were purified and expiated.
Fifthly, in this court was the brazen laver and the altar of holocausts, on which all the victims were sacrificed.
Sixthly, the tabernacle had only one court, in which, however, it is likely that proper stations were assigned to the priests and Levites near the altar of holocausts. Whence in the temple of Solomon, where all these things were more beautifully ordered, there was a double court: one inner, near the tabernacle, the court of the priests, where was the altar of holocausts, the brazen laver, and the station of the priests; the second, outer, that of the laity, which Solomon separated from the former court of the priests by a wall three cubits high, so that the laity from their court could look over this wall into the court of the priests, and see the sacrifices which were performed there on the altar of holocausts, yet not enter it.
Seventhly, it was lawful for none of the Gentiles or unclean to enter this court, under penalty of death; for the court was as it were the temple of the people; whence for the Gentiles and the unclean Herod built and added another, outer court, that they might take part from afar in the sacred rites and sacrifices. Villalpandus adds, on Ezechiel, vol. 2, p. 243, that in the temple of Solomon the altar of holocausts was placed opposite the three gates of the court, because it stood, he says, in the middle of the court, so that when any gate was opened, the eastern, southern or northern, the altar itself and the holocausts might be seen by the people through these three gates, and consequently by the Gentiles from their own court, which had three gates answering to the three gates of the court of the priests and people.