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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
“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;
16:18). For example, the sacrificial animal may have been bound to these horns in order
to allow its blood to drain away completely (Ps. 118:27).
"
is also used of pagan altars: “But ye shall destroy their
break their
images, and cut down their groves” (Exod. 34:13).
This noun is derived from the Hebrew verb
, which literally means “to
slaughter for food” or “to slaughter for sacrifice.”
#
has cognates in Ugaritic and
Arabic (
), Akkadian (
$
), and Phoenician (
). Another Old Testament noun
derived from
is
(162 times), which usually refers to a sacrifice that
establishes communion between God and those who eat the thing offered.
AMONG
A. Preposition.
%
(
, 7130), “among.” The first usage of this preposition is in Genesis:
“Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in [among] the cities of the plain,
and pitched his tent toward Sodom” (13:12). This word is used 222 times in the Old
Testament; it is predominant in the Pentateuch (especially Deuteronomy) but is rare in
the historical books (apart from the early books, Joshua and Judges). In the poetical
books,
%
is used most often in the Book of Psalms. It occurs only once in Job and
three times in Proverbs. It is fairly well represented in the prophetical books.
B. Noun.
%
(
, 7130), “inward part; midst.” As a noun, this word is related to the
Akkadian root
%
which means “midst.” In Mishnaic and modern Hebrew,
%
generally means “midst” rather than “inward part” or “entrails.”
One idiomatic usage of
%
denotes an inward part of the body that is the seat of
laughter (Gen. 18:12) and of thoughts (Jer. 4:14). The Bible limits another idiomatic
usage, meaning “inner parts,” to animals: “Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water,
but roast with fire—his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof” (Exod. 12:9).
The noun approximates the prepositional use with the meaning of “midst” or “in.”
Something may be “in the midst of” a place: “Peradventure there be fifty righteous within