What Does Exodus 27:5 Mean?
And you shall set it under the ledge of the altar, from below, so that the net reaches halfway up the altar.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And thou shalt put it under the compass of the altar beneath, that the net may be even to the midst of the altar.THE KEY
The altar’s “midst” is stated as half its height: the hidden grate reaches from beneath the rim to that measured point.
THE MEANING
The altar has a bronze lattice set below its encircling ledge, reaching up to half its height. Its construction includes a hidden layer with a precise limit; what lies beneath the visible rim is part of the altar’s form.
THE ROOT
חֲצִי
chatzi
GROWS FROM
חצה
ḥatsah
To divide or split in two; חֲצִי means half.
The Hebrew specifies the grate’s reach as far as half the altar. “Midst” can sound like a general center, while the root makes the placement a measured halfway point.
ALSO GROWS
chatzi: Half
חֲצִי
This is the word used for the grate’s reach up the altar.
machatsit: Half or half portion
מַחֲצִית
It carries the same idea of a whole divided into two parts.
מִזְבֵּחַ
mizbeach
GROWS FROM
זבח
zavach
To slaughter or sacrifice.
The Hebrew name for the altar grows from the act of slaughtering or sacrificing. The lattice belongs to a structure whose name already carries the offering it receives.
ALSO GROWS
zavach: To slaughter or sacrifice
זָבַח
It names the act associated with the altar.
zevach: Sacrifice or sacrificial offering
זֶבַח
It makes the offering itself part of the altar’s root family.
וְנָתַתָּה
venatatah
GROWS FROM
נתן
natan
To give, set, or place.
“set” in this verse is venatatah. The instruction uses natan, a verb that can mean both giving and setting or placing. Here the lattice’s assigned position is part of its function, not an incidental detail.
ALSO GROWS
natan: To give, set, or place
נָתַן
It is the verb behind the instruction to position the grate.
mattanah: Gift; something given
מַתָּנָה
This noun shares the root’s sense of something placed or handed over.
THE PATTERN
A visible structure depends on support beneath it, set in a measured relation to the whole.
And he made for the altar a grating of bronze netting, beneath its rim, reaching down to its midst.Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house upon the rock.For no one can set another foundation beside the one lying there, which is Jesus, the Anointed One.THE THREAD
You shall make an altar of soil for me, and upon it you shall slaughter your rising offerings and your wholeness offerings, your sheep and your herd. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered, I will come to you, and I will bless you.The Hebrew name for altar, mizbeach, shares its root with the verb zabach, “to sacrifice,” used here. The lattice in Exodus 27:5 belongs to a structure named by the offering act it receives.
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