What Does Exodus 38:1 Mean?
And he made the altar of the rising offering of shittim wood. Its length was five forearms, and its breadth five forearms. It was foursquare, and its height was three forearms.
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 he made the altar of burnt offering of shittim wood: five cubits was the length thereof, and five cubits the breadth thereof; it was foursquare; and three cubits the height thereof.THE KEY
The altar’s two names hold a movement English flattens: sacrifice is slain, and the offering rises.
THE MEANING
The altar stands as a shaped, measured place for an offering that rises. Its paired roots hold sacrifice and ascent together: what is given over is also what goes up.
THE ROOT
עֹלָה
ʿōlāh
GROWS FROM
עלה
rise, go up, ascend
“rising offering” in this verse is ʿōlāh. The Hebrew name for the offering means “that which rises.” The verse’s language holds the offering’s ascent inside the word that English renders “burnt offering.”
ALSO GROWS
ʿālāh: rise, go up
עָלָה
This verb is the root movement within עֹלָה (ʿōlāh), the offering named here.
ʿaliyyāh: ascent; upper chamber
עֲלִיָּה
This related word names an upward movement or an upstairs place, echoing the ascent carried by the offering’s name.
מִזְבֵּחַ
mizbēaḥ
GROWS FROM
זבח
slaughter, sacrifice
The Hebrew word for “altar” carries the root of slaughter and sacrifice. Beside עֹלָה (ʿōlāh), “that which rises,” it holds the sacrifice and its ascent together in one phrase.
ALSO GROWS
zāvaḥ: slaughter; offer as a sacrifice
זָבַח
This verb names the act carried by the root inside מִזְבֵּחַ (mizbēaḥ), the altar.
zevaḥ: sacrifice; sacrificial meal
זֶבַח
This noun from the same root shows that the altar’s name is bound to the act and offering associated with it.
THE PATTERN
A prepared altar gives the offering a defined place to rise before God.
And Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean beast and of every clean bird, and sent up rising offerings on the altar.And its inward parts and its legs he shall wash in water, and the priest shall send all of it up in smoke upon the altar, a rising offering, an offering of fire, a fragrance that settles to the LORD.And walk in love, as the Anointed One also loved us and handed himself over for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God, a fragrance that settles sweetly.THE THREAD
You send the whole ram up in smoke upon the altar. It is a rising offering to the LORD, a scent that settles, an offering made by fire to the LORD.“Burnt offering” again translates עֹלָה (ʿōlāh), “that which rises,” while “altar” again carries זבח, the root of slaughter and sacrifice. Together the verses hold the sacrifice and the offering’s ascent in the same image.
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