Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

ALTAR

Four-horned altar from Beer-sheba, reconstructed. The stones were reused in walls of the Iron II
storehouse, perhaps following Hezekiah’s cultic reform (Phoenix Data Systems, Neal and Joel Bierling)

Biblical Evidence

Heb. mizbēaḥ, “altar,” is derived from the root zbḥ, “slaughter.” Interestingly, one thing which seems not to have been done on biblical altars was slaughtering. When animals were offered, their visceral and messy slaughter took place near, but not upon, altars. The altars upon which substantive offerings were made commonly stood in temple courtyards, and it was the courtyard itself which provided the venue for animal slaughter.

In the ancient Near Eastern world at large, the preparation and offering of food to the gods had much to do with the concept of deities as suprahuman beings with human bodily needs. Food and drink were offered to keep them content and thus positively disposed toward their worshippers. Worship at the Israelite altar, deriving as it did from Canaanite precedents, surely included that traditional sense of attending to the needs of the Divine. More significant, however, was the Israelite understanding that the altar was a place at which one could invoke — and encounter — God.

For early Israel, altars were often associated with spontaneous worship. When the flood waters receded, Noah built an altar for animal offering, and the soothing odor of the burnt offering appeased Yahweh (Gen. 8:20-21). Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob constructed altars to mark places at which Yahweh appeared to them (Gen. 12:7; 22:9-13; 35:1, 7) and to assist in invoking their God (Gen. 12:8; 13:4; 26:25). This practice continued into the period of the judges (Gideon, Judg. 6:24). Jacob and Moses built altars as part of the place-naming ceremonies, thereby consecrating places of unusual importance (Gen. 33:20; 35:7; Exod. 17:15-16). These many forms of altar construction seem appropriate, in the absence of a centralized sanctuary with a permanent altar.

In the wilderness, Israel was given specific instruction about altar construction (Exod. 20:24-26; Deut. 27:5-7). While elsewhere in the ancient Near East an altar might have stood before a statue of a god, for Israel all statues of gods were proscribed (Exod. 20:23). Altars for animal offerings could be made of earth (Exod. 20:24) or unhewn stones (v. 25) and, to preserve modesty, could not include steps (v. 26). These simple altars, undoubtedly the same type made by Israel’s patriarchs, were used in rituals invoking Yahweh’s name and blessing (Exod. 20:24).

In combination with sacred pillars (maṣṣēḇâ), altars were places of covenant-making between Israel and God (Exod. 24:4-8; Josh. 8:30-35) or among Israelite tribes (Josh. 22:26-29). At Mt. Ebal, Joshua built an unhewn stone altar as part of a covenant ceremony binding the 12 tribes and Yahweh (Josh. 8:30-31). During the period of the judges and pre-temple monarchy, altars provided a venue from which to rule (Samuel, 1 Sam. 7:17) and a means of protecting Israel from sin (Saul, 1 Sam. 14:31-35) or undeserved punishment (David, 2 Sam. 24:10-25).

Additionally, altars were places of refuge, providing sanctuary to the fearful or falsely accused (1 Kgs. 1:50-53). Those justly accused could not be saved by clinging to the altar (Exod. 21:14; 1 Kgs. 2:28-34), nor could they swear falsely by them (1 Kgs. 8:31-32).

Descriptions of the portable tabernacle altar used by Israelites during their wilderness wanderings indicate a complicated and carefully crafted object, the construction (Exod. 27:1-8; 37:25–38:7) and use (29:10-26, 36-42; Lev. 1–7) of which was subject to detailed regulation. Through proper observance of the priestly rules, holiness would be attained and Yahweh would dwell among the people of Israel (Exod. 29:37, 42-46). Here, too, regulations concerning modesty prevailed (Exod. 28:42-43). The priestly altar was used not only for animal offerings, but for grain offerings (Lev. 14:20; Num. 5:25) and blood rituals (Exod. 24:6; 29:12; Lev. 1:11; 4:18, 34; 5:9).

The late composition of this Priestly material clarifies the sharp dichotomy between the simple stone altars of the pre-Mosaic period and of the era of the Conquest and judges, and the unusually ornate styling of the tabernacle altar. The authors of the Priestly text may have imagined such ritual objects being carried through the wilderness, but the witness of archaeology and of texts written closer to the era in question (non-Priestly passages in the Torah and Writings) demonstrates that this was not the case.

Rather, it was not until the monarchical period that ornate religious objects were incorporated into Israelite worship. The impulse toward elaboration seems to have come from the Solomonic desire for the trappings of royalty, including a magnificent temple-palace complex. Because of a lack of natural resources and of Israelite workers competent to build the requisite buildings and craft the desired objects, Solomon relied upon Phoenician materials and craftsmen (1 Kgs. 5:1-11[MT 15-25]; 7:13-14).

As part of this grand design, Solomon ordered the construction and installation of a cedar altar overlaid with gold, to be placed by the inner shrine (dĕḇîr) of the newly constructed Jerusalem temple (1 Kgs. 6:20-22). It may have been this same altar before which Solomon made his prayer to God for Israel (1 Kgs. 8:22, 54). However, the much larger bronze altar upon which Solomon and the subsequent kings of Judah publicly sacrificed was situated out-of-doors (1 Kgs. 8:62-64).

Some two centuries later, a second outdoor altar was added to the temple. Ahaz ordered a new one, with steps, built in the fashion of the Assyrian-style altar in Damascus. It was used for priests’ offerings. The bronze altar from Solomon’s time was displaced from its original position, and was now used exclusively by the king (2 Kgs. 16:10-15).

Despite the biblical vision of cultic centralization subsequent to the construction of the Jerusalem temple, both textual and archaeological evidence support the popularity of altars in alternate locations. Eventually they become the symbol of Israelite wrongdoing and of the trespasses of the kings (Manasseh, 2 Kgs. 21:3-5; Josianic reforms, 23:12). As part of his effort to legitimize worship in the northern nation of Israel, Jeroboam constructed an altar at Bethel (1 Kgs. 12:32-33). This altar was later condemned as non-Yahwistic (2 Kgs. 23:15; Amos 3:14), but overall the legitimacy of multiple altars to Yahweh during the monarchical period is clear (1 Kgs. 18:30-39; 19:10, 14).

Altars were part of the legitimate religious praxis of non-Israelites as well (Balaam, Num. 23:28-30; the prophets of Baal, 1 Kgs. 18:25-27). For the prophets and Deuteronomists, they were part of the Canaanite cultic assemblage (together with sacred pillars [maṣṣēḇâ] and poles [ʾăšērâ] which had to be eradicated from the Israelite midst (Exod. 34:13; Deut. 7:5; 12:3; Judg. 2:2; 6:25-32; 1 Kgs. 16:32; 18:26; 2 Kgs. 11:18).

Prophetic descriptions of altars reflect the social milieu in which they developed. Some share the above-mentioned perspective on altars, depicting nontemple altars as places of Israelite transgression (Jer. 11:12-13; 17:1-3; Hos. 4:19; 8:11; Amos 2:8). Ezekiel’s priestly vision of the restored temple includes an elaborate altar, overseen by the Zadokite priesthood. Regulations for offerings there are detailed (Ezek. 40:46-47; 43:13-27).

Archaeological Evidence

The Canaanite tradition of making offerings on stone altars dates back at least to the Chalcolithic period sanctuary at En-gedi.

The Megiddo sacred area contained a series of Early Bronze Age altars, beginning with EB I. From EB III, the circular altar 4017, constructed of unhewn stones, 8 m. (26 ft.) in diameter and 1.4 m. (4.6 ft.) high, was mounted by seven steps and surrounded by a temenos wall. Animal bones and broken pieces of pottery lay around it. Somewhat later, temples 4040, 5269 and 5192 were built nearby, and included plastered mudbrick altars on their rear walls.

At Middle Bronze II Shechem a plastered stone altar stood against the rear wall of temple 7300, surrounded by pottery and animal bones. Elsewhere on the site, a series of brick altars, measuring nearly 4 m. (13 ft.) sq. was found in the courtyard of the MB IIC fortress temple 1B. In the LB IIB fortress temple 2, a hewn stone altar 5.2 m. (17 ft.) long lay over its remains.

At Hazor the inner courtyard of the Late Bronze I temple H contained a large rectangular platform and two smaller stone altars, as well as ashes and animal bones. From LB II, several nicely carved stone altars were found within the temple’s inner shrine. At the same time, a huge stone altar stood in Area F, an open-air cultic place. Carved into its surface were two depressions linked by a narrow channel, which led into the nearby drainage system.

Throughout the Late Bronze Age, a plaster-covered stepped altar was located along the back wall of the Tel Mevorakh sanctuary (1441.2156). Numerous offerings were found on and near it. Similar altars, with artifacts on and around them and ashes and animal bones in their vicinity, were found in the contemporary Lachish fosse temples.

An Early Iron Age altar made of a single large rectangular stone was found within an enclosure at the Bull site, a hilltop in biblical Manasseh. In front of it, offerings lay on a surface of flat-lying stones.

Two sanctuaries were part of Solomonic-era Megiddo. A large horned altar stood in the courtyard of the building 2081 sanctuary. Smaller stone offering stands and altars, horned and otherwise, were also part of its cultic assemblage. Similar stone offering tables and altars, surrounded by ashes and animal bones, once stood at several locations in the building 338 sanctuary. If a large altar once stood in its courtyard, it has long since disappeared.

The Dan sacred precinct in Area T was constructed by Jeroboam I in the late 10th century b.c.e. An interior courtyard contained a 7.5 × 5 m. (24.5 × 16.5 ft.) altar constructed of basalt boulders covered by large travertine blocks. Cultic objects lay on the cobbled pavement surrounding the altar. The once-destroyed Dan sacred precinct was restored during the 8th-century rule of Jeroboam II. A beautifully constructed altar reached by staircases on two sides was surrounded by a large enclosure wall. A horn from a stone altar which originally stood 3 m. (10 ft.) high was found nearby, as was a smaller four-horned altar. A 1.03 m. (3.3 ft.) sq. limestone altar was uncovered in one small room. Shovels, a scoop, and ashes containing animal bones lay nearby, and two small stone altars stood near one wall.

Large stone altars were found at Divided Monarchy Arad and Beer-sheba. At Beer-sheba the 1.5 m. (5 ft.) sq. altar had been dismantled, its blocks reused, and so its original setting is unknown. It resembles the courtyard altars from Dan and Megiddo, as well as the smaller incense altars which became increasingly popular in this period. At the Judean fortress at Arad, a large square altar of unhewn stones stood in the sanctuary courtyard. It was topped with a flint slab grooved by plastered channels. The entrance to the sanctuary was flanked by two small stone incense altars.

Bibliography. Y. Aharoni, “Megiddo,” NEAEHL 3:1003-12; A. Biran, Biblical Dan (Jerusalem, 1994); S. Gitin, “Incense Altars from Ekron, Israel and Judah,” ErIsr 20 (1989): 52*-67*; A. Mazar, “The ‘Bull Site’ — An Iron Age I Open Cult Place,” BASOR 247 (1982): 27-42; O. Tufnell, C. H. Inge, and L. Harding, Lachish II (Tell el Duweir): The Fosse Temple (Oxford, 1940); G. E. Wright, Shechem: The Biography of a Biblical City (New York, 1965); Y. Yadin and A. Ben-Tor, “Hazor,” NEAEHL 2:594-606.

Beth Alpert Nakhai

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

ALTAR

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)