THE FIRST ALTAR IN THE NEW WORLD
‘And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar,’ etc.
Noah, we are told, ‘was a just man, and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.’ Noah reverenced right and justice; he ordered his family well; he lived in the presence of an unseen Being, who is right and true, and who had appointed him to be the head of a family. By the orderliness and quietness of his life he became a witness against the turbulent, self-willed world, in the midst of which he was dwelling. But there is in him also an earnest interest in his fellow-men. He separates from them only that he may be a witness to them of the good that they are flying from, and which he claims for himself and his family because he believes that God designs it for the creatures He has formed.
I. There is an evident difference between the sacrifice of Noah and those of Cain and Abel.—Here, under God’s guidance, the mound of turf gives place to the altar which is built. An order is discovered in the dignity of the inferior creatures; the worthiest are selected for an oblation to God; the fire which consumes, the flame which ascends, are used to express the intention of him who presents the victim.
II. We must feel that there was an inward progress in the heart of the man corresponding to this progress in his method of uttering his submission and his aspirations.—Noah must have felt that he was representing all human beings; that he was not speaking what was in himself so much as offering the homage of the restored universe.
III. The foundation of sacrifice is laid in the fixed will of God; in His fixed purpose to assert righteousness; in the wisdom which adapts its means to the condition of the creature for whose sake they are used. The sacrifice assumes eternal right to be in the Ruler of the universe, all the caprice to have come from man, from his struggle to be an independent being, from his habit of distrust. When trust is restored by the discovery that God means all for his good, then he brings the sacrifice as a token of his surrender.
—Rev. F. D. Maurice.
Illustration
(a) ‘Here was an act of worship. Noah’s first thoughts were of God. He did not think, as many would have done, “Now there is no one in the world beside myself and my family; everything belongs to us; we can do as we please.” He remembered God’s mercy and goodness, and so he praised Him. It is true he had built the ark, but he felt that his deliverance was altogether owing to God’s favour and God’s providence. Do we acknowledge His goodness every day?
(b) Here was an act of sacrifice. This is the first altar mentioned in history. We do not read that Adam or any of his immediate descendants built an altar on which to present their offerings. They may have have done so, but it is not related. Nor is it said that God gave Noah any instructions as to building an altar, as He had done in regard to building the ark. It was thus the free expression of his own gratitude, and therefore all the more acceptable.
(c) Note that Noah, though all other animals that he knew of were destroyed, except the few he had preserved in the ark, did not hesitate to sacrifice some of every sort of clean beasts and birds. He did not stop to ask what he should do for more. Like the man who gives up everything for conscience sake, trusting to God’s providence. Or, like the poor widow who gave “all her living.” ’