Exodus 27. P. Altar and Outer Court (cf. Exodus 38:1-7, Exodus 38:9-20). In strongest contrast to Exodus 20:24, with its sanction of many altars, rudely made of earth or rough stone blocks, we find instructions for the altar to be made of wood plated with bronze, 7½ feet square and 4½ feet high, with horn-like projections at the corners, according to a widespread custom of uncertain meaning (Exodus 27:1 f.).
Its vessels were to be of bronze (Exodus 27:3); and the (usual) ledge for the priests to stand on, half way up the altar, was to be supported by a bronze grating with rings at the corners for the bearing poles (Exodus 27:4-8). The authors of the description do not seem to have thought it out practically, for if the fire were on the ground the hollow wood sides would burn, and nothing is said about filling it with earth. It is probably an attempt to copy in portable form Solomon's huge bronze altar of Phœ nician design and craftsmanship (2 Chronicles 4:1, cf. 1 Kings 7:13-16). But if their idea was not expressed realistically, it was yet clear enough: without sacrifice no acceptable approach to the one God of the one altar.
But the altar must stand on ground marked as holy: so an outer court must enclose both Dwelling and altar (Exodus 27:7-19). It was not very large, the breadth 25 yards (little more than a cricket pitch) and the length 50 yards, and the hangings that enclosed it were to be of plain linen, 7½ feet high, enough to keep anyone from looking over, and hung by silver hooks from wooden pillars, set in bronze sockets, and adorned with silver bands or fillets. A coloured and embroidered screen, 30 feet long, closed the entrance (Exodus 27:16). The tools and tent-pins were to be of bronze (Exodus 27:19). The little piece at the end (Exodus 27:20 f.) about the oil for the ever-burning light has been added here as a note from Leviticus 24:2 f.* by a late editor.