At the base of the Altar

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In sin offerings, some of the blood was smeared on the horns of the altar. The rest of the blood was poured at the base of the altar. Why the base of the altar?

 

 

INTRODUCTION

 

In ancient times, when people made sin offerings, some of the sacrificial blood was smeared on the horns of the altar. The rest of the sacrificial blood was poured at the base of the altar.

Why the base of the altar? We speculate two reasons:

Reason 1

If you a bucket full of blood, what do you do with it?

The most obvious thing is to pour it on the ground. Hence, the base of the altar.

Reason 2

It foreshadows what we Christians do with our own sacrifices.

In our day, we make sacrifices to God the Father. Figuratively, we lay them at the foot of the cross. The foot of the cross of Jesus Christ is the base of the altar for our own sacrifices.

 

BIBLE VERSES

 

Exodus 29:12. You shall take of the blood of the bull, and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger; and you shall pour out all the blood at the base of the altar.

Leviticus 4:7. The priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of sweet incense before the LORD, which is in the Tent of Meeting; and he shall pour out the rest of the blood of the bull at the base of the altar of burnt offering, which is at the door of the Tent of Meeting.

Leviticus 5:9. He shall sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering on the side of the altar; and the rest of the blood shall be drained out at the base of the altar. It is a sin offering.

Leviticus 8:15. He killed it; and Moses took the blood, and put it around on the horns of the altar with his finger, and purified the altar, and poured out the blood at the base of the altar, and sanctified it, to make atonement for it.

Leviticus 9:9. The sons of Aaron presented the blood to him; and he dipped his finger in the blood, and put it on the horns of the altar, and poured out the blood at the base of the altar;

Revelation 6:9. When he opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been killed for the Word of God, and for the testimony of the Lamb which they had.

 

Unless otherwise noted, all Bible quotations on this page are from the World English Bible and the World Messianic Edition. These translations have no copyright restrictions. They are in the Public Domain.