Language Studies

Hebrew Thoughts

miz''bêach - מִזְבֵּחַ (Strong's #4196)
Altar

The word מִזְבֵּחַ miz'bêach (Strong's #4196, x402) is always translated as "altar" in the KJV and does not at first sight jump off the page as worthy of a full word study, however, a Jewish use of the word as an acrostic base from which to teach certain tenets of salvation makes it interesting. The Talmud (Tanchuma Tzab 14) cites the following spin-offs from מִזְבֵּחַ miz'bêach, "altar":

מ	מְחִילָה	mechîylâh	"forgiveness", because the altar secures pardon for the sins of Israel
ז	זְכוּת	zekhûth	"merit", because it secures for them merit for the world to come
בּ	בְּרָכָה	berâkhâh	"blessing", because the Holy One, blessed be He, brings a blessing upon the works of their hands
ח	חַיִּים	chayyîym	"life", because they become worthy of the life of the world to come

"He who is helped by these four things and then goes on to serve idolatry will be consumed by the great fire; as it is said, 'the Lord thy God is a devouring fire, a jealous God' (Deuteronomy 4:24). But should he repent, the fire which burns on the altar will bring him atonement and nullify the fire of Gehinnom". For fire cannot burn fire.

מְחִילָה m^echîylâh "forgiveness" and זְכוּת z^ekhûth "merit" are both from later Talmudic rather than Biblical Hebrew. בְּרָכָה b^erâkhâh "blessing, invocation" (Strong's #1293) is a familiar term. חַיִּים chayyîym is the emphatic plural of חַיּ chay "life" (Strong's #2416, x501).

מִזְבֵּחַ miz'bêach comes from זָבַּח zâbhach (Strong's #2076, x134) "to slaughter, slay, sacrifice or offer" with the common noun prefix מ m-. Another derivative is זֶבַּח zebhach "a sacrifice" (Strong's #2077, x162).

The first uses of altars are legitimate acts of worship and thanksgiving by the patriarchs before the giving of the Law. They are spontaneous responses of thanks from the believer to God, rather than part of a substitionary legal code of sacrifice or part of a pagan tradition such as those associated with the later sacred pillars (Exodus 34:13) and high places (2 Kings 23:15).

Genesis 8:20	Noah	After the flood
Genesis 12:7-8	Abraham	After God appeared to him
Genesis 26:25	Isaac	After God appeared to him
Genesis 35:7	Jacob	After God appeared to him, El Bethel
Exodus 17:15; 24:4	Moses	After defeat of Amalek, YHVH Nissi
Joshua 8:31	Joshua	To renew covenant and ten commandments
2 Samuel 24:25	David	On the prophet Gad's instructions to stem the plague

In Genesis 22:9 Abraham intends to slay Isaac on an altar as part of God's instruction to sacrifice Isaac as a burnt offering (Genesis 22:1), this is possible the first instance of a direct command to use an altar and one in which God substituted the victim at the last minute with a ram. Later God gave instructions about altars and sacrifices to Moses at Sinai.

Early altars were of earth or unhewn stone (Exodus 20:24-26). In the time of Moses God instituted the altar of incense (Exodus 30:27) and the altar of shittim wood (Exodus 27:1) or brazen altar (Exodus 38:2-8,30).

Shittim was significant in that the wood was white, hard and durable, from the acacia tree, a thorny tree whose name derives from the sharp points of its thorns, shittîym (Strong's #7848) coming from טֵט shôtêt "to pierce" (Strong's #7850). For Christians, therefore, Shittim hints or "points" to the piercing of Christ on the cross and his crown of thorns. The root verb also means to whip and scourge, just what Christ endured before his crucifixion.

The significance of the brass or bronze of the brazen altar is again that of durability and hardness. It was the substance used to make the נְחְַחוּ nechash nechôsheth bronze or brass serpent (these two words are related, Strong's #5178 and #5175 from #5172) that Moses lifted up in the wilderness (Numbers 21:9) unto which all the people looked to be healed and saved. Jesus alludes to this as a type that prefigures his own "lifting up" on the cross (John 3:14). The prophetic pictures of Christ, the heavenly son of man, portray him as having "feet of polished brass" (Daniel 10:6; cf. Ezekiel 40:3; Revelation 1:15; 2:18). Coming to the altar is like coming to both the foot of the cross and the bronze feet of the ascended Christ.

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