The Altar’s Dual Metal: Judgment vs. Atonement in the Tabernacle 🔥
The Altar of Burnt Offering (Mizbeˉaḥ HaʿOˉlaˉh) in the Tabernacle’s court was made of wood overlaid with what English Bibles usually translate as “bronze.” However, the Hebrew uses two related, yet distinct, terms that clarify the altar’s dual purpose:
1. The Metal of Judgment: Nᵉḥōšet (נְחֹשֶׁת)
- Meaning: This is the most common Hebrew term, typically referring to copper or an alloy like bronze or brass.
- Theological Focus: Nᵉḥōšet is consistently associated with resistance, hardness, and God’s judgment against rebellion.
- Key Old Testament Use:
- Serpent of Judgment: The bronze serpent Moses lifted up in the wilderness was used to heal those judged by the serpent’s venom (Numbers 21:9). The metal itself represented the judgment for sin.
- Heaven as Iron: When God threatens to punish Israel’s disobedience, He warns that He will make their heavens like bronze (Nᵉḥōšet), symbolizing the refusal of mercy (Leviticus 26:19).
The Altar’s exterior, covered in Nᵉḥōšet, signified that it stood as the place of judgment where the sin was condemned and dealt with.
2. The Metal of Purification: Kîkār (כִּכָּר)
- Meaning: While kîkār most often means a “round talent” (a weight), it is also used in specific priestly contexts to refer to the cast bronze used for the Altar’s components (Exodus 38:30) and the Laver.
- Theological Focus: This term, used alongside Nᵉḥōšet, emphasizes the immense weight and value of the metal cast for the sanctuary items. It focuses less on the metal’s judgment and more on its sanctified purpose in facilitating atonement and purification.
- Priestly Implication: The sheer weight of the metal used for the altar’s construction (counted by kîkār talents) emphasized the massive, complete, and costly nature of the work required to cover sin.
The Eschatological Conclusion
The Altar of Burnt Offering, overlaid with bronze (Nᵉḥōšet), was the place where divine judgment was satisfied by the substitute sacrifice.
Christ’s sacrifice is the ultimate fulfillment of this: His return and the final judgment will be executed on the basis of a righteous judgment (Nᵉḥōšet), but only after the full weight and value (Kîkār) of His sacrifice has been applied to the redeemed. The very materials of the altar teach that judgment and salvation are two inseparable sides of God’s perfect justice.
The Return Question
If the altar’s bronze (Nᵉḥōšet) symbolizes divine judgment, and the sacrifice represents purification, is there an area of your life where you are trying to cover sin with your own effort (avoiding the judgment) instead of fully submitting that area to the purifying fire of Christ’s complete sacrifice?