Ok, I'm not trying to post a smart aleck question, I'm just trying to understand this and I'm really looking for honest answers. In Exodus God tells Moses how to make the altar for burnt offerings. It is made of acacoa wood and overlaid with Gold and brass. Now even though it has a thin sheet of metal on the outside, woudn't that metal still conduct enough heat to carbonize the wood? Remember, they were burning whole animals on those altars. that takes a whole lot of heat.
2006-10-06 07:07:05 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
God tells Moses at Exodus 27:1-8 that:
1 “You shall make an altar of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits wide—the altar shall be square—and its height shall be three cubits. 2 You shall make its horns on its four corners; its horns shall be of one piece with it. And you shall overlay it with bronze. 3 Also you shall make its pans to receive its ashes, and its shovels and its basins and its forks and its firepans; you shall make all its utensils of bronze. 4 You shall make a grate for it, a network of bronze; and on the network you shall make four bronze rings at its four corners. 5 You shall put it under the rim of the altar beneath, that the network may be midway up the altar. 6 And you shall make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with bronze. 7 The poles shall be put in the rings, and the poles shall be on the two sides of the altar to bear it. 8 You shall make it hollow with boards; as it was shown you on the mountain, so shall they make it."
You can see from verses 4 and 5 that there was a metal grate that elevated what was being burned above the metal-covered wood. This must have been sufficient to protect the structure.
You can see a drawing of the altar and its grate here:
http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3Dalter%2Bof%2Bburnt%2Boffering%26ei%3DUTF-8%26fr%3Dsbc-web%26x%3Dwrt&w=326&h=250&imgurl=www.bjnewlife.org%2Fenglish%2Fimg%2Ftabernacle_image05.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bjnewlife.org%2Fenglish%2Fbstudy%2Ftabernacle_study_04.php&size=22.6kB&name=tabernacle_image05.jpg&p=alter+of+burnt+offering&type=jpeg&no=2&tt=9&oid=3fac606efe9ff7b8&ei=UTF-8
Good question.
Peace.
2006-10-06 07:28:32 · answer #1 · answered by Suzanne: YPA 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
GOD told them how to make an altar, and GOD knew what kind of heat it would take to burn the offering,s. GOD told them what to use so the altar would not burn when there was an offering.the bible says that everytime that they moved to another place the first thing they did was built an altar and made an offering to the LORD, so i belive that the altar,s were built to last
2006-10-06 07:28:22 · answer #2 · answered by JESUS loves 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
God didn't allow the altar to burn. Have you ever thought about how they burnt those offerings to Him? The priests did not "light" the offering. If God was pleased with the offering He burnt it. The fire came from God! Therefore, if He can do that then He can keep the altar from burning.
2006-10-06 07:16:50 · answer #3 · answered by afriendofGod 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It seems to me that the bronze covering for the wood prevented the wood from burning.
2014-11-08 15:27:50 · answer #4 · answered by ? 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I thought they were made of wood and stone - (not too unlike a modern fireplace with a wooden mantel). Maybe you're right, I'd have to read that again.
2006-10-06 07:15:17 · answer #5 · answered by daisyk 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
maybe GOD wouldn't let it burn since he told them how to do it..
us humans try to analyze everything... something we weren't meant to know in this life time.. its a leap of faith i think...
2006-10-06 07:10:50 · answer #6 · answered by panda 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋