Exodus 27: Altar-ations

The outer altar was made of wood and covered in copper. Covering an altar with a precious metal is a new concept in the Torah at this point. Throughout Genesis, many people built altars. Noah built one after the flood, Avraham built many altars at points of interaction with God. Moses also built an altar. For most of these altars, the Torah does not specify what material was used. Almost all of them use the verb “and he built” to describe their assembly. The assumption then is that these were all built out of stone. This differs from the copper altar.In verse 1, God commands Moshe to “make” the altar:וְעָשִׂיתָ אֶת־הַמִּזְבֵּחַ עֲצֵי שִׁטִּים חָמֵשׁ אַמּוֹת אֹרֶךְ וְחָמֵשׁ אַמּוֹת רֹחַב רָבוּעַ יִהְיֶה הַמִּזְבֵּחַ וְשָׁלֹשׁ אַמּוֹת קוֹמָתוֹ (שמות כז:א)“Make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits wide—the altar shall be square—and three cubits high” (Exodus 27:1).Stone altars would make sense for spontaneous acts of praising or thanking God. The builder would simply grab stones lying around in the moment. Those were the types of altars built in Genesis. The copper altar is unique in that it was built by the direction of God for future use and not around a particular event.In Exodus 20:21, God commands Moshe to make an earthen altar:מִזְבַּח אֲדָמָה תַּעֲשֶׂה לִי וְזָבַחְתָּ עָלָיו אֶת־עֹלֹתֶיךָ וְאֶת־שְׁלָמֶיךָ אֶת־צֹאנְךָ וְאֶת־בְּקָרֶךָ בְּכָל־הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר אַזְכִּיר אֶת־שְׁמִי אָבוֹא אֵלֶיךָ וּבֵרַכְתִּיךָ (שמות כ:כא)“Make for Me an altar of earth and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your offerings of well-being, your sheep and your cattle; in every place where I cause My name to be mentioned I will come to you and bless you” (Exodus 20:21).In the very next verse, God restricts the tools for use in building a stone altar:וְאִם־מִזְבַּח אֲבָנִים תַּעֲשֶׂה לִי לֹא־תִבְנֶה אֶתְהֶן גָּזִית כִּי חַרְבְּךָ הֵנַפְתָּ עָלֶיהָ וַתְּחַלְלֶהָ (שמות כ:כב)“And if you make for Me an altar of stones, do not build it of hewn stones; for by wielding your tool upon them you profane them” (Exodus 20:22).Later, in Deuteronomy 27:5, God commands Moshe to build a stone altar by Mount Ebal:וּבָנִיתָ שָּׁם מִזְבֵּחַ לַה׳ אֱלֹהֶיךָ מִזְבַּח אֲבָנִים לֹא־תָנִיף עֲלֵיהֶן בַּרְזֶל (דברים כז:ה)“There you shall build an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones. Do not wield an iron tool upon them” (Deuteronomy 27:5).The outer altar was covered in copper instead of gold most likely because of its size. Copper was readily available in the Near East. The fact that it was easy to find and malleable made it a very useful metal in the ancient world. The Talmud in Zevachim 60a explains that the outer copper altar was portable, constructed of wood and copper, fitting the movable Mishkan. Stone altars, mentioned elsewhere in the Torah (e.g., altars at Shiloh, Nov, Gibeon, and the Temple), were permanent structures. Rabbi Huna (cited in Zevachim 61) explains that stone altars were used in fixed locations, while movable altars relied on wood and copper for practical portabilityThe Midrash Tanchuma explains that because this altar was visible to everyone, unlike the golden altar inside, it was made of copper. Copper was used to atone for the nation as a whole when they acted as stiff-necked people based on a verse in Isaiah:יַעַן יָדַעְתִּי כִּי קָשֶׁה אַתָּה וְעֹרֶף בַּרְזֶל מִצְוָארֶךָ וּמֵצַח נְחוּשָׁה (ישעיהו מח:ד)“Because I know how stubborn you are—your neck is like an iron sinew and your forehead bronze” (Isaiah 48:4). The copper altar—set before them—served as a constant reminder and a means of national atonement.