“The Altar of Prayer’ Dt. 27:5

“And there shalt thou build (ba-nah; establish, make permanent) an altar (mis-ba-akh; from za-bach; the place to slaughter, kill, sacrifice) unto the LORD thy God, an altar of stones, (eben; large and small stones in their natural state, common stones) thou shalt not lift up (nuf; wave, brandish, swing) any iron tool (barzel; tool of iron) upon them.” Deut. 27:5.

The LORD instructed them to build Him an ‘Altar’ out of common stones, which presumably God created Himself. Don’t refinish them in anyway, just lay them on top of one another and prepare a place where you can come to meet Me! Remember Moses and Solomon built altars as well as Abraham the “Altar Builder.” There was an ‘Altar of Burnt Offerings’ in Exodus 30:28; A ‘Brazen Altar’ placed in the outer court in Exodus 39:39; The ‘Altar of Incense’ or the ‘Golden Altar’ placed within the ‘Holy Place’ before the Veil in, Exodus 30:27; I Kings 7:48. Then there are several verses that mention the altars of idols in the Scriptures  like Isaiah 17:8; 27:9; etc.

Moses goes on in Deut. 27:6 to instruct them to build their altars out of whole (sha-lem; whole, perfect, full, finished, safe) stones. In fact there are three Hebrew words for ‘Peace.’ “Sha-lam – Strong’s #7999, is a covenant of peace; Sha-lom – Strong’s #7965 is a state of peace; and “Sha-lam – Strong’s #8003 is an offering of peace.” (Shalam, Shalom, Shalem!” That pretty well sums it up, except for ‘Shalom, Shalom‘ which is ‘Perfect Peace’ found in Isaiah 26:3, peace on the inside and peace on the outside. So, they were to build an altar out of these perfect, peaceful stones, because they are going to be bringing their ‘Peace Offerings’ to their ‘LORD GOD’ to make restitution, repentance and restoration for their sins. Whole stones, stones of peace, ‘Shalem Stones;’ There v.6 says, they shall offer, ‘Burnt Offerings’ unto the LORD their God.

The ‘Burnt Offering’ typifies Christ offering Himself without spot unto His Father’s will even unto death, to make true atonement for our sin. Not to (ka-far; #3722, to cover it up, or purge it, or pacify it) but to completely reconcile man to GOD, by taking his place on the Cross of Calvary, (ka-ta-la-gay; an exchange of equivalent value, Christ took our Hell and gave us His Heaven, He took our filthy rags Isa. 64:6 and gave us His ‘Robes of Righteousness, Rom. 5:11; II Cor. 5:18-21; Heb. 2:17. That just does not seem fair, well you won’t find the word fair in the Bible except for a fair and beautiful maiden, or a fair young virgin, but not in the way you and I understand it. Or in the way Webster defines it, “just and honest, impartial, unprejudiced, specifically free from discrimination, clear and open.”If God was fair and impartial, everyone would go directly to Hell, but He is just, merciful and full of grace. Fair works at a baseball game but YeHoVaH is not an umpire, He is you GOD!

Interesting, In Deut 27:7, Moses instructs them to offer ‘Peace Offerings’ (sha-lem) offerings on their (sha-lem) stones v.6 and eat (a-kal; devour, consume with fire, slay with the sword, destroy). So, this word could have several meanings, it could be ‘You will offer a peace offering, and it will be consumed with fire, and you will rejoice (sa-mach; be glad, joyful, make merry, exalt the LORD) before of in the (paw-neem; the face of God).’ Not only that but He instructs them in v.8, “And thou shalt write (ka-thab; record, inscribe, engrave) upon the stones (eh-ben; large common stones) all the words (dabar; speech, utterance, commands, discourse) of this law (tow-rah; instruction, teaching, code of law, Mosaic law) very (yatav; good, well-pleasing, to make happy) plainly (ba-ar; distinct, clear, declare.)”

In Deut. 27:1-2, Moses tells the elders of Israel that when they cross over the Jordan into the ‘Promised Land’ they are to set up “Great Stones” (ga-dole-eh-ben; large in magnitude and extent), and plaster them with plaster (siyd; whitewash made from burning bones into lime) Amos 2:1.  Now what are the “words (da-bar)” they were to write on these stones?  The five books of Moses, I doubt it, that would have gone from Jericho to Damascus.  The 613 commandments, or the 1,521 commands, no those came thousands of years later through Rabbinic tradition.  We refer to the ‘Decalogue’ as the ‘Ten Commandments’ whereas our Jewish friends refer to them as the ‘Ten Words’ or the ‘Ten Da-bar’s of God!’  I believe what they wrote was the “Ten Commandments” to remind them of God and His laws and commands for them.  Something we should all have on the walls of our homes and our hearts.  But you say, ‘we are not under the law, we are under grace; even more so, all ten are repeated in the Newer Testament except number four dealing with the ‘Sabbath.’  However,  the Apostle John declares in Rev. 1:10, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet;” The Greek word for ‘Lord’s day’ is (kuriakos) and is found only one other time in the Bible in 1 Cor. 11:20 when dealing with the ‘Lord’s Table.”  The Greek word means this day belongs to the Lord lock, stock and barrel, which is a colonial phrase from the old flint lock rifle.  So, what day of the week is that?  I don’t know about you but I’ll take ‘Resurrection Sunday’ with a billion plus other Christians plus 2,000 years of historical tradition.  So, back to the “Ten Commandments,” do you have them on the wall in your house?  Do your children or grandchildren? That would make a great Christmas gift or birthday present.

However, that is not the focus of our passage in Deut. 27:5, the altar is.  My question is, ‘Do you have a personal altar where you do your quiet time, read the Bible, pray, meditate and seek His face?  Deut. 27:7 says, “before the LORD” the Hebrew word is (pa-niym; face).  He is waiting to meet you in your secret chamber; don’t disappoint Him.  Remember an altar is for ‘sacrifice, prayer and worship.’  Abraham was the altar builder, everywhere he went, God had an altar, and you wonder why he lived so long and was blessed so much.  Also don’t forget to put the “Ten Commandments” up in your secret chamber to remind you of God’s meeting with mankind on Mt. Sinai.  These commandments were not meant just for the Jewish people, there was a mixed multitude in that desert too, and Jesus died for the (halos kosmos) the whole world, 1 John 2:2.  It’s time for Christians to establish their prayer closets again and enter their “war rooms” and hang up the “Decalogue.”  They may tear them out of the ‘Court House’ and the ‘White House’ but they won’t tear the one out of ‘My House.’  Till next time, I’ll see you, “…Between The Lines…”

“The Altar of Prayer”  Deut. 27:5  2/7/18