Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 1.pdf/516

468 ;

Altar Alt-Ofen

THE

Solomon WHS II reiil

lironzp Alliu{coiii|>iiri>

.JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA lii'iiziiifrcr.

38H; Nowiiik, ••Arch."ii. 41,aiiil Stiuli'. i. 3:iH). and that WcUliaviSfn's explanation In favor of its oxrision from I Kiiijis. vii. is correct. of this rather than the view of Smith is thi' fact that acconliiifT to E/.ekiel (.liii. Hi), an uriil was part of Pnibalily the reason that 11 very (lilTerent .structure. it was not earricil away hy Nehuchadnez/.ar istiiat in times of stnss it hail been previously disposeil of (compare II Kings, xvi. 17, 18). A large channel in the Temple rock at .lerusalem is thought by .some to mark the site of the Temple Altar, and to have acted as a conduit for the blood from the Altar (see

"Anil.." 'Gtsch."

p.

Nowack's

"Ilebrilische Arcliilologie,"

ii.

41).

That the form of the Altar of he Tabernacle differed still further from the primitive type than that in the Temple is evident from what has been said already The form of Altar introduced by Aliaz of its form. Is probably given in Ezekiel's description (liii. 13 I

468

great advance was made over the religious thought of this early period when it was considered possible to persuade the god to come and reside in an object selected by lln' worshiper. Such objects among the Semites were usually .stones, and were called by the Arabs iiiisii/i (sing, iiiii/l)), ui the Hebrews hi, fj^cW (sing, iimzzi'liii/i). They served not only as a residence of the deity (a hdh Kl.iivn. xwiii. IT), but also as an Altar, )il was poured on the Altar (Gen. xxviii. IS), and the fat of sacrifices was smeared on it to bring it as closely as possible into contact with the deity (see Anointixo and M.vzzkh.mi. also W. Hobertson Smith. I.e. jip. 21)4 </ w^., ami Wellhausen, " Heste des Aniliischeii Hcideiithunis." 2d cd.. p]). 101 it «'/.). The conception of sacritice at this time was. as Smith has shown, commensal (sec S.vcnihe god was able to dispose of his portion Kici;). and if thus brought into jiliysical contact with it. Th(^ transition to tire-altars came, first, from the custom of cooking the meal, and, secondly, from a moreelevated conception of the deity which made men believe that the god inhaled the smoke of the burning olTcring and so took his part in that way. This ncecssitati'il theaddilion of a tire hearth to the mazzcbah. This transitional form has actually been t

I

fiiiind in Abyssinia in monoliths with Fire- Altars, firc-heaiths attached (see Theodor

Bent's ".Sacred City of theEthio])ians," '^ et seq.). Where sacritice was offered on a natural rock, it could easily be burned there. After a heap of stones had been subsliliiti'il for a natural rock the addition of a lirc-heartli as in the Altar of Ezekiel would be necessary. N.-iturally it was |ilaced at the top of the structure in imitation of the natural rock, and not at the side as in case of Bronze those which grew out of he mazzebol. and Stone Solomon's bronze Altar was an innoAltars. vation of civilization and gave way later, through the revival of an earlier form, to the stone Altar. The Altar of acacia wood overlaid with bronze is mentioned only by the Priestly writer and those dependent upon him. It would not have endured a sacrificial fire, and it is the opinion of modern scholars that it never had actual existence. The Altarof incense belongs to the secondary elements or additions to the Priestly writer, and its existence before the time of Ezekiel is even more problematical. The table or Altar of showbread is a survival in a dilTcrent way of the commensal idea of sacritici'. The story of Bel and the Dragon in the (ireek book of Daniel shows that the idea that the god actually consumed the food lay at the bottom of this part of the ritual. With advancing <ivilization the table increased in splendor till it was called the golden pj).

I

Altar of Incense, Restored. (.fler

Calmrl.f

Altar.

already noted. The later altars in the Temple were evidently built on this general plan, though dilTered in detail and in size. they Among the early Semites deities were identified with natural rocks or trees, and when an ofTering was presented to them it was placed upon the rock or suspended from the trei'(see Origin and W. Robertson Smith. Ac. pp. ls.5. 2(1!),/

et »eq.),

Devel-

.«((/.,

opment.

ii.

and Doughty. "Arabia De.serta." This custom of sacritice pre-

.'51.5).

vails in all essential features in parts

of Arabia to the present time (Doughty, np. cit. i. 449 Natural rocks, in which were channels and depressions for conducting and receiving the blood, served as Altars in Israel, at least in places, till the period of the Judges (compare Judges, vi. 21 et acq. xiii. 19 et seq. "Biblical Worid," ix. 328 et seq.).

e( seq.).



A

The

origin of the horns of the various kinds of shrouded in obscurity. Stade ("Gesch." i. suggests that they arose in an attempt to carve the Altar into the form of an ox. while Robertson Smith held ("Religimi of the Semites " 2d ed.. ]>. 43('i). that they were subsiituted fortlie horns Horns of of real victims which hail at an earlier Altar. time been hung on the .ltar. At all events they were regarded as a most sacred portion of the Altar (I Kings, i. 51 ii. 28, and altars is 46.'))



Lev.viii. l.'iux. 9; xvi. IS).

Bini.ioGRAPHY



Smith. lieUiiidu nf the Semites.

ISfli: Starle,

and in liis Zeil. iii, li.'fl el w<;.; Wi-11.mlii.-'elieii II,i,lentlium.-<, 2d ed., isnr: AV,„,f/s./J(i(/(, /• jini

.S.

C O.

T.:

Nnwack,

Leiirliueli