Exodus 27:8

8 Thou shalt make it hollow with boards: according to what was shewed thee in the mount, so thou shalt make it.

Exodus 27:8 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 27:8

Hollow with boards shalt thou make it
The frame of it being made of boards of shittim wood, there was nothing within side but the grate, which was put within the square, down into the middle of it, and so was light of carriage; though the Targum of Jonathan, and other Jewish writers, represent this hollow as filled up with dust and earth, to answer to the altar of earth Moses was before bid to make; but this seems quite contrary to the present direction: the hollowness of the altar may denote the emptiness of Christ when he became a sacrifice: he emptied himself, as it were, when he became incarnate, of all his greatness, glory, and riches, and became mean and poor for the sake of his people, that they through his poverty might be made rich, ( Philippians 2:7 Philippians 2:8 ) ( 2 Corinthians 8:9 )

as it was showed thee in the mount, so shall they make it;
or, "as he showed thee" ^F7, that is, God. Moses had a model of this altar showed him, and he was to be careful to instruct the workmen, and see to it, that they built it exactly according to the model.

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 (harh) "fecit videre", Pagninus, Montanus; "ostendit Dominus", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius; so Ainsworth.

Exodus 27:8 In-Context

6 And thou shalt make for the altar staves of incorruptible wood, and thou shalt overlay them with brass.

7 And thou shalt put the staves into the rings; and let the staves be on the sides of the altar to carry it.

8 Thou shalt make it hollow with boards: according to what was shewed thee in the mount, so thou shalt make it.

9 And thou shalt make a court for the tabernacle, curtains of the court of fine linen spun on the south side, the length of a hundred cubits for one side.

10 And their pillars twenty, and twenty brazen sockets for them, and their rings and their clasps of silver.