Exodus 27:3

3 And thou shalt make into the uses of the altar, pans to receive [the] ashes, and tongs, and fleshhooks, and firepans; thou shalt make all these vessels of brass. (And thou shalt make for use with the altar, pans to receive the ashes, and tongs, and fleshhooks, and firepans; thou shalt make all these vessels out of bronze.)

Exodus 27:3 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 27:3

And thou shall make his pans to receive his ashes
Not to receive them in as they fell, but to gather them up in, and carry them away; and this was done every morning about cockcrowing, not much sooner nor later F3:

and his shovels;
to throw up the ashes together to be put into the pans; Jarchi describes this vessel to be like the cover of a brass pot, with a handle to it; the same we call a fire shovel:

and his basins:
to receive the blood of the sacrifice, and out of which it was sprinkled, as the word signifies, and may be rendered sprinkling basins:

and his flesh hooks;
not such as were used to take flesh out of the pot, ( 1 Samuel 2:13 ) for there could be no use for such at the altar of burnt offering; but were, as Jarchi says, like hooks recurved, with which they struck into the flesh, and turned it upon the coals to hasten the burning of it; and with which very probably they kept the fire and the parts of the sacrifices in good order, until they were consumed:

and his fire pans; which were a kind of censers in which coals of fire
were taken off from the altar of burnt offering, and carried to the altar of incense, as Jarchi and Ben Gersom observe, see ( Leviticus 16:12 ) but as censers did not belong to the altar of burnt offering, but to the altar of incense, Fortunatus Scacchus F4 is of opinion, that these were a larger sort of vessels, wherein the fire which came down from heaven was kept burning while the altar and grate were cleansed from the coals and ashes, and when the altar was had from place to place:

all the vessels thereof thou shalt make of brass;
as being fittest for the use of this altar.


FOOTNOTES:

F3 Misn. Yoma, c. 1. sect. 8. & Maimon, in ib.
F4 Sacr. Elaeochrism. Myrothec. l. 2. c. 73. p. 676, 677.

Exodus 27:3 In-Context

1 Also thou shalt make an altar of the wood of shittim, which shall have five cubits in length, and so many in breadth, that is, square, and three cubits in height. (And thou shalt make an altar out of shittim wood, or acacia wood, which shall be five cubits in length, and as many in breadth, that is, square, and three cubits in height.)
2 Forsooth horns shall be by [the] four corners thereof; and thou shalt cover it with brass. (It shall have horns at its four corners, and thou shalt cover it with bronze.)
3 And thou shalt make into the uses of the altar, pans to receive [the] ashes, and tongs, and fleshhooks, and firepans; thou shalt make all these vessels of brass. (And thou shalt make for use with the altar, pans to receive the ashes, and tongs, and fleshhooks, and firepans; thou shalt make all these vessels out of bronze.)
4 And thou shalt make a brazen griddle in the manner of a net, and by the four corners thereof shall be four brazen rings, (And thou shalt make a bronze griddle, fashioned like a net, and at its four corners shall be four bronze rings,)
5 which griddle thou shalt put under the firepan of the altar; and the griddle shall be till to the midst of the altar. (and thou shalt put the griddle under the rim of the altar, set-in half-way up the altar.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.