Exodus 27:8

8 Thou shalt make that altar not massive, but void, and hollow within, as it was showed to thee in the hill. (Thou shalt not make that altar solid, but empty, or hollow within, as it was shown to thee on the mountain.)

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 the two bars of the altar, of the wood of shittim, the which bars thou shalt cover with plates of brass; (And thou shalt make two bars out of shittim wood for the altar, which bars thou shalt cover with bronze plates;)

7 and thou shalt lead in the bars by the rings, and they shall be on ever either side of the altar, to bear (it). (and thou shalt lead in the bars through the rings, and they shall be on both sides of the altar, to carry it.)

8 Thou shalt make that altar not massive, but void, and hollow within, as it was showed to thee in the hill. (Thou shalt not make that altar solid, but empty, or hollow within, as it was shown to thee on the mountain.)

9 Also thou shalt make a large porch of the tabernacle, in the manner of a churchyard, in whose midday coast against the south shall be curtains of bis folded again; one side shall hold an hundred cubits in length, (And thou shalt make the courtyard of the Tabernacle in the manner of a churchyard, on whose south side facing south shall be curtains made out of finely woven linen; this side shall be a hundred cubits long,)

10 and twenty pillars, with so many brazen bases , which pillars shall have silver hooks, and the holdings of those . (with twenty bronze pillars, and as many bronze bases, and the pillars shall have silver hooks and bands.)