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VERSE: Ex30-01a
RASHIS COVERED: Ex30-01a Ex30-09a Ex30-09b Ex30-09c
Ex30-10a Ex30-10b Ex30-10c Ex20-21a Ex20-22a
====================== THE 2-4 ALTARS ===========================
BACKGROUND
----------
The Bible at various points speaks about offering sacrifices
on various types of altars.
THE TEXT
--------
A typical text might be
Ex20-21 Make me an EARTHERN ALTAR and offer on it BURNT OFFERINGS
------- and PEACE OFFERINGS
THE LIST
--------
We can gather all verses on
-- constructions of various types of altars
-- offerings of various types of sacrifices
We can then ascertain WHICH sacrifices went on which altars
THE RASHI
---------
Reviewing the verses below there appear to be 4 altars
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TYPE OF ALTAR FOR WHICH OFFERINGS
----------------------------- -----------------------------
-- an EARTHERN altar for BURNT and PEACE offerings
-- a WOODEN-COPPER COVERED ALTAR for BURNT & PEACE Offerings
-- a WOODEN-GOLD COVERED ALTAR for KETORETH
-- a STONE ALTAR(Entry to Israel for BURNT & PEACE OFFERINGS
--------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY
-------
More thorough analysis shows that the bottom line is that there
were 3 altars
------------------------------------------------------------
TYPE OF ALTAR OFFER WHAT
---------------------------------------------- ------------
A WOOD-COPPER-COVERED ALTAR FILLED WITH EARTH ANIMAL-PLANT
A WOOD-GOLD-COVERED ALTAR PERFUME
A STONE ALTAR ON ENTRY TO ISRAEL ANIMAL
------------------------------------------------------------
Here is the list. Further details are presented in the
footnotes. This LIST is especially noteworthy in that verses
from disparate Biblical chapters are gathered including verses
indicating location of the altars. A detailed summary of the
Rashi texts may be found in the footnotes *10
=================================================================
VERSE TEXT OF VERSE ON ALTAR WHICH OFFERINGS
======= ================================== ======================
Ex20-21 Make me an EARTHEN ALTAR*1 BURNT PEACE
Ex27-02 Make a WOODEN altar-COPPER COVERED
Ex40-29 the BURNT ALTAR at TEMPLE DOOR*1 DAILY-BURNT MINCHAH
Ex29-41 On the Altar at Temple door*1 DAILY BURNT
------- ---------------------------------- ----------------------
Ex40-26 Gold covered altar before Holies
Ex30-03 Make a WOODEN alter-GOLD COVERED
Ex30-07 On the GOLD COVERED altar Ketoreth*2
Ex30-09 On the GOld covered altar NO BURNT MINCHAH*2
Ex30-09 On the Gold covered altar*2 No Libation*2
Ex30-09 On the Gold Covered altar*2 YomKipur Blood Offering
Lv16-18 On the altar before God*2 YomKipur Blood offering
Ex30-09 On the GOLD covered altar*2 No VOLUNTARY Ketoreth
Lv10-01 Aarons children offered BEFORE GOD Strange Ketoreth*2
------- ---------------------------------- -----------------------
Ex20-22 When you make a STONE ALTAR*3
Dt27-06 Make a STONE ALTAR(on border)*3 BURNT PEACE
------- ---------------------------------- -----------------------
NOTES
-----
*1 ALthough Ex20-21 requests construction of an EARTHERN altar
for offering BURNT & PEACE OFFERINGS from SHEEP and CATTLE
nevertheless, we are explicitly told in Ex27-02 and Ex40-29
that the altar at the TEMPLE DOOR was made of wood and
coated with copper and used for the daily burnt offerings
and the peace offerings
This is a standard Biblical technique which Rabbi Ishmael
called the technique of INFERENCE FROM CONTRADICTORY VERSES
For a complete discussion see the following url
http://www.RashiYomi.com/ri-14.htm
We outline there 5 methods of resolving contradiction.
One of these 5 methods is the method OF 2 ASPECTS.
In this case we assume that COPPER-WOOD-EARTH are 3 aspects
of the altar construction
-- the altar was made of WOOD
-- it was COATED with COPPER
-- it was FILLED with EARTH
Hence the two verses: Make me a COPPER ALTAR and Make
me an EARTHERN altar--the COPPER and EARTH are 2 ASPECTS
This altar was placed at the TEMPLE COURTYARD DOOR.
It is called the COPPER ALTAR and it is the main altar for
the various procedures such as the DAILY OFFERING, the
PEACE OFFERING, the MINCHAH LIBATIONS etc.
*2 According to these verses there was a wood-built altar
COATED with Gold that was placed before the curtain to
the holy of holies. This altar is called the GOLDEN ALTAR
THe Bible is copiously explicit about what could and could
not be done on this altar:
------------- 2 things were done on the altar ---------------
Mandatory Ketoreth Perfume offerings were offered 2wice daily
Certain Day of Atonement sacrificial blood was sprinkled
-------------------------------------------------------------
---------------- 3 things could not be done on the altar ----
No BURNT offerings could be offered on it
No MINCHAH or LIBATION offerings could be offered on it
No STRANGE KETORETH PERFUME OFFERINGS could be offered on it
-------------------------------------------------------------
Finally the phrase STRANGE KETORETH PERFUME OFFERINGS is
interpreted by Rashi to mean VOLUNTARY KETORETH OFFERINGS
(in contrast to MANDATORY KETORETH OFFERINGS). Rashi in my
opinion infers this FROM THE EXPLICIT OTHER VERSE in
Lv10-01 which calls the VOLUNTARY KETORETH OFFERING
offered by Aarons sons as a STRANGE KETORETH OFFERING
*3 The STONE altar seems to be a special altar made only on
entry to Israel. It was used to offer BURNT and PEACE
offerings showing the Closeness of the Jews to God
---------------------- LONGER FOOTNOTES --------------------------
*10 Here are the 9 Rashis and a brief synopsis of what they
say. The overall tone however is that Rashi is making
inferences from OTHER VERSES. For the general atmosphere
of this approach see the list and footnotes above.
Ex30-01a Rashi explains that the GOLDEN altar is for
Ketoreth. He does this because the paragraph
EXPLICITLY states this in verses Ex30-09:10
Ex30-09a
Ex30-09b Rashis Ex30-09a and Ex30-09b should be placed
together as one Rashi. As indicated above
Rashi translates STRANGE KETORETH as VOLUNTARY
KETORETH. Rashi derives this meaning from the
EXPLICIT story and language in Lv10-01
Ex30-09c Rashi simply explains that BURNT offerings were
offerings of animals while MINCHAH offerings
were offerings of PLANTS. Thus Lv01 describes
the animal offerings while Lv02 describes the
Minchah offerings
Ex30-10a
Ex30-10b
Ex30-10c The verse states that Aaron will ATONE ON THE
GOLDEN ALTAR ONCE A YEAR FROM THE BLOOD OF
ATONEMENT
This is a cryptic phrase. It is however made
clear by the procedures in Lv16 (see Lv16-18)
which describe
--------------------------------------------
mixing the blood of the day of ATONEMENT
animal sacrifices and SPRINKLING IT BEFORE
GOD
---------------------------------------------
As in clear from the description of the PLACE
of ALTARS in Ex40-26 vs Ex40-29 only the
GOLD ALTAR was described as BEFORE GOD
Thus Rashis main focus and derivation was
from the other verses. (More specifically
I think it a mistake to think that Rashi was
deriving anything from internal grammatical
principles--Rashis whole derivation comes from
OTHER VERSES)
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RASHI RULE USED: OTHER VERSES
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Volume 13 Number 7
#*#*#*#*# (C) 2001, RashiYomi Inc. Dr Hendel President #*#*#*#*#
Volume 13 Number 7