Exodus 30:3 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Exodus 30:3
And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof, and the sides thereof round about, and the horns thereof; and thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about.
to sheet over (especially with metal) · conjunction + verb, piel sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
pure
טָה֗וֹרta.Hor
H2889
pure (in a physical · adjective, masculine singular absolute
gold
זָהָ֣בza.Hav
H2091
gold · noun, common masculine singular absolute
top
גַּגּ֧וֹga.Go
H1406
a roof · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
sides
קִירֹתָ֛יוki.ro.Tav
H7023
a wall (as built in a trench) · noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
about
סָבִ֖יבsa.Viv
H5439
(as noun) a circle · noun, common both genders singular absolute
horns
קַרְנֹתָ֑יוkar.no.Tav
H7161
a horn (as projecting) · noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
make
וְעָשִׂ֥יתָve.'a.Si.ta
H6213
to do or make · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
crown
זֵ֥רzer
H2213
a chaplet (as spread around the top) · noun, common masculine singular construct
gold
זָהָ֖בza.Hav
H2091
gold · noun, common masculine singular absolute
about
סָבִֽיבsa.Viv
H5439
(as noun) a circle · noun, common both genders singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Exodus 25:11 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about.
Exodus 25:24 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold round about.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Exodus 30:1-10
I. The orders given concerning the altar of incense are, 1. That it was to be made of wood, and covered with gold, pure gold, about a yard high and half a yard square, with horns at the corners, a golden cornice round it, with rings and staves of gold, for the convenience of carrying it, Exo 30:1-5. It does not appear that there was any grate to this altar for the ashes to fall into, that they might be taken away; but, when they burnt incense, a golden censer was brought with coals in it, and placed upon the altar, and in that censer the incense was burnt, and with it all the coals were taken away, so that no coals nor ashes fell upon the altar. The measure of the altar of incense in Ezekiel…
foursquare--the meaning of which is not that it was to be entirely of a cubical form, but that upon its upper and under surface, it showed four equal sides. It was twice as high as it was broad, being twenty-one inches broad and three feet six inches high. It had "horns"; its top or flat surface was surmounted by an ornamental ledge or rim, called a crown, and it was furnished at the sides with rings for carriage. Its only accompanying piece of furniture was a golden censer or pan, in which the incense was set fire to upon the altar. Hence it was called the altar of incense, or the "golden altar" [Exo 39:38; Exo 40:26], from the profuse degree in which it was gilded or overlaid with the prec…
Four-square - That is, on the upper or under surface, as it showed four equal sides; but it was twice as high as it was broad, being twenty-one inches broad, and three feet six inches high. It was called, not only the altar of incense, but also the golden altar, Num 4:11. For the crown, horns, staves, etc., see on the altar of burnt-offering, Exo 27:1 (note), etc.
John Gill on Exodus 30:3
And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold,.... Hence this altar is sometimes called the golden altar, Numbers 4:11 this may figure the deity of Christ, whose head is as the most fine gold, and is in the divine nature, in the form of God, and is the brightness of his glory, and possessed of the same perfections; or rather the glorification of his human nature in heaven, where he is highly exalted, and the preciousness of his intercession, which is always powerful and prevalent, and the duration of it:
the top thereof, and the sides thereof, round about, and the horns thereof: all and each of them were covered with gold; this altar had a top, when the altar of burnt offering had none, but its…
The Church Fathers
When speaking of the rings of the altar of incense, altar that should be gilded, not covered with bronze, it is said: You will make two rings of pure gold under its molded mold, at its sides. You will do them on both sides (Ex 30,4) As the Greek says: eis tà dúo klíte poiésis in tois dusi pleurois, and klíte means sides and pleura also means sides, some Latin translators have translated: In two parts you will do them on both sides. But the Greek does not say mére, which means parts, but klíte, which means sides. This word appears in that psalm that says: Your wife as a fruitful vine on the sides of your house (Sal 127,3). And for that reason, it is only necessary to pay attention to the case, because first he put accusative and then ablative: you will do them on both sides (accusative); on its two sides (ablative). In any case, it is difficult to know what the meaning is. As the Scripture usually uses the ellipsis, omitting something that needs to be replaced, perhaps here too the word will have to be replaced, in which case the meaning would be: You will do them on both sides, they will be on both sides, that is, you will make the rings sideways, they will be on both sides. 132 (Ex 30.4). And there will be arches for the poles, so that it is transported through them. To the objects that he used to call rings he now calls them arches. Naturally speaking of rings instead of round handles. And a ring or a circle, what is it but a closed arch everywhere? For that reason, some translators did not want to put bows, and translated that word for boxes, in which the poles would be inserted. And they gave this translation: And there will be boxes for the poles, as if the Greek could not have put that word (theca: box), when theca is also a Greek word. The text, on the other hand, has psalídes, which means arcs. 133 (Ex 30.8). He will burn it on him as a continual incense in the presence of the Lord in his generations. He calls it continuous incense, because it had to be offered continuously, without any interruption. By prescribing what pertained to the altar of incense, to the altar in which only incense was put, not the burnt offering, the sacrifice, or the drink offering, the Lord had commanded that the same incense be offered daily. But now it says: And Aaron shall make the propitiation or make the prayer on the horns of the altar once a year with the blood of…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Altar — (Heb. mizbe’ah, from a word meaning “to slay”), any structure of earth (Ex. 20:24) or unwrought stone (20:25) on which sacrifices were offered. Altars were generally erected in conspicuous places…
Censer — The vessel in which incense was presented on “the golden altar” before the Lord in the temple (Ex. 30:1-9). The priest filled the censer with live coal from the sacred fire on the altar of…
Spices — Aromatic substances, of which several are named in Ex. 30. They were used in the sacred anointing oil (Ex. 25:6; 35:8; 1 Chr. 9:29), and in embalming the dead (2 Chr. 16:14; Luke 23:56; 24:1; John…
Altar Of Incense · Covered with Gold — Covered with Gold
Altars · Mentioned in scripture: For incense — Mentioned in scripture: For incense
Incense · On the gol — On the gol
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Exodus 30:1-10
1. And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon: of shittim wood shalt thou make it.
1. Facies et altare suffimenti suffitus, ex lignis Sittim facies illud.
2. A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof; four-square shall it be: and two cubits shall be the height thereof; the horns thereof shall be of the same.
2. Cubitus longitudo ejus, et cubitus latitudo ejus, quadratum erit: et duo cubiti altitudo ejus: ex ipso cornua ejus.
3. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof, and the sides thereof round about, and the horns thereof; and thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about.
3. Teges illud auto puro, tectum ejus…
The Altar of Incense and Incense-Offering bring the directions concerning the sanctuary to a close. What follows, from Ex 30:11-31:17, is shown to be merely supplementary to the larger whole by the formula "and Jehovah spake unto Moses," with which every separate command is introduced (cf. Exo 30:11, Exo 30:17, Exo 30:22, Exo 30:24, Exo 31:1, Exo 31:12).
Exo 30:1-6
(cf. Exo 37:25-28). Moses was directed to make an altar of burning of incense (lit., incensing of incense), of acacia-wood, one cubit long and one broad, four-cornered, two cubits high, furnished with horns like the altar of burnt-offering (Exo 27:1-2), and to plate it with pure gold, the roof (גּג) thereof (i.e., its upper side o…
Plans for the altar of acacia wood are included here rather than with the plans for the other items in the sanctuary (25:23-40), perhaps because of the reference to the priest’s use of it in 30:7-10.
Rashi on Exodus 30:3
את גגו THE ROOF THEREOF — This altar had a top but the altar of burnt-offering had no top, but they filled in the hollow space enclosed by its sides with earth wherever they encamped (cf. Mekhilta).
זר זהב A CROWN OF GOLD — an emblem of the crown of priesthood (Yoma 72b).
