Trapp's Complete Commentary · Exodus Chapter 27

And thou shalt make an altar [of] shittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof [shall be] three cubits.

Five cubits long. — Solomon’s altar was four times as large as this: to teach that as our peace and prosperity is more than others, so should our service in a due proportion.

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And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof: his horns shall be of the same: and thou shalt overlay it with brass.

Horns of it. — To bind the beasts unto, that were to be slain in sacrifice. Psalms 118:27 And to signify the power of Christ’s priesthood. Habakkuk 3:4

Thou shalt overlay it with brass. — The brass kept the wood; so did the deity of Christ keep his humanity from being consumed by the fire of God’s wrath, wherein it was roasted.

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And thou shalt make his pans to receive his ashes, and his shovels, and his basons, and his fleshhooks, and his firepans: all the vessels thereof thou shalt make [of] brass.

His shovels, and his basons. — These several instruments figured the ministry of the word, say some; the sundry callings that Christ hath in his Church, say others, for her edification.

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And thou shalt make for it a grate of network [of] brass; and upon the net shalt thou make four brasen rings in the four corners thereof.

A grate. — Which served for a hearth, and represented Christ bearing the fire of his Father’s displeasure.

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And the staves shall be put into the rings, and the staves shall be upon the two sides of the altar, to bear it.

And the staves shall be. — As ever ready to remove. Here we have no assured settlement.

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And thou shalt make the court of the tabernacle: for the south side southward [there shall be] hangings for the court [of] fine twined linen of an hundred cubits long for one side:

The court of the tabernacle. — This outer court signified the visible Church, where hypocrites also come to the external worships. Doeg may set his foot as far as David.

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And the twenty pillars thereof and their twenty sockets [shall be of] brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets [shall be of] silver.

And the twenty pillars. — In allusion whereunto, the Church is called the "pillar and stay of truth." 1 Timothy 3:15

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All the pillars round about the court [shall be] filleted with silver; their hooks [shall be of] silver, and their sockets [of] brass.

Their hooks shall be of silver, and their sockets of brass. — The nearer things were unto God the more precious they were: and e contra.

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