There was an altar made of wood, 5-1/4 feet high and 3-1/2 feet across. Its corners, base, and sides were all made of wood. “This,” the man told me, “is the table that stands in the Lord’s presence.”
Parallel translations
- WEB The altar was of wood, three cubits high, and its length two cubits; and its corners, and its length, and its walls, were of wood: and he said to me, This is the table that is before Yahweh.
- KJV The altar of wood was three cubits high, and the length thereof two cubits; and the corners thereof, and the length thereof, and the walls thereof, were of wood: and he said unto me, This is the table that is before the LORD.
- BSB There was an altar of wood three cubits high and two cubits square. Its corners, base, and sides were of wood. And the man told me, “This is the table that is before the LORD.”
- NKJV The altar was of wood, three cubits high, and its length two cubits. Its corners, its length, and its sides were of wood; and he said to me, “This is the table that is before the Lord.”
- NASB The altar was of wood, three cubits high, and its length two cubits; its corners, its base, and its sides were of wood. And he said to me, “This is the table that is before the Lord.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
A wooden altar stood before the sanctuary, which the guide calls the table before Yahweh. It marks the place of communion in God's presence.
Overview
The guide identifies a wooden altar, likely the altar of incense or the table of showbread, as the table before the Lord. It signified continual fellowship and offering before God. This table foreshadows the communion believers enjoy with God through Christ, who is the bread of life and our peace (John 6:35, Ephesians 2:14).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Mal 1:7You offer polluted bread on my altar. You say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ In that you say, ‘Yahweh’s table is contemptible.’
- Ezek 44:16they shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my instruction.
- Ezek 23:41and sat on a stately bed, with a table prepared before it, whereupon you set my incense and my oil.
- Mal 1:12“But you profane it, in that you say, ‘Yahweh’s table is polluted, and its fruit, even its food, is contemptible.’
- 1 Kgs 6:20Within the inner sanctuary was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in width, and twenty cubits in its height; and he overlaid it with pure gold; and he covered the altar with cedar.
- Exod 30:1–3“You shall make an altar to burn incense on. You shall make it of acacia wood.
- Lev 24:6You shall set them in two rows, six on a row, on the pure gold table before Yahweh.
- Rev 8:3Another angel came and stood over the altar, having a golden censer. Much incense was given to him, that he should add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne.
- 1 Kgs 6:22He overlaid the whole house with gold, until all the house was finished. He also overlaid the whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary with gold.
- Rev 3:20Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with me.
- Exod 30:8When Aaron lights the lamps at evening, he shall burn it, a perpetual incense before Yahweh throughout your generations.
- Prov 9:2She has prepared her meat. She has mixed her wine. She has also set her table.
- 1 Cor 10:21You can’t both drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You can’t both partake of the table of the Lord, and of the table of demons.
- Exod 25:28–30You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be carried with them.
- Song 1:12While the king sat at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance.
- 1 Kgs 7:48Solomon made all the vessels that were in Yahweh’s house: the golden altar and the table that the show bread was on, of gold;
- 2 Chr 4:19Solomon made all the vessels that were in God’s house, the golden altar also, and the tables with the show bread on them;
- Exod 25:23“You shall make a table of acacia wood. Two cubits shall be its length, and a cubit its width, and one and a half cubits its height.
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Christ at the center
The promise of one Shepherd-King David, a new heart and new Spirit, and the river of life flowing from the temple all stream toward Christ, the good Shepherd who gives the Spirit.
How Ezekiel 41:22 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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