“You shall make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long, and five cubits wide. The altar shall be square. Its height shall be three cubits.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 1. Altar, of holocausts, in the open air, before the tabernacle. Tirinus.—Four square, or five cubits in length and breadth, and three in height, which the Rabbins measure from the grate, (verse 5,) or middle of the altar’s height. So high the altar was sunk in the earth, ( Calmet.) or was built of unhewn stone, on which the wood of the altar rested, being secured by plates of brass above, from the heat of the fire. It was hollow within, and had neither top nor bottom fixed to it. Menochius.
A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimeters.
The altar was to be about 2.3×2.3×1.4 meters or about 7½×7½×4½ feet.