Exodus 27:6

And thou shalt make staves for the altar, staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with brass.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(6) Staves for the altar.—See Note 2 on Exodus 27:4.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

27:1-8 In the court before the tabernacle, where the people attended, was an altar, to which they must bring their sacrifices, and on which their priests must offer them to God. It was of wood overlaid with brass. A grate of brass was let into the hollow of the altar, about the middle of which the fire was kept, and the sacrifice burnt. It was made of net-work like a sieve, and hung hollow, that the ashes might fall through. This brazen altar was a type of Christ dying to make atonement for our sins. The wood had been consumed by the fire from heaven, if it had not been secured by the brass: nor could the human nature of Christ have borne the wrath of God, if it had not been supported by Divine power.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The compass of the altar - A shelf or projecting ledge, of convenient width, carried round the altar half way between the top and the base. It was supported all round its outer edge by a vertical net-like grating of bronze that rested on the ground.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

6, 7. staves … rings—Those rings were placed at the side through which the poles were inserted on occasions of removal.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And thou shalt make staves for the altar, staves of shittim wood,.... Like those that were made for the ark, and for the same purpose:

and overlay them with brass; with plates of brass, whereas those for the ark were overlaid with gold.

Geneva Study Bible

And thou shalt make staves for the altar, staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with brass.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

6. bronze] contrast the gold of Exodus 25:13; Exodus 25:28.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 6, 7. - Staves, or polos, were needed for the carriage of the altar from place to place, as for the ark (Exodus 25:13) and the table of shew-bread (ib, ver. 28). They were to be inserted into the rings mentioned in ver. 4. As the altar was of bronze, so the rings were to be of bronze, and the staves overlaid with bronze. There is a gradual descent in the preciousness of the materials from the holy of holies to the holy place, and from that to the court. Exodus 27:6

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The poles were to be made of acacia-wood, and covered with brass, and to be placed in the rings that were fixed in the two sides for the purpose of carrying the altar. The additional instructions in Exodus 27:8, "hollow with tables shalt thou make it, as it was showed thee in the mount" (cf. Exodus 25:9), refer apparently, if we judge from Exo 20:24-25, simply to the wooden framework of the altar, which was covered with brass, and which was filled with earth, or gravel and stones, when the altar was about to be used, the whole being levelled so as to form a hearth. The shape thus given to the altar of burnt-offering corresponded to the other objects in the sanctuary. It could also be carried about with ease, and fixed in any place, and could be used for burning the sacrifices without the wooden walls being injured by the fire.