Golden Altar
The interior altar is covered with cedar and gold before the inner sanctuary (1 Kings 6:20–22; 7:48). Its precise dimensions are not supplied by these passages; the earlier Tabernacle altar’s measurements should not automatically be assigned to it. Its shown horns and outline are illustrative, informed by the earlier altar rather than separately specified here.
Key points
- The interior altar is distinct from the bronze court altar.
- Look for: A golden altar near the inner entrance.
- Illustrated location: Porch & Holy Place
- A reconstruction of Solomon’s First Temple from 1 Kings 6–8 and 2 Chronicles 3–4. Ten lampstands and ten tables follow Chronicles; this is a different building from the Second Temple described by Josephus. The house and inner-room proportions follow Kings. Courts, furnishing spacing, vertical details, and the exposed cutaway are schematic. The upper side-chamber stories are omitted. Smaller furnishings, including the Ark, are enlarged or simplified for visibility. The texts do not specify an exact visual blueprint or the forms of the cherubim. Pillar heights and the Sea’s capacity differ between Kings and Chronicles; the relevant landmark notes preserve those differences. Symmetric rows on both physical sides are one reading of the right/left descriptions. Rashi instead places the lampstands together south and the tables together north, interpreting right/left relative to Moses’ original furnishings. The gilding of all ten tables, altar horns, entrance steps, and exact furniture profiles are inferred display choices, not details stated together in Chronicles. Small service vessels, including the hundred golden basins of 2 Chronicles 4:8, are not individually modeled.
- Prayer rising like incense (Scripture): Exodus prescribes an incense altar. Psalm 141 likens prayer to incense, and Revelation 8 joins incense with the prayers of the saints. The church censer gives these scriptural images a visible and fragrant expression.
Scripture
- 1 Kings 6 — The interior altar is covered with cedar and gold before the inner sanctuary (1 Kings 6:20–22; 7:48). Its precise dimensions are not supplied by these passages; the earlier Tabernacle altar’s measurements should not automatically be assigned to it. Its shown horns and outline are illustrative, informed by the earlier altar rather than separately specified here.
- 1 Kings 7:15–51 — The interior altar is covered with cedar and gold before the inner sanctuary (1 Kings 6:20–22; 7:48). Its precise dimensions are not supplied by these passages; the earlier Tabernacle altar’s measurements should not automatically be assigned to it. Its shown horns and outline are illustrative, informed by the earlier altar rather than separately specified here.
- Exodus 30:1–10, 17–21 — Prayer rising like incense: Exodus prescribes an incense altar. Psalm 141 likens prayer to incense, and Revelation 8 joins incense with the prayers of the saints. The church censer gives these scriptural images a visible and fragrant expression.
- Psalm 141:1–2 — Prayer rising like incense: Exodus prescribes an incense altar. Psalm 141 likens prayer to incense, and Revelation 8 joins incense with the prayers of the saints. The church censer gives these scriptural images a visible and fragrant expression.
- Revelation 8:3–4 — Prayer rising like incense: Exodus prescribes an incense altar. Psalm 141 likens prayer to incense, and Revelation 8 joins incense with the prayers of the saints. The church censer gives these scriptural images a visible and fragrant expression.