Zevachim 59b — the Talmud in English

Rabbi Yosei said to him: ![](pamud.bmp "

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But it has already been said: “A thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar”

which Moses made—not at one time, but in one day, for the heavenly fire hastened to consume them—

whereas concerning the permanent House it says: “And Solomon sacrificed the sacrifice of peace-offerings that he sacrificed to the Lord: twenty-two thousand cattle”

and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep, upon the stone altar that Solomon made,

and when you come to the calculation of burnt offerings and to the count of cubits,

it is found that

this

which Solomon made

was greater than this

—for it is more spaciously possible to offer all the sacrifices of the day of the inauguration of the altar upon Solomon’s altar than to offer a thousand burnt offerings upon Moses’ altar. For on Moses’ altar the place of the pyre was one cubit by one cubit, whereas on Solomon’s altar the place of the pyre was twenty cubits by twenty cubits. It follows that, according to the calculation of a thousand burnt offerings per cubit, Solomon’s altar had room for four hundred thousand sacrifices, while they offered only a hundred and forty-two thousand; thus the place on the altar that Solomon made was not too narrow for offering all the sacrifices of the inauguration of the altar,

but

you are compelled to say that the matters are not as they are written, and Solomon did not sanctify the floor of the courtyard to burn offerings upon it.

And what is “too small to contain”

that the verse said? It does not refer to the stone altar that Solomon made; rather, it refers to the copper altar that Moses made, which was too small to contain,

like a person who says to his fellow: So-and-so is a dwarf and disqualified for the service,

even though he is not a dwarf; when he comes to disqualify him for the service, he calls him this, for that is a euphemistic expression. Here too, it came to say that Solomon disqualified Moses’ copper altar and stored it away, and made a new altar in its place. And when the verse said, “He sanctified the interior of the courtyard,” its intention is that he sanctified the courtyard so that it would be sacred for placing a stone altar in it, and not that the floor of the courtyard itself became sanctified for burning offerings.

And we raise an objection:

And Rabbi Yehuda

why does he say that the altar that Solomon made was too small to offer upon it all the sacrifices of the inauguration of the altar?

Rabbi Yosei has said well

that it was not too small at all.

And we answer:

Rabbi Yehuda,

who interpreted the matters as they are written,

proceeds according to his reasoning,

as

he says that the altar that Moses made was large.

And therefore they offered a thousand burnt offerings upon it. If so, Solomon’s altar was insufficient for all the sacrifices of the day of the inauguration of the altar. That is, Rabbi Yehuda holds that Moses’ altar had a place of the pyre six cubits by six cubits, and it follows that, according to the calculation of the thousand burnt offerings that they offered upon it, the place of the pyre of the altar that Solomon made, which was twenty cubits by twenty cubits, was too small to contain the hundred and forty-two thousand sacrifices of the inauguration of the altar.

For it was taught:

It is written in the verse concerning the altar that Moses was commanded to make: “And you shall make the altar, etc.

five cubits in length and five cubits in width” —

the matters are as they are written, the words of Rabbi Yosei;

and from these five cubits one must subtract one cubit on each side, which is the place of the horns, and another cubit on each side inward from the horns, the place where the priests’ feet walked. It follows that the place of the pyre was one cubit by one cubit.

Rabbi Yehuda says: It is stated here

in the making of Moses’ altar

“square,” and it is stated there,

in Ezekiel’s prophecy concerning the altar of the Second Temple,

“square.” Just as there,

on the altar of the Second Temple,

from its midpoint

of the altar

he measured,

for the measurement mentioned in the verse is from the middle of the altar—that is, from the middle point of the altar there were twelve cubits in every direction, which altogether was twenty-four cubits—

so here too,

on the altar that Moses made,

from its midpoint he measured.

Therefore, when the verse said five cubits by five cubits, its intention is that the entire altar was ten cubits by ten cubits, and from these there was one cubit on each side for the place of the horns and one cubit on each side for the place where the priests’ feet walked. It follows that the place of the pyre was six cubits by six cubits, and upon it Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings. According to this calculation, it follows that the altar that Solomon made was eleven times larger than Moses’ altar. Since Moses’ altar had room to offer a thousand sacrifices in a day, Solomon’s altar had room to offer eleven thousand sacrifices in a day, and no more. And we find that Solomon offered twenty-two thousand cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep, which were a hundred and forty-two thousand sacrifices, and the altar was too small to contain the sacrifices of that day. Therefore Solomon had to sanctify the floor also for burning offerings.

And there,

on the altar of the Second Temple,

from where do we know

that the intention of the verse in the measurements of the altar is that he measured from its midpoint?

For it is written: “And the altar-hearth was twelve in length by twelve in width, square on its four sides,” and it was taught: “And the altar-hearth”—

the place of the pyre—

twelve

cubits

in every direction,

that is, twenty-four by twenty-four cubits.

Or

perhaps the intention of the verse is that the place of the pyre upon the altar

was only twelve by twelve

cubits, and no more.

When it says, “on its four sides,” the verse teaches

that

from the middle

of the altar

he measures twelve cubits in every direction,

and the place of the pyre was twenty-four by twenty-four cubits [for in the days of the Second Temple they added another four by four cubits to the altar—as explained in the Gemara below, page 61, side b], for the entire altar was thirty-two cubits by thirty-two cubits, and among these there was one cubit on each side for the base, one cubit on each side for the surrounding ledge, one cubit on each side for the horns, and one cubit on each side for the place where the priests’ feet walked. It follows that the place of the pyre was twenty-four cubits by twenty-four cubits.

And Rabbi Yosei,

who says that the matters are as they are written, and holds that the altar that Moses made was entirely five cubits by five cubits, did not interpret the verse stated concerning the altar that Moses made as meaning that he measured from its midpoint,

when he derives the gezerah shavah

of “square” and “square,”

it is in its height

of the altar

that he derives it,

and he does not derive the gezerah shavah from the verse of Ezekiel; rather, he derives it from “square” stated concerning the inner altar.

For it was taught:

It is written in the verse concerning the external altar that Moses made of copper:

“And three cubits its height”—

the matters are as they are written, the words of Rabbi Yehuda. Rabbi Yosei says: It is stated here

on the external altar

“square,” and it is stated there

on the inner altar

“square.” Just as there, its height was twice its length,

for its length was one cubit and its height was two cubits,

so here too,

on the external altar its height was ten cubits, which was

twice its length. Rabbi Yehuda said to him: But it has already been said: “The length of the courtyard was one hundred cubits, etc., and the height

of the hangings of the courtyard was only

five cubits,”

and according to Rabbi Yosei, who says that the height of the external altar that stood in the courtyard was ten cubits,

could a priest stand upon the altar

the external one

with the service in his hand, while all the people saw him from outside

for the altar was five cubits higher than the hangings?

Rabbi Yosei said to him: But it has already been said: “And the hangings of the courtyard, and the screen of the gate of the courtyard, which is upon the Tabernacle and upon the altar around it,”

and we derive:

Just as the Tabernacle

must have the hangings surrounding it at a height of

ten cubits, so too the altar

must be surrounded by hangings

ten cubits

high,