I.II.1. The main Jehovistic law, the so-called Book of the Covenant,
contains (Exodus xx.24-26) the following ordinance: "An altar of
earth shalt thou make unto me, and thereon shalt thou sacrifice thy
burnt offerings and thy peace-offerings, thy sheep and thine
oxen; in place where I cause my name to be honoured will I come
unto and will bless thee. Or if thou wilt make me an altar of
stones, thou shalt not build it of hewn stones, for if thou hast
lifted up thy tool upon it thou hast polluted it. And thou shalt
not go up to mine altar by steps, that thy nakedness be not
discovered before it." Unquestionably it is not the altar of the
tabernacle, which was made of wood and plated over with brass, nor
that of Solomon's temple, which on its eastern side had a flight of
steps, /1/

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1. The altar of the second temple had no steps, but a sloping ascent
to it, as also, according to the belief of the Jews, had that of the
tabernacle. The reason, moreover, for which in Exodus xx.26 steps
are forbidden, disappears when the priests are provided with
breeches (Exodus xxviii.42).
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and had a passage right round it at half its height, that is here
described as the only true one. On the other hand, it is obvious
that a multiplicity of altars is not merely regarded as permissible,
but assumed as a matter of course. For no stress at all is laid
upon having always the same sacrificial seat, whether fixed or to be
moved about from place to place; earth and unhewn stones /2/ of the field

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