ritual
altar
מזבח · מצבה · במה
Bottom line
Mizbeach is the altar proper, built of many stones (or of plated wood in the Mishkan), square, with four horns. Matzeivah is the single-stone altar or pillar, beloved in the days of the Avos and forbidden afterwards; render it "pillar" or "monument" where no sacrifice is in view, and note that Ramban denies it is an altar at all. Bamah is a high place, a private altar away from the central place of worship. The trap: all three become "altar" in English, and then the Torah's own contrast between the commanded mizbeach and the hated matzeivah disappears.
At a glance
| Hebrew | translit | English | what sets it apart |
|---|---|---|---|
| מזבח | mizbeach | altar | many stones; named for zevach/zoveach, sacrifice and slaughter (Radak, Sefer HaShorashim); square with four horns (Shemos 27:1-2) |
| מצבה | matzeivah | single-stone altar, pillar | one stone, from netziv, standing (Rashi); for Ramban not an altar but an idolatrous entrance-pillar |
| במה | bamah | high place, private altar | a private altar on high ground, permitted only while the central sanctuary was temporary (Zevachim 14:6) |
Where the authorities disagree
Is a matzeivah an altar?
- Yes, an altar of one stone. Rashi: matzeivah means exactly what mizbeach means, except that a matzeivah is erected from a single stone while a mizbeach is built from several. On this reading Devarim 16:22, "you shall not erect for yourselves a matzeivah, which Hashem your God hates," forbids offering on single-stone altars.
- No, a pillar at the entrance. Ramban objects: if both words meant altar, and the Canaanites served idols on both, why does the Torah command the one and hate the other? He therefore takes matzeivah as the pillar the idolaters set up to mark the entrance of an idolatrous temple, a utilitarian monument rather than a place of offering.
The Bottom line follows Rashi for the rendering, since it is the reading that governs the matzeivos of the Avos (Yaakov at Beis El, Bereishis 28:18-22, and Hashem later identifying Himself to him as the One for whom that matzeivah was set up, Bereishis 31:13; the article gives that second locus as 31:45), but keeps "pillar" available, because Ramban's reading is live wherever the matzeivah is an idolater's and no sacrifice is mentioned. On Rashi's reading the change is historical, not lexical: the Sifrei (to Devarim 16) says Hashem originally cherished single-stone altars in the era of the Avos, and that by the time the Jews left Mitzrayim He abhorred them, because the Canaanites had formally adopted them as a medium of idol worship.
Why the Golden Altar is called a mizbeach, though no animal was slaughtered on it. Three views:
- It subdues evil. The Zohar (Vayakhel 219a): the incense offered on it has the power to subdue destructive forces; Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk adds that the offerings on it effectively "slaughter" those forces, so the name from zoveach is exact. Aharon's incense stopping the plague (Bamidbar 17:11-15) is the case in point.
- Borrowed by shape. Rabbi Yonah Ibn Janach and Rabbi Avraham Maimuni: it is a borrowed term, used because the Inner Altar was made in the same form as the Outer, square and horned (Shemos 30:2), only smaller.
- Blood does reach it. Radak (Sefer HaShorashim): in rare cases, Yom Kippur among them, sacrificial blood is brought to that altar, so the name is literal.
Distinctions
mizbeach (מזבח)
Root ז-ב-ח. The noun zevach is a sacrifice and the verb zoveach is sacrificial slaughtering; the mizbeach is where blood and the other portions of animals, birds, and flour offerings are brought. The Mishkan's was copper-plated shittim wood, the one in the Beis HaMikdash that Shlomo HaMelech built was of stone. The Torah insists it be square, length equal to width, with four "horns" on its corners (Shemos 27:1-2). Two items bear the name: the Mizbeach HaChitzon, the Outer Altar in the courtyard, and the Mizbeach HaPnimi or Mizbeach HaZahav, the Inner or Golden Altar for the daily incense (see the dispute above on why the second carries the name).
matzeivah (מצבה)
Root נ-צ-ב, as in netziv, something standing, a pillar. Beyond a single-stone altar it names any commemorative monument, and in ordinary speech a tombstone. Devarim 16:22 forbids it outright; Rashi and Ramban part company over what exactly is forbidden (above).
bamah (במה)
Literally a high place, hence a private altar, since these were commonly built on higher ground; the article relates it to bimah, the raised platform from which the Torah is read. Sacrifices outside the central place of worship are forbidden (Devarim 12:5-18), but the Mishnah (Zevachim 14:6) holds that the prohibition did not apply while the central sanctuary was wholly temporary: until the Beis HaMikdash was built, and outside the 369 years the Mishkan stood at Shiloh, certain offerings were permitted on a private bamah. Much of the First Temple period saw Jews in both kingdoms continue to offer on bamos, which drew them toward outright idolatry.
Rendering guidance
- Default: mizbeach "altar," matzeivah "pillar" or "single-stone altar," bamah "high place" or "private altar." Plural bamos.
- Trap: English "altar" will swallow all three. Where a passage sets the commanded mizbeach against the hated matzeivah (Devarim 16:22 beside 16:21), or against the illicit bamos of the kings, the English must keep three distinct words or the contrast is lost.
- Second trap: matzeivah in a Chumash context is a place of offering; in modern Hebrew it is a gravestone. Do not let the modern sense leak into a rendering of Yaakov's matzeivah at Beis El.
- With bamah, "high place" carries the literal sense and "private altar" the halachic one. Where the passage is about the prohibition rather than the topography, "private altar" is clearer.
- Where Mizbeach HaZahav and Mizbeach HaChitzon both appear, render them "the Golden Altar" and "the Outer Altar" rather than transliterating; the contrast is the point.
Sources
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "Stones and High Altars," What's in a Word?, Ohr Somayach, 7 Kislev 5778 (2017-11-25): raw text in sources/whats-in-a-word/raw/7499-stones-and-high-altars.md. Primary loci the article cites: Shemos 27:1-2 and 30:2; Devarim 12:5-18 and 16:22; Bereishis 28:18-22 and 31:45; Bamidbar 17:11-15; Sifrei to Devarim 16 (the article prints "Deut. 16:2"; the matzeivah verse under discussion is 16:22); Zohar Vayakhel 219a; Radak, Sefer HaShorashim; Mishnah Zevachim 14:6.
Two loci to watch. For Hashem identifying Himself to Yaakov as the One for whom the Beis El matzeivah was set up, the article gives Bereishis 31:45; that verse is Yaakov raising a stone at Gal-Ed with Lavan, and the verse that carries the claim is Bereishis 31:13, "Anochi ha'Kel Beis El asher mashachta sham matzeivah." The entry uses 31:13 and flags the article's form. Bamidbar 17:11-15 for Aharon and the incense is the Hebrew numbering, which the article uses; in English Bibles it is Numbers 16:46-50.