Why did the offerings from the flock or herd have to be slaughtered on the north side of the altar: (Lev. 1:11)?
This seems to have been the best place for this task. The altar was near the middle of the east end of the Tabernacle and this was also the place of ashes (Lev. 1:16). The entrance was on the south side. The Lavar was on the west side. Maimonides says there was a square place from the wall of the altar northward, to the wall of the court, and it was 60 cubits, and all that was over against the breadth of this, from the all of the porch to the eastern wall, and it was seventy -six cubits; and this foursquare place is called the “north” for the slaying of the most holy things; so it seems that this being a large place was fittest for this purpose. Ainsworth’s note on Leviticus 6;25 hereby was figured, that Yahshua our sin offering should be killed by the priests in Jerusalem, and Mt. Zion, which was on “this side of the north. Psalm 48:2 crucified on Mount Calvary, which was on the northwest side of Jerusalem; as by the Jewish tradition, the morning sacrifice was killed at the northwest horn of the altar.
However, this was not a simple Jewish tradition. The instructions were clearly laid out on where a sacrifice from the herd or flock was to be slaughtered in lev. 1:11.
The Bible implies that salvation comes from the north. Psalms 75:6 reads “For promotion (salvation) cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south.”
Job 26:7 reads: “he stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.” History tells us that man did not know this, but what man did believe about the earth was scientifically inaccurate. For example, the Egyptians believed that the earth was a saucer held up by four pillars with a ring of mountains around the edge to keep the water from running off. The Greeks believed that the earth rested on the back of Atlas. This is where we get the name of the once popular book of maps. The Hindus believed the earth was carried on an elephant’s a back and that the elephant was standing on a turtle, swimming in a cosmic sea.
Job 26:7 also says “He stretcheth out the north over the empty place.” Here is another amazing scientific fact. There is an empty place or void in the north of our universe. It was discovered with the 200-inch telescope in Palomar, CA and is now being studied in three separate observatories across the country. It has been found to be so large that it could contain 2,000 milky ways. The Milky Way is 100,000 light years across.
It seems reasonable to deduce that heaven/salvation is located in the north of our universe. There is more support for this idea.
Satan (Lucifer) in his rebellion (when he tried to overthrow G-d), spoke of this void in the north. Isaiah 14;13 tells us “For thou hast said in thine heart, I will sit upon the mount of the congregation, in the side of the north.” This must refer to this empty corridor in the north where there are no stars.
A fascinating passage is found in Psalms 48:1-2. “Great is the L-rd, and greatly to be praised in the city of our G-d, in the mountain of His holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.” Without a doubt, this is a reference to the New Jerusalem and not to the earthly city. “But you are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living G-d, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to our innumerable company of angels (Hebrews 12:22).
When the Bible says: “beautiful for situation,” as the verse continues to explain, it is a reference to the fact that the city is located in the north of our universe. From “the sides of the north” G-d has a beautiful overview of the entire universe and of the whole earth.
Brachas,
Rabbi Tamah Davis-Hart
Beth Elohim Messianic Synagogue
International Teaching Ministry
