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Genesis 13

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1 And Abram went up out of Egypt with his wife and all he had, and Lot with him, and they came in to the South.

2 Now Abram had great wealth of cattle and silver and gold.

3 And travelling on from the South, he came to Beth-el, to the place where his tent had been before, between Beth-el and Ai;

4 To the place where he had made his first altar, and there Abram gave worship to the name of the Lord.

5 And Lot, who went with him, had flocks and herds and tents;

6 So that the land was not wide enough for the two of them: their property was so great that there was not room for them together.

7 And there was an argument between the keepers of Abram's cattle and the keepers of Lot's cattle: at that time the Canaanites and Perizzites were still living in the land.

8 Then Abram said to Lot, Let there be no argument between me and you, and between my herdmen and your herdmen, for we are brothers.

9 Is not all the land before you? then let us go our separate ways: if you go to the left, I will go to the right; or if you take the right, I will go to the left.

10 And Lot, lifting up his eyes and looking an the valley of Jordan, saw that it was well watered everywhere, before the Lord had sent destruction on Sodom and Gomorrah; it was like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, on the way to Zoar.

11 So Lot took for himself all the valley of Jordan, and went to the east, and they were parted from one another.

12 Abram went on living in the land of Canaan, and Lot went to the lowland towns, moving his tent as far as Sodom.

13 Now the men of Sodom were evil, and great sinners before the Lord.

14 And the Lord had said to Abram, after Lot was parted from him, From this place where you are take a look to the north and to the south, to the east and to the west:

15 For all the land which you see I will give to you and to your seed for ever.

16 And I will make your children like the dust of the earth, so that if the dust of the earth may be numbered, then will your children be numbered.

17 Come, go through all the land from one end to the other for I will give it to you.

18 And Abram, moving his tent, came and made his living-place by the holy tree of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and made an altar there to the Lord.

   

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Altar

  

The first altar mentioned in the Word was the one built by Noah after he came out of the ark, after being saved from the great flood. On that altar, he sacrificed clean animals to the Lord.

Mountains represent the Lord because of their height; we need to raise our thoughts above worldly things when "talking" with the Lord. An altar is a small artificial mountain. When it's used in worship, it can call to mind this raising of thought. The fire and smoke that rise from an altar are symbolically being sent to the Lord.

Most altars were made from unhewn stones. Stones represent truths. Unhewn stones - ones that have not been shaped by men - represent truths from the Word, truths that have not been adulterated.

The clean beasts to be sacrificed represent good things, charitable acts done because they are right. The clean birds represent thoughts about doctrine and actions, and about what is right. Presenting these things is an acknowledgment that we have them from the Lord, and a giving thanks to Him for them.

In the Israelitish Tabernacle, the altar of burnt offering represented the acknowledgment of good and the altar of incense that of truth. For this reason this larger altar, which was outside by the door, was made of brass which signifies natural good, while the altar of incense was made of gold, which signifies love to the Lord from whom comes truth.