Exodus — Chapter 27

Thou shalt make also an altar of setim wood, which shall be five cubits long, and as many broad—the altar shall be square—and three cubits high. The bronze altar of burnt offering, placed in the outer court, is the site of all the animal sacrifices. Lapide identifies it as the principal figure of the Cross of Christ, the altar of the New Testament on which the one perfect sacrifice was offered. He cites Hebrews 13:10: \"We have an altar of which they have no right to eat who serve the tabernacle.\"

Command the children of Israel that they bring thee the finest and clearest olive oil, to furnish the lamps continually. The lamp of the Menorah was never to be extinguished. Lapide identifies it as a figure of the sacred lamp (sanctuary lamp) in Catholic churches, kept burning perpetually before the tabernacle as a sign of the Real Presence. He notes that this practice, universal in the Church since ancient times, is the direct liturgical descendant of the Mosaic commandment: the divine Presence in the Eucharistic tabernacle is greater than the divine Presence symbolized by the Shekinah cloud.