At the time of receiving the Ten Commandments, Moses received other regulations for the people in connection with altars (Ex. 20:25–26). They were to be made of stone and without any tool being used. They were to be very simple with no steps up to the place of sacrifice. Man’s innovations were set aside. Man was not to be exalted, and there was to be absolute modesty, unlike the pagan altars. Some of these regulations were altered or modified in the days of Solomon.

Jehovah’s name was to be “remembered” in the places where people brought their offerings. The regulation concerning these various altars was largely provisional. When the people of Israel would come into the land, eventually God would choose a definite place in which He would “cause His name to dwell” (Dt. 12:11). It was there they were to bring their offerings and not to various places scattered throughout the land. At first the place was to be in Shiloh; after Shiloh was set aside, the place where God would cause His name to dwell was in Jerusalem. Once this was established, the smaller informal altars were to come to an end.

Does any of this have a voice for us? Yes, indeed. We too have a “place” where we can come where the Lord has placed His name. For us it is not a geographical location, it is not a national or ethnic location, nor a sectarian location: “For where two or three are gathered together unto My name, there am I in the midst of them” (Mt. 18:20). They were to “remember” His name. We are to “remember” Him in His death. The promise to them is the same for us: “I will come unto thee, and bless thee.”