Chapter 27:1-8 comments: revisiting the cubit

27:1 ¶  And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof shall be three cubits. 2  And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof: his horns shall be of the same: and thou shalt overlay it with brass. 3  And thou shalt make his pans to receive his ashes, and his shovels, and his basons, and his fleshhooks, and his firepans: all the vessels thereof thou shalt make of brass. 4  And thou shalt make for it a grate of network of brass; and upon the net shalt thou make four brasen rings in the four corners thereof. 5  And thou shalt put it under the compass of the altar beneath, that the net may be even to the midst of the altar. 6  And thou shalt make staves for the altar, staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with brass. 7  And the staves shall be put into the rings, and the staves shall be upon the two sides of the altar, to bear it. 8  Hollow with boards shalt thou make it: as it was shewed thee in the mount, so shall they make it.

Cubits as units of measurement came in different lengths. Some authorities say they went from 18 to 22 inches. It is clear that there were different types of cubits mentioned in the Bible. Besides a regular cubit there was a great cubit.

Ezekiel 41:8  I saw also the height of the house round about: the foundations of the side chambers were a full reed of six great cubits.

There must have been a standard they went by as a measuring reed is mentioned several times in Ezekiel. So, I would doubt that every man was just going by the distance from his elbow to the tip of his middle finger as there could be some variation in that which would make building tricky.

Remember, Solomon’s temple was a modular building, or as some today call modular buildings a systems-built structure, where all the parts were formed offsite by a plan and then brought to the site and put together. You could not do that without exacting measurements.

1Kings 6:7  And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.

The ability of ancient peoples to make use of exact measurements is astounding when you consider the precision of the Pyramids of Egypt to the buildings the Incas and the cultures before them left behind in what is now Peru in South America.

The horns of the altar were a place people would run to for sanctuary and protection from other contexts. But committing murder and running to God’s altar for protection would not save someone from punishment.

Exodus 21:14  But if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbour, to slay him with guile; thou shalt take him from mine altar, that he may die.

1Kings 2:29  And it was told king Solomon that Joab was fled unto the tabernacle of the LORD; and, behold, he is by the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, Go, fall upon him. 30  And Benaiah came to the tabernacle of the LORD, and said unto him, Thus saith the king, Come forth. And he said, Nay; but I will die here. And Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me. 31  And the king said unto him, Do as he hath said, and fall upon him, and bury him; that thou mayest take away the innocent blood, which Joab shed, from me, and from the house of my father. 32  And the LORD shall return his blood upon his own head, who fell upon two men more righteous and better than he, and slew them with the sword, my father David not knowing thereof, to wit, Abner the son of Ner, captain of the host of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, captain of the host of Judah. 33  Their blood shall therefore return upon the head of Joab, and upon the head of his seed for ever: but upon David, and upon his seed, and upon his house, and upon his throne, shall there be peace for ever from the LORD. 34  So Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up, and fell upon him, and slew him: and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness.

There are words here in these passages that are not used in the same way today as they were in early modern English. But, there are many studies you can access online that go into great detail on how these items looked.