28 In the future, if it happens that your children say that we do not belong to Israel, then our children can say, ‘Look! Our fathers who lived before us made an altar. That altar is exactly like the Lord’s altar {at the Holy Tent}. We do not use this altar for sacrifices—this altar is proof that we are part of Israel.’
28 Therefore said we, that it shall be, when they should so say to us or to our generations in time to come, that we may say again, Behold the pattern of the altar of the LORD, which our fathers made, not for burnt offerings, nor for sacrifices; but it is a witness between us and you.
28 So we thought, if that should be said to us or to our descendants in time to come, we can reply, Behold the copy of the altar of the Lord, which our fathers made, not for burnt offerings nor for sacrifices, but to be a witness between us and you.
28 Therefore said we, It shall be, when they so say to us or to our generations in time to come, that we shall say, Behold the pattern of the altar of Jehovah, which our fathers made, not for burnt-offering, nor for sacrifice; but it is a witness between us and you.
28 We thought, If in the future they ever say this to us or to our descendants, we could say, ‘Look at this replica of the altar of the LORD that our ancestors made. It isn’t for entirely burned offerings or for sacrifice but to be a witness between us and you.’
28 And if they decide to say this, they shall respond to them: 'Behold, the altar of the Lord, which our fathers made, not for holocausts, and not for sacrifice, but instead as a testimony between us and you.'
The work that these priests do is really only a copy and a shadow of the things that are in heaven. That is why God warned Moses {\cf2\super [82]} when Moses was ready to build the Holy Tent {\cf2\super [83]} : “Be sure to make everything exactly like the pattern I showed you on the mountain.” {\cf2\super [84]}
King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria. Ahaz saw the altar [191] at Damascus. King Ahaz sent a model and pattern of this altar to Uriah the priest.
The real reason we wanted our altar was to show our people that we worship the same God as you. This altar will be the proof to you and to us and to all our future children that we worship the Lord. We give our sacrifices, grain offerings and fellowship offerings to the Lord. We wanted your children to grow up and know that we are also people of Israel like yourselves.
“Truly, we do not want to be against the Lord. We don’t want to stop following him now. We know that the only true altar is the one that is in front of the Holy Tent. That altar belongs to the Lord our God.”
Then Joshua said to all the people, “This stone will help you remember the things we said today. This stone was here when the Lord was speaking to us today. So this stone will be something that helps you remember what happened today. The stone will be a witness against you. It will stop you from turning against the Lord your God.”
At that time, there will be an altar {\cf2\super [193]} for the Lord in the middle of Egypt. At the border of Egypt there will be a monument to show honor to the Lord.