Why No Steps Lead Up to the Altar of the LORD

"And you shall not go up by steps upon My altar" (Exodus 20:23). One might think one may not go up, but it is permitted to come down. Scripture teaches, "that your nakedness be not exposed upon it." One might say this, but then I would have thought the altar should be small and stand on the ground and one would burn the offering there; Scripture teaches, "And the priest shall offer up the burnt offering and the meal offering on the altar" (Leviticus 14:20). If so, why does it say "you shall not go up by steps"? That one shall not make steps for it, but rather they build a ramp like a mound on the south of the altar, narrowing and descending from the top of the altar to the ground. And one who goes up by steps onto the altar incurs lashes, even by a single step, for it is written "you shall not go up by steps" - "by a step" it is written. "That your nakedness be not exposed upon it" - what need have I of this, since it already says, "And you shall make them linen breeches to cover the flesh of nakedness" (Exodus 28:42)? What does "that your nakedness be not exposed upon it" teach? That when one goes up to the altar he shall not take a wide stride, but walk heel beside toe. I know only the altar; from where the courtyards? Scripture teaches, "you shall not go up by steps upon My altar," and "upon it" is said - "upon it" means only close beside it, and so it says, "In the house of God we walked in the throng" (Psalms 55:15). One might think one may not make steps for the Sanctuary and the courtyards; Scripture teaches, "you shall not go up by steps upon My altar" - for the altar you make no steps, but you do make steps for the Sanctuary and the courtyards. Another interpretation of "you shall not go up by steps upon My altar": since it says, "and you shall sacrifice upon it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings," one might think a person should intend to sin in order to bring an offering; Scripture teaches, "you shall not go up by steps" - read it not "by steps" (ma'alot) but "by trespasses" (me'ilot) [a play reading the word as acts of sacrilege]. So that a person shall not say, "which trespass has a stringent offering, that I might go and commit it and offer up a great burnt offering." And so it says, "For I the LORD love justice, I hate robbery in a burnt offering" (Isaiah 61:8).