The altar of burnt offering was the first thing anyone saw on approaching the Tabernacle. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus 40:29 places it exactly there — at the gate, before the court, before the inner tent, before the ark. "He offered thereon the burnt offering and the oblation, as the Lord commanded" (Exodus 40:29).
The geography of approach
Position was theology. The outer altar marked the threshold where the ordinary world ended and sacred space began. To cross it meant first surrendering something — a lamb, a bull, a handful of flour mixed with oil. No Israelite reached the incense altar, let alone the ark, without passing the place of fire.
The Targum's choice to highlight "the gate" is deliberate. A gate is a negotiated border. It opens and closes. It admits and excludes. Moses, performing the inaugural offerings himself, established the pattern that every priest after him would follow: sacrifice comes first, and only then does worship move inward.
Burnt offering and oblation together
The two offerings the Targum names — the olah (burnt offering) and the minchah (grain oblation) — represent complementary gifts. The burnt offering was wholly consumed, rising entirely to heaven. The grain offering included a handful burned and the rest given to the priests for food. One gesture gave everything up; the other shared the harvest with the servants of the altar.
Together they encoded a theology of sacrifice that was never purely loss. What ascended to God and what sustained the community came from the same act. The gate altar was where heaven and the priestly table met.
As the Lord commanded Mosheh
The closing formula repeats again. Moses does not improvise. Every placement, every fire, every portion follows the blueprint given at Sinai. The Tabernacle is not his creation — it is his obedience.
The takeaway: the path to holiness in Jewish tradition has a first station, and it is the altar at the gate. You do not enter the presence of God empty-handed, and you do not enter without passing through fire.