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1. It commemorated Divine communications (Genesis 12:7, 8).

2. It expressed a practical faith. He took possession of the land, not by issuing a decree, etc., but by thus acknowledging God.

3. It attested an unchanging piety. He had grown rich (Genesis 13:2) but did not forget God (Deuteronomy 6:10-12).

4. It denoted a wise householder's forethought. At the first he built the altar near the tent (Genesis 12:8). Now he pitched his tent near the altar. Man's home and God's house should be contiguous.

5. But these old altars are obsolete. It was intended for sacrifice. "Henceforth," etc., comp. Hebrews 10:26, and Hebrews 9:11-14. This sacrifice final. No altar now needed. As the altar was a place of meeting, so the word is now applied to Christian sanctuaries, which are —

(1)  places of sacred communion;

(2)  of Divine worship;

(3)  of Christian fellowship;

(4)  of neighbourly gathering.

(J. C. Gray.)

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KJV: Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the LORD.

WEB: to the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first. There Abram called on the name of Yahweh.