Thumiatérion—金香壇2369
altar of incense
Definition: (ordinarily: censer, but) either the altar of incense, or theshovel, on which the high-priest poured the coals, when he entered the Holy ofHolies on the Day of Atonement.

from thumiaóand -térion (suff. denoting place)
thumiaó：I burn incense

thusiastérion–祭壇
an altar (for sacrifice).

2379 thysiastḗrion – altar; (figuratively) the meeting place between God and thetrue worshiper; (figuratively) the "place" of consecration, wherethe Lord meets and communes with the sincere believer.

("a sacred altar") isformed (present) anywhere the believer hears from God and does what they hear(lives in faith). (thysiastḗrion) and faith  /pístis,"the Lord's inbirthed persuasion") are directly connected (Js2:21-24).

Thusia：a sacrifice; offering.

2378 thysía –an offering (sacrifice); an officialsacrifice prescribed by God; hence an offering the Lord accepts becauseoffered on His terms. refers to various forms of OT blood sacrifices("types") – all awaiting their fulfillment in their antitype,Jesus Christ (Heb 10:5-12).

啟8:3

啟8:5

LUKE 1:11

Darby

The saints arethose whom God is really thinking of, and they come in remembrance before otherscenes are brought out. Those who had been martyred for the word of God andtheir testimony demand how long before they were avenged; for we have ever todo here with a God of judgment. Their being under the altar means simply thatthey had offered their bodies, as sacrifices for the truth, to God. The whiterobes are the witness of their righteousness - God's declared approval of them;but the time for their being avenged was not yet.

聖徒是上帝真的想念的對象，在其他場景出現以前，先帶出他們來紀念。那些為了神的話殉道者和他們的見証需要多長時間被申冤 ；這裡跟上帝的審判有關。他們在祭壇底下簡單地意味著他們向上帝獻上身體作為真理的祭品。白色的長袍是他們義的見證，神稱許他們 ；但是他們報仇的時間還沒有。

Matthew Henry

The sight thisapostle saw at the opening of the fifth seal; (v. 9):

I saw underthe altar the souls of those that were slain for the word of God, and for thetestimony which they held.

He saw thesouls of the martyrs. Here observe,

(1.) Where he saw them—under the altar;at the foot of the altar of incense, in the most holy place; he saw them inheaven, at the foot of Christ.

Hence note,

[1.]Persecutors can only kill the body, and after that there is no more that theycan do; their souls live.

[2.] God hasprovided a good place in the better world for those who are faithful to deathand are not allowed a place any longer on earth.

[3.] Holymartyrs are very near to Christ in heaven, they have the highest place there.

[4.] It is nottheir own death, but the sacrifice of Christ, that gives them a reception intoheaven and a reward there; they do not wash their robes in their own blood, butin the blood of the Lamb.

Jamieson Faussett Brown

under thealtar--As the blood ofsacrificial victims slain on the altar was poured at the bottom of thealtar, so the souls of those sacrificed for Christ's testimony are underthe altar, in heaven; for the life or animal soul is in the blood,and blood is often represented as crying for vengeance (Genesis 4:10). The altar in heaven, antitypical to the altar ofsacrifice, is Christ crucified. As it is the altar that sanctifies the gift, soit is Christ alone who makes our obedience, and even our sacrifice of life forthe truth, acceptable to God. The sacrificial altar was not in the sanctuary,but outside; so Christ's literal sacrifice and the figurative sacrifice of themartyrs took place, not in the heavenly sanctuary, but outside, here on earth.The only altar in heaven is that antitypical to the temple altar of incense.The blood of the martyrs cries from the earth under Christ's cross, whereonthey may be considered virtually to have been sacrificed; their souls cry fromunder the altar of incense, which is Christ in heaven, by whom alone theincense of praise is accepted before God. They are under Christ, in Hisimmediate presence, shut up unto Him in joyful eager expectancy until He shallcome to raise the sleeping dead. Compare the language of 2 Maccabees 7:36 asindicating Jewish opinion on the subject. Our brethren who have now suffered ashort pain are dead under (Greek) God's covenant ofeverlasting life.

GILL

"under thealtar"; either this is said in allusion to the blood of the sacrifices,which was poured out at the bottom of the altar, Leviticus 4:7, in which the life and soul of the creature is; orbecause that martyrdom is a sacrifice of men's lives, and an offering of themin the cause of God and truth, Philippians 2:17; or with some reference to a common notion of theJews, that the souls of the righteous are treasured up under the throne ofglory {c} they have also a saying, everyone that is buried in the land ofIsrael is as if he was buried "under the altar" {d}; for they thinkthat being buried there expiates their sins {e}; to which they add, thatwhoever is buried "under the altar," is as if he was buried under thethrone of glory {f}; yea, they talk of an altar above, upon which Michael thehigh priest causes the souls of the righteous to ascend {g}. Christ may bemeant by the altar here, as he is in Hebrews 13:10, who is both altar, sacrifice, and priest, and isthe altar that sanctifies the gift, and from off which every sacrifice ofprayer and praise comes up with acceptance before God; and the souls of themartyrs being under this altar, denotes their being in the presence of Christ,and enjoying communion with him, and being in his hands, into whose hands theycommit their souls at death, as Stephen did, and being under his care and protectionuntil the resurrection morn, when they shall be reunited to their bodies whichsleep in Jesus: and they were slain