The Ancients believed the gods loved the aroma of burnt sacrifice. When animals were sacrificed and burned on altars, the rising smoke was thought to carry the essence of the offering up to the gods. This created a mutually beneficial relationship between humans who ate the meat, while the gods received honor and the aromatic essence. The fragrant smoke demonstrated piety and maintained the relationship between mortals and immortals.
The site at Mt. Ebal had two occupation levels. Zertal calls the older occupation "level II" which he dates 1300 BC and the younger level I to 1250 BC.If this site is no older than 1300 BC, then none of it could be built by Joshua, because the exodus took place in 1400 BC. However this is a Hebrew altar built during the time of Deborah the Judge and underneath we believe is the actual altar of Joshua that should be dated to 1400 BC since a scarab from Tuthmosis III was found but wrongly dated to 1250 BC.
The Orthodox Jews maintain about one thousand shohatim - many of them in Argentina and Uruguay -, who sacrifice the cattle and ensure that the meat is kosher. Two thousand years have passed since the Temple's cohanim and levi'im were disbanded, but the Jewish priestly caste succeeded in maintaining its social position and extracting its divinely ordained share. Amazing!
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