Zevachim 59B

והלא כבר נאמר: ״אלף עלות יעלה שלמה על המזבח ההוא״, ואילו בבית עולמים הוא אומר: ״ויזבח שלמה את זבח השלמים אשר זבח לה׳ בקר עשרים ושנים אלף״;

But isn’t it already stated with regard to the altar that Moses built: “1,000 burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar” (I Kings 3:4), while with regard to God House, i.e., the Temple, it states: “And Solomon offered for the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered to YHWH, 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep” (I Kings 8:63)?

וכשאתה מגיע לחשבון עולות ולמנין אמות ⁠– זה גדול מזה!

And when you arrive at the calculation of burnt offerings and the number of cubits for each altar, this was greater than that, i.e., Solomon sacrificed more offerings per square cubit on Moses’ altar than he did on the altar in the Temple upon its inauguration. Therefore, it is difficult to suggest that the altar in the Temple was not large enough to accommodate the number of offerings that Solomon sacrificed.

אלא מהו ״קטן מהכיל״, כאדם האומר לחבירו: ״פלוני ננס הוא״⁠ – ופסול לעבודה.

R' Yosei presents an alternative understanding of the verse: Rather, what is the meaning of the phrase “because the copper altar…was too small to receive”? It is not referring to the altar built by Solomon, but rather to the copper altar built in the time of Moses, which was disqualified from use from the day of the Temple’s inauguration on. Rather than stating outright that the altar became disqualified, the verse employed a euphemism, like a person who says to his friend: So-and-so is a dwarf [nanas], and what he really means to say is that he is disqualified from performing the Temple service. Similarly, rather than stating outright that the altar built in the time of Moses became disqualified, the verse states that it was too small to accommodate the offerings sacrificed in the Temple.