1 And he maketh the altar of burnt-offering of shittim wood, five cubits its length, and five cubits its breadth (square), and three cubits its height;
2 and he maketh its horns on its four corners; its horns have been of the same; and he overlayeth it with brass;
3 and he maketh all the vessels of the altar, the pots, and the shovels, and the sprinkling-pans, the forks, and the fire-pans; all its vessels he hath made of brass.
4 And he maketh for the altar a brazen grate of net-work, under its border beneath, unto its midst;
5 and he casteth four rings for the four ends of the brazen grate -- places for bars;
6 and he maketh the staves of shittim wood, and overlayeth them with brass;
7 and he bringeth in the staves into the rings on the sides of the altar, to bear it with them; hollow `with' boards he made it.
8 And he maketh the laver of brass, and its base of brass, with the looking-glasses of the women assembling, who have assembled at the opening of the tent of meeting.
9 And he maketh the court; at the south side southward, the hangings of the court of twined linen, a hundred by the cubit,
10 their pillars `are' twenty, and their brazen sockets twenty, the pegs of the pillars and their fillets `are' silver;
11 and at the north side, a hundred by the cubit, their pillars `are' twenty, and their sockets of brass twenty; the pegs of the pillars and their fillets `are' silver;
12 and at the west side `are' hangings, fifty by the cubit; their pillars `are' ten, and their sockets ten; the pegs of the pillars and their fillets `are' silver;
13 and at the east side eastward fifty cubits.
14 The hangings on the side `are' fifteen cubits, their pillars three, and their sockets three,
15 and at the second side at the gate of the court, on this and on that, `are' hangings, fifteen cubits, their pillars three, and their sockets three;
16 all the hangings of the court round about `are' of twined linen,
17 and the sockets for the pillars of brass, the pegs of the pillars and their fillets of silver, and the overlaying of their tops of silver, and all the pillars of the court are filleted with silver.
18 And the covering of the gate of the court `is' the work of an embroiderer, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined linen; and twenty cubits `is' the length, and the height with the breadth five cubits, over-against the hangings of the court;
19 and their pillars `are' four, and their sockets of brass four, their pegs `are' of silver, and the overlaying of their tops and their fillets `are' of silver;
20 and all the pins for the tabernacle, and for the court round about, `are' of brass.
21 These are the numberings of the tabernacle (the tabernacle of testimony), which hath been numbered by the command of Moses, the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.
22 And Bezaleel son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, hath made all that Jehovah commanded Moses;
23 and with him `is' Aholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, and designer, and embroiderer in blue, and in purple, and in scarlet, and in linen.
24 All the gold which is prepared for the work in all the work of the sanctuary (and it is the gold of the wave-offering) `is' twenty and nine talents, and seven hundred and thirty shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary.
25 And the silver of those numbered of the company `is' a hundred talents, and a thousand and seven hundred and five and seventy shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary;
26 a bekah for a poll (half a shekel, by the shekel of the sanctuary,) for every one who is passing over unto those numbered, from a son of twenty years and upwards, for six hundred thousand, and three thousand, and five hundred and fifty.
27 And a hundred talents of silver are to cast the sockets of the sanctuary, and the sockets of the vail; a hundred sockets for the hundred talents, a talent for a socket;
28 and the thousand and seven hundred and five and seventy he hath made pegs for the pillars, and overlaid their tops, and filleted them.
29 And the brass of the wave-offering `is' seventy talents, and two thousand and four hundred shekels;
30 and he maketh with it the sockets of the opening of the tent of meeting, and the brazen altar, and the brazen grate which it hath, and all the vessels of the altar,
31 and the sockets of the court round about, and the sockets of the gate of the court, and all the pins of the tabernacle, and all the pins of the court round about.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Exodus 38
Commentary on Exodus 38 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 38
Ex 38:1-31. Furniture of the Tabernacle.
1. the altar of burnt offering—The repetitions are continued, in which may be traced the exact conformity of the execution to the order.
8. laver of brass … of the looking glasses of the women—The word mirrors should have been used, as those implements, usually round, inserted into a handle of wood, stone, or metal, were made of brass, silver, or bronze, highly polished [Wilkinson]. It was customary for the Egyptian women to carry mirrors with them to the temples; and whether by taking the looking glasses of the Hebrew women Moses designed to put it out of their power to follow a similar practice at the tabernacle, or whether the supply of brass from other sources in the camp was exhausted, it is interesting to learn how zealously and to a vast extent they surrendered those valued accompaniments of the female toilet.
of the women assembling … at the door—not priestesses but women of pious character and influence, who frequented the courts of the sacred building (Lu 2:37), and whose parting with their mirrors, like the cutting the hair of the Nazarites, was their renouncing the world for a season [Hengstenberg].
9. the court—It occupied a space of one hundred and fifty feet by seventy-five, and it was enclosed by curtains of fine linen about eight feet high, suspended on brazen or copper pillars. Those curtains were secured by rods fastened to the top, and kept extended by being fastened to pins stuck in the ground.
10. hooks—The hooks of the pillars in the court were for hanging up the carcasses of the sacrificial beasts—those on the pillars at the entry of the tabernacle were for hanging the sacerdotal robes and other things used in the service.
11. sockets—mortices or holes in which the end of the pillars stood.
17. chapiters—or capitals of the pillars, were wooden posts which ran along their top, to which were attached the hooks for the hangings.
18. the height in the breadth—or, "in the measure." The sense is that the hangings of the court gate, which was twenty cubits wide, were of the same height as the hangings all round the court [Wall].
21. This is the sum of the tabernacle—Having completed his description of the component parts of the tabernacle, the inspired historian digresses into a statement respecting the gold and silver employed in it, the computation being made according to an order of Moses—by the Levites, under the direction of Ithamar, Aaron's youngest son.
24. twenty and nine talents, and seven hundred and thirty shekels—equivalent to £150,00 sterling.
25. the silver of them that were numbered—603,550 men at half a shekel each would contribute 301,775 shekels; which at 2s. 4d. each, amounts to £35,207 sterling. It may seem difficult to imagine how the Israelites should be possessed of so much wealth in the desert; but it should be remembered that they were enriched first by the spoils of the Egyptians, and afterwards by those of the Amalekites. Besides, it is highly probable that during their sojourn they traded with the neighboring nations who bordered on the wilderness [Hewlett].