E
X O D U S
CHAP. XXXVIII.
Here
is an account, I. Of the making of the brazen altar (ver. 1-7), and the laver,
ver. 8. II. The preparing of the hangings for the enclosing of the court in
which the tabernacle was to stand, ver. 9-20. III. A summary of the gold,
silver, and brass, that was contributed to, and used in, the preparing of the
tabernacle, ver. 21, &c.
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The
Tabernacle and Its Furniture.
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B.
C. 1491.
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1 And he made the altar
of burnt offering of shittim wood: five cubits was the length
thereof, and five cubits the breadth thereof; it was foursquare; and
three cubits the height thereof. 2 And he made the horns thereof
on the four corners of it; the horns thereof were of the same: and he overlaid
it with brass. 3 And he made all the vessels of the altar, the
pots, and the shovels, and the basons, and the fleshhooks, and the
firepans: all the vessels thereof made he of brass. 4 And
he made for the altar a brazen grate of network under the compass thereof
beneath unto the midst of it. 5 And he cast four rings for the
four ends of the grate of brass, to be places for the staves.
6 And he made the staves of shittim wood, and overlaid them with
brass. 7 And he put the staves into the rings on the sides of the
altar, to bear it withal; he made the altar hollow with boards. 8
And he made the laver of brass, and the foot of it of brass, of
the looking-glasses of the women assembling, which assembled at
the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
Bezaleel having finished the gold-work, which, though the richest, yet was
ordered to lie most out of sight, in the tabernacle itself, here goes on to
prepare the court, which lay open to the view of all. Two things the court was
furnished with, and both made of brass:--
I. An altar of burnt-offering, v. 1-7. On this all their sacrifices
were offered, and it was this which, being sanctified itself for this purpose
by the divine appointment, sanctified the gift that was in faith offered on
it. Christ was himself the altar to his own sacrifice of atonement, and so he
is to all our sacrifices of acknowledgment. We must have an eye to him in
offering them, as God has in accepting them.
II. A laver, to hold water for the priests to wash in when they went in to
minister, v. 8. This signified the provision that is made in the gospel
of Christ for the cleansing of our souls from the moral pollution of sin by
the merit and grace of Christ, that we may be fit to serve the holy God in
holy duties. This is here said to be made of the looking-glasses (or
mirrors) of the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle.
1. It should seem these women were eminent and exemplary for devotion,
attending more frequently and seriously at the place of public worship than
others did; and notice is here taken of it to their honour. Anna was such a
one long afterwards, who departed not from the temple, but served God with
fastings and prayers night and day, Luke ii. 37. It seems in every age of
the church there have been some who have thus distinguished themselves by
their serious zealous piety, and they have thereby distinguished themselves;
for devout women are really honourable women (Acts xiii. 50), and not the less
so for their being called, by the scoffers of the latter days, silly women.
Probably these women were such as showed their zeal upon this occasion, by
assisting in the work that was now going on for the service of the tabernacle.
They assembled by troops, so the word is; a blessed sight, to see so
many, and those so zealous and so unanimous, in this good work.
2. These women parted with their mirrors (which were of the finest brass,
burnished for that purpose) for the use of the tabernacle. Those women that
admire their own beauty, are in love with their own shadow, and make the
putting on of apparel their chief adorning by which they value and recommend
themselves, can but ill spare their looking-glasses; yet these women
offered them to God, either, (1.) In token of their repentance for the
former abuse of them, to the support of their pride and vanity; now that they
were convinced of their folly, and had devoted themselves to the service of
God at the door of the tabernacle, they thus threw away that which, though
lawful and useful in itself, yet had been an occasion of sin to them. Thus
Mary Magdalene, who had been a sinner, when she became a penitent wiped
Christ's feet with her hair. Or, (2.) In token of their great zeal for the
work of the tabernacle; rather than the workmen should want brass, or not have
of the best, they would part with their mirrors, though they could not do well
without them. God's service and glory must always be preferred by us before
any satisfactions or accommodations of our own. Let us never complain of the
want of that which we may honour God by parting with.
3. These mirrors were used for the making of the laver. Either they were
artfully joined together, or else molten down and cast anew; but it is
probable that the laver was so brightly burnished that the sides of it still
served for mirrors, that the priests, when they came to wash, might there see
their faces, and so discover the spots, to wash them clean. Note, In the
washing of repentance, there is need of the looking-glass of self-examination.
The word of God is a glass, in which we may see our own faces (see Jam. i.
23); and with it we must compare our own hearts and lives, that, finding out
our blemishes, we may wash with particular sorrow, and application of the
blood of Christ to our souls. Usually the more particular we are in the
confession of sin the more comfort we have in the sense of the pardon.
9 And he made the court:
on the south side southward the hangings of the court were of fine
twined linen, an hundred cubits: 10 Their pillars were
twenty, and their brazen sockets twenty; the hooks of the pillars and their
fillets were of silver. 11 And for the north side the
hangings were an hundred cubits, their pillars were twenty, and
their sockets of brass twenty; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of
silver. 12 And for the west side were hangings of fifty
cubits, their pillars ten, and their sockets ten; the hooks of the pillars and
their fillets of silver. 13 And for the east side eastward
fifty cubits. 14 The hangings of the one side of the gate were
fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three. 15
And for the other side of the court gate, on this hand and that hand, were
hangings of fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets
three. 16 All the hangings of the court round about were of
fine twined linen. 17 And the sockets for the pillars were of
brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver; and the
overlaying of their chapiters of silver; and all the pillars of the
court were filleted with silver. 18 And the hanging for the
gate of the court was needlework, of blue, and purple, and
scarlet, and fine twined linen: and twenty cubits was the length, and
the height in the breadth was five cubits, answerable to the hangings
of the court. 19 And their pillars were four, and their
sockets of brass four; their hooks of silver, and the overlaying
of their chapiters and their fillets of silver. 20 And all
the pins of the tabernacle, and of the court round about, were of
brass.
The walls of the court, or church-yard, were like the rest curtains or
hangings, made according to the appointment, ch. xxvii. 9, &c. This
represented the state of the Old-Testament church: it was a garden enclosed;
the worshippers were then confined to a little compass. But the enclosure
being of curtains only intimated that the confinement of the church in one
particular nation was not to be perpetual. The dispensation itself was a
tabernacle-dispensation, movable and mutable, and in due time to be taken down
and folded up, when the place of the tent should be enlarged and its cords
lengthened, to make room for the Gentile world, as is foretold, Isa. liv. 2,
3. The church here on earth is but the court of God's house, and happy they
that tread these courts and flourish in them; but through these courts we are
passing to the holy place above. Blessed are those that dwell in that house
of God: they well be still praising him. The enclosing of a court
before the tabernacle teaches us a gradual approach to God. The priests that
ministered must pass through the holy court, before they entered the holy
house. Thus before solemn ordinances there ought to be the separated and
enclosed court of a solemn preparation, in which we must wash our hands, and
so draw near with a true heart.
21 This is the sum of the
tabernacle, even of the tabernacle of testimony, as it was counted,
according to the commandment of Moses, for the service of the Levites,
by the hand of Ithamar, son to Aaron the priest. 22 And Bezaleel
the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the LORD
commanded Moses. 23 And with him was Aholiab, son of
Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, and a cunning workman, and an
embroiderer in blue, and in purple, and in scarlet, and fine linen.
24 All the gold that was occupied for the work in all the work of the holy place,
even the gold of the offering, was twenty and nine talents, and seven hundred
and thirty shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary. 25 And the
silver of them that were numbered of the congregation was an hundred
talents, and a thousand seven hundred and threescore and fifteen shekels,
after the shekel of the sanctuary: 26 A bekah for every man, that
is, half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for every one that
went to be numbered, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred
thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty men.
27 And of the hundred talents of silver were cast the sockets of the
sanctuary, and the sockets of the vail; an hundred sockets of the hundred
talents, a talent for a socket. 28 And of the thousand seven
hundred seventy and five shekels he made hooks for the pillars, and overlaid
their chapiters, and filleted them. 29 And the brass of the
offering was seventy talents, and two thousand and four hundred
shekels. 30 And therewith he made the sockets to the door of the
tabernacle of the congregation, and the brazen altar, and the brazen grate for
it, and all the vessels of the altar, 31 And the sockets of the
court round about, and the sockets of the court gate, and all the pins of the
tabernacle, and all the pins of the court round about.
Here we have a breviat of the account which, by Moses's appointment, the
Levites took and kept of the gold, silver, and brass, that was brought in for
the tabernacle's use, and how it was employed. Ithamar the son of Aaron was
appointed to draw up this account, and was thus by less services trained up
and fitted for greater, v. 21. Bezaleel and Aholiab must bring in the
account (v. 22, 23), and Ithamar must audit it, and give it in to
Moses. And it was thus:-- 1. All the gold was a free-will offering; every man
brought as he could and would, and it amounted to twenty-nine talents, and 730
shekels over, which some compute to be about 150,000l. worth of gold,
according to the present value of it. Of this were made all the golden
furniture and vessels. 2. The silver was levied by way of tax; every man was
assessed half a shekel, a kind of poll-money, which amounted in the whole to
100 talents, and 1775 shekels over, v. 25, 26. Of this they made the
sockets into which the boards of the tabernacle were let, and on which they
rested; so that they were as the foundation of the tabernacle, v. 27.
The silver amounted to about 34,000l. of our money. The raising of the
gold by voluntary contribution, and of the silver by way of tribute, shows
that either way may be taken for the defraying of public expenses, provided
that nothing be done with partiality. 3. The brass, though less valuable, was
of use not only for the brazen altar, but for the sockets of the court, which
probably in other tents were of wood: but it is promised (Isa. lx. 17), For
wood I will bring brass. See how liberal the people were and how faithful
the workmen were, in both which respects their good example ought to be
followed.
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