33 And they brought the tabernacle unto Moses, the Tent, and all its furniture, its clasps, its boards, it bars, and its pillars, and it sockets;
And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they take for me an offering: of every man whose heart maketh him willing ye shall take my offering. And this is the offering which ye shall take of them: gold, and silver, and brass, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' `hair', and rams' skins dyed red, and sealskins, and acacia wood, oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense, onyx stones, and stones to be set, for the ephod, and for the breastplate. And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show thee, the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the furniture thereof, even so shall ye make it. And they shall make an ark of acacia wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about. And thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in the four feet thereof; and two rings shall be on the one side of it, and two rings on the other side of it. And thou shalt make staves of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. And thou shalt put the staves into the rings on the sides of the ark, wherewith to bear the ark. The staves shall be in the rings of the ark: they shall not be taken from it. And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee. And thou shalt make a mercy-seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half `shall be' the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof. And thou shalt make two cherubim of gold; of beaten work shalt thou make them, at the two ends of the mercy-seat. And make one cherub at the one end, and one cherub at the other end: of one piece with the mercy-seat shall ye make the cherubim on the two ends thereof. And the cherubim shall spread out their wings on high, covering the mercy-seat with their wings, with their faces one to another; toward the mercy-seat shall the faces of the cherubim be. And thou shalt put the mercy-seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel. And thou shalt make a table of acacia wood: two cubits `shall be' the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold round about. And thou shalt make unto it a border of a handbreadth round about; and thou shalt make a golden crown to the border thereof round about. And thou shalt make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings in the four corners that are on the four feet thereof. Close by the border shall the rings be, for places for the staves to bear the table. And thou shalt make the staves of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be borne with them. And thou shalt make the dishes thereof, and the spoons thereof, and the flagons thereof, and the bowls thereof, wherewith to pour out: of pure gold shalt thou make them. And thou shalt set upon the table showbread before me alway.
the tent of meeting, and the ark of the testimony, and the mercy-seat that is thereupon, and all the furniture of the Tent, and the table and its vessels, and the pure candlestick with all its vessels, and the altar of incense, and the altar of burnt-offering with all its vessels, and the laver and its base, and the finely wrought garments, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest's office, and the anointing oil, and the incense of sweet spices for the holy place: according to all that I have commanded thee shall they do.
the tabernacle, its tent, and its covering, its clasps, and its boards, its bars, its pillars, and its sockets; the ark, and the staves thereof, the mercy-seat, and the veil of the screen; the table, and its staves, and all its vessels, and the showbread; the candlestick also for the light, and its vessels, and its lamps, and the oil for the light; and the altar of incense, and its staves, and the anointing oil, and the sweet incense, and the screen for the door, at the door of the tabernacle; the altar of burnt-offering, with its grating of brass, it staves, and all its vessels, the laver and its base; the hangings of the court, the pillars thereof, and their sockets, and the screen for the gate of the court; the pins of the tabernacle, and the pins of the court, and their cords; the finely wrought garments, for ministering in the holy place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest's office.
And Bezalel and Oholiab shall work, and every wise-hearted man, in whom Jehovah hath put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all the work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that Jehovah hath commanded. And Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab, and every wise-hearted man, in whose heart Jehovah had put wisdom, even every one whose heart stirred him up to come unto the work to do it: and they received of Moses all the offering which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, wherewith to make it. And they brought yet unto him freewill-offerings every morning. And all the wise men, that wrought all the work of the sanctuary, came every man from his work which they wrought. And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work which Jehovah commanded to make. And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing. For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much. And all the wise-hearted men among them that wrought the work made the tabernacle with ten curtains; of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, with cherubim, the work of the skilful workman, `Bezalel' made them. The length of each curtain was eight and twenty cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits: all the curtains had one measure. And he coupled five curtains one to another: and `the other' five curtains he coupled one to another. And he made loops of blue upon the edge of the one curtain from the selvedge in the coupling: likewise he made in the edge of the curtain that was outmost in the second coupling. Fifty loops made he in the one curtain, and fifty loops made he in the edge of the curtain that was in the second coupling: the loops were opposite one to another. And he made fifty clasps of gold, and coupled the curtains one to another with the clasps: so the tabernacle was one. And he made curtains of goats' `hair' for a tent over the tabernacle: eleven curtains he made them. The length of each curtain was thirty cubits, and four cubits the breadth of each curtain: the eleven curtains had one measure. And he coupled five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves. And he made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that was outmost in the coupling, and fifty loops made he upon the edge of the curtain which was `outmost in' the second coupling. And he made fifty clasps of brass to couple the tent together, that it might be one. And he made a covering for the tent of rams' skins dyed red, and a covering of sealskins above. And he made the boards for the tabernacle, of acacia wood, standing up. Ten cubits was the length of a board, and a cubit and a half the breadth of each board. Each board had two tenons, joined one to another: thus did he make for all the boards of the tabernacle. And he made the boards for the tabernacle: twenty boards for the south side southward. And he made forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board for its two tenons, and two sockets under another board for its two tenons. And for the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, he made twenty boards, and their forty sockets of silver; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board. And for the hinder part of the tabernacle westward he made six boards. And two boards made he for the corners of the tabernacle in the hinder part. And they were double beneath; and in like manner they were entire unto the top thereof unto one ring: thus he did to both of them in the two corners. And there were eight boards, and their sockets of silver, sixteen sockets; under every board two sockets. And he made bars of acacia wood; five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the tabernacle for the hinder part westward. And he made the middle bar to pass through in the midst of the boards from the one end to the other. And he overlaid the boards with gold, and made their rings of gold for places for the bars, and overlaid the bars with gold. And he made the veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen: with cherubim, the work of the skilful workman, made he it. And he made thereunto four pillars of acacia, and overlaid them with gold: their hooks were of gold; And he cast for them four sockets of silver. And he made a screen for the door of the Tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the embroiderer; and the five pillars of it with their hooks: and he overlaid their capitals and their fillets with gold; and their five sockets were of brass.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » John Gill's Exposition of the Bible » Commentary on Exodus 39
Commentary on Exodus 39 John Gill's Exposition of the Bible
INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 39
In this chapter is continued the account of making the several things belonging to the sanctuary, particularly the clothes for the service of the tabernacle, and the garments of the priests, as the ephod and its curious girdle, Exodus 39:1 the breastplate and the putting of the stones in it, and the fastening of it to the ephod, Exodus 39:8 the robe of the ephod, with the bells and pomegranates to it, Exodus 39:21 and the coats, mitre, bonnets, breeches, and girdle of fine linen, for Aaron and his sons, Exodus 39:27 and the golden plate, Exodus 39:30 and all being finished, the tabernacle and everything belonging to it were brought to Moses, and viewed by him; who seeing that all was done exactly according to the commandment of the Lord, blessed the people, and particularly the artificers, Exodus 39:38.
And of the blue, and purple, and scarlet, they made cloths of service,.... Jarchi observes that there is no mention made of linen, because these were not the priestly garments in which there was linen; but these were they with which they covered the vessels of the sanctuary when they journeyed; and so says Aben Ezra; and those were covered with cloths of blue, purple, and scarlet, Numbers 4:5 though some think these were clothes wore by the priests:
to do service in the holy place: and which they only wore when in it, and employed in the service of it; and therefore what follows must be by way of explanation:
and made the holy garments for Aaron, as the Lord commanded Moses; the particulars of which are given in the following verses.
And he made the ephod of gold,.... From hence to the end of verse thirty one we have a very particular account of the making of the priest's garments exactly according to the directions given to Moses; see Gill on Exodus 28:1 &c. to end of chapter twenty eight; only it may be observed, that here in Exodus 39:3 an account is given of the manner in which they made the gold fit to be worked along with the blue, purple, and scarlet yarn; they beat the gold into thin plates, and then cut them into wires, and then twisted them together with the yarn: the gold that was used in the weaving of the ephod and the breastplate, spoken of in the law, was wrought after this manner; the workman took one thread of pure gold, and put it with six threads of blue, and twisted the seven threads as one, and so he wrought a thread of gold with six of purple, and another thread with six of scarlet, and another with six of linen or flax, so that there were four threads of gold, and all the threads were twenty eight, as it is said; "they did beat" or spread out "the gold", &c. "to work in the midst of blue", &c. from whence is learnt that the thread of gold was twisted in the midst of themF25Maimon. Cele Hamikdash, c. 9. sect. 5. : and it may be further observed, that after the enumeration of the stones in the breastplate, Exodus 39:10 no mention is made of the Urim and Thummim, which seems to confirm the opinion of many, and which is my own, that they are the same with the stones: moreover, in Exodus 39:28, it may be observed, that what the coats for the common priests were made of is expressed, which is not before, which was linen; expressive of their purity and holiness, and in which they ought always to appear before God and man, and in which apparel they have been imitated among the Heathens: the priests of Hercules are said to be clothed with linenF26Silius Ital. de Bell. Punic. l. 3. , and the Egyptian priests wore only a linen garmentF1Herodot. Euterpe sive, l. 2. c. 38. ; hence the priests of Isis, with whom she is represented as surrounded by JuvenalF2Satyr. 6. , are called by him "grex liniger", and by Martial, "linigeri"F3L. 12. Epigram. 26. .
Thus was all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation finished,.... Both the tabernacle, consisting of the court, the holy place, and the most holy place, and the tent or covering that was over it, with all things appertaining to the service of it, as before described:
and the children of Israel did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so did they: both the people in general, and the artificers in particular; the people brought gold, silver, and brass, &c. as was proposed to them; and the artificers wrought these and all other things, according to the directions and instructions they received.
And they brought the tabernacle unto Moses,.... That is, the several parts of it before it was put together, with all its furniture, and everything appertaining to it; which are examined in the order in which they were directed to be made, from hence to the end of Exodus 39:42 and this was done, that Moses might inspect the whole, and see whether it was done according to the pattern shown him, and the instructions he had given to the workmen.
And Moses did look upon all the work,.... Made a survey of it, and with great care and accuracy examined every particular thing, and the manner in which it was finished:
and, behold, they had done it as the Lord had commanded, even so had they done it; both as to matter and manner in every point, on all accounts, just as they were ordered and directed; they being throughout the whole filled by the Spirit of God with wisdom and understanding, to do everything just as it was the will and pleasure of God it should be done:
and Moses blessed them; commended them for what they had done, and implored the divine blessing upon them; and which may be understood both of the people who had so liberally and plentifully contributed to this good work, and of the artificers who had so carefully and punctually performed it. The form of blessing, as the Targum of Jonathan gives it, is,"may the Shechinah (or the divine Majesty) of the Lord dwell in the works of your hands;'or as Jarchi expresses it,"may it be the pleasure (of God) that the Shechinah may dwell in the works of your hands, and the beauty of the Lord our God may be upon us, &c.'which last words were part of the prayer of Moses, Psalm 90:17.