25 Moses said, "You must also give into our hand sacrifices and burnt-offerings, that we may sacrifice to Yahweh our God.
"This is the thing that you shall do to them to make them holy, to minister to me in the priest's office: take one young bull and two rams without blemish, unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil: you shall make them of fine wheat flour. You shall put them into one basket, and bring them in the basket, with the bull and the two rams. You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the tent of meeting, and shall wash them with water. You shall take the garments, and put on Aaron the coat, the robe of the ephod, the ephod, and the breastplate, and dress him with the skillfully woven band of the ephod; and you shall set the turban on his head, and put the holy crown on the turban. Then you shall take the anointing oil, and pour it on his head, and anoint him. You shall bring his sons, and put coats on them. You shall dress them with belts, Aaron and his sons, and bind headbands on them: and they shall have the priesthood by a perpetual statute: and you shall consecrate Aaron and his sons. "You shall bring the bull before the tent of meeting: and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the bull. You shall kill the bull before Yahweh, at the door of the tent of meeting. You shall take of the blood of the bull, and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger; and you shall pour out all the blood at the base of the altar. You shall take all the fat that covers the innards, the cover of the liver, the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, and burn them on the altar. But the flesh of the bull, and its skin, and its dung, you shall burn with fire outside of the camp: it is a sin-offering. "You shall also take the one ram; and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram. You shall kill the ram, and you shall take its blood, and sprinkle it around on the altar. You shall cut the ram into its pieces, and wash its innards, and its legs, and put them with its pieces, and with its head. You shall burn the whole ram on the altar: it is a burnt offering to Yahweh; it is a sweet savor, an offering made by fire to Yahweh. "You shall take the other ram; and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram. Then you shall kill the ram, and take some of its blood, and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and on the tip of the right ear of his sons, and on the thumb of their right hand, and on the big toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood on the altar round about. You shall take of the blood that is on the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron, and on his garments, and on his sons, and on the garments of his sons with him: and he shall be made holy, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons' garments with him. Also you shall take some of the ram's fat, the fat tail, the fat that covers the innards, the cover of the liver, the two kidneys, the fat that is on them, and the right thigh (for it is a ram of consecration), and one loaf of bread, one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer out of the basket of unleavened bread that is before Yahweh. You shall put all of this in Aaron's hands, and in his sons' hands, and shall wave them for a wave-offering before Yahweh. You shall take them from their hands, and burn them on the altar on the burnt offering, for a sweet savor before Yahweh: it is an offering made by fire to Yahweh. "You shall take the breast of Aaron's ram of consecration, and wave it for a wave-offering before Yahweh: and it shall be your portion. You shall sanctify the breast of the wave-offering, and the thigh of the heave-offering, which is waved, and which is heaved up, of the ram of consecration, even of that which is for Aaron, and of that which is for his sons: and it shall be for Aaron and his sons as their portion forever from the children of Israel; for it is a heave-offering: and it shall be a heave-offering from the children of Israel of the sacrifices of their peace-offerings, even their heave-offering to Yahweh. "The holy garments of Aaron shall be for his sons after him, to be anointed in them, and to be consecrated in them. Seven days shall the son who is priest in his place put them on, when he comes into the tent of meeting to minister in the holy place. "You shall take the ram of consecration, and boil its flesh in a holy place. Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram, and the bread that is in the basket, at the door of the tent of meeting. They shall eat those things with which atonement was made, to consecrate and sanctify them: but a stranger shall not eat of it, because they are holy. If anything of the flesh of the consecration, or of the bread, remains to the morning, then you shall burn the remainder with fire: it shall not be eaten, because it is holy. "Thus shall you do to Aaron, and to his sons, according to all that I have commanded you. Seven days shall you consecrate them. Every day shall you offer the bull of sin-offering for atonement: and you shall cleanse the altar, when you make atonement for it; and you shall anoint it, to sanctify it. Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar, and sanctify it: and the altar shall be most holy; whatever touches the altar shall be holy. "Now this is that which you shall offer on the altar: two lambs a year old day by day continually. The one lamb you shall offer in the morning; and the other lamb you shall offer at evening: and with the one lamb a tenth part of an ephah of fine flour mixed with the fourth part of a hin of beaten oil, and the fourth part of a hin of wine for a drink-offering. The other lamb you shall offer at evening, and shall do to it according to the meal-offering of the morning, and according to its drink-offering, for a sweet savor, an offering made by fire to Yahweh. It shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tent of meeting before Yahweh, where I will meet with you, to speak there to you. There I will meet with the children of Israel; and the place shall be sanctified by my glory. I will sanctify the tent of meeting and the altar: Aaron also and his sons I will sanctify, to minister to me in the priest's office. I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God. They shall know that I am Yahweh their God, who brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them: I am Yahweh their God.
Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people, and blessed them; and he came down from offering the sin offering, and the burnt offering, and the peace offerings.
"Bezalel and Oholiab shall work with every wise-hearted man, in whom Yahweh has put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all the work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that Yahweh has commanded." Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab, and every wise-hearted man, in whose heart Yahweh had put wisdom, even everyone whose heart stirred him up to come to the work to do it: and they received from Moses all the offering which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, with which to make it. They brought yet to him freewill-offerings every morning. All the wise men, who performed all the work of the sanctuary, each came from his work which they did. They spoke to Moses, saying, "The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work which Yahweh commanded to make." Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, "Let neither man nor woman make anything else for the offering for 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. All the wise-hearted men among those who did the work made the tent with ten curtains; of fine twined linen, blue, purple, and scarlet, with cherubim, the work of the skillful workman, they made them. The length of each curtain was twenty-eight cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits. All the curtains had one measure. He coupled five curtains to one another, and the other five curtains he coupled one to another. He made loops of blue on the edge of the one curtain from the edge in the coupling. Likewise he made in the edge of the curtain that was outmost in the second coupling. He made fifty loops in the one curtain, and he made fifty loops in the edge of the curtain that was in the second coupling. The loops were opposite one to another. He made fifty clasps of gold, and coupled the curtains one to another with the clasps: so the tent was a unit. He made curtains of goats' hair for a covering over the tent. He made them eleven curtains. The length of each curtain was thirty cubits, and four cubits the breadth of each curtain. The eleven curtains had one measure. He coupled five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves. He made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that was outmost in the coupling, and he made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain which was outmost in the second coupling. He made fifty clasps of brass to couple the tent together, that it might be a unit. He made a covering for the tent of rams' skins dyed red, and a covering of sea cow hides above. He made the boards for the tent 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. He made all the boards of the tent this way. He made the boards for the tent: twenty boards for the south side southward. 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. For the second side of the tent, 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. For the far part of the tent westward he made six boards. He made two boards for the corners of the tent in the far part. They were double beneath, and in like manner they were all the way to the top of it to one ring. He did thus to both of them in the two corners. There were eight boards, and their sockets of silver, sixteen sockets; under every board two sockets. He made bars of acacia wood; five for the boards of the one side of the tent, and five bars for the boards of the other side of the tent, and five bars for the boards of the tent for the hinder part westward. He made the middle bar to pass through in the midst of the boards from the one end to the other. He overlaid the boards with gold, and made their rings of gold for places for the bars, and overlaid the bars with gold. He made the veil of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen: with cherubim. He made it the work of a skillful workman. He made four pillars of acacia for it, and overlaid them with gold. Their hooks were of gold. He cast four sockets of silver for them. He made a screen for the door of the tent, of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of an embroiderer; and the five pillars of it with their hooks. He overlaid their capitals and their fillets with gold, and their five sockets were of brass.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Exodus 10
Commentary on Exodus 10 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 10
Ex 10:1-20. Plague of Locusts.
1. show these my signs, &c.—Sinners even of the worst description are to be admonished even though there may be little hope of amendment, and hence those striking miracles that carried so clear and conclusive demonstration of the being and character of the true God were performed in lengthened series before Pharaoh to leave him without excuse when judgment should be finally executed.
2. And that thou mayest tell … of thy son, and of thy son's son, &c.—There was a further and higher reason for the infliction of those awful judgments, namely, that the knowledge of them there, and the permanent record of them still, might furnish a salutary and impressive lesson to the Church down to the latest ages. Worldly historians might have described them as extraordinary occurrences that marked this era of Moses in ancient Egypt. But we are taught to trace them to their cause: the judgments of divine wrath on a grossly idolatrous king and nation.
4. to-morrow will I bring the locusts—Moses was commissioned to renew the request, so often made and denied, with an assurance that an unfavorable answer would be followed on the morrow by an invasion of locusts. This species of insect resembles a large, spotted, red and black, double-winged grasshopper, about three inches or less in length, with the two hind legs working like hinged springs of immense strength and elasticity. Perhaps no more terrible scourge was ever brought on a land than those voracious insects, which fly in such countless numbers as to darken the land which they infest; and on whatever place they alight, they convert it into a waste and barren desert, stripping the ground of its verdure, the trees of their leaves and bark, and producing in a few hours a degree of desolation which it requires the lapse of years to repair.
7-11. Pharaoh's servants said—Many of his courtiers must have suffered serious losses from the late visitations, and the prospect of such a calamity as that which was threatened and the magnitude of which former experience enabled them to realize, led them to make a strong remonstrance with the king. Finding himself not seconded by his counsellors in his continued resistance, he recalled Moses and Aaron, and having expressed his consent to their departure, inquired who were to go. The prompt and decisive reply, "all," neither man nor beast shall remain, raised a storm of indignant fury in the breast of the proud king. He would permit the grown-up men to go away; but no other terms would be listened to.
11. they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence—In the East, when a person of authority and rank feels annoyed by a petition which he is unwilling to grant, he makes a signal to his attendants, who rush forward and, seizing the obnoxious suppliant by the neck, drag him out of the chamber with violent haste. Of such a character was the impassioned scene in the court of Egypt when the king had wrought himself into such a fit of uncontrollable fury as to treat ignominiously the two venerable representatives of the Hebrew people.
13-19. the Lord brought an east wind—The rod of Moses was again raised, and the locusts came. They are natives of the desert and are only brought by an east wind into Egypt, where they sometimes come in sun-obscuring clouds, destroying in a few days every green blade in the track they traverse. Man, with all his contrivances, can do nothing to protect himself from the overwhelming invasion. Egypt has often suffered from locusts. But the plague that followed the wave of the miraculous rod was altogether unexampled. Pharaoh, fearing irretrievable ruin to his country, sent in haste for Moses, and confessing his sin, implored the intercession of Moses, who entreated the Lord, and a "mighty strong west wind took away the locusts."
Ex 10:21-29. Plague of Darkness.
21-23. Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness—Whatever secondary means were employed in producing it, whether thick clammy fogs and vapors, according to some; a sandstorm, or the chamsin, according to others; it was such that it could be almost perceived by the organs of touch, and so protracted as to continue for three days, which the chamsin does [Hengstenberg]. The appalling character of this calamity consisted in this, that the sun was an object of Egyptian idolatry; that the pure and serene sky of that country was never marred by the appearance of a cloud. And here, too, the Lord made a marked difference between Goshen and the rest of Egypt.
24-26. Pharaoh called unto Moses, and said, Go ye, serve the Lord—Terrified by the preternatural darkness, the stubborn king relents, and proposes another compromise—the flocks and herds to be left as hostages for their return. But the crisis is approaching, and Moses insists on every iota of his demand. The cattle would be needed for sacrifice—how many or how few could not be known till their arrival at the scene of religious observance. But the emancipation of Israel from Egyptian bondage was to be complete.
28. Pharaoh said, … Get thee from me—The calm firmness of Moses provoked the tyrant. Frantic with disappointment and rage, with offended and desperate malice, he ordered him from his presence and forbade him ever to return.
29. Moses said, Thou hast spoken well.