1 "You shall make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and its height shall be three cubits.
2 You shall make its horns on its four corners; its horns shall be of one piece with it; and you shall overlay it with brass.
3 You shall make its pots to take away its ashes, its shovels, its basins, its flesh hooks, and its fire pans: all its vessels you shall make of brass.
4 You shall make a grating for it of network of brass: and on the net you shall make four brazen rings in its four corners.
5 You shall put it under the ledge around the altar beneath, that the net may reach halfway up the altar.
6 You shall make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with brass.
7 Its poles shall be put into the rings, and the poles shall be on the two sides of the altar, when carrying it.
8 Hollow with planks shall you make it: as it has been shown you on the mountain, so shall they make it.
9 "You shall make the court of the tent: for the south side southward there shall be hangings for the court of fine twined linen one hundred cubits long for one side:
10 and the pillars of it shall be twenty, and their sockets twenty, of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver.
11 Likewise for the north side in length there shall be hangings one hundred cubits long, and the pillars of it twenty, and their sockets twenty, of brass; the hooks of the pillars, and their fillets, of silver.
12 For the breadth of the court on the west side shall be hangings of fifty cubits; their pillars ten, and their sockets ten.
13 The breadth of the court on the east side eastward shall be fifty cubits.
14 The hangings for the one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three.
15 For the other side shall be hangings of fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three.
16 For the gate of the court shall be a screen of twenty cubits, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the embroiderer; their pillars four, and their sockets four.
17 All the pillars of the court round about shall be filleted with silver; their hooks of silver, and their sockets of brass.
18 The length of the court shall be one hundred cubits, and the breadth fifty every where, and the height five cubits, of fine twined linen, and their sockets of brass.
19 All the instruments of the tent in all its service, and all the pins of it, and all the pins of the court, shall be of brass.
20 "You shall command the children of Israel, that they bring to you pure olive oil beaten for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually.
21 In the tent of meeting, outside the veil which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall keep it in order from evening to morning before Yahweh: it shall be a statute forever throughout their generations on the behalf of the children of Israel.
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Commentary on Exodus 27 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 27
Ex 27:1-21. Altar for Burnt Offering.
1, 2. altar of shittim wood—The dimensions of this altar which was placed at the entrance of the sanctuary were nearly three yards square, and a yard and a half in height. Under the wooden frame of this chest-like altar the inside was hollow, and each corner was to be terminated by "horns"—angular projections, perpendicular or oblique, in the form of horns. The animals to be sacrificed were bound to these (Ps 118:27), and part of the blood was applied to them.
3. shovels—fire shovels for scraping together any of the scattered ashes.
basons—for receiving the blood of the sacrifice to be sprinkled on the people.
fleshhooks—curved, three-pronged forks (1Sa 2:13, 14).
fire-pans—A large sort of vessel, wherein the sacred fire which came down from heaven (Le 9:24) was kept burning, while they cleaned the altar and the grate from the coals and ashes, and while the altar was carried from one place to another in the wilderness [Patrick, Spencer, Le Clerc].
4. a grate of network of brass—sunk latticework to support the fire.
four brazen rings—by which the grating might be lifted and taken away as occasion required from the body of the altar.
5. put it under the compass of the altar beneath—that is, the grating in which they were carried to a clean place (Le 4:12).
6, 7. staves … rings—Those rings were placed at the side through which the poles were inserted on occasions of removal.
9-19. the court of the tabernacle—The enclosure in which the edifice stood was a rectangular court, extending rather more than fifty yards in length and half that space in breadth, and the enclosing parapet was about three yards or half the height of the tabernacle. That parapet consisted of a connected series of curtains, made of fine twined linen yarn, woven into a kind of network, so that the people could see through; but that large curtain which overhung the entrance was of a different texture, being embroidered and dyed with variegated colors, and it was furnished with cords for pulling it up or drawing it aside when the priests had occasion to enter. The curtains of this enclosure were supported on sixty brazen pillars which stood on pedestals of the same metal, but their capitals and fillets were of silver, and the hooks on which they were suspended were of silver also.
19. pins—were designed to hold down the curtains at the bottom, lest the wind should waft them aside.
20, 21. pure oil olive beaten—that is, such as runs from the olives when bruised and without the application of fire.
for the light … Aaron and his sons—were to take charge of lighting it in all time coming.
21. shall order it from evening to morning—The tabernacle having no windows, the lamps required to be lighted during the day. Josephus says that in his time only three were lighted; but his were degenerate times, and there is no Scripture authority for this limitation. But although the priests were obliged from necessity to light them by day, they might have let them go out at night had it not been for this express ordinance.