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.
`The tabernacle of the testimony was among our fathers in the wilderness, according as He did direct, who is speaking to Moses, to make it according to the figure that he had seen;
And the king calleth for Jehoiada the head, and saith to him, `Wherefore hast thou not required of the Levites to bring in out of Judah and out of Jerusalem the tribute of Moses, servant of Jehovah, and of the assembly of Israel, for the tent of the testimony?
And in the day of the raising up of the tabernacle hath the cloud covered the tabernacle, even the tent of the testimony; and in the evening there is on the tabernacle as an appearance of fire till morning;
and the Levites encamp round about the tabernacle of the testimony; and there is no wrath on the company of the sons of Israel, and the Levites have kept the charge of the tabernacle of the testimony.
and also thy brethren, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father, bring near with thee, and they are joined unto thee, and serve thee, even thou and thy sons with thee, before the tent of the testimony.
and Moses placeth the rods before Jehovah, in the tent of the testimony. And it cometh to pass, on the morrow, that Moses goeth in unto the tent of the testimony, and lo, the rod of Aaron hath flourished for the house of Levi, and is bringing out flourishing, and doth blossom blossoms, and doth produce almonds;
for a tabernacle was prepared, the first, in which was both the lamp-stand, and the table, and the bread of the presence -- which is called `Holy;' and after the second vail a tabernacle that is called `Holy of holies,'
and I heard a great voice out of the heaven, saying, `Lo, the tabernacle of God `is' with men, and He will tabernacle with them, and they shall be His peoples, and God Himself shall be with them -- their God,
and I think right, so long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up in reminding `you',
And Christ being come, chief priest of the coming good things, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands -- that is, not of this creation --
of the holy places a servant, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord did set up, and not man,
For we have known that if our earthly house of the tabernacle may be thrown down, a building from God we have, an house not made with hands -- age-during -- in the heavens,
A Psalm of David. Jehovah, who doth sojourn in Thy tent? Who doth dwell in Thy holy hill?
And thou sayest, `Pure `is' my discourse, And clean I have been in Thine eyes.'
and I weigh to their hand, of silver, talents six hundred and fifty, and of vessels of silver a hundred talents, of gold a hundred talents, and basins of gold twenty, of a thousand drams, and two vessels of good shining brass, desirable as gold. And I say unto them, `Ye `are' holy to Jehovah, and the vessels `are' holy, and the silver and the gold `are' a willing-offering to Jehovah, God of your fathers; watch, and keep, till ye weigh before the heads of the priests, and of the Levites, and the heads of the fathers of Israel, in Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of Jehovah.' And the priests and the Levites took the weight of the silver, and of the gold, and of the vessels, to bring to Jerusalem to the house of our God.
How good have been thy tents, O Jacob, Thy tabernacles, O Israel;
This `is' the service of the families of the sons of the Gershonite in the tent of meeting; and their charge `is' under the hand of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest. `The sons of Merari, by their families, by the house of their fathers, thou dost number them; from a son of thirty years and upward even unto a son of fifty years thou dost number them, every one who is going in to the host, to do the service of the tent of meeting. `And this `is' the charge of their burden, of all their service in the tent of meeting; the boards of the tabernacle, and its bars, and its pillars, and its sockets, and the pillars of the court round about, and their sockets, and their pins, and their cords, of all their vessels, and of all their service; and by name ye do number the vessels of the charge of their burden. `This `is' the service of the families of the sons of Merari, for all their service, in the tent of meeting, by the hand of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.'
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].