38:1.
“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.”
38:2.
“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.”
38:3.
“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.”
38:4.
“And he made for the altar a brasen grate of network, under the compass
thereof, beneath unto the midst of it.”
38:5.
“And he cast four rings for the four ends of the grate of brass, to be
places for the staves.”
38:6.
“And he made the staves of shittim wood, and overlaid them with brass.”
38:7.
“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.”
38:8.
“And he made the laver of brass, and the foot of it of brass, of the
lookingglasses of the women assembling, which assembled at the door of the
tabernacle of the congregation.”
38:9.
“And he made the court: on the south side southward the hangings of the
court were of fine twined linen, an hundred cubits:”
38:10.
“Their pillars were twenty, and their brasen sockets twenty; the hooks of
the pillars and their fillets were of silver.”
38:11.
“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,”
38:12.
“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.”
38:13.
“And for the east side eastward fifty cubits.”
38:14.
“The hangings of the one side of the gate were fifteen cubits; their pillars
three, and their sockets three.”
38:15.
“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.
38:16.
“All the hangings of the court round about were of fine twined linen.”
38:17.
“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.”
38:18.
“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.”
38:19.
“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.”
38:20.
“And all the pins of
the tabernacle, and of the court round about, were of brass.”
Since the
material in verses 21-31 doesn’t duplicate anything in chapters 25-31, we’ll
resume the verse-by-verse commentary here, though the meaning is so clear as
to require little comment.
38:21.
“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.”
This begins a
summary of the work, and since the significance of these personal names has
been discussed in earlier chapters, there is no need to repeat it here.
Discussion therefore, will be confined to what hasn’t already been dealt
with.
38:22.
“And Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made
all that the Lord commanded Moses.”
38:23.
“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.”
38:24.
“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.”
The large
quantity of precious metal, and embroidered linen testifies to the
liberality of the people, and should be an incentive to us to be equally
generous in giving to God our time, abilities, and money.
38:25.
“And the silver of them that were numbered of the congregation was a hundred
talents, and a thousand seven hundred and threescore and fifteen shekels,
after the shekel of the sanctuary:”
38:26.
“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.”
See comments
on chapter 30 relative to the
numbering of the people, and the significance of the half shekel given by
every adult male on that occasion.
38:27.
“And of the hundred talents of silver were cast the sockets of the
sanctuary, and the sockets of the veil; an hundred sockets of the hundred
talents, a talent for a socket.”
38:28.
“And of the thousand seven hundred seventy and five shekels he made hooks
for the pillars, and overlaid their chapiters, and filleted them.”
38:29.
“And the brass of the offering was seventy talents, and two thousand and
four hundred shekels.”
38:30.
“And therewith he made the sockets of the door of the tabernacle of the
congregation, and the brasen altar, and the brasen grate for it, and all the
vessels of the altar,”
38:31.
“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.
Since the details relative
to the tabernacle have been discussed in earlier chapters further comment
here is unnecessary.