Exodus 38-Construction Of The Main Altar, Bronze Basin And Stand, Courtyard And Amounts Of Materials For Tabernacle And Its Furnishings
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday December 2, 2012
Journey Through The Bible Series: Exodus 38-Construction Of The Main Altar, Bronze Basin And Stand, Courtyard And Amounts Of Materials Used For The Tabernacle And Its Furnishings
Lesson # 63
Please turn in your Bibles to Exodus 38:1.
Exodus 38:1 Then he made the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood, five cubits long, and five cubits wide, square, and three cubits high. 2 He made its horns on its four corners, its horns being of one piece with it, and he overlaid it with bronze. 3 He made all the utensils of the altar, the pails and the shovels and the basins, the flesh hooks and the firepans; he made all its utensils of bronze. 4 He made for the altar a grating of bronze network beneath, under its ledge, reaching halfway up. 5 He cast four rings on the four ends of the bronze grating as holders for the poles. 6 He made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with bronze. 7 He inserted the poles into the rings on the sides of the altar, with which to carry it. He made it hollow with planks. (NASB95)
Exodus 38:1-7 records the Israelites constructing the main altar in fulfillment of the Lord’s commands to do so as recorded in Exodus 27:1-8a.
“Altar” is the noun miz∙bēaḥ (מִזְבֵּחַ) (miz-bay´-akh), which was the place where the substitutionary animal was sacrificed, i.e. the burnt offering.
“Burnt offering” is the noun ʿō∙lā(h) (עֹלָה) (o-law), which portrays or typifies that aspect of Jesus Christ’s spiritual and physical deaths on the Cross, which would propitiate the Father (1 John 2:2; 4:10).
The altar of burnt offering or the bronze altar resided in the courtyard and was made of acacia wood and overlaid with bronze rather than gold and was five cubits long and five cubits wide and its height three cubits, which means that it was seven feet six inches long and wide and four feet six inches in height.
Exodus 38:8 Moreover, he made the laver of bronze with its base of bronze, from the mirrors of the serving women who served at the doorway of the tent of meeting. (NASB95)
Exodus 38:8 records the Israelites constructing the bronze basin and stand in obedience to the Lord’s command to do so which appears in Exodus 30:17-21.
The last article of furniture which would reside in the tabernacle courtyard was the bronze laver or basin for holding water.
“Laver” is the kiy∙yôr (כִּיּוֹר) (kee-yore´), which means “basin, laver,” i.e. a container for washing and was round since the root of the word means “to be round, rounded.”
This round laver or basin for holding water was placed upon a pedestal or base, which was to let water run out through taps of some kind for the priests to wash.
This was for the priests to primarily wash their hands and feet before entering the tent and would be in the courtyard between the altar and the tent.
In relation to the moment of conversion, the washing basin portrays the baptism of the Spirit, which refers to the Spirit uniting the believer to the Holy One, Jesus Christ and identifying the believer with Him in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session (1 Corinthians 6:11; 1 Peter Titus 3:5; 3:18-21).
In relation to experiential sanctification and fellowship, the washing basin portrays the purification from sin as a result of confession of sin to the Father (1 John 1:9).
The basis for the forgiveness of sins in relation to both justification and sanctification is Jesus Christ’s finished work on the cross.
Exodus 38:8 presents a detail which is not mentioned in Exodus 30:17-21, namely certain women were employed to serve at the tabernacle entrance.
We have no information which would tell us exactly what function these women performed.
They quite possibly were stationed at the bronze basin in order to help with utensil cleanup or the general clean up of the courtyard as well as for the resupplying of water for the basin.
They could have been used to clean the clothes of the priests as well as assisting other women worshippers.
Exodus 38:9 Then he made the court: for the south side the hangings of the court were of fine twisted linen, one hundred cubits (one hundred fifty feet); 10 their twenty pillars, and their twenty sockets, made of bronze; the hooks of the pillars and their bands were of silver. 11 For the north side there were one hundred cubits (one hundred fifty feet); their twenty pillars and their twenty sockets were of bronze, the hooks of the pillars and their bands were of silver. 12 For the west side there were hangings of fifty cubits (75 feet) with their ten pillars and their ten sockets; the hooks of the pillars and their bands were of silver. 13 For the east side fifty cubits (75 feet). 14 The hangings for the one side of the gate were fifteen cubits (22 ½ feet), with their three pillars and their three sockets, 15 and so for the other side. On both sides of the gate of the court were hangings of fifteen cubits (22 ½ feet), with their three pillars and their three sockets. 16 All the hangings of the court all around were of fine twisted linen. 17 The sockets for the pillars were of bronze, the hooks of the pillars and their bands, of silver; and the overlaying of their tops, of silver, and all the pillars of the court were furnished with silver bands. 18 The screen of the gate of the court was the work of the weaver, of blue and purple and scarlet material and fine twisted linen. And the length was twenty cubits (30 feet) and the height was five cubits (7 ½ feet), corresponding to the hangings of the court. 19 Their four pillars and their four sockets were of bronze; their hooks were of silver, and the overlaying of their tops and their bands were of silver. 20 All the pegs of the tabernacle and of the court all around were of bronze. (NASB95)
Exodus 38:9-20 records the Israelites constructing the courtyard of the tabernacle, which fulfills the Lord’s instructions to do this that are found in Exodus 27:9-19.
The courtyard was 150 feet (100 cubits) long and 75 feet (50 cubits) wide, or 11,250 square feet.
Exodus 38:21 This is the number of the things for the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the testimony, as they were numbered according to the command of Moses, for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest. 22 Now Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the Lord had commanded Moses. 23 With him was Oholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver and a skillful workman and a weaver in blue and in purple and in scarlet material, and fine linen. 24 All the gold that was used for the work, in all the work of the sanctuary, even the gold of the wave offering, was 29 talents and 730 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. 25 The silver of those of the congregation who were numbered was 100 talents and 1,775 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary; 26 a beka a head (that is, half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary), for each one who passed over to those who were numbered, from twenty years old and upward, for 603,550 men. 27 The hundred talents of silver were for casting the sockets of the sanctuary and the sockets of the veil; one hundred sockets for the hundred talents, a talent for a socket. 28 Of the 1,775 shekels, he made hooks for the pillars and overlaid their tops and made bands for them. 29 The bronze of the wave offering was 70 talents and 2,400 shekels. 30 With it he made the sockets to the doorway of the tent of meeting, and the bronze altar and its bronze grating, and all the utensils of the altar, 31 and the sockets of the court all around and the sockets of the gate of the court, and all the pegs of the tabernacle and all the pegs of the court all around. (NASB95)
Exodus 38:21-31 presents to the reader the amounts of the materials used in the construction of the tabernacle and its furnishings which is a general fulfillment of the Lord’s instructions in Exodus 25:1-3a.
These two passages tell the reader that three metals were used in the construction of the tabernacle, namely gold, silver and bronze.
The materials used in the construction were blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen as well as goat hair, ram’s skins dyed red, porpoise skins, acacia wood, oil for lighting, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, onyx stones and setting stones for the ephod and breastpiece.
In Exodus 38:21, the phrase “the number” is the noun pā∙qǎḏ (פָּקַד) (paw-kad´), which means in this verse “inventory” since it is used with regards to the accounting or enumeration of the materials that the Israelites donated to the tabernacle project.
The word is used for the “amounts” of metals that were used to build the tabernacle and make its furnishings since the metals are the only thing that is quantified in chapter 38.
Exodus 39:1-31 concerns itself with describing material used and some cases quantities are indicated.
The first words here in Exodus 38:21 should be considered introductory to everything in 38:21-39:31 because the metal amounts in Exodus 38:22-31 are relevant to the metal objects which are described in chapter 39 such as the gold in particular which is mentioned throughout chapter 39.
Exodus 38:21 tells the reader that Aaron’s youngest son, Ithamar was in charge of the inventory of materials to be used in the tabernacle project.
Exodus 38:22-23 mention once again the leadership role of Bezalel and Oholiab in the construction of the tabernacle (cf. 31:2; 35:30; 36:1-2; 37:1).
Notice that Moses mentions the tribes of these men in order to emphasize with the reader that the tabernacle project was not dominated by a single tribe but was completed due to the work of all the tribes.
Exodus 38:24-25 tell the reader what the Israelites donated in gold to the tabernacle project.
The Levites had calculated under Ithamar’s direction that the Israelites had given 29 talents and 730 shekels of gold, which today would be at least a ton (2,000) pounds and maybe even 2,200 hundred pounds.
We do not know what a “sanctuary shekel” was but it probably was more than an official measure against which others were checked.
Thus, by Moses mentioning this in relation to the offering for the tabernacle, he is emphasizing with the reader that all these figures with regards to the donations were absolutely and totally accurate against the official standard of measuring in that day.
Moses is telling us that the gold measurement could be trusted because it measured against the official standard of the day for the nation and not estimated or roughly weighed by a set of weights which are the result someone’s invention.