Compare Translations for Exodus 38:3
Exodus 38 Commentary - Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise)
Chapter 38
The brazen altar and laver. (1-8) The court. (9-20) The offerings of the people. (21-31)
Verses 1-8 In all ages of the church there have been some persons more devoted to God, more constant in their attendance upon his ordinances, and more willing to part even with lawful things, for his sake, than others. Some women, devoted to God and zealous for the tabernacle worship, expressed zeal by parting with their mirrors, which were polished plates of brass. Before the invention of looking-glasses, these served the same purposes.
Verses 9-20 The walls of the court being of curtains only, intimated that the state of the Jewish church itself was movable and changeable; and in due time to be taken down and folded up, when the place of the tent should be enlarged, and its cords lengthened, to make room for the Gentile world.
Verses 21-31 The foundation of massy pieces of silver showed the solidity and purity of the truth upon which the church is founded. Let us regard the Lord Jesus Christ while reading of the furniture of the tabernacle. While looking at the altar of burnt-offering, let us see Jesus. In him, his righteousness, and salvation, is a full and sufficient offering for sin. In the laver of regeneration, by his Holy Spirit, let our souls be washed, and they shall be clean; and as the people offered willingly, so may our souls be made willing. Let us be ready to part with any thing, and count all but loss to win Christ.
Exodus 38 Commentary - Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 38
Exodus 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 ( Luke 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 approximately $450,000.
25. the silver of them that were numbered--603,550 men at fifty cents each would contribute $301,775. 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].