Exodus 27

The Bronze Altar

1 “You are to build an altar of acacia wood. The altar must be square, five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high. ^{[a] 1}

2 Make a horn on each of its four corners, so that the horns are of one piece, and overlay it with bronze.

3 Make all its utensils of bronze—its pots for removing ashes, its shovels, its sprinkling bowls, its meat forks, and its firepans.

4 Construct for it a grate of bronze mesh, and make a bronze ring at each of the four corners of the mesh.

5 Set the grate beneath the ledge of the altar, so that the mesh comes halfway up the altar.

6 Additionally, make poles of acacia wood for the altar and overlay them with bronze.

7 The poles are to be inserted into the rings so that the poles are on two sides of the altar when it is carried.

8 Construct the altar with boards so that it is hollow. It is to be made just as you were shown on the mountain.

The Courtyard

9 You are also to make a courtyard for the tabernacle. On the south side of the courtyard make curtains of finely spun linen, a hundred cubits long ^[b] on one side, ²

10 with twenty posts and twenty bronze bases, and silver hooks and bands on the posts.

11 Likewise there are to be curtains on the north side, a hundred cubits long, with twenty posts and twenty bronze bases, and with silver hooks and bands on the posts.

12 The curtains on the west side of the courtyard shall be fifty cubits wide, ^[c] with ten posts and ten bases.

13 The east side of the courtyard, toward the sunrise, is to be fifty cubits wide.

14 Make the curtains on one side fifteen cubits long, ^[d] with three posts and three bases,

15 and the curtains on the other side fifteen cubits long, with three posts and three bases.

16 The gate of the courtyard shall be twenty cubits long, ^[e] with a curtain embroidered with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely spun linen. It shall have four posts and four bases.

17 All the posts around the courtyard shall have silver bands, silver hooks, and bronze bases.

18 The entire courtyard shall be a hundred cubits long and fifty cubits wide, ^[f] with curtains of finely spun linen five cubits high, ^[g] and with bronze bases.

19 All the utensils of the tabernacle for every use, including all its tent pegs and the tent pegs of the courtyard, shall be made of bronze.

The Oil for the Lamps

20 And you are to command the Israelites to bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to keep the lamps burning continually. ³

21 In the Tent of Meeting, outside the veil that is in front of the Testimony, ^[h] Aaron and his sons are to tend the lamps before the LORD from evening until morning. This is to be a permanent statute for the Israelites for the generations to come.

Exodus 27 Commentary

Chapter 27

The altar of burnt offerings. (1-8) The court of the tabernacle. (9-19) The oil for the lamps. (20,21)

Verses 1-8 In the court before the tabernacle, where the people attended, was an altar, to which they must bring their sacrifices, and on which their priests must offer them to God. It was of wood overlaid with brass. A grate of brass was let into the hollow of the altar, about the middle of which the fire was kept, and the sacrifice burnt. It was made of net-work like a sieve, and hung hollow, that the ashes might fall through. This brazen altar was a type of Christ dying to make atonement for our sins. The wood had been consumed by the fire from heaven, if it had not been secured by the brass: nor could the human nature of Christ have borne the wrath of God, if it had not been supported by Divine power.

Verses 9-19 The tabernacle was enclosed in a court, about sixty yards long and thirty broad, formed by curtains hung upon brazen pillars, fixed in brazen sockets. Within this enclosure the priests and Levites offered the sacrifices, and thither the Jewish people were admitted. These distinctions represented the difference between the visible nominal church, and the true spiritual church, which alone has access to God, and communion with him.

Verses 20-21 The pure oil signified the gifts and graces of the Spirit, which all believers receive from Christ, the good Olive, and without which our light cannot shine before men. The priests were to light the lamps, and tend them. It is the work of ministers, by preaching and expounding the Scriptures, which are as a lamp, to enlighten the church, God's tabernacle upon earth. Blessed be God, this light is not now confined to the Jewish tabernacle, but is a light to lighten the gentiles, and for salvation unto the ends of the earth.

Cross References

• 1. (Exodus 38:1–7)
• 2. (Exodus 38:9–20)
• 3. (Leviticus 24:1–4)

Footnotes

• [a]. The altar was approximately 7.5 feet in length and width, and 4.5 feet high (2.3 meters in length and width, and 1.4 meters high).
• [b]. 100 cubits is approximately 150 feet or 45.7 meters; also in verse 11.
• [c]. 50 cubits is approximately 75 feet or 22.9 meters; also in verse 13.
• [d]. 15 cubits is approximately 22.5 feet or 6.9 meters; also in verse 15.
• [e]. 20 cubits is approximately 30 feet or 9.1 meters.
• [f]. The courtyard was approximately 150 feet long and 75 feet wide (45.7 meters long and 22.9 meters wide).
• [g]. 5 cubits is approximately 7.5 feet or 2.3 meters.
• [h]. The Testimony refers to the stone tablets in the ark of the covenant inscribed with the Ten Commandments.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 27

This chapter treats of the altar of burnt offering, and of all things relative to it, Ex 27:1-8, of the court of the tabernacle, its hangings on each side, with pillars, sockets, and hooks for them, Ex 27:9-19 and it is concluded with an order to the Israelites to bring oil olive for the lamp of the sanctuary, Ex 27:20,21.