Exodus 27

The Altar of Burnt Offering

1 "You are to construct the altar of acacia wood. The altar must be square, seven and a half feet long, and seven and a half feet wide;^[a] it must be four and a half feet high.^[b]

2 Make horns for it on its four corners; the horns are to be of one piece.^[c] Overlay it with bronze.

3 Make its pots for removing ashes, and its shovels, basins, meat forks, and firepans; make all its utensils of bronze.

4 Construct a grate for it of bronze mesh, and make four bronze rings on the mesh at its four corners.

5 Set it below, under the altar's ledge,^[d] so that the mesh comes halfway up^[e] the altar.

6 Then make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, 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. They are to make it just as it was shown to you on the mountain.

The Courtyard

9 "You are to make the courtyard for the tabernacle. [Make the hangings] on the south of the courtyard out of finely spun linen, 150 feet^[f] long on that side.

10 There are to be 20 posts and 20 bronze bases. The hooks and bands^[g] of the posts must be silver.

11 Then [make the hangings] on the north side 150 [feet]^[h] long. There are to be 20 posts and 20 bronze bases. The hooks and bands^[i] of the posts must be silver.

12 [Make] the hangings of the courtyard on the west side 75 feet^[j] long, including their 10 posts and 10 bases.

13 Make the hangings of the courtyard on the east side toward the sunrise 75 feet.^[k]

14 [Make] the hangings on one side [of the gate] 22 and a half feet,^[l] including their three posts and their three bases.

15 And make the hangings on the other side 22 and a half [feet],^[m] including their three posts and their three bases.

16 The gate of the courtyard is to have a thirty-foot^[n] screen embroidered with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely spun linen. It is to have four posts including their four bases.

17 "All the posts around the courtyard are to be banded with silver and have silver hooks and bronze bases.

18 The length of the courtyard is to be 150 feet, the width 75 [feet] at each end, and the height seven and a half feet,^[o] [all of it made] of finely spun linen. The bases of the posts must be bronze.

19 All the tools of the tabernacle for every use and all its tent pegs as well as all the tent pegs of the courtyard are to be made of bronze.

The Lampstand Oil

20 "You are to command the Israelites to bring you pure oil from crushed olives for the light, in order to keep the lamp burning continually.

21 In the tent of meeting outside the veil that is in front of the testimony, Aaron and his sons are to tend the lamp from evening until morning before the Lord. This is to be a permanent statute for the Israelites throughout their generations.

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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit five cubits in length and five cubits in width
• [b]. Lit wide; and its height three cubits
• [c]. Lit piece with it
• [d]. Perhaps a ledge around the altar on which the priests could stand; Lv 9:22
• [e]. Or altar's rim, so that the grid comes halfway down
• [f]. Lit 100 cubits
• [g]. Or connecting rods
• [h]. Lit 100 [cubits]
• [i]. Or connecting rods
• [j]. Lit 50 cubits
• [k]. Lit 50 cubits
• [l]. Lit 15 cubits
• [m]. Lit 15 [cubits]
• [n]. Lit twenty-cubit
• [o]. Lit be 100 by the cubit, and the width 50 by 50, and the height five cubits

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.