Keluaran 26:32

26:32 You are to hang it ¹  with gold hooks ²  on four posts of acacia wood overlaid with gold, set in ³  four silver bases.

Keluaran 26:37

26:37 You are to make for the hanging five posts of acacia wood and overlay them with gold, and their hooks will be ⁴  gold, and you are to cast five bronze bases for them. ⁵ 

Keluaran 36:36

36:36 He made for it four posts of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold, with gold hooks, ⁶  and he cast for them four silver bases.

Keluaran 38:8

38:8 He made the large basin of bronze and its pedestal of bronze from the mirrors of the women who served ⁷  at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

Keluaran 38:12

38:12 For the west side there were ⁸  hangings seventy-five feet long, with ⁹  their ten posts and their ten bases, with the hooks of the posts and their bands of silver.

Keluaran 38:17

38:17 The bases for the posts were bronze. The hooks of the posts and their bands were silver, their tops were overlaid with silver, and all the posts of the courtyard had silver bands. ¹⁰ 

Keluaran 30:18

30:18 “You are also to make a large bronze ¹¹  basin with a bronze stand ¹²  for washing. You are to put it between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it, ¹³ 

[26:32]  ¹ tn Heb “put it.”

[26:32]  ² tn This clause simply says “and their hooks gold,” but is taken as a circumstantial clause telling how the veil will be hung.

[26:32]  ³ tn Heb “on four silver bases.”

[26:37]  ⁴ tn “will be” has been supplied.

[26:37]  ⁵ sn In all the details of this chapter the expositor should pay attention to the overall message rather than engage in speculation concerning the symbolism of the details. It is, after all, the divine instruction for the preparation of the dwelling place for Yahweh. The point could be said this way: The dwelling place of Yahweh must be prepared in accordance with, and by the power of, his divine word. If God was to fellowship with his people, then the center of worship had to be made to his specifications, which were in harmony with his nature. Everything was functional for the approach to God through the ritual by divine provisions. But everything also reflected the nature of God, the symmetry, the order, the pure wood, the gold overlay, or (closer to God) the solid gold. And the symbolism of the light, the table, the veil, the cherubim – all of it was revelatory. All of it reflected the reality in heaven. Churches today do not retain the pattern and furnishings of the old tabernacle. However, they would do well to learn what God was requiring of Israel, so that their structures are planned in accordance with the theology of worship and the theology of access to God. Function is a big part, but symbolism and revelation instruct the planning of everything to be used. Christians live in the light of the fulfillment of Christ, and so they know the realities that the old foreshadowed. While a building is not necessary for worship (just as Israel worshiped in places other than the sanctuary), it is practical, and if there is going to be one, then the most should be made of it in the teaching and worshiping of the assembly. This chapter, then, provides an inspiration for believers on preparing a functional, symbolical, ordered place of worship that is in harmony with the word of God. And there is much to be said for making it as beautiful and uplifting as is possible – as a gift of freewill offering to God. Of course, the most important part of preparing a place of worship is the preparing of the heart. Worship, to be acceptable to God, must be in Christ. He said that when the temple was destroyed he would raise it up in three days. While he referred to his own body, he also alluded to the temple by the figure. When they put Jesus to death, they were destroying the temple; at his resurrection he would indeed begin a new form of worship. He is the tent, the curtain, the atonement, that the sanctuary foreshadowed. And then, believers also (when they receive Christ) become the temple of the Lord. So the NT will take the imagery and teaching of this chapter in a number of useful ways that call for more study. This does not, however, involve allegorization of the individual tabernacle parts.

[36:36]  ⁶ tn Heb “and their hooks gold.”

[38:8]  ⁷ sn The word for “serve” is not the ordinary one. It means “to serve in a host,” especially in a war. It appears that women were organized into bands and served at the tent of meeting. S. R. Driver thinks that this meant “no doubt” washing, cleaning, or repairing (Exodus, 391). But there is no hint of that (see 1 Sam 2:22; and see Ps 68:11 [12 Hebrew text]). They seem to have had more to do than what Driver said.

[38:12]  ⁸ tn The phrase “there were” has been supplied.

[38:12]  ⁹ tn The text simply has “their posts ten and their bases ten”; this may be added here as a circumstantial clause with the main sentence in order to make sense out of the construction.

[38:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “they were banded with silver.”

[30:18]  ¹¹ sn The metal for this object was obtained from the women from their mirrors (see Exod 38:8).

[30:18]  ¹² tn Heb “and its stand bronze.”

[30:18]  ¹³ tn The form is the adverb “there” with the directive qamets-he ( ָה).