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Exodus Chapter
Thirty-eight
Exodus 38
Chapter Contents
The brazen altar and laver. (1-8) The court. (9-20) The
offerings of the people. (21-31)
Commentary on Exodus 38:1-8
(Read Exodus 38:1-8)
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.
Commentary on Exodus 38:9-20
(Read Exodus 38:9-20)
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.
Commentary on Exodus 38:21-31
(Read Exodus 38:21-31)
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.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Exodus》
Exodus 38
Verse 1
[1] And he made the altar of burnt offering of shittim wood:
five cubits was the length thereof, and five cubits the breadth thereof; it was
foursquare; and three cubits the height thereof.
The altar of burnt-offering — On this all their
sacrifices were offered. Christ was himself the altar to his own sacrifice of
atonement, and so he is to all our sacrifices of acknowledgment. We must have
an eye to him in offering them, as God hath in accepting them.
Verse 8
[8] And he made the laver of brass, and the foot of it of
brass, of the lookingglasses of the women assembling, which assembled at the
door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
This laver signified the provision that is made in the gospel
for cleansing our souls from the pollution of sin by the merit of Christ, that
we may be fit to serve the holy God in holy duties. This is here said to be
made of the looking-glasses of the women that assembled at the door of the
tabernacle. It should seem these women were eminent for devotion, attending
more constantly at the place of public worship than others, and notice is here
taken of it to their honour. These looking-glasses were of the finest brass,
burnished for that purpose. In the laver, either they were artfully joined
together, or else molten down and cast anew; but it is probable the laver was
so brightly burnished that the sides of it still served for looking-glasses,
that the priests when they came to wash might there see their faces, and so
discover the spots to wash them clean.
Verse 9
[9] And he made the court: on the south side southward the
hangings of the court were of fine twined linen, an hundred cubits:
And he made the court — The walls of the
court, were like the rest, curtains, or hangings. This represented the state of
the Old Testament church, it was a garden enclosed; the worshippers were then
confined to a little compass. But the inclosure being of curtains only,
intimated that that confinement of the church to one particular nation was not
to be perpetual. The dispensation itself was a tabernacle-dispensation,
moveable and mutable, 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.
Verse 21
[21] This is the sum of the tabernacle, even of the
tabernacle of testimony, as it was counted, according to the commandment of
Moses, for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar, son to Aaron the
priest.
By the hand of Ithamar — Here we have a
breviate of the account which by Moses's appointment the Levites took and kept
of the gold, silver, and brass, that was brought in for the tabernacle's use,
and how it was employed. Ithamar the son of Aaron was appointed to draw up this
account. All the gold amounted to twenty nine talents, and seven hundred and
thirty shekels over; Which some compute to be about one hundred and fifty
thousand pounds worth of gold, according to the present value of it. The silver
amounted to about thirty-four thousand pounds of our money. The raising of the
gold by voluntary contribution, and of the silver by way of tribute, shews that
either way may be taken for the defraying of public expences, provided that
nothing be done with partiality.
──
John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Exodus》
38 Chapter 38
Verse 8
The looking-glasses of the women.
The looking-glass and the laver
Unlike our looking-glasses made of silvered glass, which did not
come into use till the thirteenth century, these primitive looking-glasses were
made chiefly of an alloy of copper, tin, and lead, wrought with such admirable
skill that it was capable of receiving the highest and most enduring polish.
The mirror itself was a round or pear-shaped plate, often encircled with a
wreath of leaves, or adorned with figures engraved upon the rim; and it was
attached to a handle often carved with some elegant form of life. Numerous specehi
of this kind have been found in Etruscan tombs, retaining their polish so
brightly as sometimes to fit them for their original purpose; and having on
their disks scenes of Etruscan life and manners, and representations or symbols
of the national faith, illustrated by inscriptions in the native character,
they have been well called by Bunsen “a figurative dictionary,” eminently
useful to the archseologist for the light they throw upon the creed and history
of this ancient and most mysterious race. In Japan certain metal mirrors have
acquired a magic fame, and are brought to this country as curiosities, on
account of the figures which shine through them when seen in a certain light,
while directly viewed they reflect only on their polished surface the face that
looks into them. The specula of the Hebrew women were brought with them from
Egypt, and doubtless formed part of the spoil which the Israelites took from
the Egyptians at the time of the Exodus. In that country they were used not
only in domestic economy, but also in the idolatrous worship of the temples;
and probably the Hebrew women who assembled at the door of the Tabernacle of
the congregation had adopted this custom, and worshipped the God of Israel as
the Egyptian women worshipped Isis or Anubis, dressed in linen garments,
holding a sistrum in their right hand and a mirror in their left. It is not
without deep significance that this holy vessel, typical of spiritual
cleansing, should have been formed of such materials. The whole transaction is
a most beautiful and expressive symbol of the vast difference between the
beauty which man sees in himself, and the beauty which God induces in him by
the means of grace. In fact, the whole gospel scheme might be represented to
the eye pictorially by these two emblematical objects--the looking-glass and
the laver; for it shows us to ourselves, and it cleanses us from our impurity.
1. Let us look, in the first place, at the gospel as a mirror showing
us to ourselves. Contemplating the features of our character in our own natural
looking-glass, we are satisfied with the image that is reflected there.
Comparing ourselves with ourselves we have no sense of contrast; we come up to
our own ideal; we realize our own standard of goodness. Comparing ourselves
with others we are raised in our own estimation; we see many guilty of
meannesses and follies which we should scorn. We feel like the self-righteous
Pharisee in the temple, and thank God that we are not as other men, or as the
publican beside us. But the gospel is the true mirror in which we see our true
image reflected. The holiness of God, as it is revealed to us in the face of
His Son Jesus Christ, is the best mirror in which to see reflected our own
sinful image. That holiness is the part of the Divine image which we have
completely lost in our fallen state. When the pure searching light of His law
shines into our hearts, how defiled and unworthy do many things appear which
before were regarded as clean and good! What secret unsuspected sins are made manifest
like the myriad motes which float in the sunbeams that enter a dark room! How
true it is, that those who are ignorant of God are ignorant of them-selves! The
mirror must lead to the laver. Having learned what our true condition is, we
must cease to look at ourselves, and have recourse to the cleansing bath which
God has provided in the gospel for the sinner conscious of his sin. The fact
that the laver was made of the looking-glasses teaches this practical lesson to
us. We see our impurity in order that we may apply for cleansing. Our
uncomeliness is revealed to us for the very purpose of causing us to seek for
the beauty of holiness.
2. The laver made of the looking-glasses of the women stood in the
court of the Tabernacle between the altar of burnt-offering and the door of the
holy place. As the altar removed the legal obstacle that lay in the way of a
sinner’s access to God, so the laver removed the moral. The one by the
atonement which it presented opened up the way to God; the other by the purification
which it effected qualified the believer for coming into God’s presence. And
viewed in this light, what an expressive symbol is it of the spiritual fountain
opened in the house of David for sin and uncleanness! The laver in which we are
washed becomes the mirror in which we see our own reflection; and the mirror of
self-complacency, in which hitherto we sought to see visions of our own
comeliness whereof to glory in the flesh, is converted into the fountain of
life in which the discovery of our own vileness is overborne by the discovery
of the surpassing, all-compensating loveliness of Him in whom God sees no
iniquity in Jacob, and no perverseness in Israel. (H. Macmillan, D. D.)
The laver and looking-glasses
I shall take that laver of looking-glasses, spoken of in the text,
as all-suggestive of the gospel, which first shows us our sins as in a mirror,
and then washes them away by Divine ablution.
1. Now, I have to say that this is the only looking-glass in which a
man can see himself as he is. There are some mirrors that flatter the features,
and make you look better than you are. Then there are other mirrors that
distort your features, and make you look worse than you are; but I want to tell
you that this looking-glass of the gospel shows a man just as he is. When the
priests entered the ancient Tabernacle, one glance at the burnished side of
this laver showed them their need of cleansing. So this gospel shows the soul
its need of Divine washing. “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of
God.” That is one showing. “All we, like sheep, have gone astray.” That is
another showing. In Hampton Court I saw a room where the four walls were
covered with looking-glasses, and it made no difference which way you looked,
you saw yourself. And so it is in this gospel of Christ. If you once step
within its full precincts you will find your whole character reflected--every
feature of moral deformity--every spot of moral taint.
2. I want you to notice that this laver in which the priests washed
was filled with fresh water every morning. So it is with the gospel of Jesus
Christ; it has a fresh salvation every day. Come this morning and take the
glittering robe of Christ’s righteousness from the Saviour’s hand. You were
plunged in the fountain of the Saviour’s mercy a quarter of a century ago. That
is nothing to me; I tell you to wash now in this laver of looking-glasses, and
have your soul made clean.
3. I notice, also, in regard to this laver of looking-glasses spoken
of in the text, that the priests always washed both hands and feet. The water
came down in spouts, so that without leaving any filth in the basin, the
priests washed both hands and feet. So the gospel of Jesus Christ must touch
the very extremities of our moral nature.
4. I remark, further, that the laver of looking-glasses spoken of in
the text, was a very large laver. I always thought from the fact that so many
washed there, and also from the fact that Solomon afterwards, when he copied
that laver in the temple, built it on a very large scale, that it was large,
and so suggestive of the gospel of Jesus Christ and salvation by Him--vast in
its provisions. The whole world may come and wash in this laver and be clean.
5. But I notice, also, in regard to this laver of looking-glasses
spoken of in the text, that the washing in it was imperative and not optional.
When the priests came into the Tabernacle (you will find this in the 30th
chapter of Exodus), God tells them they must wash in that laver or die. The
priests might have said: “Can’t I wash elsewhere? I washed in the laver at
home, and now you want me to wash here.” God says, “No matter whether you have
washed before. Wash in this laver or die.” “But,” says the priest, “there is
water just as clean as this, why won’t that do? . . . Wash here,” says God, “or
die.” So it is with the gospel of Christ--it is imperative. There is only this
alternative: keep our sins and perish, or wash them away and live. (Dr.
Talmage.)
Old things turned to new uses
In many ancient religions women took a leading part in some of the
ceremonies. This was so in Egypt. Each woman had a looking-glass made of
polished brass, and that mirror was used in some way in connection with
idolatrous practices. When the Tabernacle was being built the women gave up
their mirrors and so contributed to the formation of the laver, which was made
of brass, and the foot of it of brass. Thus we have old things turned to new
uses, and it is for us to say whether we shall regard this incident as a piece
of ancient history, or whether we shall enter into the spirit of it and realize
the action in our own day and on a broader scale. How came the women to give up
their looking-glasses to assist in constructing the laver? Because a superior
spirit had taken possession of them. That is the philosophy and that the
explanation of the case. What then is the spirit that is to enter into us? None
other than the spirit of Christ. We might use many words in describing the
spirit, but all the words would focalize themselves at last in this sublime
expression--“For Christ’s sake.” The highest personality is Christ. We follow
Him, and in proportion as we follow Him all things we possess are His. There is
room in the sanctuary for everything. This is the point we have so often missed
in our Christian teaching. No punishment is burning enough for the men who
would belittle God’s house. What have you? You have nothing that cannot be used
in the building of God’s house and kingdom. Have you nothing but the little
looking-glass? It can be used. Is yours, on the other hand, but one small
flower which a child could pluck? It was God’s flower before it was yours, and
He will never consent to lose a flower; it cost Him thought and care and love;
He dressed the flower as Solomon never could dress himself. Blessed will be the
day when the breweries of the country are turned into mechanics’ institutes,
great sanitary establishments for the washing and cleansing of the people.
Blessed will be the day when the rich man’s saloons shall be thrown open to the
poorest neighbours he has who will come to look at his articles of vertu,--who
will turn over his curiosities and examine them with honest fingers, and so
admire them as to be touched into desire for broader life. Blessed--bright will
be the day when in that sense we shall have all things common; when the strong
man’s strength shall be the weak man’s refuge; when the homeless shall have a
large home in the charity and love of his richer brother; when the one object
of every heart will be to extend the happiness of mankind--the one question in
the morning being, What good can be done to-day? and the one question at
eventide, What good has been accomplished? My persuasion is that if ever that
time is to be brought about, it can only be by the extension of the spirit of
Jesus Christ. Taking the Christian view, all becomes larger still and brighter,
and the hope is given that one day everybody will be in the kingdom, and every
man, woman, and child, wilt be doing their very best to make that kingdom what
God means it to be. The great men, by heroic strength, by dauntless valour,
will carry on their sublime occupation; the patient women--gentle souls, having
the genius of sympathy and the faculty of interpreting by suffering--will
contribute their important, their ineffably valuable share; and little children
will make up the sum total of the consecration. (J. Parker, D. D.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》