Exodus 36:14

been executed according to the directions given. At the commencement of this chapter the reader will observe that I have advanced the dates a. m. and b.c. one year, without altering the year of the exodus, which at first view may appear an error; the reason is, that the above dates commenced at Tisri, but the years of the exodus are dated from Abib. Introduction Bezaleel and Aholiab make the ark, Exo 37:1-5 . The mercy-seat, Exo 37:6 . The two cherubim, Exo 37:7-9 . The table of the shew-bread, and its vessels, Exo 37:10-16 . The candlestick, Exo 37:17-24 . The golden altar of incense, Exo 37:25-28 . The holy anointing oil and perfume, Exo 37:29 . Verse 1 And Bezaleel made the ark, etc. - For a description of the ark, see Exo 25:10 (note), etc. Verse 6 He made the mercy-seat - See this described Exo 25:17 (note). Verse 10 He made the table - See Exo 25:23 . Verse 16 He made the vessels - See all these particularly described in the notes on Exo 25:29 (note). Verse 17 He made the candlestick - See this described in the note on Exo 25:31 (note). Verse 25 He made the incense altar - See this described Exo 30:1 (note). Verse 29 He made the holy anointing oil - See this and the perfume, and the materials out of which they were made, described at large in the notes on Exo 30:23-25 and Exo 30:34-38 . As this chapter also is a repetition of what has been mentioned in preceding chapters, the reader is desired to refer to them. Introduction Bezaleel makes the altar of burnt-offering, Exo 38:1-7 . He makes the laver and its foot out of the mirrors given by the women, Exo 38:8 . The court, its pillars, hangings, etc., Exo 38:9-20 . The whole tabernacle and its work finished by Bezaleel, Aholiab, and their assistants, Exo 38:21-23 . The amount of the gold contributed, Exo 38:24 . The amount of the silver, and how it was expended, Exo 38:25-28 . The amount of the brass, and how this was used, Exo 38:29-31 . Verse 1 The altar of burnt-offering - See Clarke's note on Exo 27:1 ; and for its horns, pots, shovels, basins, etc., see the meaning of the Hebrew terms explained, Exo 27:3-5 (note). Verse 8 He made the laver - See Clarke's note on Exo 30:18 , etc. The looking-glasses - The word מראת maroth, from ראה raah, he saw, signifies reflectors or mirrors of any kind. Here metal, highly polished, must certainly be meant, as glass was not yet in use; and had it even been in use, we are sure that looking - Glasses could not make a Brazen laver. The word therefore should be rendered mirrors, not looking-glasses, which in the above verse is perfectly absurd, because from those maroth the brazen laver was made. The first mirrors known among men were the clear, still, fountain, and unruffled lake; and probably the mineral called mica, which is a very general substance through all parts of the earth. Plates of it have been found of three feet square, and it is so extremely divisible into laminae, that it has been divided into plates so thin as to be only the three hundred thousandth part of an inch. A plate of this forms an excellent mirror when any thing black is attached to the opposite side. A plate of this mineral, nine inches by eight, now lies before me; a piece of black cloth, or any other black substance, at the back, converts it into a good mirror; or it would serve as it is for a square of glass, as every object is clearly perceivable through it. It is used in Russian ships of war, instead of glass, for windows. The first artificial mirrors were apparently made of brass, afterwards of polished steel, and when luxury increased they were made of silver; but they were made at a very early period of mixed metal, particularly of tin and copper, the best of which, as Pliny tells us, were formerly manufactured at Brundusium: Optima apud majores fuerant Brundisina, stanno et aere mixtis - Hist. Nat. lib. xxxiii., cap. 9. But, according to him, the most esteemed were those made of tin; and he says that silver mirrors became so common that even the servant girls used them: Specula (ex stanno) laudatissima Bru

nacle: eleven curtains he made them. 15 The length of one curtain was thirty cubits, and four cubits was the breadth of one curtain: the eleven curtains were of one size. 16 And he coupled five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves. 17 And he made fifty loops upon the uttermost edge of the curtain in the coupling, and fifty loops made he upon the edge of the curtain which coupleth the second. 18 And he made fifty taches of brass to couple the tent together, that it might be one. 19 And he made a covering for the tent of rams' skins dyed red, and a covering of badgers' skins above that. 20 And he made boards for the tabernacle of shittim wood, standing up. 21 The length of a board was ten cubits, and the breadth of a board one cubit and a half. 22 One board had two tenons, equally distant one from another: thus did he make for all the boards of the tabernacle. 23 And he made boards for the tabernacle; twenty boards for the south side southward: 24 And forty sockets of silver he made under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board for his two tenons, and two sockets under another board for his two tenons. 25 And for the other side of the tabernacle, which is toward the north corner, he made twenty boards, 26 And their forty sockets of silver; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board. 27 And for the sides of the tabernacle westward he made six boards. 28 And two boards made he for the corners of the tabernacle in the two sides. 29 And they were coupled beneath, and coupled together at the head thereof, to one ring: thus he did to both of them in both the corners. 30 And there were eight boards; and their sockets were sixteen sockets of silver, under every board two sockets. 31 And he made bars of shittim wood; five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle, 32 And five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the tabernacle for the sides westward. 33 And he made the middle bar to shoot through the boards from the one end to the other. 34 And he overlaid the boards with gold, and made their rings of gold to be places for the bars, and overlaid the bars with gold. Here, 1. The shelter and special protection that the church is under are signified by the curtains of hair-cloth, which were spread over the tabernacle, and the covering of rams' skins and badgers' skins over them, v. 14-19 . God has provided for his people a shadow from the heat, and a covert from storm and rain, Isa. iv. 6 . They are armed against all weathers; the sun and the moon shall not smite them: and they are protected from the storms of divine wrath, that hail which will sweep away the refuge of lies, Isa. xxviii. 17 . Those that dwell in God's house shall find, be the tempest ever so violent, or the dropping ever so continual, it does not rain in. 2. The strength and stability of the church, though it is but a tabernacle, are signified by the boards and bars with which the curtains were borne up, v. 20-34 . The boards were coupled together and joined by the bars which shot through them; for the union of the church, and the hearty agreement of those that are its stays and supporters, contribute abundantly to its strength and establishment. 35 And he made a vail of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen: