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Exodus Chapter
Twenty-seven
New King James Version
(NKJV)
INTRODUCTION TO
EXODUS 27
This chapter treats of the
altar of burnt offering, and of all things relative to it, Exodus 27:1, of the
court of the tabernacle, its hangings on each side, with pillars, sockets, and
hooks for them, Exodus 27:9 and it
is concluded with an order to the Israelites to bring oil olive for the lamp of
the sanctuary, Exodus 27:20.
Exodus 27:1 “You
shall make an altar of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits wide—the
altar shall be square—and its height shall be three cubits.
YLT 1`And thou hast made the altar of shittim
wood, five cubits the length, and five cubits the breadth -- the altar is
square -- and three cubits its height.
And thou shall
make an altar of shittim wood,.... This is a different altar from that
made of earth before the tabernacle was built, Exodus 20:24 and
from the altar of incense, Exodus 30:1 this
was to offer burnt offerings on, and was placed at the door of the tabernacle,
in the court of the people, where they brought their sacrifices to the priests
to offer for them: it stood in the open air, as it was proper it should, that
the smoke or the sacrifices might ascend up and scatter. This altar was not
typical of the altar of the heart; though indeed all the saints are priests,
and every sacrifice of theirs should come from the heart, and particularly
love, which is more than all burnt offerings; but the heart is not this altar
of brass to bear the fire of divine wrath, which none can endure; nor does it
sanctify the gift, it being itself impure: nor of the Lord's table, or the
table on which the Lord's supper is set; that is a table, and not an altar, a
feast, and not a sacrifice; is not greater than the gift, nor does it sanctify:
nor of the cross or Christ, on which he died, bore the sins or his people, and
sanctified them by his blood; but of Christ himself, who by his office as a
priest, his human nature is the sacrifice, and his divine nature the altar; and
he is that altar believers in him have a right to eat of, Hebrews 13:10 his
divine nature is greater than the human, is the support of it, which sanctifies
and gives it virtue as a sacrifice, and which makes the sacrifices of all his
people acceptable to God. This altar of burnt offering is said to be made of
"shittim wood", a wood incorruptible and durable; Christ, as God, is
from everlasting to everlasting; as man, though he once died, he now lives for
evermore, and never did or will see corruption; his priesthood is an
unchangeable priesthood, and passes not from one to another, and particularly
his sacrifice is of a continual virtue and efficacy:
five cubits
long, and five cubits broad: the altar shall be square: as to the length
and breadth of it, which were alike, two yards and a half each, according to
the common notion of a cubit. The altars of the Heathens were made in imitation
of this, they were square as this was. Pausanias makes mention of an altar of
Diana, that was τετραγωνος
"square", sensibly rising up on high. And this figure may denote the
perfection of Christ's sacrifice, and the permanency of it; though the altars
in Solomon's temple, and in the visions of Ezekiel, are much larger, and which
also were square, 2 Chronicles 4:1.
Christ's sacrifice is large and extensive, making satisfaction for all his
people, and for all their sins; and he is an altar large enough for all their
sacrifices to be offered up to God with acceptance:
and the height
thereof shall be three cubits; a proper height for a man to minister at;
for as Aben Ezra observes, the height of a man is but four cubits ordinarily;
so that a man serving at the altar would be a cubit, or half a yard more above
it, and would have command of doing on it what he had to do.
Exodus 27:2 2 You
shall make its horns on its four corners; its horns shall be of one piece with
it. And you shall overlay it with bronze.
YLT 2And thou hast made its horns on its four
corners, its horns are of the same, and thou hast overlaid it [with] brass.
Which were either for
ornament, or for keeping what was laid upon the altar from falling off, or for
the fastening of the sacrifice to them, and were what criminals fled to for
refuge, and laid hold on; and may denote the power of Christ, who is the horn
of salvation to preserve his people from a final falling away, and from ruin
and destruction, and his protection of those that fly to him for refuge; and
these horns being at the corners of the altar may respect the four parts of the
world, from whence souls come to Christ for everlasting salvation:
his horns shall
be of the same; that is, made of the same wood as the altar itself and so may
lead to observe the like things: or "upwards out of it"F2ממנו "sursum exeo", Noldius, p. 615. , the altar;
prominent from it, as the Arabic version, and so the sacrifices could be bound
to them, Psalm 118:27,
and thou shalt
overlay it with brass; with plates of brass, that it may endure the fire, and preserve the
wood from being burnt with it; this may denote not only the brightness, lustre,
and glory of Christ, like the shining brass, but his great strength in bearing
the sins of his people, and all the punishment due unto them, even the fire of
divine wrath, without being consumed by it. Jarchi observes, that it was
overlaid with brass, because it was to make atonement for the impudence of the
forehead, which is as brass, Isaiah 48:4.
Exodus 27:3 3 Also
you shall make its pans to receive its ashes, and its shovels and its basins
and its forks and its firepans; you shall make all its utensils of bronze.
YLT 3And thou hast made its pots to remove its
ashes, and its shovels, and its bowls, and its forks, and its fire-pans, even
all its vessels thou dost make of brass.
And thou shall
make his pans to receive his ashes,.... Not to receive them
in as they fell, but to gather them up in, and carry them away; and this was
done every morning about cockcrowing, not much sooner nor laterF3Misn.
Yoma, c. 1. sect. 8. & Maimon, in ib. :
and his shovels; to throw up
the ashes together to be put into the pans; Jarchi describes this vessel to be
like the cover of a brass pot, with a handle to it; the same we call a fire
shovel:
and his basins: to receive
the blood of the sacrifice, and out of which it was sprinkled, as the word
signifies, and may be rendered sprinkling basins:
and his flesh
hooks; not such as were used to take flesh out of the pot, 1 Samuel 2:13 for
there could be no use for such at the altar of burnt offering; but were, as
Jarchi says, like hooks recurved, with which they struck into the flesh, and
turned it upon the coals to hasten the burning of it; and with which very
probably they kept the fire and the parts of the sacrifices in good order,
until they were consumed:
and his fire
pans; which were a kind of censers in which coals of fire were taken off
from the altar of burnt offering, and carried to the altar of incense, as
Jarchi and Ben Gersom observe, see Leviticus 16:12 but
as censers did not belong to the altar of burnt offering, but to the altar of
incense, Fortunatus ScacchusF4Sacr. Elaeochrism. Myrothec. l. 2. c.
73. p. 676, 677. is of opinion, that these were a larger sort of vessels,
wherein the fire which came down from heaven was kept burning while the altar
and grate were cleansed from the coals and ashes, and when the altar was had
from place to place:
all the vessels
thereof thou shalt make of brass; as being fittest for the
use of this altar.
Exodus 27:4 4 You
shall make a grate for it, a network of bronze; and on the network you shall
make four bronze rings at its four corners.
YLT 4`And thou hast made for it a grate of
net-work of brass, and hast made on the net four rings of brass on its four
extremities,
And thou shalt,
make for it a grate of network of brass,.... Or
"sieve", as in Amos 9:9, it was a
plate of brass with holes in it, to let through either the blood that drained
from the parts of the sacrifice, or the ashes of it; for this was the focus or
hearth, on which the sacrifice and the wood were laid and burnt: this,
according to the Targum of Jonathan on Exodus 38:4 was to
receive the coals and bones which fell from the altar: and so may denote the
purity of Christ's sacrifice, which was offered up without spot to God, and the
use of him as the altar to sanctify our gifts, and take away the sins of our
holy things:
and upon the
net shalt thou make four brazen rings in the four corners thereof; by which,
with chains put into them, the grate was fastened to the four horns of the
altar, and the use of them was to let it down and hang in the middle of the
altar, and to take it up when there was occasion for it; though some think
these rings were not "in" the grate, but "by" it, as the
particle may be rendered, a little lower than that, on the sides of the altar;
into which the staves after mentioned were put, and with which the altar was
carried when removed from place to place.
Exodus 27:5 5 You
shall put it under the rim of the altar beneath, that the network may be midway
up the altar.
YLT 5and hast put it under the compass of the
altar beneath, and the net hath been unto the middle of the altar.
And thou shalt
put it under the compass of the altar beneath,.... That is, the grate
was to be put within the square compass of the altar, in the hollow part of it,
for the wood and sacrifice to be laid upon it:
that the net
may be even to the midst of the altar; and as the altar was
three cubits high, this net or grate was let down by chains to its rings a
cubit and a half, and being of such a depth was capable of containing a great
deal.
Exodus 27:6 6 And
you shall make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with
bronze.
YLT 6`And thou hast made staves for the altar,
staves of shittim wood, and hast overlaid them [with] brass.
And thou shalt
make staves for the altar, staves of shittim wood,.... Like
those that were made for the ark, and for the same purpose:
and overlay them
with brass; with plates of brass, whereas those for the ark were overlaid
with gold.
Exodus 27:7 7 The
poles shall be put in the rings, and the poles shall be on the two sides of the
altar to bear it.
YLT 7And the staves have been brought into the
rings, and the staves have been on the two sides of the altar in bearing it.
And the staves
shall be put into the rings,.... Not into the rings of the grate, as Jarchi
and others: though Dr. LightfootF6Works, vol. 1. p. 722. thinks
these came out of each corner through the altar frame, and hung out of the
frame, and in these the staves being put, made the frame and the grate sure
together, and so they were also carried together; but it seems rather, that as
the grate had rings peculiar to that, to let it down and take it up, and with
which it was carried, with a purple cloth covered over it, Numbers 4:13 so the
altar had rings peculiar to that on the sides of it, into which these staves
were put:
and the staves
shall be upon the two sides of the altar, to bear it; and which
shows that the rings into which these were put were not the rings of the grate,
for they were at the four corners of it, which hung upon the four horns of it;
whereas the staves were on the two sides of it, in order to bear it from place
to place, which was done by the Levites; and was typical of the ministers of
the Gospel bearing the name of Christ, and spreading the doctrine of his
sacrifice and satisfaction, in the world, which is the main and fundamental
doctrine of the Gospel.
Exodus 27:8 8 You
shall make it hollow with boards; as it was shown you on the mountain, so shall
they make it.
YLT 8Hollow with boards thou dost make it, as it
hath been shewed thee in the mount, so do they make [it].
Hollow with boards
shalt thou make it,.... The frame of it being made of boards of shittim wood, there
was nothing within side but the grate, which was put within the square, down
into the middle of it, and so was light of carriage; though the Targum of
Jonathan, and other Jewish writers, represent this hollow as filled up with
dust and earth, to answer to the altar of earth Moses was before bid to make;
but this seems quite contrary to the present direction: the hollowness of the
altar may denote the emptiness of Christ when he became a sacrifice: he emptied
himself, as it were, when he became incarnate, of all his greatness, glory, and
riches, and became mean and poor for the sake of his people, that they through
his poverty might be made rich, Philemon 2:7.
as it was
showed thee in the mount, so shall they make it; or, "as he showed
thee"F7הראה "fecit videre",
Pagninus, Montanus; "ostendit Dominus", Junius & Tremellius,
Piscator, Drusius; so Ainsworth. , that is, God. Moses had a model of this
altar showed him, and he was to be careful to instruct the workmen, and see to
it, that they built it exactly according to the model.
Exodus 27:9 9 “You
shall also make the court of the tabernacle. For the south side there shall
be hangings for the court made of fine woven linen, one hundred
cubits long for one side.
YLT 9`And thou hast made the court of the
tabernacle: for the south side southward, hangings for the court of twined
linen, a hundred by the cubit [is] the length for the one side,
And thou shall
make the court of the tabernacle: for the south side southward,.... This was
a large court yard to the house of God, or tabernacle, which stood in it at the
upper end of it; it was enclosed, but open to the air; and in it, between the
entrance into it and the holy place, stood the altar of burnt offering before
described, and on one side of that the laver for the priests to wash in; into
this the people of Israel were admitted, and where they brought their
sacrifices and worshipped: it was typical of the visible church of God on
earth, which, though an enclosure, and is separated from the world, yet
consists of professors, good and bad, of real saints and hypocrites; as into
this court Israelites of every character, sex, and state entered. In David's time
it was divided into various courts, and what answered to it when the temple was
built were the several apartments called the courts of the priests, where they
sacrificed, and the court of Israel, where the men Israelites worshipped, and
the court of the women, where they were by themselves; and in later times there
was another court separate from these, called the court of the Gentiles, into
which they might enter; and the description of this court begins with that side
of it which lay full south: there shall be
hangings for
the court of fine twined linen of one hundred cubits long for one side; for the south
side; and these hangings, with the rest all around, made the court, and were
the walls of it; and from hence we learn, that it was one hundred cubits or
fifty yards long, according to the common computation of a cubit; though it was
three hundred inches more, this cubit being three inches more than is commonly
supposed. These hangings, vails, or curtains, for so in the versions they are
differently called, were the enclosure of the court; they were made of fine
linen, six times twisted, but not of various colours, and curiously wrought
with cunning work, as the curtains of the tabernacle were; and according to the
signification of the word, they were wrought full of holes, like eyelet holes,
or in the manner of network; so that though they kept persons from entering in,
they might be seen through, and through them might be seen what was doing in
the court: and all this may signify that the visible church of God on earth is
separated from the world, and should consist of men called out of it, and of
such who are clothed with that fine linen, clean and white, the righteousness
of the saints, and which is the righteousness of Christ, and who have both inward
and outward holiness; and though none but those who are admitted members of it
may partake of its ordinances, yet others may be spectators of what is done in
it.
Exodus 27:10 10 And
its twenty pillars and their twenty sockets shall be bronze. The hooks
of the pillars and their bands shall be silver.
YLT 10and its twenty pillars and their twenty
sockets [are] of brass, the pegs of the pillars and their fillets [are] of
silver;
And the twenty
pillars thereof and their twenty sockets shall be of brass,.... On these
pillars the hangings, rails, or curtains were set, and they were for one side,
the south side, in number twenty; and so must stand five cubits, or two yards
and a half or more, distant from each other, since the length of the hangings
were one hundred cubits: these, according to Philo the JewF8De Vita
Mosis, l. 3. p. 667. , were made of cedar, but if of wood, most probably of
"shittim wood", as they are by most thought to be; though one would
think, according to the plain and express words of the text, they as well as
their sockets were of brass: and JosephusF9Antiqu. l. 3. c. 6. sect.
2. expressly says they were of brass, and which seems fittest for the purpose:
now though the church of God itself is a pillar, and so is every true member of
it, 1 Timothy 3:15 yet
ministers of the Gospel may be more especially designed, Proverbs 9:1 who
are the principal support of the churches of God, and of the interest of
religion; and are set for the defence of the Gospel, and are steadfast in the
ministration of it:
the hooks of
the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver; the hooks on the pillars
might be somewhat like our tenter hooks, and so Jarchi describes them, as
having one end crooked upwards, and the other end fixed in the pillar; and as
for the fillets, he says, they were silver threads round about the pillars; but
whether they were upon the face or of them all, or on the top, or in the middle
of them, he confesses his ignorance; only this he knew, that the word has the
signification of girding or binding; and these fillets might not only be for
ornament, but for the binding of the hangings to the pillars: and so Ben Gersom
says, that they were silver threads, with which the curtains were bound to the
pillars, that the wind might not separate them from them; and both the silver
hooks and fillets may signify the word and ordinances as administered by the
preachers of the Gospel, in which there is an union, conjunction, and communion
between them and the churches.
Exodus 27:11 11 Likewise along the length
of the north side there shall be hangings one hundred cubits
long, with its twenty pillars and their twenty sockets of bronze, and the hooks
of the pillars and their bands of silver.
YLT 11and so for the north side in length, hangings
of a hundred [cubits] in length, and its twenty pillars and their twenty
sockets [are] of brass, the pegs of the pillars and their fillets [are] of
silver.
And likewise
for the north side in length there shall be hangings of one hundred cubits long,.... The north
and south sides of this court being equal, the same length of hangings were for
the one as the other:
and his twenty
pillars, and their twenty sockets of brass; there went on this side
the same number of pillars and sockets, and of the same metal:
the hooks of
the pillars and their fillets of silver; just as they were on the
south side.
Exodus 27:12 12 “And
along the width of the court on the west side shall be hangings of fifty
cubits, with their ten pillars and their ten sockets.
YLT 12`And [for] the breadth of the court at the
west side [are] hangings of fifty cubits, their pillars ten, and their sockets
ten.
And for the
breadth of the court, on the west side,.... On the west end, the
upper end of the court, near to which reached the holy of holies:
shall be
hangings of fifty cubits: or twenty five yards and more, so that the court was but half as
broad as it was long:
their pillars
ten, and their sockets ten; which was a number proportionate to the
hangings, and stood at an equal distance from each other, as the pillars for
the sides, at five cubits, or two yards and a half, as commonly computed.
Exodus 27:13 13 The
width of the court on the east side shall be fifty cubits.
YLT 13And [for] the breadth of the court at the
east side, eastward, [are] fifty cubits.
And the breadth
of the court on the east side eastward,.... Which was the
entrance into it:
shall be fifty
cubits; the east end and west end were of the same measure.
Exodus 27:14 14 The
hangings on one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits, with
their three pillars and their three sockets.
YLT 14And the hangings at the side [are] fifteen
cubits, their pillars three, and their sockets three.
The hangings of
one side of the gate,.... Or entrance into the court:
shall be
fifteen cubits; or seven yards and a half:
their pillars
three, and their sockets three; and so stood at the same distance from one
another as the rest of the pillars did, the distance of five cubits.
Exodus 27:15 15 And
on the other side shall be hangings of fifteen cubits, with their
three pillars and their three sockets.
YLT 15And at the second side [are] hangings fifteen
[cubits], their pillars three, and their sockets three.
And on the
other side shall be hangings fifteen cubits,.... On the
other side of the gate, or entrance into the court, on the northeast side, as
the other may be supposed to be the southeast side, there was the same length
of hangings:
their pillars
three, and their sockets three; the same as on the other side of the gate.
Exodus 27:16 16 “For
the gate of the court there shall be a screen twenty cubits long, woven
of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen, made by a
weaver. It shall have four pillars and four sockets.
YLT 16`And for the gate of the court a covering of
twenty cubits, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined linen, work of an
embroiderer; their pillars four, their sockets four.
And for the
gate of the court shall be an hanging of twenty cubits,.... Which,
with the fifteen on each side, make the fifty cubits, the breadth of the court
eastward, Exodus 27:13, this
hanging was better than the rest, much finer and richer:
for it was of
blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needle work: and was of
the same as the hangings for the door of the holy place, Exodus 26:36 this
was a figure of Christ, and of the graces of the Spirit in him, and of his
bloodshed, sufferings, and death; who is the door into the church, and to the
ordinances of it, and leads on to the holy place, and even to the holy of
holies, see John 10:9.
their pillars
shall be four, and their sockets four: so that the pillars of
this court at both sides and each end were sixty, twenty on each side, south
and north, and ten at each end, west and east.
Exodus 27:17 17 All
the pillars around the court shall have bands of silver; their hooks shall
be of silver and their sockets of bronze.
YLT 17All the pillars of the court round about
[are] filleted [with] silver, their pegs [are] silver, and their sockets brass.
All the pillars
round about the court shall be filleted with silver,.... This is
observed, because only mention is made before of the pillars that were on the
south and north sides of the court, as filleted with silver; but inasmuch as
those at both ends, east and west, were to be so likewise, this is added:
their hooks shall
be of silver, and their sockets of brass; no notice having been taken of the
hooks to the pillars at both ends, though they were as necessary there as
elsewhere, and must be supposed, and though the sockets are mentioned, yet not
their metal, and therefore are in general included here.
Exodus 27:18 18 The
length of the court shall be one hundred cubits, the width fifty
throughout, and the height five cubits, made of fine woven linen, and
its sockets of bronze.
YLT 18`The length of the court [is] a hundred by
the cubit, and the breadth fifty by fifty, and the height five cubits, of
twined linen, and their sockets [are] brass,
The length of
the court shall be one hundred cubits,.... And as may be
concluded from the length of the hangings on each side:
and the breadth
fifty everywhere; at both ends, and was the breadth of the hangings there, and
which all around made the court:
and the height
five cubits; or two yards and a half, and somewhat more; it was but half the
height of the tabernacle, and hence that might be seen above it every way; so
that, according to Bishop Cumberland, it contained one rood, twenty one
perches, and twenty seven square feet, and was half an Egyptian aroura, which
is the square of one hundred Jewish or Egyptian cubits: "of fine twined
linen"; of which the hangings were made, and here called the court, as
they properly were, for they made it:
and their
sockets of brass; the bases on which all the pillars stood, upon which the
hangings of fine twined linen were, were of brass; which seems to be repeated,
that the foundation of this court might be observed to be different from that
of the tabernacle; the foundation of that, or the sockets, into which the
boards of it were put, being of silver.
Exodus 27:19 19 All
the utensils of the tabernacle for all its service, all its pegs, and all the
pegs of the court, shall be of bronze.
YLT 19even all the vessels of the tabernacle, in
all its service, and all its pins, and all the pins of the court, [are] brass.
All the vessels
of the tabernacle in all the service thereof,.... Which either refers
to the vessels belonging to the altar of burnt offering, and so is a repetition
of what is said, Exodus 27:3 or
rather to instruments that were used at the setting up and taking down of the
tabernacle; such as hammers and the like, to drive the staves into the rings,
and knock out the pillars from their sockets, &c., as Jarchi and Ben Gersom
observe; for otherwise the vessels used in the sanctuary were of gold or
silver, or covered therewith, and not of brass, as these are afterwards said to
be:
and all the
pins thereof; what these were is not easy to say; for there was nothing made
of brass in the holy or most holy place, but the taches or clasps, with which
the curtains of goats' hair were coupled together, and the sockets on which the
five pillars were set at the entrance of the door of the tabernacle, Exodus 26:11 and it
is possible that those pillars might be fastened in their sockets with brass
pins; for the clasps or taches can hardly be called pins:
and all the
pins of the court shall be of brass; these were brass pins,
or stakes fastened in the ground all round the court, to which cords were tied,
and these fastened to the hangings; whereby they were kept tight and close,
that the wind could not move them to and fro, as Jarchi and Ben Melech observe,
and so JosephusF11Antiqu. l. 3. c. 6. sect. 2. ; see Isaiah 33:20.
Exodus 27:20 20 “And
you shall command the children of Israel that they bring you pure oil of
pressed olives for the light, to cause the lamp to burn continually.
YLT 20`And thou -- thou dost command the sons of
Israel, and they bring unto thee pure beaten olive oil for the light, to cause
the lamp to go up continually;
And thou shall
command the children of Israel,.... Here begins a new section of the law;
an account being given of the tabernacle, and its parts, and the furniture
thereof, next the several parts of service done in it are observed; and the account
begins with that of the candlestick in the holy place, in order to which Moses
is directed to command the people of Israel, whose business it was to provide
for it:
that they bring
thee pure oil olive beaten for the light; for the light of the
candlestick, to light up the several lamps in the several branches of it; and
the oil to be brought and used there was not any sort of oil, as what is got
out of fishes, as train oil, or out of nuts, as oil of almonds, but what comes
from the olive tree; and this must be pure and free from lees and dregs, and
must be beaten with a pestle in a mortar, and not ground in a mill, that so it
might be quite clear; for being bruised and beaten, only the pulp or flesh of
the olive was broken, but being ground in a mill, the stones were broken and
ground, and so the oil not so pure.Jarchi and Ben Melech, from their Rabbins,
observe, that after the first drop was pressed out, they put them into mills
and grind them; but then, though the oil was fit for offerings, it was not fit
for the light of the candlestick. Ben Gersom says, they put the olives bruised
into a basket, and the oil dropped from them without pressing at all; and this
was the choicest and most excellent for the light. The quantity to be brought
is not fixed; but the measure fixed by the wise men of Israel, as Jarchi says,
was half a log, that is, for every lamp; and this was the measure for the
longest nights, the nights of the month Tebet, and so the same for all other
nights:
to cause the
lamp to burn always night and day, continually, as it was proper it should, that the
house of God might not be at any time in darkness; as it would otherwise be,
since there were no windows in it; and his servants minister in it in the dark,
even in the daytime, at the altar of incense, and at the shewbread table, which
is not reasonable to suppose; and though there are some passages of Scripture
which seem to intimate as though the lamps only burnt till the morning, and
then went out, and were lighted every evening; this difficulty may be solved,
and the matter reconciled by what JosephusF12Antiqu. l. 3. c. 8.
sect. 3. relates, who must be an eyewitness of it, that three of the lamps
burned before the Lord in the daytime, and the rest were lighted at the
evening; and HecataeusF13Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 4.
p. 408. , an Heathen writer, speaking of the golden candlestick, says, its
light was unextinguished day and night, particularly the lamp which was in the
middle; also the candlestick is by the ancient Jews, and by Nachmanides, said
to have been never extinct.
Exodus 27:21 21 In the tabernacle of
meeting, outside the veil which is before the Testimony, Aaron and his sons
shall tend it from evening until morning before the Lord. It shall
be a statute forever to their generations on behalf of the children of
Israel.
YLT 21in the tent of meeting, at the outside of the
vail, which [is] over the testimony, doth Aaron -- his sons also -- arrange it
from evening till morning before Jehovah -- a statute age-during to their
generations, from the sons of Israel.
In the
tabernacle of the congregation,.... The reasons usually given for this name
of the tabernacle are, either because the children of Israel gathered and met
together here at certain times, or because here the Lord met with Moses, and
his successors, as he had promised, Exodus 25:22, but
neither of them will hold good; not the first, because the place where the
candlestick was, and which Aaron and his sons are here said to order, was in
the holy place, into which only the priests entered, and therefore could not be
called the tabernacle of the congregation, from the people of Israel being
gathered and assembling there; not the latter, because it was in the most holy
place, where the Lord promised to meet with Moses, and commune with him, even
from between the cherubim over the mercy seat there: indeed, at the door of the
tabernacle of the congregation the children of Israel assembled, and there the
Lord met them, and so the whole might be called from thence, and there seems to
be no other reason for it, Exodus 29:42 and
this place was
without the
vail, which is before the testimony; that is, without the
vail which divided between the holy and the most holy place, and which vail was
before the ark, where the law or the testimony was put; for the candlestick was
in that part of the tabernacle which was without the vail, or in the holy
place: and here
Aaron and his
sons shall order it from evening to morning before the Lord; that is, they
were to take care that the lamps which went out might be lighted; and that they
be kept clear and burning, they were to trim and snuff them, for which they had
proper instruments provided for them, Exodus 25:37. This
points at the word of God, which shines as a light in a dark place, and is a
lamp to the feet, and a light to the path, and to the constant application of
Gospel ministers in preaching it, in order to enlighten men in all ages unto
the end of the world:
it shall be a
statute for ever unto their generations, on the behalf of the children of
Israel; on whom it was incumbent to provide oil for the lamps, as long
as the tabernacle and temple service lasted; and figured out either the
maintenance of Gospel ministers by the churches, or the grace and gifts of the
Spirit, with which they are furnished by the head of the church, often
signified by oil in Scripture.
──《John Gill’s
Exposition of the Bible》