In this chapter an order is given for a freewill offering towards various things for the worship and service of God, and the materials to be offered, which would be useful and acceptable, are mentioned particularly, Ex.

And the Lord spake unto Moses When on the mount, and in the midst of the cloud with him: saying; as follows.

Speak unto the children of Israel That is, when he should go down from the mountain to the camp: that they bring me an offering; the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan call it a “separation”: something separated from their substance, and devoted to the service of God, and for the use of the sanctuary…

And this is the offering which ye shall take of them That is, some one or other of the following things were to be taken of each of them that had a heart, and it was in the power of their hands to give; it was not expected that something of each of these should be had of everyone, but every man was…

And blue, and purple, and scarlet The Jewish doctors are much divided about the sense of the words so rendered by us; some will have one colour, and some another meant; but, according to those learned men, who have taken much pains in searching into the meaning of them, as Bochart and Braunius, it…

And rams’ skins died red Of these were made a covering for the tent or tabernacle: and badgers’ skins, which were for the same use: the Septuagint version calls them hyacinth or blue skins; according to which, they seem to be the rams’ skins died blue; and so Josephus [[1]] seems to have understood…

Oil for the light For the light of the lamps in the candlestick: this was oil olive, as the Targum of Jonathan, and so Jarchi, see , spices for anointing oil; for the anointing of Aaron and his sons, and the tabernacle and its vessels, such as pure myrrh, sweet cinnamon, sweet calamus, and cassia:…

Onyx stones So called from their likeness to the nail of a man’s finger: the Targum of Onkelos calls them stones of beryl; and the Targum of Jonathan gems of beryl; and the Septuagint version, stones of sardius; and some take them to be the sardonyx stones, which have a likeness both to the onyx…

And let them make me a sanctuary An holy place to dwell in, and so called from his dwelling in it, as follows: that I may dwell amongst them; in the midst of them, where the tabernacle was always placed; and there he dwelt as their King and their God, to whom they might have recourse on all…

According to all that I show thee That is, the sanctuary was to be made in all respects exactly according to the view of it that Moses now had upon the mount from God, and which he was to communicate to the workmen for their instruction and direction; after the pattern of the tabernacle, and of the…

And they shall make an ark of shittim wood A chest or coffer to put things into, and into this were to be put the two tables of stone on which the law was written, and it was to be made of the wood before mentioned, this was a very eminent type of Christ, with whom the name of an ark, chest, or…

And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold Not gild it, but put a plate of pure gold over it: within and without shalt thou overlay it; so that nothing of the wood could be seen: this may denote the glory of Christ in both his natures, divine and human, the riches of his person and office, which are…

And thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it For which a mould was to be made, and the gold being melted was poured into it, and so the rings were fashioned: and put them in the corners thereof; or, “in its feet”, as Aben Ezra, though Jarchi says it had no feet; but as the word used so signifies…

And thou shall make staves of shittim wood Of the same, wood the ark was made of, see (Ex. 25:5, Ex. 25:10) and overlay them with gold; cover them with plates of gold, so that they appeared to be all of gold, the wood being not to be seen.

And thou shall put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark This shows for what use the rings were; namely, to put the staves into them and the use of the staves thus put was, that the ark might be borne with them; which staves overlaid with gold, and put into golden rings, figured the…

The staves shall be in the rings of the ark Not only be put into them, but remain in them, yea, always: they shall not be taken from it; or, as the Septuagint version is, be immovable; so that those gold rings in the ark may signify the churches of Christ, which are instrumental to bear his name,…

And thou shall put into the ark the testimony that I shall give thee. ] Which was the principal use of it: by the “testimony” is meant the law, written on two tables of stone; so called, because it was a testification of the mind and will of God, what he would have done or omitted; and as the…

And thou shall make a mercy seat of pure gold Or “covering” [[12]]; so Jarchi and Aben Ezra; for so the word properly signifies; and what is meant was no more than a cover of the ark, which was open at the top, and this was the lid of it, and exactly answered to it, as appears by the dimensions…

And thou shalt make two cherubim of gold Which some take to be in the form of birds, and others of winged animals, such as the like were never seen, so Josephus; the Jews commonly suppose they were in the form of young men, which they observe the word signifies in the Chaldee language; others, that…

And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end The situation of the cherubim is particularly explained, lest, as Jarchi observes, it should be thought that there were two at both ends of the mercy seat; whereas there were only one at one end, and another at the other,…

And the cherubim shall stretch forth their wings on high From whence it appears they were in the form of winged creatures, as the seraphim in Isaiah’s vision, and the living creatures in those of Ezekiel and John; and their wings did not hang down by them, or on the side of them, but were stretched…

And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark Over it, as a covering for it: this situation of the mercy seat above the ark, where the law was, signifies, that there is no mercy but in a way of righteousness, or of satisfaction to the law of God, and in a consistence with the honour of it;…

And there I will meet with thee With Moses, and so with the high priest in later times, when he should enter into the holy of holies, and with the people of God as represented by him, when he should go in and inquire for them of the Lord: and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from…

Thou shalt also make a table of shittim wood As the sanctuary or tabernacle was an house for God to dwell in, he would have the proper furniture of an house, as a table, candlestick This table was to be in the same place with the ark and mercy seat; they were set in the holy of holies, where there…

And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold Cover it with a plate of gold, so that the wood was not seen; which may denote either the excellency of Christ’s human nature, being pure and spotless, and adorned with the grace of the Spirit of God without measure; or rather of his divine nature, which is…

And thou shalt make unto it a border of art hand’s breadth round about Jarchi says, their wise men are divided about this; some say it was above, round about the table; others say it was below, fixed from foot to foot at the four corners of the table, and the board of the table lay upon the border:…

And thou shalt make for it four rings of gold As the ark had, and for the same use as the rings of that were, though whether cast, as they were, is not said: and put the rings in the four corners that are on the four feet thereof; as there were four feet at the four corners of the table, to each…

Over against the border Or “under” it, as the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions. Jarchi says the rings were fixed to the feet over against the top of the border: shall the rings be for placing of the staves to bear the table; into these rings staves were to be put, to carry the table from place…

And thou shall make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold In like manner as the staves for the ark, and which were made of the same wood: that the table may be borne with them; when moved from one place to another; these staves did not remain in the rings, as the staves for the ark…

And thou shall make the dishes thereof On which the shewbread loaves were set. Jarchi says they were of the form of the bread, and that there were two sorts, one of gold, and one of iron; in the iron one the bread was baked, and when they took it out of the oven, they put it into the golden one…

And thou shall set upon the table shewbread before me always. ] Which consisted of twelve cakes loaves, set in two rows upon the table, and stood there a whole week, and every sabbath were renewed; and when the old ones were took away, which were eaten by the priests, new ones were set, so that…

And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold Another piece of household furniture, and an useful one, especially in a house where there are no windows, as there were none in the tabernacle, denoting the darkness of the legal dispensation, see .

And six branches shall come out of the sides of it Out of the trunk or shaft, being beaten out of it: three branches of the candlestick out of one side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side; Jarchi takes what we render the “shaft” to be the lower part of the candlestick, from…

Three bowls made like unto almonds, with a knop and a flower in one branch There were three bowls or cups in the form of almond nuts to each branch, which were either to hold oil for the lamps, as before observed, or, as others think, to catch the snuff which fell from them; and there were a…

And in the candlestick shall be four bowls That is, in the trunk or body of it; the branches had but three apiece, but this being larger had four: and these were also made like unto almonds, with their knops and their flowers; as the bowls on the branches had with them.

And there shall be a knop under two branches of the same According to Jarchi, from the middle of the knop (which was like a pomegranate, or, as others, like an apple) two branches were drawn from the two sides of it, here and there; so they teach in the work of the tabernacle, the height of the…

Their knops and their branches shall be of the same Of the same metal, gold, and of same mass: all of it shall be one beaten work of pure gold not made in parts, and then put and soldered together, but the whole candlestick in all its parts and branches were to be beaten out of one piece of gold.

And thou shall make the seven lamps thereof Which were, six of them, on the top of the six branches that came out of the sides of the candlestick, and the seventh on the top of the shaft which ran up in the middle of it; which no doubt were made of gold as well as the rest, and may signify the many…

And the tongs thereof Which, according to Jarchi, was a sort of forks with which they took the wicks out of the oil, and put them in the lamps; or, as some think, the snuffers, but they are distinguished from tongs, (1 Kings 7:49, 1 Kings 7:50) and the snuffdishes thereof shall be of pure gold; in…

Of a talent of pure gold shall he make it, with all these vessels. ] The common talent weighed sixty pounds, but the sacred talent was double, and weighed one hundred and twenty pounds, as says Jarchi, and so Ben Melech: a talent of gold amounted to 5067 pounds, three shillings and ten pence of our…

And look that thou make them Or see that they are made by workmen employed: after their pattern, which was showed thee in the mount; from whence it appears, that as Moses was showed the model of the tabernacle, so also of the candlestick, and of all its appurtenances, and of every other vessel in…