Exodus 25:1-40
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering.
3 And this is the offeringa which ye shall take of them; gold, and silver, and brass,
4 And blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair,
5 And rams' skins dyed red, and badgers' skins, and shittim wood,
6 Oil for the light, spices for anointing oil, and for sweet incense,
7 Onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod, and in the breastplate.
8 And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.
9 According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.
10 And they shall make an ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.
11 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about.
12 And thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in the four corners thereof; and two rings shall be in the one side of it, and two rings in the other side of it.
13 And thou shalt make staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold.
14 And thou shalt put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be borne with them.
15 The staves shall be in the rings of the ark: they shall not be taken from it.
16 And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee.
17 And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof.
18 And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat.
19 And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end: even of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof.
20 And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be.
21 And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee.
22 And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.
23 Thou shalt also make a table of shittim wood: two cubits shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.
24 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold round about.
25 And thou shalt make unto it a border of an hand breadth round about, and thou shalt make a golden crown to the border thereof round about.
26 And thou shalt make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings in the four corners that are on the four feet thereof.
27 Over against the border shall the rings be for places of the staves to bear the table.
28 And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be borne with them.
29 And thou shalt make the dishes thereof, and spoons thereof, and covers thereof, and bowls thereof, to cover withal: of pure gold shalt thou make them.
30 And thou shalt set upon the table shewbread before me alway.
31 And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same.
32 And six branches shall come out of the sides of it; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side:
33 Three bowls made like unto almonds, with a knop and a flower in one branch; and three bowls made like almonds in the other branch, with a knop and a flower: so in the six branches that come out of the candlestick.
34 And in the candlestick shall be four bowls made like unto almonds, with their knops and their flowers.
35 And there shall be a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, according to the six branches that proceed out of the candlestick.
36 Their knops and their branches shall be of the same: all it shall be one beaten work of pure gold.
37 And thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof: and they shall lightb the lamps thereof, that they may give light over against it.
38 And the tongs thereof, and the snuffdishes thereof, shall be of pure gold.
39 Of a talent of pure gold shall he make it, with all these vessels.
40 And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount.
Exodus 25:2. That they bring me an offering. We now enter on the tabernacle, a hallowed work, a figure of the church, and emblem of the heavenly glory. This mystical temple was not new: it had existed in paradise; it had no doubt been preserved by Noah in the ark, for we find it in the Egyptian and Indian temples, as well as among the ancient Greeks. Yet God by special revelation was pleased to renew it in a figure of perfection.
Exodus 25:4. Blue and purple. Some materials proper for the work, and of the colours here mentioned; wool or threads, or some such like things, as appears from Hebrews 9:19.
Exodus 25:7. The ephod, or superhumeral, a species of long shawl which covered the shoulders and breast of the high priest; and to which the pectoral or breastplate was appendent. See Exodus 28:15.
Exodus 25:8. A sanctuary. A sort of ambulatory temple; and in all antiquity we find nothing more ancient than such portable temples.
Exodus 25:10. Ark of shittim-wood, or the acacia wood, as Dr. Shaw, our learned traveller, suggests. All the more distinguished temples of the heathen seem to have had an ark or chest, in which to preserve their sacred utensils. The predictions of the Sybils, written in verse, were preserved in a chest. For an account of those prophetesses, see Lanctantius's Institutes, book 1.; Augustine's City of God, book 18. chap. 23. If those poems were forged, yet the traditions were true, for the Voluspa, a poem beforementioned, foretels the same things. As the law was deposited in the ark, it is promiscuously called the ark of the testimony, the ark of the testament, and the ark of the covenant.
Exodus 25:11. Crown of gold, a border raised up above the rest of the ark.
Exodus 25:16. The testimony, the two tables of stone, on which the decalogue was written. Exodus 30:6; Leviticus 16:13.
Exodus 25:17. A mercy-seat, or propitiatory, which covered the ark, and upon which the God of Israel is represented as having been seated; and hence the ark was called his footstool. See Leviticus 16. This ιλαστηριον is several times alluded to in the new testament. Hebrews 9:5; Romans 3:24; 1 John 2:1.
Exodus 25:18. Two cherubim of gold. Moses has not told us what was the form of these cherubim; but they were designed to represent the angelic nature. Josephus admits that they were of a configuration unknown to men, and represented celestial beings. In Ezekiel, the number is four. The sphynxes of the Egyptians had some resemblance to these figures. See Ezekiel 32:4. Beaten work. Not made of several parcels joined together, but beaten by the hammer out of one continued piece of gold.
Exodus 25:23. Table of shittim-wood. The LXX read, a golden table. King Solomon made this table of gold, 1 Kings 7:48; and the LXX follow that reading. Thus the Hebrew copy and the Greek version are both correct.
Exodus 25:25. I will commune with thee, as in Exodus 28:15.
Exodus 25:30. Shew bread: twelve loaves in two heaps. God is not unmindful to provide bread for those who wait at the altar.
Exodus 25:39. Talent of gold, containing three thousand shekels, value about three hundred and fifty pounds. Exodus 38:25.
Exodus 25:40. Pattern shewed thee in the mount. This being often repeated, marks its importance: no fancy work was allowed there.