Exodus 38:8

Of the looking-glass of the women assembling— Looking-glasses or mirrors were anciently, as appears from hence, made of brass. Callimachus, in his hymn to Pallas, observes, (Exodus 38:19 that she never looked into ορεικαλκον, a mirror made of mountain-brass, nor into water; which were heretofore the only looking-glasses: luxury brought in silver ones afterwards. Le Clerc, from Cyril, tells us, that it was the custom of the Egyptian women to carry a looking glass along with them, when they went to the temples and places of public worship; and perhaps many of the Israelitish women had the same custom, borrowed from the Egyptians. Dr. Shaw informs us, that "the Arabian women still carry their looking-glasses constantly with them, hanging at their breasts," Travels, p. 241. The strong expressions here used [see the margin of our Bibles] seem to refer to that readiness, wherewith the women came in troops to offer even these instruments of their pride (if they were such) to the service of the tabernacle: anxious to shew their zeal, they assembled in vast multitudes, as with their jewels, so with their looking-glasses, at the door of that tabernacle of the congregation, which was pitched without the camp, and of which we have spoken in the note on ch. Exodus 33:7. Some, however, have thought, that these were devout women, who daily attended the sanctuary, and were perhaps employed in some sacred offices. The learned Grotius is of this opinion; and observes upon Luke 2:37. (where Anna's attention to the service of the temple is mentioned,) that not only the Levites, but other Israelites, both men and women, were wont to assemble both by day and night, in order to employ themselves in prayer and praise; which companies were called by the military term צבא tzaba, hosts or troops; which is the Hebrew word here used: so that, as assembling in a troop, and relieving each other by turns, like soldiers appointed to keep guard, they might be called with propriety the sacred watch; see Psalms 92:2; Psalms 119:147; Psalms 134; Psalms 135. To this custom, he thinks, the passage before us refers, as having taken place in the earlier times of the Jewish commonwealth, even before the sacred tabernacle was erected, and when this, here spoken of, supplied its place. Hence the LXX render it, the women who fasted; and the Chaldee, the women who prayed. Whether this opinion of Grotius be admitted or not, we may, with great propriety, understand the present passage, of the women who zealously and in multitudes assembled with their free-gifts.

See commentary on Exodus 38:1