خروج ٢٥

Exo 25:1-3 (cf. Exo 35:1-9). The Israelites were to bring to the Lord a heave-offering (תּרוּמה from רוּם, a gift lifted, or heaved by a man from his own property to present to the Lord; see at Lev 2:9), "on the part of every one whom his heart drove," i.e., whose heart was willing (cf. לבּו נדיב Exo 35:5, Exo 35:22): viz., gold, silver, brass, etc. Exo 25:4 תּכלת, ὑάκινθος, purple of a dark blue shade, approaching black rather than bright blue. ארגּמן, πορφύρα (Chald. ארגּון, 2 Chron, Exo 2:6; Dan 5:7, Dan 5:16; - Sanskrit, rgaman or rgavan, colore rubro praeditus), true purple of a dark red colour. שׁני תּולעת, literally the crimson prepared from the dead bodies and nests of the glow-worm, (Note: Glanzwurm: "the Linnean name is coccus ilicis. It frequents the boughs of a species of ilex; on these it lays its eggs in groups, which become covered with a kind of down." Smith's Dictionary, Art. Colours. - Tr.) then the scarlet-red purple, or crimson. שׁשׁ, βύσσος, from שׁוּשׁ to be white, a fine white cotton fabric, not linen, muslin, or net. עזים goats, here goats' hair (τρίχες αἰγείαι, lxx). Exo 25:5 מאדּמים אלים ערת rams' skins reddened, i.e., dyed red. תּחשׁ is either the seal, phoca, or else, as this is not known to exist in the Arabian Gulf, the φῶκος = φώκαινα of the ancients, as Knobel supposes, or κῆτος θαλάσσιον ὅμοιον δελφῖνι, the sea-cow (Manati, Halicora), which is found in the Red Sea, and has a skin that is admirably adapted for sandals. Hesychius supposes it to have been the latter, which is probably the same as the large fish Tn or Atm, that is caught in the Red Sea, and belongs to the same species as the Halicora (Robinson, Pal. i. p. 170); as its skin is also used by the Bedouin Arabs for making sandals (Burckhardt, Syr. p. 861). In the Ma…

We may suppose that when Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and abode there so long, where the holy angels attended the shechinah, or divine Majesty, he saw and heard very glorious things relating to the upper world, but they were things which it was not lawful nor possible to utter; and therefore, in the records he kept of the transactions there, he says nothing to satisfy the curiosity of those who would intrude into the things which they have not seen, but writes that only which he was to speak to the children of Israel. For the scripture is designed to direct us in our duty, not to fill our heads with speculations, nor to please our fancies. In these verses God tells Moses his intention in general, that the children of Israel should build him a sanctuary, for he designed to dwell among them (Exo 25:8); and some think that, though there were altars and groves used for religious worship before this, yet there never was any house, or temple, built for sacred uses in any nation before this tabernacle was erected by Moses, and that all the temples which were afterwards so much celebrated among the heathen took rise from this and pattern by it. God had chosen the people of Israel to be a peculiar people to himself (above all people), among whom divine revelation, and a religion according to it, should be lodged and established: he himself would be their King. As their King, he had already given them laws for the government of themselves, and their dealings one with another, with some general rules for religious worship, according to the light of reason and the law of nature, in the ten commandments and the following comments upon them. But this was not thought sufficient to distinguish them from other nations, or to answer to the extent of that covenant which God wou…

25:1–40:38 Unlike our churches, the Tabernacle functioned primarily as a residence or palace of God, the divine king, rather than as a place for people to congregate. In this respect, churches are more like the later Jewish synagogues (see also study note on 40:2). This last section of Exodus completes the revelation of God necessary for the people of Israel to come out of the theological darkness that had held them in bondage. This final section includes instructions for building the Tabernacle (chs 25–31), the story of the gold calf (a wrong attempt to secure God’s presence, chs 32–34), and the report of building the Tabernacle (the proper way to secure God’s presence, chs 35–40). God’s ultimate goal in delivering the people from bondage was to share his presence with them. Because of his holiness, that presence could only be experienced in his way, not through the pagan way of human manipulation. The construction of the Tabernacle is reported here, even though some of the instructions in Leviticus were actually given before this event (see 40:1-2; Lev 25:1; 27:34; Num 7:1). This event expresses the goal of the entire Exodus sequence, which is God taking up residence among his people. 25:1–27:19 These instructions first indicate the materials the Israelites could contribute for the construction of the Tabernacle (25:3-7). The instructions then move from the center outward, beginning with the Ark of the Covenant (25:10-22) and concluding with the courtyard (27:9-19). Two items, the altar of incense in the sanctuary and the washbasin in the courtyard, are included later (30:1-10, 17-21), in the section relating to the priesthood, perhaps because their use was especially related to functions of the priests.