Исход 27:21

The tabernacle of the congregation - The place where all the assembly of the people were to worship, where the God of that assembly was pleased to reside, and to which, as the habitation of their king and protector, they were ever to turn their faces in all their adorations. Before the testimony - That is, the ark where the tables of the covenant were deposited. See Exo 25:16. Aaron and his sons - These and their descendants being the only legitimate priests, God having established the priesthood in this family. Shall order it from evening to morning - Josephus says the whole of the seven lamps burned all the night; in the morning four were extinguished, and three kept burning through the whole day. Others assert that the whole seven were kept lighted both day and night continually; but it appears sufficiently evident, from Sa1 3:3, that these lamps were extinguished in the morning: And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep, etc. See also Exo 30:8 : And when Aaron Lighteth The Lamps At Even. It appears therefore that the business of the priests was to light the lamps in the evening; and either to extinguish them in the morning, or permit them to burn out, having put in the night before as much oil as was necessary to last till daylight. A statute for ever - This ordering of the lamps night and morning, and attendance on the service of the tabernacle, was a statute that was to be in full force while the tabernacle and temple stood, and should have its spiritual accomplishment in the Christian Church to the end of time. Reader, the tabernacle and temple are both destroyed; the Church of Christ is established in their place. The seven golden candlesticks were typical of this Church and the glorio…

shall order it from evening to morning--The tabernacle having no windows, the lamps required to be lighted during the day. JOSEPHUS says that in his time only three were lighted; but his were degenerate times, and there is no Scripture authority for this limitation. But although the priests were obliged from necessity to light them by day, they might have let them go out at night had it not been for this express ordinance. Next: Exodus Chapter 28

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, Exo 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, Exo 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, Exo 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 th…

The Altar of Burnt-Offering (cf. Exo 38:1-7). - "Make the altar (the altar of burnt-offering, according to Exo 38:1) of acacia-wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad (רבוּע "foured," i.e., four-sided or quadrangular), and three cubits high. At its four corners shall its horns be from (out of) it," i.e., not removable, but as if growing out of it. These horns were projections at the corners of the altar, formed to imitate in all probability the horns of oxen, and in these the whole force of the altar was concentrated. The blood of the sin-offering was therefore smeared upon them (Lev 4:7), and those who fled to the altar to save their lives laid hold of them (vid., Exo 21:14, and Kg1 1:50; also my commentary on the passage). The altar was to be covered with copper or brass, and all the things used in connection with it were to be made of brass. These were, - (1) the pans, to cleanse it of the ashes of the fat (Exo 27:3 : דּשּׁן, a denom. verb from דּשׁן the ashes of fat, that is to say, the ashes that arose from burning the flesh of the sacrifice upon the altar, has a privative meaning, and signifies "to ash away," i.e., to cleanse from ashes); (2) יעים shovels, from יעה to take away (Isa 28:17); (3) מזרקות, things used for sprinkling the blood, from fzarq to sprinkle; (4) מזלגות forks, flesh-hooks (cf. מזלג Sa1 3:13); (5) מחתּת coal-scoops (cf. Exo 25:38). וגו לכל־כּליו: either "for all the vessels thereof thou shalt make brass," or "as for all its vessels, thou shalt make (them) of brass."

In this chapter directions are given, I. Concerning the brazen altar for burnt-offerings (Exo 27:1-8). II. Concerning the court of the tabernacle, with the hangings of it (Exo 27:9-19). III. Concerning oil for the lamp (Exo 27:20, Exo 27:21).

27:21 the Tabernacle (literally the Tent of Meeting): The expression Tent of Meeting sometimes refers to the Tabernacle tent; in these cases the expression is essentially synonymous with Tabernacle, and the NLT consistently renders it Tabernacle. In addition, a temporary tent also called the “Tent of Meeting” is mentioned in 33:7-11. See study note on 40:2.