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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Exodus 27:9 - 27:21
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The Court of the Tabernacle
v. 9. And thou shalt make the court of the Tabernacle, an enclosed yard to mark the space set aside for formal worship; for the south side southward there shall be hangings for the court of fine twined linen, curtains made of byssus, of an hundred cubits long for one side;
v. 10. and the twenty pillars thereof, the posts between which the curtains were suspended, and their twenty sockets shall be of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets, the rods connecting the several posts, shall be of silver.
v. 11. And likewise for the north side in length there shall be hangings of an hundred cubits long, and his twenty pillars and their twenty sockets of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver, corresponding exactly to the enclosure on the south side of the court.
v. 12. And for the breadth of the court on the west side shall be hangings of fifty cubits; their pillars ten and their sockets ten. This was on the side of the court in the rear of the Tabernacle, behind the Most Holy Place.
v. 13. And the breadth of the court on the east side eastward, where the entrance was, shall be fifty cubits.
v. 14. The hangings of one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits; their pillars three and their sockets three.
v. 15. And on the other side shall be hangings fifteen cubits; their pillars three and their sockets three. The entire length of the byssus curtains, which formed the enclosure of the court, thus amounted to one hundred and eighty cubits.
v. 16. And for the gate of the court, the great and only entrance, toward the east, shall be an hanging of twenty cubits, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework, the same material and workmanship as that used for the door-curtain of the Holy Place; and their pillars shall be four and their sockets four.
v. 17. All the pillars round about the court shall be filleted with silver, the connecting rods were to be of this precious metal; their hooks shall be of silver and their sockets of brass, of copper or one of its common alloys, brass or bronze.
v. 18. The length of the court shall be an hundred cubits and the breadth fifty everywhere, wherever one chose to measure, and the height five cubits of fine twined linen, and their sockets of brass.
v. 19. All the vessels of the Tabernacle in all the service thereof, as they were employed in sacrificial worship, and all the pins thereof, the pegs to which the ropes of the Tabernacle were fastened, and all the pins of the court, the pegs which held the guy ropes of the posts, shall be of brass.
v. 20. And thou shalt command the children of Israel that they bring thee pure oil olive beaten for the light to cause the lamp to burn always. The oil used in the Tabernacle was not that pressed out of olives by stamping with the feet or by means of an oil-press, but that which flowed from the ripe olives after they were cut or bruised. This oil was pure and clear, and therefore served well for burning in the Holy Place.
v. 21. In the Tabernacle of the Congregation without the veil, which is before the testimony, before the Ark of the Covenant, Aaron and his sons shall order it from evening to morning before the Lord, the lamps burned from the time of the evening sacrifice till the next morning. The Tabernacle is here for the first time called the "tent of meeting," because the Lord met with the representatives of the people when He communicated with them from the mercy-seat. It shall be a statute forever unto their generations on the behalf of the children of Israel. This refers both to the furnishing of the oil on the part of the people and to the lighting of the lamps on the part of the priests. Just as the children of Israel were to be reminded that their light was not to be quenched as long as they remained in the covenant of the Lord, so we Christians should remember that the light of our faith should ever be visible in good works.