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Commentary

Exodus 24:4

And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.

Titles: That is, pillars.

Exodus 24:5

And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the LORD.

Holocausts: Whole burnt offerings, in which the whole sacrifice was consumed with fire upon the altar.

Exodus 25:2

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.

Firstfruits: Offerings of some of the best and choicest of their goods.

Exodus 25:5

And rams' skins dyed red, and badgers' skins, and shittim wood,

Setim wood: The wood of a tree that grows in the wilderness, which is said to be incorruptible.

Exodus 25:7

Onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod, and in the breastplate.

The ephod and the rational: The ephod was the high priest's upper vestment; and the rational his breastplate, in which were twelve gems, etc.

Exodus 25:17

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.

A propitiatory: a covering for the ark: called a propitiatory, or mercy seat, because the Lord, who was supposed to sit there upon the wings of the cherubims, with the ark for his footstool, from thence showed mercy. It is also called the oracle, ver. 18 and 20; because from thence God gave his orders and his answers.

Exodus 25:23

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.

A table: On which were to be placed the twelve loaves of proposition: or, as they are called in the Hebrew, the face bread, because they were always to stand before the face of the Lord in his temple: as a figure of the eucharistic sacrifice and sacrament, in the church of Christ.

Exodus 25:29

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.

Libations: That is, drink offerings.

Exodus 25:31

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.

A candlestick: This candlestick, with its seven lamps, which was always to give light in the house of God, was a figure of the light of the Holy Ghost, and his sevenfold grace, in the sanctuary of the church of Christ.

Exodus 26:33

And thou shalt hang up the vail under the taches, that thou mayest bring in thither within the vail the ark of the testimony: and the vail shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy.

The sanctuary: That part of the tabernacle, which was without the veil, into which the priests daily entered, is here called the sanctuary, or holy place; that part which was within the veil, into which no one but the high priest ever went, and he but once a year, is called the holy of holies, (literally, the sanctuary of the sanctuaries,) as being the most holy of all holy places.

Exodus 28:15

And thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment with cunning work; after the work of the ephod thou shalt make it; of gold, of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine twined linen, shalt thou make it.

The rational of judgment: This part of the priest's attire, which he wore at his breast, was called the rational of judgment; partly because it admonished both priest and people of their duty to God, by carrying the names of all their tribes in his presence; and by the Urim and the Thummim, that is, doctrine and truth, which were written upon it; and partly because it gave divine answers and oracles, as if it were rational and endowed with judgment.

Exodus 28:30

And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim; and they shall be upon Aaron's heart, when he goeth in before the LORD: and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the LORD continually.

Doctrine and Truth: Hebrew, Urim and Thummim: illuminations and perfections. These words, written on the rational, seem to signify the light of doctrine and the integrity of life, with which the priests of God ought to approach him.

Exodus 30:1

And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon: of shittim wood shalt thou make it.

An altar to burn incense: This burning of incense was an emblem of prayer, ascending to God from an inflamed heart. See Ps. 140. 2; Apoc. 5. 8, and 8. 4.

Exodus 30:13

This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs:) an half shekel shall be the offering of the LORD.

Half a sicle: A sicle or shekel of silver, (which was also called a stater,) according to the standard or weight of the sanctuary, which was the most just and exact, was half an ounce of silver, that is, about half a crown of English money. The obol, or gerah, was about three halfpence.

Exodus 32:25 · 2 passages

And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:)

Naked: Having lost not only their gold, and their honour, but what was worst of all, being stripped also of the grace of God, and having lost him.

The shame of the filth: That is, of the idol, which they had taken for their god. It is the usual phrase of the scripture to call idols filth and abominations.

Exodus 33:1

And the LORD said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it:

Face to face: That is, in a most familiar manner. Though as we learn from this very chapter, Moses could not see the face of the Lord.

Exodus 33:12

And Moses said unto the LORD, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight.

I know thee by name: In the language of the scriptures, God is said to know such as he approves and loves: and to know by name, those whom he favours in a most singular manner, as he did his servant Moses.

Exodus 33:23

And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.

See my back parts: The Lord by his angel, usually spoke to Moses in the pillar of the cloud; so that he could not see the glory of him that spoke familiarly with him. In the vision here mentioned he was allowed to see something of him, in an assumed corporeal form: not in the face, the rays of which were too bright for mortal eye to bear, but to view him as it were behind, when his face was turned from him.

Exodus 34:29

And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.

Horned: That is, shining, and sending forth rays of light like horns.

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