Exodus 38:1-31 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is Exodus 38:1-31. Let’s go!
Exodus 38:1-7 (NIV)
1 They built the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood, three cubits high; it was square, five cubits long and five cubits wide.
2 They made a horn at each of the four corners, so that the horns and the altar were of one piece, and they overlaid the altar with bronze.
3 They made all its utensils of bronze–its pots, shovels, sprinkling bowls, meat forks and firepans.
4 They made a grating for the altar, a bronze network, to be under its ledge, halfway up the altar.
5 They cast bronze rings to hold the poles for the four corners of the bronze grating.
6 They made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with bronze.
7 They inserted the poles into the rings so they would be on the sides of the altar for carrying it. They made it hollow, out of boards.
On verses 1-7: The altar of burnt offering, which was used to sacrifice animals, was made of bronze, as were the utensils (v3), the grating (v4), the poles for carrying the altar (v6) as well as the rings that the poles went through (v5). Why bronze? A pretty good argument can be made that in the Law of Moses (contained the first five books of the Bible) bronze symbolizes God’s judgment. See for example Deuteronomy 28:23 where God says that if the Israelites do not obey the LORD, the Israelites will be under God’s curse and as part of that “The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron.” Similarly, in Leviticus 26:18-19, the LORD’s message to the Israelites is that if they do not listen to Him, He will punish them and, as part of this, the LORD says, “If after all this you will not listen to me, I will punish you for your sins seven times over. I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze.”
If bronze in the Law of Moses symbolizes God’s judgment, then it is no wonder that the altar of burnt offering and all the accessories associated with it were all bronze, for they were all used in connection with judging the people’s sins. Yet when you enter the tent of meeting where the Holy Place and Most Holy Place are, you find no more bronze; rather the altar of incense, the lampstand, the table and even the ark itself are all gold, signifying God’s presence and heaven.
Praise God! Just as the Israelites went from bronze at the altar of burnt offering to gold in the Most Holy Place, so our sins were judged at the cross where Jesus died and in the end we come forth as gold, pure and acceptable in God’s sight.
Exodus 38:8 (NIV)
8 They made the bronze basin and its bronze stand from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
On verse 8: In Exodus 38:8 the women who served at the entrance to God’s house (the tent of meeting) took their mirrors, which were cast in bronze, and donated them so that the bronze could be turned into instruments of worship. Imagine that. To show their love for God and God’s house, these women sacrificed something that they used every day to make themselves look beautiful: their mirrors.
In sacrificing their mirrors, these women were saying “how God and His house look are more important than how I look”. What a beautiful, selfless offering!
It reminds me of how David danced with all his might before God, not caring about how he looked (2 Samuel 6:14).
How about you? When you come to worship God, how self-conscious are you? Are you hesitant to lift your hands or to sing too loudly? How much do you care about how you look in front of others as you worship God?
Sometimes the greatest enemy to us truly worshiping God is that we’re focused way too much on ourselves and how we look. That’s when our worship becomes stiff, cold, distracted and half-hearted. Instead, let’s lay down our mirrors and worship God with abandon, passion and without thinking so much about ourselves.
So sing to God with all your heart. Lift your hands with abandon. Lay down your mirror and turn your eyes upon Jesus. When you do, you’ll see His unmatched beauty, and you in turn will be changed and made even more beautiful because you’ve been with Jesus.
What specifically did the craftsmen do with the bronze that the women donated? They used it to make the bronze basin, which Aaron and his sons would use to wash their hands and feet, as commanded by the LORD.
Exodus 38:9-20 (NIV)
9 Next they made the courtyard. The south side was a hundred cubits long and had curtains of finely twisted linen,
10 with twenty posts and twenty bronze bases, and with silver hooks and bands on the posts.
11 The north side was also a hundred cubits long and had twenty posts and twenty bronze bases, with silver hooks and bands on the posts.
12 The west end was fifty cubits wide and had curtains, with ten posts and ten bases, with silver hooks and bands on the posts.
13 The east end, toward the sunrise, was also fifty cubits wide.
14 Curtains fifteen cubits long were on one side of the entrance, with three posts and three bases,
15 and curtains fifteen cubits long were on the other side of the entrance to the courtyard, with three posts and three bases.
16 All the curtains around the courtyard were of finely twisted linen.
17 The bases for the posts were bronze. The hooks and bands on the posts were silver, and their tops were overlaid with silver; so all the posts of the courtyard had silver bands.
18 The curtain for the entrance to the courtyard was of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen–the work of an embroiderer. It was twenty cubits long and, like the curtains of the courtyard, five cubits high,
19 with four posts and four bronze bases. Their hooks and bands were silver, and their tops were overlaid with silver.
20 All the tent pegs of the tabernacle and of the surrounding courtyard were bronze.
On verses 9-20: These verses describe the construction of the outer courtyard. The fact that Exodus 38 first describes the bronze altar (v1-7), then the bronze basin (v8), and then the outer courtyard suggests a progression, which is this: after our sins have been paid for (represented by the bronze altar), and after we have been washed in baptism (represented by the bronze basin), we can then stand in the courts of the LORD (represented by the outer courts) and give God acceptable and pleasing worship.
Exodus 38:21-31 (NIV)
21 These are the amounts of the materials used for the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the Testimony, which were recorded at Moses’ command by the Levites under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron, the priest.
22 (Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made everything the LORD commanded Moses;
23 with him was Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan–a craftsman and designer, and an embroiderer in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen.)
24 The total amount of the gold from the wave offering used for all the work on the sanctuary was 29 talents and 730 shekels, according to the sanctuary shekel.
25 The silver obtained from those of the community who were counted in the census was 100 talents and 1,775 shekels, according to the sanctuary shekel–
26 one beka per person, that is, half a shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, from everyone who had crossed over to those counted, twenty years old or more, a total of 603,550 men.
27 The 100 talents of silver were used to cast the bases for the sanctuary and for the curtain–100 bases from the 100 talents, one talent for each base.
28 They used the 1,775 shekels to make the hooks for the posts, to overlay the tops of the posts, and to make their bands.
29 The bronze from the wave offering was 70 talents and 2,400 shekels.
30 They used it to make the bases for the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, the bronze altar with its bronze grating and all its utensils,
31 the bases for the surrounding courtyard and those for its entrance and all the tent pegs for the tabernacle and those for the surrounding courtyard.
On verses 21-31: Moses commanded the Levites to keep records of how much material was used for the building of the tabernacle. Moses put Ithamar son of Aaron, the priest, in charge to oversee the record-keeping. What can we learn from this? Part of being a faithful steward is to keep good records and to carefully track progress. Just as a shepherd counts sheep and an accountant counts money, it’s hard to give an account of what we have done when we don’t keep track of it. What are some important numbers that you need to keep track of as part of being a faithful steward of what God has given to you?
Jesus, thank You that my sins were paid for at the cross and that by Your blood I am now clean and can live in the courts of the LORD. I pray I would be a good and faithful steward of what You have given to me, including keeping good and accurate records of the people and things I’m in charge of. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
