9 And let there be an open space round the House, with hangings for its south side of the best linen, a hundred cubits long.
To make the open space, he put hangings on the south side, of the best linen, a hundred cubits long: Their twenty pillars and their twenty bases were brass; and the hooks of the pillars and their bands were of silver. And for the north side. hangings a hundred cubits long, on twenty brass pillars in brass bases, with silver hooks and bands. And on the west side, hangings fifty cubits long, on ten pillars in ten bases, with silver bands. And on the east side, the open space was fifty cubits long. The hangings on one side of the doorway were fifteen cubits long, on three pillars with their three bases; And the same on the other side of the doorway; on this side and on that the hangings were fifteen cubits long, on three pillars with their three bases. All the hangings were of the best linen. And the bases of the pillars were of brass; their hooks and the bands round the tops of them were of silver; all the pillars were ringed with silver. And the curtain for the doorway of the open space was of the best linen, with designs of blue and purple and red in needlework; it was twenty cubits long and five cubits high, to go with the hangings round the sides. There were four pillars with their bases, all of brass, the hooks being of silver, and their tops and their bands being covered with silver. All the nails used for the House and the open space round it were of brass.
In the Lord's house, even in Jerusalem. Praise be to the Lord.
And he said to me, This is the place where the offering for error and the sin-offering are to be cooked in water by the priests, and where the meal offering is to be cooked in the oven; so that they may not be taken out into the outer square to make the people holy. And he took me out into the outer square and made me go by the four angles of the square; and I saw that in every angle of the open square there was a space shut in. In the four angles there were spaces walled in, forty cubits long and thirty wide; the four were of the same size. And there was a line of wall all round inside them, round all four, and boiling-places were made under it all round about. And he said to me, These are the boiling-rooms, where the offering of the people is cooked by the servants of the house.
And he went round and took the measure of it on the west side with the measuring rod, five hundred, measured with the rod all round. He took its measure on the four sides: and it had a wall all round, five hundred long and five hundred wide, separating what was holy from what was common.
Opposite the space of twenty cubits which was part of the inner square, and opposite the stone floor of the outer square. There were covered ways facing one another on the third floor.
And he took me into the inner square facing the east: and he took the measure of the doorway by these measures;
Then he took me to the inner square by the south doorway: and he took the measure of the south doorway by these measures;
And there was a doorway to the outer square, looking to the north; and he took the measure of it to see how wide and how long it was.
And he took the measure of the covered way, twenty cubits; and opening from the covered way of the doorway was the open square round about.
And you are to make a veil of the best linen, blue and purple and red, worked with designs of winged ones by a good workman: Hanging it by gold hooks from four pillars of wood, plated with gold and fixed in silver bases. And you are to put up the veil under the hooks, and put inside it the ark of the law: the veil is to be a division between the holy place and the most holy. You are to put the cover on the ark of the law, inside the most holy place. And outside the veil you are to put the table, and the support for the lights opposite the table on the south side of the House; and the table is to be on the north side. And you are to make a curtain for the doorway of the Tent, of the best linen with needlework of blue and purple and red. And make five pillars for the curtain, of hard wood plated with gold; their hooks are to be of gold and their bases of brass
Come into his doors with joy, and into his house with praise; give him honour, blessing his name.
Those who are planted in the house of the Lord will come up tall and strong in his gardens.
And he made altars for all the stars of heaven in the two outer squares of the house of the Lord.
The same day the king made holy the middle of the open square in front of the house of the Lord, offering there the burned offering and the meal offering and the fat of the peace-offerings; for there was not room on the brass altar of the Lord for the burned offerings and the meal offerings and the fat of the peace-offerings.
And put up the hangings forming the open space all round it, with the curtain over its doorway.
The hangings for the open space, with the pillars and their bases, and the curtain for the doorway, and the cords and nails, and all the instruments necessary for the work of the House of the Tent of meeting;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Exodus 27
Commentary on Exodus 27 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 27
Ex 27:1-21. Altar for Burnt Offering.
1, 2. altar of shittim wood—The dimensions of this altar which was placed at the entrance of the sanctuary were nearly three yards square, and a yard and a half in height. Under the wooden frame of this chest-like altar the inside was hollow, and each corner was to be terminated by "horns"—angular projections, perpendicular or oblique, in the form of horns. The animals to be sacrificed were bound to these (Ps 118:27), and part of the blood was applied to them.
3. shovels—fire shovels for scraping together any of the scattered ashes.
basons—for receiving the blood of the sacrifice to be sprinkled on the people.
fleshhooks—curved, three-pronged forks (1Sa 2:13, 14).
fire-pans—A large sort of vessel, wherein the sacred fire which came down from heaven (Le 9:24) was kept burning, while they cleaned the altar and the grate from the coals and ashes, and while the altar was carried from one place to another in the wilderness [Patrick, Spencer, Le Clerc].
4. a grate of network of brass—sunk latticework to support the fire.
four brazen rings—by which the grating might be lifted and taken away as occasion required from the body of the altar.
5. put it under the compass of the altar beneath—that is, the grating in which they were carried to a clean place (Le 4:12).
6, 7. staves … rings—Those rings were placed at the side through which the poles were inserted on occasions of removal.
9-19. the court of the tabernacle—The enclosure in which the edifice stood was a rectangular court, extending rather more than fifty yards in length and half that space in breadth, and the enclosing parapet was about three yards or half the height of the tabernacle. That parapet consisted of a connected series of curtains, made of fine twined linen yarn, woven into a kind of network, so that the people could see through; but that large curtain which overhung the entrance was of a different texture, being embroidered and dyed with variegated colors, and it was furnished with cords for pulling it up or drawing it aside when the priests had occasion to enter. The curtains of this enclosure were supported on sixty brazen pillars which stood on pedestals of the same metal, but their capitals and fillets were of silver, and the hooks on which they were suspended were of silver also.
19. pins—were designed to hold down the curtains at the bottom, lest the wind should waft them aside.
20, 21. pure oil olive beaten—that is, such as runs from the olives when bruised and without the application of fire.
for the light … Aaron and his sons—were to take charge of lighting it in all time coming.
21. 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.