Worthy.Bible » BBE » Exodus » Chapter 39 » Verse 33

Exodus 39:33 Bible in Basic English (BBE)

- Read this chapter

33 Then they took the House to Moses, the tent with all the things for it; its hooks, its boards, its rods, its pillars, and its bases;

Cross Reference

Exodus 25:1-30 BBE

KJV ASV YLT DARBY WEB STRONG

And the Lord said to Moses, Say to the children of Israel that they are to make me an offering; from every man who has the impulse in his heart take an offering for me. And this is the offering you are to take from them: gold and silver and brass; And blue and purple and red, and the best linen, and goats' hair; And sheepskins coloured red, and leather, and hard wood; Oil for the light, spices for the sweet-smelling oil, sweet perfumes for burning; Beryls and stones of value to be put on the ephod and on the priest's bag. And let them make me a holy place, so that I may be ever present among them. Make the House and everything in it from the designs which I will give you. And they are to make an ark of hard wood; two and a half cubits long, and a cubit and a half wide and high. It is to be plated inside and out with the best gold, with an edge of gold all round it And make four rings of gold for it, to be fixed on its four feet, two rings on one side of it and two on the other. And make rods of the same wood, plating them with gold. And put the rods through the rings at the sides of the ark, for lifting it. The rods are to be kept in the rings, and never taken out. Inside the ark you are to put the record which I will give you. And you are to make a cover of the best gold, two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. And at the two ends of the cover you are to make two winged ones of hammered gold, One at one end and one at the other; the winged ones are to be part of the cover. And their wings are to be outstretched over the cover, and the winged ones are to be opposite one another, facing the cover. And put the cover over the ark, and in the ark the record which I will give you. And there, between the two winged ones on the cover of the ark, I will come to you, face to face, and make clear to you all the orders I have to give you for the children of Israel. And you are to make a table of the same wood, two cubits long, a cubit wide and a cubit and a half high, Plated with the best gold, with a gold edge all round it; And make a frame all round it, as wide as a man's hand, with a gold edge to the frame. And make four gold rings and put them at the four angles, on the four feet of the table; The rings are to be fixed under the frame to take the rods with which the table is to be lifted. Make rods of the same wood, plated with gold, for lifting the table. And make the table-vessels, the spoons and the cups and the basins for liquids, all of the best gold. And on the table at all times you are to keep my holy bread.

Exodus 31:7-11 BBE

KJV ASV YLT DARBY WEB STRONG

The Tent of meeting, and the ark of the law, and the cover which is on it, and all the things for the tent, And the table with its vessels, and the holy light-support with all its vessels, and the altar for the burning of spices, And the altar of burned offerings with all its vessels, and the washing-vessel with its base, And the robes of needlework, the holy robes for Aaron and for his sons, for their use when acting as priests, And the holy oil, and the perfume of sweet spices for the holy place; they will do whatever I have given you orders to have done.

Exodus 35:11-19 BBE

KJV ASV YLT DARBY WEB STRONG

The House and its tent and its cover, its hooks and its boards, its rods and its pillars and its bases; The ark with its cover and its rods and the veil hanging before it; The table and its rods and all its vessels, and the holy bread; And the support for the lights, with its vessels and its lights and the oil for the light; And the altar for burning spices, with its rods, and the holy oil and the sweet perfume, and the curtain for the door, at the door of the House; The altar of burned offerings, with its network of brass, its rods, and all its vessels, the washing-vessel and its base; The hangings for the open space, its pillars and their bases, and the curtain for the doorway; The nails for the House, and the nails for the open space and their cords; The robes of needlework for the work of the holy place, the holy robes for Aaron the priest, and the robes for his sons when acting as priests.

Exodus 36:1-38 BBE

KJV ASV YLT DARBY WEB STRONG

So let Bezalel and Oholiab get to work, with every wise-hearted man to whom the Lord has given wisdom and knowledge, to do whatever is necessary for the ordering of the holy place, as the Lord has given orders. Then Moses sent for Bezalel and Oholiab, and for all the wise-hearted men to whom the Lord had given wisdom, even everyone who was moved by the impulse of his heart to come and take part in the work: And they took from Moses all the offerings which the children of Israel had given for the building of the holy place. And still they went on giving him more free offerings every morning. Then the wise men, who were doing all the work of the holy place, came from their work; And said to Moses, The people are giving much more than is needed for the work which the Lord has given us orders to do. So Moses made an order and had it given out through all the tents, saying, Let no man or woman make any more offerings for the holy place. So the people were kept from giving more. For the material they had was enough and more than enough for all the work which had to be done. Then all the expert workmen among them made the House with its ten curtains; of the best linen, blue and purple and red, they made them, with winged ones worked by expert designers. Every curtain was twenty-eight cubits long and four cubits wide, all of the same measure. And five curtains were joined together, and the other five curtains were joined together. And they put twists of blue cord on the edge of the outside curtain of the first group, and in the same way on the outside curtain of the second group. Fifty twists on the one curtain and fifty on the edge of the curtain of the other group; the twists being opposite to one another. And they made fifty hooks of gold, joining the curtains one to another with the hooks; and so the House was made. And they made curtains of goats' hair for the tent; eleven curtains were made. Every curtain was thirty cubits long and four cubits wide, all of the same measure. Five curtains were joined together to make one group, and six curtains were joined together to make the other group. And they put fifty twists of cord on the edge of the outside curtain of the first group, and fifty twists on the edge of the outside curtain of the second group, And fifty hooks of brass for joining them together to make the tent. And they made a cover of sheepskins coloured red, to go over the tent, and a cover of leather over that. And for the uprights of the House they made boards of hard wood. The boards were ten cubits long and one cubit and a half wide. Every board had two tongues fixed into it; all the boards were made in this way. They made twenty boards for the south side of the House: And for these twenty boards, forty silver bases, two bases under every board, to take its tongues. And for the second side of the House, on the north, they made twenty boards, With their forty silver bases, two bases for every board. And for the west side of the House, at the back, they made six boards, And two boards for the angles at the back. These were joined together at the base and at the top to one ring, so forming the two angles. So there were eight boards with sixteen bases of silver, two bases under every board. And they made rods of hard wood; five for the boards on one side of the House, And five for the boards on the other side of the House, and five for the boards at the back, on the west. The middle rod was made to go right through the rings of all the boards from one end to the other. All the boards were plated with gold, and the rings through which the rods went were of gold, and the rods were plated with gold. And he made the veil of the best linen, blue and purple and red, worked with winged ones designed by expert workmen. And they made four pillars for it of hard wood plated with gold: they had hooks of gold and four silver bases. And they made a curtain for the door of the tent, of the best linen with needlework of blue and purple and red; And five pillars for the curtain, with their hooks; the heads of the pillars were of gold and they were circled with bands of gold; and their five bases were of brass.

Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Exodus 39

Commentary on Exodus 39 Matthew Henry Commentary

John Gill   Keil & Delitzsch   Robert Jamieson: Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible  

Chapter 39

This chapter gives us an account of the finishing of the work of the tabernacle.

  • I. The last things prepared were the holy garments. The ephod and its curious girdle (v. 1-5). The onyx-stones for the shoulders (v. 6, 7). The breastplate with the precious stones in it (v. 8-21). The robe of the ephod (v. 22-26). The coats, bonnets, and breeches, for the inferior priests (v. 27-29). And the plate of the holy crown (v. 30, 31).
  • II. A summary account of the whole work, as it was presented to Moses when it was all finished (v. 32, etc.).

Exd 39:1-31

In this account of the making of the priests' garments, according to the instructions given (ch. 28), we may observe,

  • 1. That the priests' garments are called here clothes of service, v. 1. Note, Those that wear robes of honour must look upon them as clothes of service; for from those upon whom honour is put service is expected. It is said of those that are arrayed in white robes that they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple, Rev. 7:13, 15. Holy garments were not made for men to sleep in, or to strut in, but to do service in; and then they are indeed for glory and beauty. The Son of man himself came not to be ministered unto, but to minister.
  • 2. That all the six paragraphs here, which give a distinct account of the making of these holy garments, conclude with those words, as the Lord commanded Moses, v. 5, 7, 21, 26, 29, 31. The like is not in any of the foregoing accounts, as if in these, more than any other of the appurtenances of the tabernacle, they had a particular regard to the divine appointment, both for warrant and for direction. It is an intimation to all the Lord's ministers to make the word of God their rule in all their ministrations, and to act in observance of and obedience to the command of God.
  • 3. That these garments, in conformity to the rest of the furniture of the tabernacle, were very rich and splendid; the church in its infancy was thus taught, thus pleased, with the rudiments of this world; but now under the gospel, which is the ministration of the Spirit, to affect and impose such pompous habits as the church of Rome does, under pretence of decency and instruction, is to betray the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and to entangle the church again in the bondage of those carnal ordinances which were imposed only till the time of reformation.
  • 4. That they were all shadows of good things to come, but the substance is Christ, and the grace of the gospel; when therefore the substance has come, it is a jest to be fond of the shadow.
    • (1.) Christ is our great high-priest; when he undertook the work of our redemption, he put on the clothes of service-he arrayed himself with the gifts and graces of the Spirit, which he received not by measure-girded himself with the curious girdle of resolution, to go through with his undertaking-charged himself with the curious girdle of resolution, to go through with his undertaking-charged himself with all God's spiritual Israel, bore them on his shoulders, carried them in his bosom, laid them near his heart, engraved them on the palms of his hands, and presented them in the breast-plate of judgment unto his Father. And (lastly) he crowned himself with holiness to the Lord, consecrating his whole undertaking to the honour of his Father's holiness: now consider how great this man is.
    • (2.) True believers are spiritual priests. The clean linen with which all their clothes of service must be made is the righteousness of saints (Rev. 19:8), and Holiness to the Lord must be so written upon their foreheads that all who converse with them may see, and say, that they bear the image of God's holiness, and are devoted to the praise of it.

Exd 39:32-43

Observe here,

  • I. The builders of the tabernacle made very good despatch. It was not much more than five months from the beginning to the finishing of it. Though there was a great deal of fine work about it, such as is usually the work of time, embroidering and engraving, not only in gold, but in precious stones, yet they went through with it in a little time. Church-work is usually slow work, but they made quick work of this, and yet did it with the greatest exactness imaginable. For,
    • 1. Many hands were employed, all unanimous, and not striving with each other. This expedited the business, and made it easy.
    • 2. The workmen were taught of God, and so were kept from making blunders, which would have retarded them.
    • 3. The people were hearty and zealous in the work, and impatient till it was finished. God had prepared their hearts, and then the thing was done suddenly, 2 Chr. 29:36. Resolution and industry, and a cheerful application of mind, will, by the grace of God, bring a great deal of good work to pass in a little time, in less than one would expect.
  • II. They punctually observed their orders, and did not in the least vary from them. They did it according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, v. 32, 42. Note, God's work must be done, in every thing, according to his own will. His institutions neither need nor admit men's inventions to make them either more beautiful or more likely to answer the intention of them. Add thou not unto his words. God is pleased with willing worship, but not with will-worship.
  • III. They brought all their work to Moses, and submitted it to his inspection and censure, v. 33. He knew what he had ordered them to make; and now the particulars were called over, and all produced, that Moses might see both that they had made all, omitting nothing, and that they had made all according to the instructions given them, and that, if they had made a mistake in any thing, it might be forthwith rectified. Thus they showed respect to Moses, who was set over them in the Lord; not objecting that Moses did not understand such work, and therefore that there was no reason for submitting it to his judgment. No, that God who gave them so much knowledge as to do the work gave them also so much humility as to be willing to have it examined and compared with the model. Moses was in authority, and they would pay a deference to his place. The spirit of the prophets is subject to the prophets. And besides, though they knew how to do the work better than Moses, Moses had a better and more exact idea of the model than they had, and therefore they could not be well pleased with their own work, unless they had his approbation. Thus in all the services of religion we should labour to be accepted of the Lord.
  • IV. Moses, upon search, found all done according to the rule, v. 43. Moses, both for their satisfaction and for his own, did look upon all the work, piece by piece, and behold they had done it according to the pattern shown him, for the same Being that showed him the pattern guided their hand in the work. All the copies of God's grace exactly agree with the original of his counsels: what God works in us, and by us, is the fulfilling of the good pleasure of his own goodness; and when the mystery of God shall be finished, and all his performances come to be compared with his purposes, it will appear that behold all is done according to the counsel of his own will, not one iota or tittle of which shall fall to the ground, or be varied from.
  • V. Moses blessed them.
    • 1. He commended them, and signified his approbation of all they had done. He did not find fault where there was none, as some do, who think they disparage their own judgment if they do not find something amiss in the best and most accomplished performance. In all this work it is probable there might have been found here and there a stitch amiss, and a stroke awry, which would have served for an over-curious and censorious critic to animadvert upon; but Moses was too candid to notice small faults where there were no great ones. Note, All governors must be a praise to those that do well, as well as a terror to evil-doers. Why should any take a pride in being hard to be pleased?
    • 2. He not only praised them, but prayed for them. He blessed them as one having authority, for the less is blessed of the better. We read not of any wages that Moses paid them for their work, but this blessing he gave them. For, though ordinarily the labourer be worthy of his hire, yet in this case,
      • 1. They wrought for themselves. The honour and comfort of God's tabernacle among them would be recompence enough. If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself.
      • 2. They had their meat from heaven on free-cost, for themselves and their families, and their raiment waxed not old upon them; so that they neither needed wages nor had reason to expect any. Freely you have received, freely give. The obligations we lie under, both in duty and interest, to serve God, should be sufficient to quicken us to our work, though we had not a reward in prospect. But,
      • 3. This blessing, in the name of the Lord, was wages enough for all their work. Those whom God employs he will bless, and those whom he blesses are blessed indeed. The blessing he commands is life for evermore.