1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
2 "On the first day of the first month you shall raise up the tent of the Tent of Meeting.
3 You shall put the ark of the testimony in it, and you shall screen the ark with the veil.
4 You shall bring in the table, and set in order the things that are on it. You shall bring in the lampstand, and light the lamps of it.
5 You shall set the golden altar for incense before the ark of the testimony, and put the screen of the door to the tent.
6 You shall set the altar of burnt offering before the door of the tent of the tent of meeting.
7 You shall set the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar, and shall put water therein.
8 You shall set up the court around it, and hang up the screen of the gate of the court.
9 You shall take the anointing oil, and anoint the tent, and all that is in it, and shall make it holy, and all its furniture: and it will be holy.
10 You shall anoint the altar of burnt offering, with all its vessels, and sanctify the altar: and the altar will be most holy.
11 You shall anoint the basin and its base, and sanctify it.
12 You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the tent of meeting, and shall wash them with water.
13 You shall put on Aaron the holy garments; and you shall anoint him, and sanctify him, that he may minister to me in the priest's office.
14 You shall bring his sons, and put coats on them.
15 You shall anoint them, as you anointed their father, that they may minister to me in the priest's office. Their anointing shall be to them for an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations.
16 Thus did Moses: according to all that Yahweh commanded him, so he did.
17 It happened in the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, that the tent was raised up.
18 Moses raised up the tent, and laid its sockets, and set up the boards of it, and put in the bars of it, and raised up its pillars.
19 He spread the covering over the tent, and put the roof of the tent above on it, as Yahweh commanded Moses.
20 He took and put the testimony into the ark, and set the poles on the ark, and put the mercy seat above on the ark.
21 He brought the ark into the tent, and set up the veil of the screen, and screened the ark of the testimony, as Yahweh commanded Moses.
22 He put the table in the tent of meeting, on the side of the tent northward, outside of the veil.
23 He set the bread in order on it before Yahweh, as Yahweh commanded Moses.
24 He put the lampstand in the tent of meeting, opposite the table, on the side of the tent southward.
25 He lit the lamps before Yahweh, as Yahweh commanded Moses.
26 He put the golden altar in the tent of meeting before the veil;
27 and he burnt incense of sweet spices on it, as Yahweh commanded Moses.
28 He put up the screen of the door to the tent.
29 He set the altar of burnt offering at the door of the tent of the tent of meeting, and offered on it the burnt offering and the meal-offering, as Yahweh commanded Moses.
30 He set the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water therein, with which to wash.
31 Moses, Aaron, and his sons washed their hands and their feet there.
32 When they went into the tent of meeting, and when they came near to the altar, they washed, as Yahweh commanded Moses.
33 He raised up the court around the tent and the altar, and set up the screen of the gate of the court. So Moses finished the work.
34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of Yahweh filled the tent.
35 Moses wasn't able to enter into the tent of meeting, because the cloud stayed on it, and Yahweh's glory filled the tent.
36 When the cloud was taken up from over the tent, the children of Israel went onward, throughout all their journeys;
37 but if the cloud wasn't taken up, then they didn't travel until the day that it was taken up.
38 For the cloud of Yahweh was on the tent by day, and there was fire in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Exodus 40
Commentary on Exodus 40 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 40
In this chapter,
Exd 40:1-15
The materials and furniture of the tabernacle had been viewed severally and approved, and now they must be put together.
Exd 40:16-33
When the tabernacle and the furniture of it were prepared, they did not put off the rearing of it till they came to Canaan, though they now hoped to be there very shortly; but, in obedience to the will of God, they set it up in the midst of their camp, while they were in the wilderness. Those that are unsettled in the world must not think that this will excuse them in their continued irreligion; as if it were enough to begin to serve God when they begin to be settled in the world. No; a tabernacle for God is a very needful and profitable companion even in a wilderness, especially considering that our carcases may fall in that wilderness, and we may be fixed in another world before we come to fix in this.
The rearing of the tabernacle was a good day's work; the consecrating of it, and of the priests, was attended to some days after. Here we have an account only of that new-year's-day's work.
Exd 40:34-38
As when, in the creation, God had finished this earth, which he designed for man's habitation, he made man, and put him in possession of it, so when Moses had finished the tabernacle, which was designed for God's dwelling-place among men, God came and took possession of it. The shechinah, the divine eternal Word, though not yet made flesh, yet, as a prelude to that event, came and dwelt among them, Jn. 1:14. This was henceforward the place of his throne, and the place of the soles of his feet (Eze. 43:7); here he resided, here he ruled. By the visible tokens of God's coming among them to take possession of the tabernacle he testified both the return of his favour to them, which they had forfeited by the golden calf (ch. 33:7), and his gracious acceptance of all the expense they had been at, and all the care and pains they had taken about the tabernacle. Thus God owned them, showed himself well pleased with what they had done, and abundantly rewarded them. Note, God will dwell with those that prepare him a habitation. The broken and contrite heart, the clean and holy heart, that is furnished for his service, and devoted to his honour, shall be his rest for ever; here will Christ dwell by faith, Eph. 3:17. Where God has a throne and an altar in the soul, there is a living temple. And God will be sure to own and crown the operations of his own grace and the observance of his own appointments.
As God had manifested himself upon mount Sinai, so he did now in this newly-erected tabernacle. We read (ch. 24:16) that the glory of the Lord abode upon mount Sinai, which is said to be like devouring fire (v. 17), and that the cloud covered it on the outside, and the glory of the Lord filled it within, to which, probably there is an allusion in Zec. 2:5, where God promises to be a wall of fire round about Jerusalem (and the pillar of cloud was by night a pillar of fire) and the glory in the midst of her.