CHAPTER 38

(1491 B.C.)

THE BRASEN ALTAR

¹And he made the Altar of Burnt Offering of Shittim Wood: five cubits was the length thereof (7 and 1/2 feet), and five cubits the breadth (width) thereof; it was foursquare; and three cubits (4 and 1/2 feet) the height thereof. (This was the Altar where the Burnt Offerings were offered. The Vessel sat outside immediately in front of the Tabernacle.)

²And he made the horns thereof on the four corners of it (horns stand for power and dominion; the idea is that the Sacrifice of Christ would be a total and complete Sacrifice, answering every problem of the entirety of the human race, consequently, the four corners); the horns thereof were of the same: and he overlaid it with brass.

³And he made all the Vessels of the Altar, the pots, and the shovels, and the basons, and the fleshhooks, and the firepans: all the Vessels thereof made he of brass. (The copper, which characterizes this particular Vessel, speaks of Judgment, and Judgment which came upon Christ instead of upon us.)

⁴And he made for the Altar a brasen grate of network under the compass thereof beneath unto the midst of it. (Evidently, this was an extension on the Altar, which protruded out, and encircled the Altar. It was there, evidently, to catch parts of the Sacrifice which might fall off, so that they not fall to the ground. No part of the Sacrifice of Christ must be lost.)

⁵And he cast four rings for the four ends of the grate of brass, to be places for the staves.

⁶And he made the staves of Shittim Wood, and overlaid them with brass (copper).

⁷And he put the staves into the rings on the sides of the Altar, to bear it withal; he made the Altar hollow with boards. (As all the other Sacred Vessels had to be transported when the Camp of Israel moved, so did the great Brazen Altar. This tells us, among other things, that there is never a time, place, or situation in which we no longer need the Cross of Christ, of which the Altar was a Type.)

THE LAVER

⁸And he made the Laver of brass (the copper Laver, filled with water, symbolized the Word of God, with Jesus as the Living Word [Jn. 1:1]), and the foot of it of brass (the pedestal on which it sat), of the lookingglasses of the women assembling, which assembled at the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation. (The women who assembled here portrayed their zeal for the things of God, and contributed their bronze plates, which emitted a high polish and were used as mirrors, from which the Brazen Laver was made. As it was easy to see ones reflection in the high polish of the Laver, likewise, one can see ones self in the Word of God, of which the Laver was a Type.)

THE COURT

⁹And he made the Court (which surrounded the Tabernacle): on the south side southward the hangings of the Court were of Fine Twined Linen (symbolizing the Righteousness of Christ), an hundred cubits (150 feet):

¹⁰Their pillars were twenty (were probably made of Shittim Wood), and their brasen sockets twenty (the sockets in which the pillars sat); the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver. (The silver symbolizes Redemption. The spotless white walls that surrounded the Tabernacle on every side were a standing witness to the Holiness of Him Whose dwelling it was.)

¹¹And for the north side the hangings were an hundred cubits (150 feet), their pillars were twenty, and their sockets of brass twenty; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver.

¹²And for the west side were hangings of fifty cubits (75 feet), their pillars ten, and their sockets ten; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver.

¹³And for the east side eastward fifty cubits.

¹⁴The hangings of the one side of the gate were fifteen cubits (22 and 1/2 feet); their pillars three, and their sockets three.

¹⁵And for the other side of the Court gate, on this hand and that hand, were hangings of fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three. (The gate, or entrance, into the Court was 20 cubits, or 30 feet, wide [Ex. 27:16], which left 15 cubits, or 22 and 1/2 feet, on each side, making up the total of 50 cubits, or 75 feet, for each end. As one can see, the gate, or entrance, to the Court was wide. The entrance was a Type of Christ, Who said, I am the Door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be Saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture [Jn. 10:9].)

¹⁶All the hangings of the Court roundabout were of Fine Twined Linen (snow-white, typifying the Righteousness of Christ).

¹⁷And the sockets for the pillars were of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver; and the overlaying of their chapiters of silver; and all the pillars of the Court were filleted with silver (once again, expressing Redemption, all in Christ).

THE GATE

¹⁸And the hanging for the gate of the Court was needlework, of Blue (typifying the Heavenly origin of Christ), and Purple (typifying His Position as King), and Scarlet (typifying His shed Blood on the Cross of Calvary), and Fine Twined Linen (typifying His Righteousness): and twenty cubits (30 feet) was the length, and the height in the breadth was five cubits (7 and 1/2 feet; the merely curious could not see over this fence), answerable to the hangings of the Court.

¹⁹And their pillars were four, and their sockets of brass four; their hooks of silver, and the overlaying of their chapiters and their fillets of silver.

²⁰And all the pins of the Tabernacle, and of the Court round about, were of brass.

THE OFFERINGS

²¹This is the sum of the Tabernacle, even of the Tabernacle of Testimony, as it was counted, according to the Commandment of Moses, for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar, son of Aaron the Priest. (Ithamar was placed in charge. Aaron had four sons, and Ithamar was the youngest. Two of the sons, Nadab and Abihu, would be slain by the Lord for using strange fire [Lev. 10:1-2].)

²²And Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the Tribe of Judah, made all that the LORD commanded Moses (was in charge).

²³And with him was Aholiab, son of Ahisamach, of the Tribe of Dan, an engraver, and a cunning workman, and an embroiderer in blue, and in purple, and in scarlet, and fine linen. (Everything was designed by the Lord, even down to the minute details. These designs were to be followed minutely and without fail.)

²⁴All the gold that was occupied for the work in all the work of the Holy Place, even the gold of the Offering, was twenty and nine talents, and seven hundred and thirty shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary (about $14,000,000, in 2004 currency).

²⁵And the silver of them that were numbered of the congregation was an hundred talents, and a thousand seven hundred and threescore and fifteen shekels, after the shekel of the Sanctuary (about $750,000, in 2004 currency):

²⁶A bekah for every man, that is, half a shekel, after the shekel of the Sanctuary, for everyone who went to be numbered, from twenty years old and upward (these were men of war and, if a census was taken, each man was responsible to pay a half shekel of silver, worth about $3; as silver signified Redemption, this tells us that Israels power and strength did not rest upon force of arms, but rather on the Power of God and, more particularly, the shed Blood of the Lamb, which Redemption portrayed), for six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty men (603,550 at the time of this census, and, as stated, all men of war; these were counted from 20 years old upward to 50 years old; counting those younger and older, as well as all the women and girls, the population would then have been approximately 3 million).

²⁷And of the hundred talents of silver were cast the sockets of the Sanctuary, and the sockets of the Veil; an hundred sockets of the hundred talents, a talent for a socket (about 75 pounds).

²⁸And of the thousand seven hundred seventy and five shekels he made hooks for the pillars, and overlaid their chapiters, and filleted them.

²⁹And the brass (copper) of the Offering was seventy talents, and two thousand and four hundred shekels.

³⁰And therewith he made the sockets to the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation, and the Brasen Altar, and the brasen grate for it, and all the Vessels of the Altar (copper signified judgment),

³¹And the sockets of the Court round about, and the sockets of the Court gate, and all the pins of the Tabernacle, and all the pins of the court round about.