Types of Christ · The Tabernacle's Furniture
The Bronze Laver
A bronze basin of water stood between the altar and the tent, and priests washed there before they went in — that they die not. The New Testament never mentions it, and what the church has made of it for eighteen centuries is worth knowing precisely as what it is.
THE ARTWORKThis modest Victorian engraving is here because it is very nearly the only picture of the laver that exists. The veil has been painted by masters, the ark has a whole gallery to itself, and the basin — the piece a priest touched every single working day — has almost never been painted at all. Notice too that the engraver had to invent its proportions: Exodus gives this object no dimensions whatsoever. The drawing is a guess, honestly made, and this page owns that.
A Basin, Between the Altar and the Door
— Exodus 30:17-21 — and the one piece Exodus never measuresWalk into the courtyard and the first thing in front of you is the great altar, where animals were killed and burned. Behind it, in the open air, between the altar and the doorway of the tent, stands a bronze basin on a bronze stand, filled with water. Aaron and his sons wash their hands and their feet at it before they go into the tent, and before they come to the altar to serve.
Then read what is attached to the command, because it is not hygiene advice. Twice in five verses, the reason given for washing is that they die not. Everything else in the courtyard has a size: the ark to the fingerbreadth, the table, the altar, the curtains. This basin has none. It is the only piece of furniture in the tabernacle that Exodus declines to measure, and that is a real and interesting silence.
A laver of brass - כיור kiyor sometimes signifies a caldron, 1Sa 2:14; but it seems to signify any large round vessel or basin used for washing the hands and feet. There were doubtless cocks or spigots in it to draw off the water, as it is not likely the feet were put into it in order to be washed. The foot of the laver must mean the pedestal on which it stood.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible, 1832Methodist
Exodus 30:18
When they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water,.... The laver standing near the door of the tabernacle, they washed at it as soon as they entered; and no man, we are told (c), entered into the court before he washed, even though he was clean; though he had contracted no filthiness, and even though he had washed his hands and feet at home, he was obliged to do it when he went into the tabernacle, before he attempted to perform any service.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament, 1748-1763Reformed Baptist
Exodus 30:20
Both men are reconstructing, and both say so. Clarke supposes taps or spigots because the priests can hardly have climbed into the water; Gill reports a later Jewish rule that nobody entered the court unwashed even if he had already washed at home. Sensible guesses about the plumbing, honestly flagged as guesses — the text itself says nothing about how the water got out of the basin, or how it got in.
And the LORD said to Moses, “You are to make a bronze basin with a bronze stand for washing. Set it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and put water in it, with which Aaron and his sons are to wash their hands and feet. Whenever they enter the Tent of Meeting or approach the altar to minister by presenting an offering made by fire to the LORD, they must wash with water so that they will not die. Thus they are to wash their hands and feet so that they will not die; this shall be a permanent statute for Aaron and his descendants for the generations to come.”The basin, the water, the hands and feet, and the penalty clause — twice.
Made of Mirrors
— Exodus 38:8 — the detail almost every retelling skipsWhen Exodus finally records the basin being built, it adds one line about the metal, and it is the most human sentence in the whole construction account. The bronze came from mirrors — the polished hand-mirrors of the women who assembled at the entrance of the tent of meeting. Glass mirrors did not exist. A mirror in the ancient Near East was a disc of bronze worked to a shine, and it was a personal possession of real value.
The looking-glasses - The word מראת maroth, from ראה raah, he saw, signifies reflectors or mirrors of any kind. Here metal, highly polished, must certainly be meant, as glass was not yet in use; and had it even been in use, we are sure that looking - Glasses could not make a Brazen laver.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible, 1832Methodist
Exodus 38:8
See the marginal reference. The women who assembled at the entrance of the tent of meeting were most probably devout women who loved the public service of religion. The giving up of their mirrors for the use of the sanctuary was a fit sacrifice for such women to make (compare Exo 35:22 note).
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments, 1832-1869Presbyterian
Exodus 38:8
Scripture does not say who these women were, what their service at the door consisted of, or why the account mentions them here and almost nowhere else. Barnes takes them, reasonably, as devout women who loved the public worship. That is as far as the evidence goes, and it is far enough: the thing priests washed in was made of what a group of women handed over.
2 in the whole New Testament
loutron
washing
Titus 3:5 and Ephesians 5:26 — and that is all. Neither passage is talking about the tabernacle, and neither quotes Exodus.
Exodus 30:18
kiyor
a basin
The basin itself. The same word can mean a cooking pot elsewhere in Hebrew — this is a vessel word, not a sacred one.
12 in the whole Bible
marah
mirrors
The women's bronze mirrors in Exodus 38:8 — and in Numbers 12:6 the same root is a prophetic vision. A word for the thing you look into.
Next he made the bronze basin and its stand from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.The basin and its stand, from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance.
This signified the provision that is made in the gospel of Christ for the cleansing of our souls from the moral pollution of sin by the merit and grace of Christ, that we may be fit to serve the holy God in holy duties. This is here said to be made of the looking-glasses (or mirrors) of the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710Puritan
Exodus 38:8
Henry is reading, not reporting — and the next section is about telling those two apart.
What the New Testament Actually Says
— stated exactly, because this is where the page earns its credibilityEvery other piece of furniture in this room is picked up by the New Testament by name. Hebrews itemises the ark and its contents, calls Christ the mercy seat’s own Greek word, and says outright that the veil is His flesh. Revelation turns the lampstands into churches. Jesus argues from the showbread in His own voice.
The laver is the exception. The New Testament never mentions it — not in Hebrews, not in the Gospels, not anywhere. The two verses everybody reaches for use a washing word, loutron, and it occurs exactly twice in the whole New Testament. Neither occurrence is in a passage about the tabernacle. Neither quotes Exodus. Neither says “laver.”
He saved us, not by the righteous deeds we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.The washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit — no tabernacle in sight.
to sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,Cleansing her by the washing with water through the word — spoken inside an argument about marriage.
That is not a reason to throw the correspondence away. It is a reason to say what kind of thing it is. Reasoning from a washing in Exodus to a washing in Titus is theology — good theology, done by serious people for eighteen centuries — and it is not the same act as reading Hebrews 10:20. This page will teach the reading, and it will not dress it as an apostolic claim.
Once
The washing that does not repeat
- Ordained, and washed
At their consecration Aaron and his sons were washed all over, once. It never happened again.
EXODUS 29:4→ - The washing of new birth
Not by works of righteousness we had done, but by His mercy — a washing of regeneration, spoken of as done.
TITUS 3:5→ - “He who has bathed”
Jesus tells Peter that a man who has bathed is already clean. The whole-body washing is behind him.
JOHN 13:10→
Again
The washing that repeats
- Every approach, hands and feet
Going into the tent, and coming to the altar, the priests washed — every time, with a penalty attached.
EXODUS 30:20→ - The washing of water by the word
Christ cleansing the church He has already claimed — an ongoing work, not an entry rite.
EPHESIANS 5:26→ - “needs only to wash his feet”
The same sentence, second half. Bathed already, and still needing the feet washed — the same body part Exodus names.
JOHN 13:10→
READ THIS BEFORE YOU USE ITThe two columns are the church’s reading of several Scriptures set side by side. They are not a link the New Testament makes. No verse in Titus, Ephesians or John cites Exodus 30, and none of them mentions the laver. Line them up if you find it useful — many serious readers have for eighteen centuries — but know which part is Scripture and which part is the arrangement.
They shall wash with water, that they die not - This was certainly an emblematical washing; and as the hands and the feet are particularly mentioned, it must refer to the purity of their whole conduct. Their hands - all their works, their feet - all their goings, must be washed - must be holiness unto the Lord. And this washing must be repeated every time they entered into the tabernacle, or when they came near to the altar to minister.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible, 1832Methodist
Exodus 30:20
That he might sanctify it through the word - The ordinary channel of all blessings. Having cleansed it - From the guilt and power of sin. By the washing of water - In baptism; if, with "the outward and visible sign," we receive the "inward and spiritual grace."
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, 1755Wesleyan
Ephesians 5:26
Clarke does this page’s job for it in four words: this was certainly an emblematical washing. He is not reporting a New Testament citation; he is telling you he is reading the object. That is exactly the register the page wants, three hundred years early.
The Nearest Thing in the Gospels
— John 13 — feet, again, and still no citation of ExodusOn the last night, Jesus takes a basin of water and washes feet. Peter refuses, then over-corrects and asks for his hands and head as well, and the answer he gets is the sentence this page has been circling: a man who has bathed needs only to wash his feet.
A basin. Water. Feet — the same body part Exodus names, in a room where men are about to be sent out to serve. The resemblance is striking and this page is happy to say so. And even here, the Gospel does not cite Exodus 30. John reports what happened and what it meant for the disciples; the line back to the courtyard is one the reader draws.
The Lord responded to him, because he said hand and head: The one who has washed does not need to wash again, except to wash only the feet (Ibid., 10).
Ambrose of Milan· On the Sacraments, Book 3, Chapter 1.7, 397Church Father
John 13:10
Jesus told him, “Whoever has already bathed needs only to wash his feet, and he will be completely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.”He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet — the sentence the whole instrument turns on.
Then present Aaron and his sons at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and wash them with water.The one-time washing at ordination: the priests were bathed once, and after that they washed.
The artwork
Tintoretto painted this for the side wall of a Venetian church, to be seen at a sharp angle, which is why it is so wide and why the room runs away from you. The result is a picture with no centre of ceremony: a dog on the floor, men pulling off their boots, and Christ down at ankle height on the left, doing the work. It is the least sacramental-looking painting of a sacramental moment anybody made in the sixteenth century — and that is close to the point of the scene.
Jacopo Tintoretto, El Lavatorio (1548-1549), Museo del Prado — Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
What the Church Has Read Here
— honoured as reading, by people who were not being carelessThe laver has been read as baptism since at least the fourth century, and as the daily cleansing of a minister before he speaks for God since at least the sixth. Gregory the Great — reading Exodus 38:8 — turns the basin into the tears of a preacher who knows what he is. Ambrose, writing about Titus 3:5, takes the washing language straight into the baptistery. Reformation teaching on “the washing of the word” descends from Ephesians 5:26 read beside Exodus 30.
These are readings of long standing, held by serious men, and this page treats them as such. What it will not do is print them as the text’s own claim — because the difference between the Bible says and the church has long read is the difference between a study page a reader can trust and one he cannot.
But then we truly preach right things to others if we show our words by deeds, if we ourselves are pierced with divine love, and wash with tears the daily stains of human life, which can in no way pass without fault. But then we are truly pierced with compunction about ourselves if we carefully consider the deeds of the fathers who went before, so that from beholding their glory, our own life may become vile in our own eyes.
Gregory the Great· Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 17, 604Church Father
Exodus 38:8
Who is the one who is born of the Spirit and is made Spirit? It is one who is renewed in the Spirit of his mind. It is one who is regenerated by water and the Holy Spirit. We receive the hope of eternal life through the laver of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.
Ambrose of Milan· On the Holy Spirit 3.10.64, 397Church Father
Titus 3:5
What Titus 3:5 means for baptism is a live question among Christians, and it is not settled on this page. The positions — including the paedobaptist reading, which is held by whole traditions in good faith — are laid out where they belong.
The cause of it; not our works or righteousness, but "the kindness and love of God our saviour." 2. The effects; which are, (1.) Justification; "being justified," pardoned and accepted through the alone merits of Christ, not from any desert in us, but according to his own mercy, "by his grace," his free, unmerited goodness.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, 1755Wesleyan
Titus 3:5
And it shall be a statute for ever - To continue, in its literal meaning, as long as the Jewish economy lasted, and, in its spiritual meaning, to the end of time. What an important lesson does this teach the ministers of the Gospel of Christ!
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible, 1832Methodist
Exodus 30:21
Where Scripture simply does not sayfive honest gaps
No size. No shape. No capacity. No word about where the water came from or how often it was changed — and, in the whole New Testament, no citation of any kind. Five silences on one small object.
The one thing Exodus is emphatic about is the penalty, and it repeats it twice in two verses. Whatever else is unclear, the seriousness is not.
Solomon's bronze Sea is a different object1 Kings 7:23
Popular teaching often merges the two, and they should not be merged. When the temple replaced the tent, Solomon did not build a laver. He built a single enormous cast basin — ten cubits across, standing on twelve bronze oxen — and ten smaller wheeled lavers beside it. Different scale, different design, different era, and the mirrors are nowhere in the account.
He also made the Sea of cast metal. It was circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim, five cubits in height, and thirty cubits in circumference.The Sea of cast metal: ten cubits across — nothing like a basin a man washes his hands in.
Read the Great Books
— the writers quoted above, in their own handsCommentary on the Bible
Adam Clarke · 1832
The best companion to this page. Clarke handles the Hebrew, the metallurgy of ancient mirrors, and — crucially — tells you plainly when he has moved from reporting the text to reading it.
READ IT FREE AT CCEL →Exposition of the Old Testament
John Gill · 1748-1763
Gill collects the later Jewish material on how the courtyard actually worked, and marks it as later material rather than smuggling it into Exodus.
READ IT FREE AT CCEL →Forty Gospel Homilies
Gregory the Great · 604
Preaching from a man who ran the Western church and did not enjoy it. The homily quoted here is about what a preacher owes before he opens his mouth.
READ IT FREE AT CCEL →On the Sacraments · On the Holy Spirit
Ambrose of Milan · 397
The bishop who baptised Augustine, explaining the rite to people who had just gone through it. The clearest early window into how the washing language was heard.
READ IT FREE AT CCEL →Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament
John Wesley · 1755
Wesley on Ephesians 5:26 gives the baptismal reading and its condition in a single breath — a model of how to hold a position without overstating it.
READ IT FREE AT CCEL →