Exoduschapter 25
40 verses · Moses, by tradition · 15th or 13th century BC · The Law
blue, purple, and scarlet yarn; fine linen and goat hair;
Introduction
Moses, by tradition, The Law, Exodus Overview.
With this chapter the book turns from law to building. Moses is on the mountain for forty days, and what he receives is a plan for a place where God will live among a people in tents. The work is to be paid for by gifts given freely. Listen for the reason stated near the start, which governs everything after it. Listen also for the order of the furniture, which begins with the innermost room. The next six chapters complete the plan.
Context
- Who
- Israel in the wilderness, who had carried Egyptian silver and gold out with them
- What
- The call for a freewill offering and the plans for the ark, the table for the bread and the golden lampstand.
- Where
- The summit of Mount Sinai, where Moses received the pattern while the camp waited at the foot of the mountain.
- When
- The forty days Moses spent on Sinai after the covenant was sealed, about 1446 BC on the early date this site follows.
- Why
- So that the LORD might dwell in the middle of His people's camp.
Historical context
The chapter belongs to the law Exodus says Moses wrote at God's command, recorded at 17:14, at 24:4 and at 34:27, while he was going up and down the mountain between God and the people. The critical reading takes the legal sections for a later compilation from several sources, a position argued by Julius Wellhausen and the tradition following him, and the site states no verdict on it.
Show the rest of the historical context, 8 more paragraphs
The chapter opens the tabernacle instructions and gives the reason at verse 8, that they are to make a sanctuary so that God may dwell among them.
A first hearer knew what the materials cost, since the blue and purple dyes came from murex shellfish on the Phoenician coast at great cost by the thread, and the scarlet from the kermes insect.
The list also names a skin the Hebrew calls tachash, rendered as badger, porpoise or fine leather without agreement.
He knew the timber, since acacia is the one usable wood of that desert, and Adam Clarke cites Dr Shaw for its growing there in abundance.
Adam Clarke notes that the olive oil of verse 6 had to be carried from Egypt, because no olives grew where Israel was.
Everything is built of acacia and overlaid with gold, which is how a portable shrine was made in that world, and John Currid sets out the Egyptian parallels.
Egyptian processional chests were carried on poles through rings in the way the ark is.
Albert Barnes reports that the table and lampstand carved on the Arch of Titus at Rome agree very nearly with these directions and with the description in Josephus.
Significance
The offering is asked for from every man whose heart compels him, so that the dwelling of God among His people was funded by willingness.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The reason given for the whole project is short. That I may dwell among them. The God of the mountain intended to move into the camp.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
How it is read
The chapter opens the pattern of the tabernacle, and Rashi reads the offering as a gift made for God himself. The words about taking an offering for me he reads as taking it "to the glory of My Name" (Rashi on Exodus 25:2:1, citing Midrash Tanchuma, Terumah 1). He reads the command to make a sanctuary the same way (Rashi on Exodus 25:8:1). He divides the materials by how they were given. Everything came as a voluntary gift, each man giving as his heart prompted him, with silver alone brought by all in equal measure, a half shekel each (Rashi on Exodus 25:3:1). The blue is wool dyed with the blood of the chilazon, a shellfish, and the colour is greenish blue (Rashi on Exodus 25:4:1, citing Menachot 44a). On the ark he carries a tradition about how the overlaying was done. Bezalel made three arks, two of gold and one of wood. He set the wooden one inside the larger gold one, and the smaller gold one inside the wood (Rashi on Exodus 25:11:1, citing Yoma 72b and Jerusalem Talmud Shekalim 6:1). The cherubim "had the form of a child's face" (Rashi on Exodus 25:18:1, citing Sukkah 5b). Their wings are spread high enough to leave ten handbreadths of hollow space above the cover (Rashi on Exodus 25:20:1). The golden border of the table he reads as a sign of kingship, since the table stands for wealth and greatness (Rashi on Exodus 25:24:1, citing Yoma 72b). On the repeated command to put the testimony in the ark he says plainly, "I do not know why this is repeated". He then offers an answer about the order of the work (Rashi on Exodus 25:21:1). Rashi is quoted from the Rosenbaum and Silbermann edition of 1929 to 1934, public domain. Ibn Ezra comments at Exodus 25:1:1 under a licence that keeps his text off this page. Malbim comments at Exodus 25:14:1 with no English version in the corpus.
What the rabbis say
The corpus records forty places where the Midrash and the Talmud draw on this chapter, cited here by reference. Bamidbar Rabbah reads the sanctuary and its furniture at 4:13, 12:3, 12:4, 12:8 and 12:13. It reads them again at 13:15, 14:10 and 15:10. Midrash Lekach Tov follows the chapter verse by verse at Exodus 25:7:1, 25:21:1, 25:24:1, 25:26:1 and 25:27:1. It continues at Exodus 25:28:1, 25:35:1 and 25:38:1. The lampstand and the table are read in Menachot at 28b:17, 88b:20, 96a:6 and 96a:7. The Ein Yaakov collections carry them at Menakhot 10:1, Sukkah 1:2, Sotah 7:19 and Zevachim 9:1. The ark and its staves stand in the Jerusalem Talmud at Yoma 5:2:1, Ketubot 3:1:2 and Shekalim 6:1:15. The same Talmud reads the offering at Sanhedrin 1:3:5, 4:2:2 and Bava Kamma 1:1:2. Avot DeRabbi Natan reads the chapter at 11:1 and 34:7, and Recension B at 44:1. Bereshit Rabbah 4:7 reads the oil, and Arakhin 4a:9 the bread of the presence.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Exodus 25:2 to 25:24, the Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A. M. Silbermann, 1929 to 1934, public domain, 1040 to 1105; Ibn Ezra, Ibn Ezra on Exodus 25:1:1, cited by reference, CC-BY-NC, 1089 to 1164; Malbim, Malbim on Exodus 25:14:1, cited by reference, no English version in the corpus; Babylonian Talmud, Menachot 44a, Yoma 72b and Sukkah 5b, as Rashi cites them, and Menachot 96a:6, cited by reference; Jerusalem Talmud, Shekalim 6:1:15, Yoma 5:2:1 and Sanhedrin 4:2:2, cited by reference; Midrash Tanchuma, Terumah 1, as Rashi cites it; Bamidbar Rabbah, 4:13, 12:3, 12:4, 12:8 and 12:13, cited by reference; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/exodus/25.json, fetched 2026-09-19, 2026; MannaFest, the commentators and their dates, src/app/featured/the-jewish-writings/page.tsx, 2026.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
An Offering from a Willing Heart
The tabernacle is delivered in seven divine speeches across chapters 25 to 31, and this is the first of them. The seventh is the sabbath at 31:12, which is where the seventh day falls in Genesis 1 and 2. What God asks for first is an offering taken only from a man who gives it willingly with his heart, so the dwelling place starts with a gift nobody is taxed for.
Exodus 25:1
“Yahweh had redeemed the Israelites from bondage. He had made a covenant with them and had given them laws. He had promised, on condition of their obedience, to accept them as His own “peculiar treasure,” as “a kingdom of priests and an holy nation” Exo 19:5-6. And now He was ready visibly to testify that He made his abode with them.”
Exodus 25:2
“That they bring me an offering - The offering here mentioned is the תרומה terumah, a kind of free-will offering, consisting of any thing that was necessary for the occasion. It signifies properly any thing that was lifted up, the heave-offering, because in presenting it to God it was lifted up to be laid on his altar; but see Clarke on Exo 29:27 (note).”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The metals are named in an order the whole structure keeps to, gold then silver then brass, and chapter 26 grades them the same way by how far a thing sits from the ark. The gold and the silver came out of Egypt at 12:35 and 12:36, handed over by the people who had held Israel as slaves. Incense occurs here for the first time in Scripture, listed as a raw supply four chapters before the altar it burns on is given at 30:1.
Exodus 25:3
“This is the offering - There were three kinds of metals: 1. Gold, זהב zahab, which may properly signify wrought gold; what was bright and resplendent, as the word implies. In Job 28:15, Job 28:16, Job 28:17, Job 28:19, gold is mentioned five times, and four of the words are different in the original. 1. סגור Segor, from סגר sagar, to shut up; gold in the mine, or shut up in its ore.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Exodus 25:4
“Blue - תכלת techeleth, generally supposed to mean an azure or sky color; rendered by the Septuagint ὑακινθον, and by the Vulgate hyacinthum, a sky-blue or deep violet. Purple - ארגמן argaman, a very precious color, extracted from the purpura or murex, a species of shell-fish, from which it is supposed the famous Tyrian purple came, so costly, and so much celebrated in antiquity. See this largely described, and the manner of dyeing it, in Pliny, Hist. Nat., lib. ix., c. 60-65, edit. Bipont.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Exodus 25:5
“Rams’ skins dyed red - ערת אילם מאדמים oroth eylim meoddamim, literally, the skins of red rams. It is a fact attested by many respectable travelers, that in the Levant sheep are often to be met with that have red or violet-coloured fleeces. And almost all ancient writers speak of the same thing. Homer describes the rams of Polyphemus as having a violet-coloured fleece. Αρσενες οΐες ησαν εΰτρεφεες, δασυμαλλοι, Καλοι τε, μεγαλοι τε, ιοδνεφες ειρος εχοντες. Odyss., lib. ix., ver. 425. “Strong were the rams, with native purple fair, Well fed, and largest of the fleecy care.” Pope.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Exodus 25:6
“Oil for the light - This they must have brought with them from Egypt, for they could not get any in the wilderness where there were no olives; but it is likely that this and some other directions refer more to what was to be done when in their fixed and settled residence, than while wandering in the wilderness. Spices - To make a confection for sweet incense, abounded in different parts of these countries.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Exodus 25:7
“Onyx stones - We have already met with the stone called שהם shoham, Gen 2:12, and acknowledged the difficulty of ascertaining what is meant by it. Some think the onyx, some the sardine, and some the emerald, is meant. We cannot say precisely what it was; possibly it might have been that fine pale pebble, called the Egyptian pebble, several specimens of which now lie before me, which were brought from the coast of the Red Sea, and other parts in Egypt, by a particular friend of mine, on purpose to add to my collection of minerals.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
ConnectionsGenesis 2:12
The purpose is stated at the end of verse 8, that I may dwell among them, and everything from here to chapter 40 serves that one clause. The word tabernacle occurs here for the first time in Scripture. Moses is told he is copying rather than designing, since what he works from is a pattern he has been shewn, and verse 40 says the same again at the close.
Exodus 25:8
“Let them make me a sanctuary - מקדש mikdash, a holy place, such as God might dwell in; this was that part of the tabernacle that was called the most holy place, into which the high priest entered only once a year, on the great day of atonement. That I may dwell among them - “This,” says Mr. Ainsworth, “was the main end of all; and to this all the particulars are to be referred, and by this they are to be opened.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Exodus 25:8
“As typical; the holy places made with hands were the figures of the true, Heb. ix. The gospel church is the true tabernacle, which the Lord hath pitched, and not man, Heb. viii. The body of Christ, in and by which he made atonement, was the greater and more perfect tabernacle, Heb. ix.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
ConnectionsExodus 40:34, Revelation 21:3
Exodus 25:9
“After the pattern of the tabernacle - It has been supposed that there had been a tabernacle before that erected by Moses, though it probably did not now exist; but the tabernacle which Moses is ordered to make was to be formed exactly on the model of this ancient one, the pattern of which God showed him in the mount, Exo 25:40. The word משכן mishcan signifies literally the dwelling or habitation; and this was so called because it was the dwelling place of God; and the only place on the earth in which he made himself manifest.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
ConnectionsHebrews 8:5
The Ark and the Mercy Seat
The first object described is the ark, and the chapter works outward from it to the mercy seat above it and then to the table and candlestick that stand outside the vail. It is acacia wood overlaid with pure gold within and without, so the gold runs over a surface no one would ever see. The rings and the staves are commanded in the same breath as the box, before anyone has been told where it is going.
Exodus 25:10
“They shall make an ark - ארון aron signifies an ark, chest, coffer, or coffin. It is used particularly to designate that chest or coffer in which the testimony or two tables of the covenant was laid up, on the top of which was the propitiatory or mercy-seat, (see on Exo 25:17), and at the end of which were the cherubim of gold, (Exo 25:18-20), between whom the visible sign of the presence of the supreme God appeared as seated upon his throne.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Exodus 25:10
“But when the passage about the equipment of the tabernacle is read, believing that the things described therein are types, some seek for ideas which they can attach to each detail that is mentioned in connection with the tabernacle. Now so far as concerns their belief that the tabernacle is a type of something they are not wrong. But in rightly attaching the word of Scripture to the particular idea of which the tabernacle is a type, here they sometimes fall into error.”
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 4.2.2patristic
ConnectionsHebrews 9:4
Exodus 25:11
“A crown of gold round about - A border, or, as the Septuagint have it, κυματια χρυσα στεπτα κυκλω, waves of gold wreathed round about.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Exodus 25:12
“What but the holy Church is figured by the ark? To which four rings of gold in the four corners are ordered to be adjoined, because, in that it is thus extended towards the four quarters of the globe, it is declared undoubtedly to be equipped for journeying with the four books of the holy Gospel.”
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · The Book of Pastoral Rule, Part 2, Chapter 11patristic
Exodus 25:13
“And thou shall make staves of shittim wood,.... Of the same, wood the ark was made of, see Exo 25:5 and overlay them with gold; cover them with plates of gold, so that they appeared to be all of gold, the wood being not to be seen.”
The staves go in and are never to be taken out, which keeps the ark ready to move at any hour. Into it goes the testimony, the two tables God writes at 31:18 and Moses breaks at 32:19. Nothing else is named as going inside here, and Hebrews 9:4 reports the golden pot of manna and Aaron's rod alongside the tables.
Exodus 25:15
“The staves - shall not be taken from it - Because it should ever be considered as in readiness to be removed, God not having told them at what hour he should command them to strike their tents. If the staves were never to be taken out, how can it be said, as in Num 4:6, that when the camp should set forward, they should put in the staves thereof, which intimates that when they encamped, they took out the staves, which appears to be contrary to what is here said?”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Exodus 25:16
“The testimony - The two tables of stone which were not yet given; these tables were called עדת eduth, from עד forward, onward, to bear witness to or of a person or thing. Not only the tables of stone, but all the contents of the ark, Aaron’s rod, the pot of manna, the holy anointing oil, etc., bore testimony to the Messiah in his prophetic, sacerdotal, and regal offices.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The mercy seat occurs here for the first time in Scripture. The Septuagint renders the word with the Greek hilasterion, and Romans 3:25 uses that same word of Christ set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, a link an English reader has no way to see unless he is told. This piece is solid gold with no wood under it, and the two cherubims are beaten out of the same block rather than fastened on.
Exodus 25:17
“A mercy seat of pure gold - (Compare Exo 37:6-9.) In external form, the mercy-seat was a plate of gold with the cherubim standing on it, the whole beaten out of one solid piece of metal Exo 37:7; it was placed upon the ark and so took the place of a cover. “mercy” seat expresses well the distinct significance and recognized designation of the Hebrew name. Exo 25:18-20 The cherubim of the mercy-seat were human figures, each having two wings. They must have been of small size, proportioned to the area of the mercy-seat.”
1 more voice on this verse
Exodus 25:17
“This propitiatory covering, as it might well be translated, was a type of Christ, the great propitiation, whose satisfaction fully answers the demands of the law, covers our transgressions, and comes between us and the curse we deserve. Thus he is the end of the law for righteousness.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
ConnectionsRomans 3:25
Exodus 25:18
“Thou shalt make two cherubims - What these were we cannot distinctly say. It is generally supposed that a cherub was a creature with four heads and one body: and the animals, of which these emblematical forms consisted, were the noblest of their kinds; the lion among the wild beasts, the bull among the tame ones, the eagle among the birds, and man at the head of all; so that they might be, says Dr. Priestley, the representatives of all nature. Concerning their forms and design there is much difference of opinion among divines.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Exodus 25:18
“The apostle calls them cherubim of glory shadowing the mercy-seat, Heb. ix. It denotes their attendance upon the Redeemer, to whom they were ministering spirits, their readiness to do his will, their special presence in the assemblies of saints ( Ps. lxviii. 10 ), and their desire to look into the mysteries of the gospel which they diligently contemplate, 1 Pet. i.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
ConnectionsGenesis 3:24
The cherubims face one another with their wings spread and their eyes on the seat between them. Genesis 3:24 set cherubims at the east of Eden to keep the way of the tree of life, and here they stand over the one place God names as where he will meet with Moses and commune with him. The meeting place is the lid of the chest that holds the law, and the chapter sets those two facts side by side and explains neither.
Exodus 25:22
“In allusion to this mercy-seat, we are said to come boldly to the throne of grace ( Heb. iv. 16 ); for we are not under the law, which is covered, but under grace, which is displayed; its wings are stretched out, and we are invited to come under the shadow of them, Ruth ii.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The Table of Showbread
The table is built on the ark's own plan, acacia wood overlaid with gold, a crown of gold round about, rings at the four feet and staves to bear it. Everything in the holy place is made to be carried, and Numbers 4 sets out who carries what. Gill and Keil read the border of a hand breadth as a rim that held the loaves in place while the table was on the move.
Exodus 25:26
“And thou shalt make for it four rings of gold,.... As the ark had, and for the same use as the rings of that were, though whether cast, as they were, is not said: and put the rings in the four corners that are on the four feet thereof; as there were four feet at the four corners of the table, to each foot a ring was fastened; the use of these follows.”
Exodus 25:27
“Over against the border,.... Or "under" it, as the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions.”
Bowls and covers for pouring are named, so drink offerings stood on this table beside the bread. The shewbread is to be set before God alway, and Leviticus 24:5 to 9 gives the working detail, twelve loaves renewed every sabbath and eaten by the priests in the holy place. David eats those loaves at 1 Samuel 21:6, and Jesus cites that scene at Matthew 12:4 when his disciples are charged over the sabbath.
Exodus 25:29
“The dishes thereof - קערתיו kearothaiv, probably the deep bowls in which they kneaded the mass out of which they made the shew-bread. And spoons thereof - כפתיו cappothaiu, probably censers, on which they put up the incense; as seems pretty evident from Num 7:14, Num 7:20, Num 7:26, Num 7:32, Num 7:38, Num 7:44, Num 7:50, Num 7:56, Num 7:62, Num 7:68, Num 7:74, Num 7:80, Num 7:86, where the same word is used, and the instrument, whatever it was, is always represented as being filled with incense.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Exodus 25:30
“And thou shall set upon the table shewbread before me always. Which consisted of twelve cakes loaves, set in two rows upon the table, and stood there a whole week, and every sabbath were renewed; and when the old ones were took away, which were eaten by the priests, new ones were set, so that they were always before the Lord; and being continually before him, were called shewbread, or "bread of faces", being always before the face of God.”
2 more voices on this verse
Exodus 25:30
“Shew-bread - לחם פנים lechem panim literally, bread of faces; so called, either because they were placed before the presence or face of God in the sanctuary, or because they were made square, as the Jews will have it.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Exodus 25:30
“This bread was designed to be, a thankful acknowledgment of God's goodness to them in giving them their daily bread, a token of their communion with God; this bread on God's table being made of the same corn as the bread on their own tables. And a type of the spiritual provision which is made in the church, by the gospel of Christ, for all that are made priests to our God.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
ConnectionsJohn 6:35
The Golden Lampstand
The candlestick is one piece of beaten gold, shaft and branches and bowls and knops and flowers together, with nothing joined to it. Its bowls are made like unto almonds, and the almond is what buds on Aaron's rod at Numbers 17:8 to settle which tribe holds the priesthood. The same Hebrew word stands behind the almond tree Jeremiah is shown at Jeremiah 1:11 and behind the watching God says he is doing in the verse after it, a play the English cannot carry.
Exodus 25:31
“Exo 25:31 A candlestick of pure gold - (Compare Exo 37:17-24.) A lampstand rather than a candlestick. Its purpose was to support seven oil-lamps. Its height appears to have been about three feet, and its width two feet. The original foot was lost or stolen when the candlestick was taken out of the temple, and the pedestal in the sculpture was added by some Roman artist to set off the trophy. His shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers - Or, its base, its stem, its flower cups, its knobs, and its lilies.”
1 more voice on this verse
Exodus 25:31
“The tabernacle had no windows, all its light was candle-light, which notes the comparative darkness of that dispensation, while the sun of righteousness was not as yet risen, nor had the day-star from on high visited his church.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Exodus 25:34
“And in the candlestick shall be four bowls,.... That is, in the trunk or body of it; the branches had but three apiece, but this being larger had four: and these were also made like unto almonds, with their knops and their flowers; as the bowls on the branches had with them.”
Exodus 25:36
“Their knops and their branches shall be of the same,.... Of the same metal, gold, and of same mass: all of it shall be one beaten work of pure gold not made in parts, and then put and soldered together, but the whole candlestick in all its parts and branches were to be beaten out of one piece of gold.”
Seven lamps burn on it and they are the only light in the holy place, because the tent has no window. Leviticus 24:2 to 4 puts the priests under a standing order to dress them and keep them burning before the LORD continually. The candlestick and all its vessels are made of a talent of pure gold, and Revelation 1:12 and 1:20 set seven golden candlesticks around the risen Christ and name them seven churches.
Exodus 25:37
“The treasure of this light is now put into earthen vessels, 2 Cor. iv. The branches of the candlestick spread every way, to denote the diffusing of the light of the gospel into all parts by the Christian ministry, Matt. v. 14, 15 . There is a diversity of gifts, but the same Spirit gives to each to profit withal.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Exodus 25:38
“Which, according to Jarchi, was a sort of forks with which they took the wicks out of the oil, and put them in the lamps; or, as some think, the snuffers, but they are distinguished from tongs, 1Ki 7:49 and the snuffdishes thereof shall be of pure gold; in which the tongs or snuffers were put, or into which the snuff itself was put that was snuffed off.”
Exodus 25:39
“Of a talent of pure gold shall he make it, with all these vessels. The common talent weighed sixty pounds, but the sacred talent was double, and weighed one hundred and twenty pounds, as says Jarchi, and so Ben Melech: a talent of gold amounted to 5067 pounds, three shillings and ten pence of our money, according to Bishop Cumberland (d). (Assuming a troy weight of 12 ounces to a pound, and an ounce of gold worth $400 U.S., than a talent would be worth about $600,000. Editor.) (d) Of Scripture Weights and Measures, p. 121.”
1 more voice on this verse
Exodus 25:39
“Of a talent of pure gold shall he make it, with all these vessels - That is, a talent of gold in weight was used in making the candlestick, and the different vessels and instruments which belonged to it. According to Bishop Cumberland, a talent was three thousand shekels.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The speech ends with an order to copy rather than to invent. Hebrews 8:5 quotes this verse and calls the service of the earthly priests the example and shadow of heavenly things, so the tabernacle as a copy of something already existing is stated by the New Testament and may be said plainly. Reading each item of furniture as a separate figure of Christ is a tradition, taught by Chuck Missler and by Sir Robert Anderson, and it is given here with their names on it.
Exodus 25:40
“And look that thou make, etc. - This verse should be understood as an order to Moses after the tabernacle, etc., had been described to him; as if he had said: “When thou comest to make all the things that I have already described to thee, with the other matters of which I shall afterwards treat, see that thou make every thing according to the pattern which thou didst see in the mount.” The Septuagint have it, κατα τον τυτον τον δεδειγμενον σοι· according to the Type-form or fashion, which was shown thee.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Cross references
Exodus 25:40
- Quoted inHebrews 8:5The place where they serve is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”
'Make all things according to the pattern shewed thee in the mount' (heavenly sanctuary)
How this psalm is built
The form: Building instruction given as direct speech, opening with the materials and then the ark, the table and the lampstand, as Barnes classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| According to the pattern, said at the head and at the foot | Verse 9 tells Moses to make the tabernacle and its furnishings according to the pattern I show you. Verse 40 closes the chapter with the same charge about everything, according to the pattern shown you on the mountain. Matthew Henry reads the repetition as leaving nothing to the invention of the workmen or the humour of the people.Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, on Exodus 25:40. | Exodus 25:9, Exodus 25:40 |
| The materials listed before anything is built | Verses 3 to 7 name the offering in one list before a single object is described. Three metals, three dyed yarns, linen and goat hair, two kinds of skin, acacia wood, oil, spices and two kinds of stone. Adam Clarke notes at verse 6 that the oil must have been carried out of Egypt, since no olives grew in the wilderness. He reads part of the list as looking ahead to a settled residence.Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1832, on Exodus 25:6. | Exodus 25:3, Exodus 25:4, Exodus 25:5, Exodus 25:6, Exodus 25:7 |
| Poles and rings on every piece | The ark takes four rings and two poles at verses 12 to 15, and the poles are never to be removed. The table takes four rings and two poles at verses 26 to 28. Counted in the Berean text of the chapter, both of the carried pieces get the same fitting described in the same order, and the lampstand, which is carried whole, gets none. | Exodus 25:12, Exodus 25:14, Exodus 25:15, Exodus 25:26, Exodus 25:28 |
| One piece, hammered out whole | The cherubim of verse 18 are hammered from one piece with the mercy seat. The lampstand of verses 31 and 36 is hammered from one piece with its base, shaft, cups, buds and petals. John Gill reads verse 36 as meaning the whole was beaten out of one mass rather than made in parts and soldered together. The same demand is made of the two pieces that carry figures.John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament, 1748 to 1763, on Exodus 25:36. | Exodus 25:18, Exodus 25:19, Exodus 25:31, Exodus 25:36 |
This chapter opens the second half of Exodus. Chapters 1 to 18 carried Israel out of Egypt and chapters 19 to 24 held Israel at the mountain under the covenant, and from here the book turns to architecture. The dossier of this book states the turn in those terms and anchors the section on Exodus 25:8 and 40:34, where the glory fills the finished tent.
14 more paragraphs on the patterns
The instructions given here are carried out in chapters 35 to 40, and the two spans repeat one another closely. Albert Barnes marks the pairing at the head of chapter 26 by referring the reader to Exodus 36:8 to 33 for the same curtains built. The weekly Jewish reading divides the same material the same way, Terumah covering 25:1 to 27:19 and Vayakhel covering 35:1 to 38:20.
The historical value
Albert Barnes brings one piece of outside evidence to this chapter. The table and the lampstand carved on the Arch of Titus at Rome are, on his account, the vessels of Maccabean times, made as nearly as possible after the ancient models. He holds that the details and size of the carving, together with the description in Josephus, agree very nearly with the directions given here, and illustrate them in several particulars. What the carving shows is a first-century object, and the agreement Barnes reports is between that object, Josephus and this text.
Adam Clarke adds a note about supply. The oil of verse 6 had to be carried from Egypt, because no olives grew where Israel was, and some of the list looks ahead to a fixed residence rather than to the wilderness.
The New Testament's use
Verses 9 and 40 are quoted at Hebrews 8:5. The place where they serve is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven, and Moses was warned, see to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain. The chapter's own bracket is the sentence the writer of Hebrews builds his argument on.
The furniture of this chapter is listed again at Hebrews 9:2 to 5. The lampstand, the table and the consecrated bread in the first room, and the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Acts 7:44 calls it the tabernacle of the Testimony, constructed exactly as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen.
The debated reading
How far the details of the tabernacle may be read as figures of Christ and the church is the question that runs through chapters 25 to 31. It is set out here once rather than repeated at every piece.
The restrained position is stated in the New Testament itself. Hebrews 9:5 names the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat and then stops, saying that we cannot discuss these things in detail now.
The typological position is held by most of the commentators the store carries, and they differ among themselves on how far to take it. John Wesley and Matthew Henry both read the mercy seat of verse 17 as a propitiatory covering and a type of Christ the great propitiation. Adam Clarke reads the Testimony of verse 16 more widely. The tables of stone, Aaron's rod, the pot of manna and the anointing oil all bore testimony, on his account, to the Messiah in His prophetic, priestly and royal offices. Gregory the Dialogist reads the four gold rings of verse 12 as the four Gospels, on the ground that the church is equipped for journeying with them. Matthew Henry reads the branches of the lampstand as the spreading of the gospel by the ministry.
The positions are held by named voices and the estate states no verdict between them. What the text itself says is that the pattern was shown and was to be followed, and Hebrews 8:5 calls the result a copy and shadow.
Where to go deeper
The ark stands at the ark of the covenant and its lid at the mercy seat. The table's bread stands at the showbread, the lampstand at the lampstand, the dyed yarns at blue, purple and scarlet, the metals at metals and the stones at precious stones. The copy and shadow of Hebrews 8:5 stands at the shadow. The tabernacle as a whole has no page yet and is owed.
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Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments, 1832 to 1869, on Exodus 25:1; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament, 1748 to 1763, on Exodus 25:23 and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, on Exodus 25:40.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Alfred Edersheim, The Temple: Its Ministry and Services; Chuck Missler, Learn the Bible in 24 Hours; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Sir Robert Anderson, Types in Hebrews.