Exoduschapter 36
38 verses · Moses, by tradition · 15th or 13th century BC · The Law
And every wise hearted man among them that wrought the work of the tabernacle made ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubims of cunning work made he them.
Introduction
Moses, by tradition, The Law, Exodus Overview.
This chapter moves from the call for gifts to the work itself, and it begins with a problem no building project expects. The craftsmen named in the chapter before now take up their tools. It was first heard by a people who had grumbled about water and bread and then gave past every need. Listen for the moment the workmen leave their benches to speak to Moses. Then notice how closely the account of the making follows the words of the pattern given earlier. The chapter teaches that obedience is shown in the details as much as in the offering.
Context
- Who
- Israel in the wilderness, who had to be told to stop giving
- What
- The overflowing offering and the making of the tabernacle's curtains, coverings, frames, bars and veil.
- Where
- The workshops of the camp at the foot of Mount Sinai.
- When
- About 1446 BC on the traditional early date, with a thirteenth-century date also held, in the months of the building.
- Why
- To record that the dwelling was built exactly to God's pattern out of what willing hands brought in.
Historical context
The work is carried by Bezalel, Oholiab and every skilled person whose heart stirred them, and the chapter reports what they made. It falls in the months of the building, in the first year after the exodus. The place is the camp at the foot of Sinai.
Show the rest of the historical context, 2 more paragraphs
The occasion is a problem no building project expects, since the craftsmen leave their benches to tell Moses that the people are bringing more than enough.
A first hearer would have recognised what the frame was for. Acacia boards ten cubits tall stand on two silver bases each, with bars running through gold rings. The result is a timber frame built to be taken down and raised again at every stage of the march. A first hearer also knew the cherubim woven into the innermost curtain and into the veil, which are the figures set at the east of Eden in Genesis 3:24. The repetition of chapter 26 in the past tense is a builder's report, certifying that what was commanded is what was made.
Significance
A people who had complained about water and meat gave past the need for God's tent. When generosity came, it came in flood, and Scripture records no second occasion where an offering had to be stopped.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
Every clasp and base being accounted for told Israel that God's dwelling was made to a pattern. It was built by named men, out of what willing hands brought in.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
How it is read
This is the chapter where the giving runs past what the work needs, and it is the one chapter of the building span where the corpus carries four commentators at once. Ramban tells the sequence of days. The people brought the whole donation to the tent in one day. The wise men took it from Moses that day and early the next. The people kept bringing until Moses was told there was more than enough (Ramban on Exodus 36:3:1, the Chavel translation, CC-BY). Rashi reads the report of the craftsmen as a plain statement of quantity, that the people brought "more than is sufficient for the needs of the work" (Rashi on Exodus 36:5:1). The sufficiency of the seventh verse he takes to mean that the contributing was enough for all the work and left some over (Rashi on Exodus 36:7:1). Sforno draws a rule out of the surplus. The donations went past what was needed for the tasks God had commanded, and God "wanted no additions, nor omissions" (Sforno on Exodus 36:5:1, from Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash, CC-BY). He reads the proclamation of the sixth verse as a stop on further work rather than on further giving. The timber and the spun material were to be brought no more (Sforno on Exodus 36:6:1). He also reads the list of craftsmen as a record of how ready each was to give his skill (Sforno on Exodus 36:4:1). Rashi is quoted from the Rosenbaum and Silbermann edition of 1929 to 1934, public domain. Ibn Ezra comments at fourteen places from Exodus 36:1:1 to 36:33:1, and Malbim at Exodus 36:1:1 and 36:2:1, all cited by reference.
What the rabbis say
The corpus records forty places where the Midrash and the Talmud draw on this chapter, cited here by reference. Midrash Lekach Tov follows the building at Exodus 36:1:1, 36:7:1, 36:7:2, 36:8:1, 36:8:2 and 36:8:3. It reads the boards at Exodus 36:34:1, 36:34:2 and 36:34:3, and the curtains at Exodus 25:2:5 and 26:2:1. Midrash Tanchuma reads the chapter at Nasso 13:1, Vayakhel 9:1, Vayakhel 9:2 and Ki Tisa 19:5. Midrash Tanchuma Buber reads it at Nasso 20:1, Nasso 29:1, Vayakhel 10:1 and Pekudei 8:1. The overflow of the offering is read at Bamidbar Rabbah 1:10, 9:12, 12:15 and 12:16, and at Ein Yaakov, Yoma 8:4 and Sotah 1:4. Sanhedrin 69b:18 and Bava Kamma 54a:1 read the craftsmen, and the Jerusalem Talmud reads them at Yevamot 10:7:8 and Shabbat 1:1:2. Shemot Rabbah 50:4 and Pesikta Rabbati 33:1 read the curtains and the veil. Sifrei Devarim 306:25 reads the boards of the twenty eighth verse.
Sources: Ramban, Ramban on Exodus 36:3:1, Commentary on the Torah translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel, Shilo, New York, 1971 to 1976, CC-BY, 1194 to 1270; Sforno, Sforno on Exodus 36:4:1, 36:5:1 and 36:6:1, Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash, CC-BY, 1475 to 1550; Rashi, Rashi on Exodus 36:5:1, 36:6:1, 36:7:1 and 36:7:2, 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 36:1:1 to 36:33:1, fourteen places cited by reference, CC-BY-NC, 1089 to 1164; Malbim, Malbim on Exodus 36:1:1 and 36:2:1, cited by reference, no English version in the corpus; Midrash Tanchuma, Nasso 13:1, Vayakhel 9:1 and 9:2 and Ki Tisa 19:5, cited by reference; Bamidbar Rabbah, 1:10, 9:12, 12:15 and 12:16, cited by reference; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/exodus/36.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.
The People Bring Too Much
Exodus 36:1-2
The building begins with two named men and the skill put in them, before a single material is measured. Exodus 31:3 says Bezalel was filled with the Spirit of God, the first person in Scripture said to be so filled, for stone, metal and wood. Moses calls everyone whose heart stirred him to come and do the work, so the labour is volunteered.
Adam Clarke reads verse 1 as the close of chapter 35, so the work of constructing the sanctuary starts here when Moses summoned the craftsmen. Matthew Henry finds two marks in them, the skill the LORD had given and a heart stirred to come. John Calvin reads the stirred heart as the LORD's work too.
Exodus 36:2
“Note, Those are to be called to the building of the gospel tabernacle whom God has by his grace made in some measure fit for the work and free to engage in it. Ability and willingness (with resolution) are the two things to be regarded in the call of ministers.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Exodus 36:2
“Thus the absurdity of the Papists is refuted, who, in order to prove free-will, think it sufficient to drag forward the passages in which rectitude of will is commended: whereas, even though men may will aright, it is foolish to infer that therefore they are possessed of free-will, unless it be proved that the will proceeds from themselves.”
John Calvin · Commentaries (1554)reformed
Exodus 36:3-4
The materials keep coming by hand, freewill offerings morning after morning, so the supply is a daily habit and not a single collection. The gold is the same freewill gold the people gave for the calf at 32:2 and 3, which says the metal was never the trouble. The workmen leave their work to report, so verse 5 comes from the men doing the work.
Exodus 36:3
“Note, We should always make it our morning's work to bring our offerings unto the Lord; even the spiritual offerings of prayer and praise, and a broken heart surrendered entirely to God. This is that which the duty of every day requires. God's compassions are new every morning, and so must our duty to him be.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
John Gill notes that the craftsmen worked on different parts, some on the tabernacle itself and some on its vessels and furnishings. They stopped by common consent and came together.
Exodus 36:4
“And all the wise men that wrought all the work of the sanctuary,.... The ingenious artificers who were employed, some in one thing, and some in another, either on the tabernacle itself, or the vessels of it, and things appertaining to it: came every man from his work which they made; left off their work by mutual consent and agreement, and came in a body to Moses.”
1 more voice on this verse
Exodus 36:4
“Those are the greatest cheats that cheat the public. If to murder many is worse than to murder one, by the same rule to defraud communities, and to rob the church or state, is a much greater crime than to pick the pocket of a single person.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Exodus 36:5-7
Israel gives so much that the work has to be stopped, and a proclamation goes through the camp telling man and woman alike to bring no more. Scripture records no second occasion where an offering is halted for excess. Four chapters earlier this same congregation handed its gold to Aaron and got a calf, and the book sets the two collections that close together and says nothing about the distance.
Exodus 36:5
“The people bring much more than enough - With what a liberal spirit do these people bring their free-will offerings unto the Lords! Moses is obliged to make a proclamation to prevent them from bringing any more, as there was at present more than enough! Had Moses been intent upon gain, and had he not been perfectly disinterested, he would have encouraged them to continue their contributions, as thereby he might have multiplied to himself gold, silver, and precious stones.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Matthew Henry notes that Moses could have let the people keep bringing offerings and kept what was more than enough, and he restrained them instead. Adam Clarke says Moses sought no gain in the matter. The order went to man and woman alike.
Exodus 36:6
“Had Moses aimed to enrich himself, he might have suffered them still to bring in their offerings; and when the work was finished might have taken the remainder to himself: but he also preferred the public before his own private interest, and was therein a good example to all in public trusts.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
John Gill notes that the text leaves the offerings beyond what the work needed unaccounted for, whether they went back to the people or were kept for the later service of the sanctuary. He leans to the second. Exodus 38:24-31 counts the gold, silver and bronze that went into the work.
Exodus 36:7
“For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it,.... The gold, silver, brass, and precious stones, the wood and yarn, which had been already brought in, were sufficient for everything they were ordered to make: and too much; a great deal more than would be used; much would remain after all was wrought: what was done with this is not said, whether it was returned to the people, or laid up for the use of the tabernacle and service, as might hereafter be wanted; which latter seems most probable.”
The Curtains Are Made
Exodus 36:8-13
The instruction of chapters 25 to 31 began at the ark and worked outward, and the building works inward from the tent to the ark of chapter 37. Every command of chapter 26 returns in the past tense, which is why the work is reported twice. The cherubim of Genesis 3:24, set to guard the way to the tree of life, are worked into the innermost covering.
Exodus 36:8
“Cherubims of cunning work - See on Exo 25:18 (note). Probably the word means no more than figures of any kind wrought in the diaper fashion in the loom, or by the needle in embroidery, or by the chisel or graving tool in wood, stone, or metal; see Clarke on Exo 25:18 (note). This meaning Houbigant and other excellent critics contend for.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Exodus 36:8
“This house was not made of timber or stone, but of curtains curiously embroidered and coupled together. This served to typify the state of the church in this world, the palace of God's kingdom among men. Though it is upon the earth, yet its foundation is not in the earth, as that of a house is; no, Christ's kingdom is not of this world, nor founded in it.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The size repeats 26:2 exactly. Joined, the ten curtains made one cloth forty cubits long and twenty-eight wide. The goat hair curtains of verse 15 are cut larger, and 26:13 lets their extra length hang down to cover this cloth.
Exodus 36:9
“The length of one curtain - Concerning these curtains, see Clarke on Exo 26:1 (note), etc.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The joining carries out 26:3, two sets of five curtains. The sets met where the gold clasps of verse 13 fastened them. Exodus 26:33 hangs the veil from those clasps, so the seam between the sets ran above the veil.
The blue loops carry out 26:4. They sit on the outer edge of the last curtain in each set. A blue cord also binds the breastpiece to the ephod at 28:28, and Numbers 15:38 puts a blue cord on the tassels of every Israelite.
Fifty loops a side repeats 26:5 to the number. The loops were set opposite one another so that each clasp could take a pair. Bede reads the number fifty in these fastenings as true rest in the Holy Spirit.
The clasps carry out 26:6, which ends with the same result, that the tabernacle will be a unit. Matthew Henry compares God's people to these coupled curtains, brought into the unity of the faith and built into a holy temple. Many pieces make one dwelling.
Exodus 36:14-19
for the tent over the tabernacle: The second covering is goat hair, eleven curtains over the ten below, and the text calls it the tent over the tabernacle. Its clasps are bronze where the inner clasps were gold, so the metal grades plainer the further out it sits. Over both go ram skins dyed red and fine leather with no measurement given, so the layer the camp saw is the one described least.
Exodus 36:14
“God has provided for his people a shadow from the heat, and a covert from storm and rain, Isa. iv. They are armed against all weathers; the sun and the moon shall not smite them: and they are protected from the storms of divine wrath, that hail which will sweep away the refuge of lies, Isa. xxviii.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The measure carries out 26:8. Eleven curtains four cubits wide made a cloth forty-four cubits long, four more than the linen beneath. Exodus 26:12 lets the extra length hang down over the back of the tabernacle.
The division carries out 26:9, five curtains in one set and six in the other. The same verse has the sixth curtain folded double at the front of the tent. The linen below was split evenly, five and five.
The loops match those of the linen at verse 12, fifty on each set, as 26:10 commands. The two layers were joined by the same method and in the same number. Blue is named for the linen loops alone, at verse 11.
The bronze clasps carry out 26:11. The bronze for the whole work came from the contribution of 35:24, and 38:29-31 lists what it made, including the bases of the entrance posts and the courtyard.
The two outer coverings of the tent carry out 26:14, laid over the curtains of goat hair. Matthew Henry reads the covering as the LORD's shelter for His people, a shade from heat and a cover from storm, citing Isaiah 4. The fine leather was the outer covering.
Boards, Bars, Veil, and Screen
Exodus 36:20-26
Under the cloth stand acacia frames ten cubits high, each set by two tenons into silver bases, two bases for each frame. Chapter 26 ordered the bases, and this chapter counts forty on the south and forty on the north. Exodus 38:27 says the silver was a hundred talents of atonement money, cast at a talent to a base, so the frame of the dwelling stands on ransom money.
Exodus 36:20
“And he made boards - See Clarke’s note on Exo 26:15, etc.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The measure carries out 26:16. Twenty frames a cubit and a half wide made each long side thirty cubits. The temple of 1 Kings 6:2 doubled that length to sixty cubits.
The tenons carry out 26:17 in the same words. Every frame was cut to one pattern. Numbers 10:21 has the tabernacle set up again at each new camp before the holy objects arrived.
The twenty south frames carry out 26:18. The rear wall faces west at verse 27, so the entrance opened to the east. Exodus 40:24 sets the lampstand on this south side of the tent.
The forty bases carry out 26:19 to the number. Each tenon had its own base, so every frame rested on two. Exodus 40:18 has Moses lay the bases first when he raised the tabernacle, then the frames and the crossbars.
The north side carries out 26:20, twenty frames matching the south. Exodus 40:22 sets the table on this north side of the tent, outside the veil, across from the lampstand.
The forty bases repeat 26:21, two under each frame. Numbers 3:35 camps the Merarites on this north side of the tabernacle, and 3:36 gives them the frames and bases to carry.
Exodus 36:27-30
Six boards close the west end, and two more are doubled into the corners and ringed together at the head, which gives eight boards and sixteen sockets. Three sides of the building are solid timber and the east side carries none, because the entrance is a hanging on five pillars in verse 37. The house God asked for has a curtain for a door.
The corner frames carry out 26:23 and stand at the back of the tent, to the west. Hebrew names the west by the sea, and Bede reads that side as facing the sea where Pharaoh's army drowned. The Most Holy Place stood at this end.
The two corner frames at the rear of the tabernacle repeat 26:24 in the same terms. Adam Clarke notes that the chapters from here to the end of the book repeat chapters 25 to 31 almost throughout. Exodus 26:30 ties them to the plan shown on the mountain.
The count carries out 26:25. With twenty frames on each long side, the walls stood on forty-eight frames and ninety-six silver bases. Exodus 38:27 counts the silver bases of the whole tabernacle.
Exodus 36:30
“Sometimes, however, under one figure of either an act or an utterance, two terms may have one meaning. Thus the boards which were fitted together into the construction of the ark signify both the faithful and the eight souls who were saved in the same ark. Similarly, in the Gospel, in the parable of the sheepfold, Christ himself is both the shepherd and the door.”
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · LETTER 164Early Church
1 more voice on this verse
Exodus 36:30
“Sometimes, however, under one figure of either an act or an utterance, two terms may have one meaning. Thus the boards which were fitted together into the construction of the ark signify both the faithful and the eight souls who were saved in the same ark. Similarly, in the Gospel, in the parable of the sheepfold, Christ himself is both the shepherd and the door.”
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · LETTER 164patristic
Exodus 36:31-34
Five bars a side lock the boards into one wall, and the middle bar runs the whole length where the others do not. Gold covers the boards, the rings and the bars alike, so every surface a priest stood among was gold. The frame is gilded and pinned and still built to come apart, and Numbers 4:31 gives the boards, bars, pillars and sockets to the sons of Merari to carry.
Exodus 36:31
“He made bars - See on Exo 26:26 (note), etc.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The count carries out 26:26-27, fifteen crossbars in all. The west wall, eight frames wide, receives the same five bars as each long wall of twenty frames.
The central crossbar carries out 26:28. Bede places a bar high across the ten cubits of the tent's width, running from the top of the boards on one side to the other. The verse sets it through the center of the frames.
The overlay carries out 26:29. The gold came from the wave offering of 35:22, and 38:24 gives the total of all the gold used for the sanctuary. Jewelry once worn by the people now covered the walls.
Exodus 36:35-36
The veil carries cherubim, so the guards of Eden in Genesis 3:24 stand at the one place a man may not pass. Exodus 26:33 gave its work, the veil will separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place, and Matthew 27:51 reports it torn in two from top to bottom when Jesus died. Hebrews 10:20 speaks of the way opened for us through the curtain of His body.
Exodus 36:35
“The veil made for a partition between the holy place and the most holy, signified the darkness and distance of that dispensation compared with the New Testament, which shews us the glory of God more clearly, and invites us to draw near to it; and the darkness and distance of our present state in comparison with heaven, where we shall be ever with the Lord, and see him as he is.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
The four posts carry out 26:32. Their four silver bases, with the ninety-six under the frames, make the hundred bases that 38:27 counts. Exodus 40:21 has Moses bring in the ark and hang the veil to shield it.
Exodus 36:37-38
The door curtain uses the veil's four materials and differs in three ways: it is embroidered, it carries no cherubim, and its five posts stand in bronze bases where the veil's four stand in silver. The chapter grades every material by how far in it sits and never explains why. Hebrews 9:8 takes it up, saying the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed.
Exodus 36:37
“They are preferred as cooler and more elegant than wooden doors. This chapter contains an instructive narrative: it is the first instance of donations made for the worship of God, given from the wages of the people's sufferings and toils.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Exodus 26:37 orders the five posts overlaid with gold, and this verse specifies gold on their tops and bands. Adam Clarke takes the hooks as the capitals of the posts. The courtyard posts of 38:17 have their tops and bands in silver.
Exodus 36:38
“The five pillars of it with their hooks - Their capitals. See Clarke on Exo 26:32 (note), etc. There is scarcely any thing particular in this chapter that has not been touched on before; both it and the following to the end of the book being in general a repetition of what we have already met in detail in the preceding chapters from Exodus 25 to 31 inclusive, and to those the reader is requested to refer.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
How this psalm is built
The form: Building record, the making of the curtains, the frames and the veil, told in the past tense of the commands of chapter 26, as site classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| He made, said over and over | From verse 8 to the end of the chapter every command of chapter 26 returns in the past tense. The verbs are made, joined, overlaid and cast. The repetition is the report itself, and it stands four chapters after the same people made a calf. | Exodus 36:8, Exodus 36:20, Exodus 36:35 |
| The materials graded by how far in they sit | The inner curtains are linen with cherubim worked into them and gold clasps. The tent over them is goat hair with bronze clasps. The frames are gold on silver bases, and the door posts stand on bronze. The metal grades plainer the further out it sits, and the chapter never explains why. | Exodus 36:13, Exodus 36:18, Exodus 36:36, Exodus 36:38 |
| The veil and the door, alike and different | The veil at verse 35 and the entrance curtain at verse 37 use the same four materials. They differ in three exact ways. The veil carries cherubim and the curtain carries none, the veil hangs on four posts in silver bases and the curtain on five in bronze, and the two are worked by different crafts. | Exodus 36:35, Exodus 36:36, Exodus 36:37, Exodus 36:38 |
The chapter is the clearest case of the repetition that runs through chapters 35 to 40. Every order of chapter 26 comes back here in the past tense. Readers find the second span repetitive, and the repetition carries the point, since it is the record that this time the people did exactly what they were told.
9 more paragraphs on the patterns
The silver under the frames has a source the chapter does not give. Exodus 38:27 says the hundred bases were cast from the atonement money gathered at half a shekel a head, at a talent to a base. The frame of the dwelling place stands on ransom silver, and a reader has to go two chapters on to learn it.
The building is also made to come apart. The frames are gilded and pinned and still built to be carried, and Numbers 4:31 gives the frames, crossbars, posts and bases to the sons of Merari to carry.
The New Testament's use
The veil of verse 35 is the curtain Matthew 27:51 reports torn from top to bottom at the death of Jesus. Hebrews 10:20 calls the new and living way one that runs through the veil, which it glosses as His flesh. Hebrews 9:8 takes up the grading of the chapter and says that the way into the holiest had not yet been disclosed while the first tabernacle was still standing.
The detail worth noticing
Cherubim are worked into the innermost curtain at verse 8 and into the veil at verse 35. They are the figures set at the east of Eden in Genesis 3:24 to guard the way to the tree of life. They are woven into the two cloths that stand at the places a man may not pass. The chapter reports the weaving and leaves the meaning where chapter 26 had put it.
Three sides of the building are solid timber and the east side carries none, because the entrance is a hanging on five posts at verse 37. The house God asked for has a curtain for a door.
Where to go deeper
The veil of verse 35 is set out at the veil. No page on the tabernacle as a whole stands under /featured, and the page is listed as owed.
Keep studying
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
This site.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Bede; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Gill; 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.