Exodus37chapter 37

Exodus 37:1-2

The curtains of the previous chapter are credited to every wise hearted man among them at 36:8, and the ark is credited to Bezaleel by name. Exodus 31:3 says God filled him with the spirit of God for working metal, cutting stone and carving wood, and no person before him in Scripture is said to be filled with the Spirit. John Gill passes on Jarchi's reading, that the work carries his name because he gave his mind to it beyond the rest of the wise men. These building chapters repeat chapters 25 to 31 almost word for word, and the repetition is the report that this time the people did exactly what they were told, placed immediately after the chapter where they did the opposite.

Exodus 37:3-5

The rings are cast into the corners and the staves go in, and Exodus 25:15 had added one line that this chapter does not repeat, that the staves shall not be taken from it. The ark is therefore fitted to be carried on shoulders and to stay fitted for it, even while standing still behind the vail. 2 Samuel 6:3 has the ark moved on a new cart instead and Uzzah dies at the threshingfloor, and 1 Chronicles 15:15 records the correction, the Levites bearing it on their shoulders with the staves thereon as Moses commanded.

Exodus 37:6-9

The mercy seat is solid gold rather than wood overlaid with gold, and it is the one piece of furniture given a length and a breadth with no height, here and at the command in 25:17. The cherubims are beaten out of that same piece, so the guards and the seat are a single object, and their faces are turned inward and down toward it. Cherubims stood at the east of Eden in Genesis 3:24 keeping the way, and here they look at the place where blood is put. The Septuagint renders mercy seat with the Greek hilasterion, the word Romans 3:25 uses of Christ, and Hebrews 9:5 calls these the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercyseat.

Exodus 37:10-16

The table takes rings and staves like the ark, so every piece inside the holy place is built to be carried. Its vessels are finished here in pure gold, the dishes and the spoons and the bowls and the covers. The bread the table is named for does not appear in this chapter at all, since 25:30 had ordered shewbread set before the LORD alway and Moses sets it in order at 40:23.

Exodus 37:17-22

The candlestick is the one item of furniture with no dimensions given, here or in the command at 25:31 to 25:39, where the only quantity stated is a weight of gold. It is hammered from a single piece and verse 22 says so plainly, all of it one beaten work, so the shaft and the six branches and every bowl and knop and flower are the same lump of metal. Its ornament is almond blossom, which is what Aaron's rod brings forth in Numbers 17:8 when God settles who is to serve him.

Exodus 37:23-24

The tabernacle description gives no window anywhere, so these seven lamps are the only light by which anything in the holy place is seen. The snuffers and snuffdishes belong with them, since a lamp that burns continually has to be tended continually. Zechariah 4:2 sees a candlestick all of gold with seven lamps upon it, and Revelation 1:20 says the seven golden candlesticks John saw are seven churches.

Exodus 37:25-28

The golden altar carries horns like the altar of burnt offering in the court, and Exodus 30:10 puts blood from the sin offering on those horns once a year. It stands before the vail rather than behind it, by 30:6, so the priests reach it daily while the ark stays out of sight. The command for it came late, at 30:1 after the priesthood and the garments, and here it is made in its own place among the furniture of the holy place. Luke 1:10-11 sets Zacharias at this altar with the people praying outside, and Revelation 8:3 has the prayers of all saints offered on the golden altar before the throne.

Exodus 37:29

The chapter ends with two compounds rather than a piece of furniture, the anointing oil and the pure incense, both made by the work of the apothecary. Exodus 30:32-33 and 30:37-38 forbid either recipe being copied for common use, and the penalty in both places is being cut off from the people. The formula was given to the whole nation in writing and reserved to one use.