Exoduschapter 37
29 verses · Moses, by tradition · 15th or 13th century BC · The Law
And Bezaleel made the ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half was the length of it, and a cubit and a half the breadth of it, and a cubit and a half the height of it:
Introduction
Moses, by tradition, The Law, Exodus Overview.
This chapter makes the furniture of the two rooms inside the tent, the rooms only priests would ever enter. One named craftsman is credited with the most sacred work of all. It was first heard by a people who had watched gold become an idol only a few chapters before. Listen for how every piece is fitted to be carried. Notice what stands on the lid of the ark and what does not. The chapter shows the same metal that served a false god now shaped to God's own pattern.
Context
- Who
- Israel in the wilderness, whose most sacred objects were made by a man they could name
- What
- The making of the ark, the mercy seat, the table, the lampstand, the altar of incense, the anointing oil and the incense.
- Where
- Bezalel's workshop in 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 every object in the holy places was made as God commanded, so that He could dwell among His people.
Historical context
Bezalel son of Uri is named at verse 1 as the maker of the ark, where the curtains of the previous chapter are credited to the skilled workmen generally. 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 the making of the furniture for the two rooms inside the tent, which only priests would ever see.
A first hearer knew what hammered gold work of this quality meant, since beating two cherubim and a lid out of one piece of pure gold is elite metalcraft. A first hearer also knew how the surrounding nations furnished a sanctuary, and the seat between these cherubim carries no image on it. The ornament of the lampstand is almond blossom, which is what Aaron's rod brings forth at Numbers 17:8 on the day God settles who is to serve Him. The tabernacle description gives no window anywhere, so the seven lamps of verse 23 were the only light in the holy place.
Significance
The gold that had been an idol in chapter 32 is a mercy seat in chapter 37. It is the same metal, in obedient hands, worked to a given pattern.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The lampstand told them that the God who has no image lights His own house. The room it lit had no other source of light in it.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
How it is read
This chapter records the making of the ark, the table, the lampstand and the two altars, repeating the pattern given in chapters 25 to 30. The corpus holds five commentaries on it, fewer than on any other chapter of this span, and the classical reading turns on one name and one omission. Rashi asks why the ark alone is credited to Bezalel by name. His answer is that "he gave himself over to the work more whole-heartedly than the other wise men" (Rashi on Exodus 37:1:1, citing Midrash Tanchuma, Vayakhel 10). Ramban notes that the anointing oil and the incense are reported in a single line here, where the other work is described in full. He gives the reason the text breaks its own habit at this point (Ramban on Exodus 37:29:1, the Chavel translation, CC-BY). Sforno reads the word holy of the anointing oil as a statement about how long it would last. He ties it to the wording of Exodus 30:31 (Sforno on Exodus 37:29:1, from Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash, CC-BY). The incense is called pure because every foreign element had been taken out of the spices (Sforno on Exodus 37:29:2). Rashi is quoted from the Rosenbaum and Silbermann edition of 1929 to 1934, public domain. Ibn Ezra comments at Exodus 37:1:1 under a licence that keeps his text off this page.
What the rabbis say
The corpus records thirty nine places where the Midrash draws on this chapter, cited here by reference, and the weight of them falls on the first verse. Shemot Rabbah treats the making of the ark at 50:1, 50:2, 50:3, 50:4 and 50:5. Midrash Tanchuma reads it at Vayakhel 6:1, 7:1, 8:1 and 10:1, and at Vayakhel 7:3, 7:4, 7:6 and 7:10. Midrash Tanchuma Buber reads it at Vayakhel 7:1, 8:1, 8:3, 9:1, 10:2 and 11:1. Midrash Lekach Tov follows the ark and the table at Exodus 37:1:1, 37:1:2, 37:1:3 and 37:10:1. Shir HaShirim Rabbah reads the chapter at 2:1:1 and 3:10:2, and Yalkut Shimoni on Torah at 26:2, 414:1 and 719:11. The lampstand is read at Bamidbar Rabbah 15:4 and Midrash Lekach Tov, Exodus 37:17:1. The Jerusalem Talmud reads the weight of the lampstand at Shekalim 6:3:4.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Exodus 37:1:1, the Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A. M. Silbermann, 1929 to 1934, public domain, 1040 to 1105; Ramban, Ramban on Exodus 37:29:1, 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 37:29:1 and 37:29:2, Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash, CC-BY, 1475 to 1550; Ibn Ezra, Ibn Ezra on Exodus 37:1:1, cited by reference, CC-BY-NC, 1089 to 1164; Midrash Tanchuma, Vayakhel 10, as Rashi cites it, and Vayakhel 6:1 to 7:10 cited by reference; Shemot Rabbah, 50:1 to 50:5, cited by reference; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/exodus/37.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.
Bezalel Makes the Ark
Exodus 37:1-2
The curtains are credited at 36:8 to All the skilled craftsmen among the workmen, and the ark to Bezalel by name. John Gill passes on Jarchi's reading, that the work carries his name because he gave his mind to it beyond the rest. The building chapters repeat chapters 25 to 31 almost word for word, reporting obedience right after the chapter where the people did the opposite.
Exodus 37:1
“And Bezaleel made the ark of shittim wood,.... Jarchi says, because he gave his mind to this work more than the rest of the wise men, it is called by his name.”
The overlay carries out 25:11. Pure gold covered the acacia wood inside, where 40:20 places the tablets of the Testimony, and outside, with a gold molding around the top. Numbers 4:5 wraps it in the veil for every march.
Exodus 37:3-5
The rings are cast and the poles go in, and 25:15 had added a line this chapter omits, they must not be removed, so the ark stays fitted for shoulders even at rest. At 2 Samuel 6:3 it rides on a new cart and Uzzah dies. The correction comes at 1 Chronicles 15:15, the Levites carried the ark of God on their shoulders with the poles, as Moses had commanded.
The poles carry out 25:13. They stayed with the ark into Solomon's temple, where 1 Kings 8:8 says their ends could be seen from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary.
Numbers 4:15 gives the Kohathites the carrying of the ark and forbids them to touch the holy things, or they die. The poles in the gold rings let them carry the ark without a hand on it. The table and incense altar had poles for the same use.
Exodus 37:6-9
The mercy seat is solid gold, given length and breadth but no height, and the cherubim are hammered from the same piece. Cherubim guarded Eden at Genesis 3:24, and here they look at the place where blood is put. The Septuagint renders mercy seat as hilasterion, the word Romans 3:25 uses of Christ, and Hebrews 9:5 speaks of the cherubim of glory, overshadowing the mercy seat.
Exodus 37:6
“He made the mercy-seat - See this described Exo 25:17 (note).”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The two cherubim carry out 25:18, one at each end of the mercy seat. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that few craftsmen of their own day could have hammered a figure with wings of that size from one piece of gold. Moses credits the skill to the Spirit of God at 35:31.
The placement carries out 25:19, one cherub at each end. Solomon's temple later added a larger pair, carved from olive wood, ten cubits high and overlaid with gold, at 1 Kings 6:23-28. These first two remained part of the lid.
Exodus 37:8
“One cherub on the end on this side, and another cherub on the other end on that side: out of the mercy-seat made he the cherubims on the two ends thereof.”
John Calvin · Commentaries (1554)reformed
The wings of the cherubim carry out 25:20, spread upward above the mercy seat of pure gold. Exodus 25:22 made the mercy seat between the two cherubim the place where the LORD would meet with Moses. Matthew Henry calls this the glory of a holy God.
Exodus 37:9
“And the cherubims spread out their wings on high, and covered with their wings over the mercy-seat, with their faces one to another; even to the mercy-seat-ward were the faces of the cherubims.”
John Calvin · Commentaries (1554)reformed
The Table and Its Vessels
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.
The overlay and molding carry out 25:24. The same gold molding is given to the ark at verse 2 and to the incense altar at verse 26. John Wesley notes that the bread on this table was set out to be looked upon and was eaten afterward only by the priests.
The rim carries out 25:25, and it receives a gold molding of its own. The table therefore carried two moldings, one on the top and one on the rim. The rings of verse 14 sit close to this rim.
The rings carry out 25:26. They were fastened at the corners by the four legs, as the ark's rings were set at its four feet in verse 3.
The rings sit close to the rim, as 25:27 orders. Solomon later made ten tables for the temple and placed five on the south side and five on the north, by 2 Chronicles 4:8.
The poles carry out 25:28. Numbers 4:7-8 has the priests spread blue and scarlet cloths over the table and its dishes, cover it with fine leather and insert its poles. The Kohathites then carried it.
The utensils carry out 25:29, and their use is named: bowls and pitchers for pouring drink offerings. Gregory the Dialogist reads the bowls as abundant teaching and the cups as small and limited knowledge. Numbers 28:7 commands the drink offering poured out to the LORD.
Exodus 37:16
“He made the vessels - See all these particularly described in the notes on Exo 25:29 (note).”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Exodus 37:16
“And we know that in the tabernacle of God not only bowls but also, by the Lord's command, cups were made. By bowls, indeed, abundant teaching is designated; by cups, however, small and limited knowledge. One person, full of the teaching of truth, intoxicates the minds of his hearers. By what he says, therefore, he surely offers a bowl.”
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 6patristic
The Lampstand Hammered from Gold
Exodus 37:17-22
The lampstand is the one item of furniture with no dimensions, here or in the command at 25:31 to 39, where the only quantity is a weight of gold. Verse 22 says it was all of one piece with the lampstand, hammered out of pure gold. Its ornament is almond blossom, what Aaron's staff produces at Numbers 17:8 when God settles who is to serve Him.
Exodus 37:17
“29 And he made the holy anointing oil, and the pure incense of sweet spices, according to the work of the apothecary. The making of the golden altar, on which incense was to be burnt daily, which signified both the prayers of saints and the intercession of Christ, to which are owing the acceptableness and success of those prayers.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 more voices on this verse
Exodus 37:17
“He made the candlestick - See this described in the note on Exo 25:31 (note).”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Exodus 37:17
“Every object was symbolical of important truth--every piece of furniture was made the hieroglyphic of a doctrine or a duty--on the floor and along the sides of that movable edifice was exhibited, by emblematic signs addressed to the eye, the whole remedial scheme of the gospel.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
The branches carry out 25:32, three to each side. With the central shaft they make seven arms, one for each of the seven lamps of verse 23.
The almond cups carry out 25:33, three on each branch. The Hebrew word for almond sounds like the word for watching, and Jeremiah 1:11-12 turns on that likeness. The lamps that burned through the night stood among almond blossoms.
The shaft carries four almond cups where each branch carries three, as 25:34 orders. Across the whole lampstand that makes twenty-two cups. Each was hammered from the same talent of gold that verse 24 names.
The buds carry out 25:35, one under each pair of branches. Each bud sat where a pair left the shaft, so the branches grow from the stem as from a tree.
The buds and branches were hammered out of the same piece of pure gold as the base and shaft of the lampstand, as 25:36 commanded. Hebrews 8:5 quotes the charge of 25:40 about the pattern. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read each piece as a figure of the gospel.
Exodus 37:23-24
The tabernacle has no window, so these seven lamps are the only light in the Holy Place, and a lamp that burns continually needs its wick trimmers, and trays. Zechariah 4:2 sees a solid gold lampstand with seven lamps. Revelation 1:20 says the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
a talent of pure gold: The weight carries out 25:39. One talent of pure gold made the lampstand and every utensil used to tend it. Exodus 38:24 gives the total of all the gold used for the sanctuary.
Incense Altar, Oil, and Spices
Exodus 37:25-28
The golden altar has horns like the bronze altar, and 30:10 puts blood on them once a year. By 30:6 it stands in front of the veil, so the priests reach it daily while the ark stays hidden. Luke 1:10 and 11 sets Zechariah at this altar with the people praying outside, and Revelation 8:3 has the prayers of all the saints offered on the golden altar before the throne.
Exodus 37:25
“The incense burnt on this altar daily, signified both the prayers of saints, and the intercession of Christ, to which is owing the acceptableness of them.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
The overlay carries out 30:3 on every face. Of the carried pieces, the ark, the table and this altar are wood wholly overlaid with pure gold. Exodus 38:30 names the courtyard altar the bronze altar by the metal that covers it.
The rings carry out 30:4. The incense altar receives two gold rings on opposite sides, where the ark and the table each receive four. Verse 25 makes it a cubit square.
overlaid them with gold: The poles carry out 30:5. Like the altar itself, they were acacia wood overlaid with gold. John Wesley and Matthew Henry read the incense burned on it each day as the prayers of the saints and the intercession of Christ, which makes those prayers acceptable.
The chapter ends with two compounds, the anointing oil and the incense, the work of a perfumer. Exodus 30:32 and 33 and 30:37 and 38 forbid copying either recipe for common use, and in both places the penalty is to be cut off from the people. The formula was given to the whole nation in writing and reserved to one use.
Exodus 37:29
“He made the holy anointing oil - See this and the perfume, and the materials out of which they were made, described at large in the notes on Exo 30:23-25 and Exo 30:34-38. As this chapter also is a repetition of what has been mentioned in preceding chapters, the reader is desired to refer to them.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Exodus 37:29
“Consider these three together, and they represent the glory of a holy god, the sincerity of a holy heart, and the communion that is between them, in and by a Mediator. It is the glory of a holy god that he dwells between the cherubim; that is, is continually attended and adored by the blessed angels, whose swiftness was signified by their faces being one towards another.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
How this psalm is built
The form: Building record, the making of the ark, the mercy seat, the table, the lampstand and the altar of incense, as site classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| Everything built to be carried | The ark takes four rings and two poles at verses 3 to 5. The table takes four rings and poles at verses 13 to 15. The altar of incense takes two rings and poles at verses 27 and 28. Every piece inside the tent is fitted to be moved. | Exodus 37:5, Exodus 37:15, Exodus 37:28 |
| Made of one piece | The two cherubim at verses 7 and 8 are hammered from the same gold as the mercy seat. The lampstand at verse 22 is one beaten work, shaft and branches and every cup together. The horns of the incense altar at verse 25 are of one piece with it. The chapter says it three times. | Exodus 37:8, Exodus 37:22, Exodus 37:25 |
| The pieces given no measure | The ark, the mercy seat, the table and the incense altar are all given in cubits. The lampstand is given none, here or in the command at 25:31 to 25:39, where the only quantity stated is a weight of gold. Verse 24 gives that weight as a talent of pure gold. | Exodus 37:17, Exodus 37:24 |
The chapter reports the making of the five pieces that stood where the people could never go. The ark and the mercy seat stand behind the veil, and the table, the lampstand and the altar of incense stand in the room outside it. Only priests saw any of them.
10 more paragraphs on the patterns
The poles are the chapter's quiet argument. Exodus 25:15 had added one line this chapter does not repeat, that the poles were never to be taken from the ark. The ark is therefore fitted to be carried and kept fitted for it, even while standing still behind the veil. At 2 Samuel 6:3 the ark is moved on a new cart instead, and Uzzah dies at the threshing floor. The correction is recorded at 1 Chronicles 15:15, where the Levites bear it on their shoulders by the poles as Moses had commanded.
The New Testament's use
The Septuagint renders the mercy seat of verse 6 with the Greek word hilasterion. Romans 3:25 applies that word to Christ, and Hebrews 9:5 calls the figures of verses 7 to 9 the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Revelation 1:20 says the seven golden lampstands John saw are seven churches, and Zechariah 4:2 had already seen a gold lampstand with seven lamps. Luke 1:10 and 1:11 set Zacharias at the altar of incense with the people praying outside, and Revelation 8:3 has the prayers of all the saints offered on a golden altar before the throne.
The details worth noticing
The tabernacle description gives no window anywhere. The seven lamps of verse 23 are the only light by which anything in the holy place was seen. The trimmers and trays belong with them, since a lamp that burns continually has to be tended continually.
The ornament of the lampstand is almond blossom, named four times in verses 19 and 20. Almond is what Aaron's rod brings forth at Numbers 17:8, on the day God settles who is to serve Him.
The cherubim of verses 7 to 9 look down at the place where blood is put. Cherubim stood at the east of Eden in Genesis 3:24 keeping the way, and here the same figures are made to face the seat.
The two compounds at verse 29 were given to the whole nation in writing and reserved to one use. Exodus 30:32 and 30:33 and 30:37 and 30:38 forbid either recipe being copied for common use, and the penalty in both places is being cut off from the people.
Where to go deeper
The ark is set out at the ark of the covenant and its lid at the mercy seat. The lampstand stands at the lampstand and the table's bread at the showbread. 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; Alfred Edersheim, The Temple: Its Ministry and Services; Gregory the Dialogist, Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 6; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon 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.