Exodus 40:2
in Exodus 40“On the first day of the first month you are to set up the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
On the first day of the first month shalt thou rear up the tabernacle of the tent of meeting.
KJV
On the first day of the first month shalt thou set up the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation.
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This verse in Exodus 40
Commentary
7 notes on this verseWhy did God command Moses to erect the tabernacle on the first day of the first month? Because at that time he created the world. The sprouting of the trees attests to this fact. For Scripture says, "Let the earth sprout forth grass for fodder, …
This site's exposition
And the Lord spake unto Moses
on Exodus 40:1-2
The last chapter of Exodus opens with a date. Exodus 12:2 had made this month the beginning of months for Israel, so the tent goes up on the first day of the year that the passover created. A calendar reset at the start of the deliverance is answered here by a dwelling place standing in the middle of the camp.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
On the first day of the first month,.... Which was the month Nisan, as the Targum of Jonathan expresses it; which was the month the children of Israel came out of Egypt, out of which they had now been a whole year, excepting fourteen days: shalt thou set up the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation; the tabernacle, which had a tent or covering over it, to which the people were gathered at times for religious service.
The time for doing this is, On the first day of the first month - This wanted but fourteen days of a year since they came out of Egypt. Probably the work was made ready just at the end of the year, so that the appointing this day gave no delay. In Hezekiah's time they began to sanctify the temple on the first day of the first month, 2 Chron. xxix, 17.
But the tabernacle happening to be set up on the first day of the first month intimates that it is good to begin the year with some good work. Let him that is the first have the first; and let the things of his kingdom be first sought. In Hezekiah's time we find they began to sanctify the temple on the first day of the first month, 2 Chron. xxix.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
The first day of the first month - It Is generally supposed that the Israelites began the work of the tabernacle about the sixth month after they had left Egypt; and as the work was finished about the end of the first year of their exodus, (for it was set up the first day of the second year), that therefore they had spent about six months in making it: so that the tabernacle was erected one year all but fifteen days after they had left Egypt.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
On the first day of the first month--From a careful consideration of the incidents recorded to have happened after the exodus (Ex 12:2; 34:28, &c.), it has been computed that the work of the tabernacle was commenced within six months after that emigration; and consequently, that other six months had been occupied in building it.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE FIRST MONTH SHALT THOU SET UP THE TABERNACLE OF THE TENT OF MEETING. In the opinion of our Rabbis. Sifra, beginning of Seder Shemini.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
10 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בְּיוֹם־ | beyom- | on [the] day of | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| הַחֹ֥דֶשׁ | hachodesh | the month | H2320 → | 284 times |
| הָרִאשׁ֖וֹן | harishon | <the> first | H7223 → | 182 times |
| בְּאֶחָ֣ד | beechad | on [day] one | H259 → | 971 times |
| לַחֹ֑דֶשׁ | lachodesh | of the month | H2320 → | 284 times |
| תָּקִ֕ים | takim | you will set up | H6965 → | 628 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| מִשְׁכַּ֖ן | mishkan | [the] tabernacle of | H4908 → | 139 times |
| אֹ֥הֶל | ʾohel | [the] tent of | H168 → | 345 times |
| מוֹעֵֽד׃ | moed | meeting | H4150 → | 223 times |
בְּיוֹם־on [the] day of
beyom-H3117 →2304 times
הַחֹ֥דֶשׁthe month
hachodeshH2320 →284 times
הָרִאשׁ֖וֹן<the> first
harishonH7223 →182 times
בְּאֶחָ֣דon [day] one
beechadH259 →971 times
לַחֹ֑דֶשׁof the month
lachodeshH2320 →284 times
תָּקִ֕יםyou will set up
takimH6965 →628 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
מִשְׁכַּ֖ן[the] tabernacle of
mishkanH4908 →139 times
אֹ֥הֶל[the] tent of
ʾohelH168 →345 times
מוֹעֵֽד׃meeting
moedH4150 →223 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Exodus 26:30So you are to set up the tabernacle according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.
it leads to
- Exodus 25:40
See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.
- Hebrews 8:5
The 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…
- Exodus 25:9
You must make the tabernacle and design all its furnishings according to the pattern I show you.
- Acts 7:44
Our fathers had the tabernacle of the Testimony with them in the wilderness. It was constructed exactly as God had directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen.
- Exodus 25:40
Through
Exodus 13:4Today, in the month of Abib, you are leaving.
it leads to
- Exodus 34:18
You are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, you are to eat unleavened bread as I commanded you. For in the…
- Exodus 23:15
You are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread as I commanded you: At the appointed time in the month of Abib you are to eat unleavened bread for seven days, because that was…
- Exodus 12:2
“This month is the beginning of months for you; it shall be the first month of your year.
- Exodus 34:18
Through
Numbers 7:1On the day Moses finished setting up the tabernacle, he anointed and consecrated it and all its furnishings, along with the altar and all its utensils.
it leads to
- Leviticus 8:10–11
Next, Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and everything in it; and so he consecrated them.
- Leviticus 8:10–11
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies3
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About Exodus
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Theodoret of Cyrus, QUESTIONS ON EXODUS 72.