The Bronze Altar, the Court, and the Oil (Exodus 27)

1 “You shall make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits broad. The altar shall be square, and its height shall be three cubits. [7.5’w x 7.5’w x 4.5’h] 2 And you shall make horns for it on its four corners [that helped keep sacrifices from falling off]; its horns shall be of one piece with it, and you shall overlay it with bronze. 3 You shall make pots for it to receive its ashes, and shovels and basins [for water and cooking oils] and forks and fire pans [holding live coals for relighting the fire]. You shall make all its utensils of bronze. 4 You shall also make for it a grating, a network of bronze, and on the net you shall make four bronze rings at its four corners. 5 And you shall set it under the ledge of the altar so that the net extends halfway down the altar. [Apparently this net/strainer/grillwork hung below the surface of the grill and held the burning wood and then the coals.] 6 And you shall make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with bronze. 7 And the poles shall be put through the rings, so that the poles are on the two sides of the altar when it is carried [just like the ark and the table]. 8 You shall make it hollow [lightweight], with boards. As it has been shown you on the mountain [suggesting more detail than what Moses wrote], so shall it be made. [The tabernacle and its component pieces mirrored to the Israelites heavenly realities, providing a visible reminder of God’s presence and purposes with them. Through the tabernacle and later commands, God taught his people about salvation from sin. Something he considered a substitute must die in their place so that they may live. Altar sacrifices were the primary place of this substitution that pointed to and prepared the way for the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. After killing an animal, it was essentially cooked on the bronze altar and eaten in God’s presence, symbolically sharing a covenant renewal meal with him as we do in Holy Communion today. This was a corporate rather than an individual activity, therefore the altar had to be large.]

9 “You shall make the court of the tabernacle [an area of holy ground for worship at God’s house but not in his house]. On the south side the court shall have hangings of fine twined linen a hundred cubits long [150’] for one side. 10 Its twenty pillars and their twenty bases shall be of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars [for hanging the curtains] and their fillets shall be of silver. 11 And likewise for its length on the north side there shall be hangings a hundred cubits long, its pillars twenty and their bases twenty, of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver. 12 And for the breadth of the court on the west side there shall be hangings for fifty cubits [75’], with ten pillars and ten bases. 13 The breadth of the court on the front to the east shall be fifty cubits. 14 The hangings for the one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits, with their three pillars and three bases. 15 On the other side the hangings shall be fifteen cubits, with their three pillars and three bases. [The east side was treated differently because it was the entrance and exit for the tabernacle.] 16 For the gate of the court there shall be a screen twenty cubits long [30’ and was gathered to one side when opened], of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, embroidered with needlework [like the inner curtains for the holy place but lacking the cherubim motifs]. It shall have four pillars and with them four bases. 17 All the pillars around the court shall be filleted with silver. Their hooks shall be of silver, and their bases of bronze. 18 The length of the court shall be a hundred cubits, the breadth fifty, and the height five cubits [7.5’, meaning one could easily see the top of the tabernacle at 15’], with hangings of fine twined linen and bases of bronze. 19 All the utensils of the tabernacle for every use, and all its pegs [on the outside of the courtyard] and all the pegs of the court, shall be of bronze [after all it was the Bronze Age prior to the introduction of iron around 1200 BC].

20 “You shall command the people of Israel that they bring to you pure beaten olive oil [pressed and filtered through fabric] for the light, that a lamp may regularly be set up to burn. 21 In the tent of meeting [used while the tabernacle was being built and later meaning the tabernacle itself], outside the veil that is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall tend it from evening to morning before the Lord. It shall be a statute forever to be observed throughout their generations by the people of Israel. [The Israelites had oil lamps in their own houses. It would have been impolite not to have a lamp for God in his house. In a typical house, the last person to sleep would put out the lamp. God did not sleep, therefore the lamp was kept lit throughout the night. This requirement of God was everlasting, and like the bread, kept the people contributing to the work of the people for the worship of God.]