Matthew Poole and continuators on Exodus 25

1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

Having delivered the Moral and Judicial Laws, he now comes to the Ceremonial Law, wherein he sets down all things very minutely and particularly, whereas in the other Laws he was content to lay down general rules, and leaveth many other things to be by analogy deduced from them. The reason of the difference seems to be this, That the light of reason implanted in all men gives him greater help in the discovery of Moral and Judicial things, then in Ceremonial matters, or in the external way and manner of Gods Worship; which is a thing depending wholly upon Gods institution, and not left to mans invention, which is a very incompetent Judge of those things, as appears from hence, because the wittiest men destitute of Gods revelation have been guilty of most foolery in their devices of Gods Worship.

4 And blue , and purple, and scarlet, and fine linnen , and goats hair .

Or, Skie-coloured, But here you must not understand the meer colours, which could not be offered, but some materials proper for the work and of the colours here mentioned, to wit, Wool, or Threds, or some such like things, as appears, from Heb. 9. 19. and from the testimony of the Jews.

Which was of great esteem in antient times, and used by Priests and great Officers of state. See Gen. 41. 42. Rev. 19. 8, 14.

Heb. Goats. But that their hair is understood is apparent from the nature of the thing, and from the use of the word in that sense, in other places.

Marginal references: Or, silk.

5 And rams skins died red, and badgers skins, and Shittim-wood ,

A kind of Wood growing in Egypt and the Deserts of Arabia, very durable and pretious. See Exod. 35. 24. Numb. 33. 49. Esa. 41. 19. Ioel 3. 18.

6 Oyl for the light , Spices for anointing oyl , and for sweet incense ,

For the Lamps or Candlesticks, ver. [illegible: 1 word].

Wherewith the Priests, and the Tabernacle, and the [illegible: 1 word] thereof, were to be anointed.

Heb. Incense of Spices or Sweet-odors: So called to distinguish it from the incense of the fat of Sacrifices, which was burnt upon the Altar.

Marginal references: chap 27. 20.; chap. 30. 23▪; chap. 30. 3[illegible: 1+ letters] ▪

7 Onyx-stones , and stones to be set in the Ephod, and in the breast-plate .

Or, Sardonyx-stones. Note, that the signification of the Hebrew Names of the several stones are not agreed upon by the Jews at this day, and much more may we safely be ignorant of them, the religious use of them being now abolished.

Stones of fulness, or filling, or perfecting stones, so called either because they did perfect and adorn the Ephod, or because they filled up the ouches or the hollow places, which were left vacant for this purpose.

What the Ephod and Breast-plate were. See Exod. 28.

Marginal references: chap. 28. 4.; chap. 28. 15.

8 And let them make me a sanctuary , that I may dwell amongst them .

A place of publick and solemn Worship.

Not by my essence, which is every where, but by my grace and glorious operations.

Marginal references: chap. 29. 45. 1 King. 6. 13. 2 Cor. 6. 16. Heb. 3. 6. Rev. 21. 3.

10 And they shall make an ark , of Shittimwood: two cubits and an half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and an half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.

Or, Little chest or coffer, for the uses after mentioned.

Understand it of the common cubit, which is generally conceived to contain a foot and half of our measure. See Gen. 6. 15.

Marginal references: chap. 37. 1.

11 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about.

Or, A border, raised up above the rest of the Ark as a Crown is above that which it is applyed to, onely a crown is round, and this was square. This was both for ornament, and for the fastning of the covering of the Ark to it.

12 And thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in the four corners thereof; and two rings shall be in the one side of it, and two rings in the other side of it.

In the middle of each corner for conveniency of carriage. See 1 King. 7. 30.

16 And thou shalt put into the ark, the Testimony , which I shall give thee.

To wit, The two Tables of stone, wherein the Decalogue was written called, the Testimony here, and Exod. 30. 6. Levit. 16. 33. and more fully the Tables of the Testimony, Exod. 31. 18. Numb. 1. [illegible: 1+ letters]0. because they were witnesses of that Covenant made between God and his people, whence they are called the Tables of the Covenant, Deut. 9. 9. and the Ark, the Ark of the Covenant, Numb. 10. 33. This being as a publick Record both of Gods Mercy promised to them, and of the duty and conditions required of them. See Exod. 16. 34.

Marginal references: Deut. 10. 2▪ 1 King. 8. 9.

17 And thou shalt make a mercy-seat of pure gold two cubits and an half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof.

Or, Propitiatory: Which seems from the sameness of dimensions, to be nothing else but the covering of the Ark, upon which God is said to sit, whence the Ark is called Gods footstool. This covering is a manifest Type of Christ, who is therefore called the propitiation, or propitiatory, Rom. 3. 25. 1 Iohn 2. 2. and 4. 10. because he interposeth himself between God our Judge, and the Law by which we all stand condemned and accursed, Gal. 3. 10, 13. that God may not deal rigorously with us according to that Law, but mercifully for his sake who hath fulfilled the Law and therefore boldly presents himself to his Father on our behalf.

18 And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold: of beaten work shalt thou make them in the two ends of the mercy-seat.

Figures of humane shape, in which alone the Angels used to appear: But they had wings to signifie their expedition in Gods work and messages. And between these Angels God is said to sit and dwell. So this place was a representation of Heaven, where God sitteth and dwelleth among the Cherubims and other glorious Angels.

Not made of several parcels joyned together, as images commonly are, nor yet melted and cast in a frame of mould, but beaten by the hammer out of one continued piece of Gold, possibly to note the exact unity or indivisibility and the simplicity of the Angelical Nature.

19 And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end: even of the mercy-seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof.

(i. e.) Of one and the same piece of massie Gold out of which the Cherubims were made.

Marginal references: Or, of the matter of the mercy-seat.

20 And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy-seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another: toward the mercy-seat shall the faces of the cherubims be.

Towards God, who is supposed to sit there, whose face the Angels in Heaven always behold, and upon whom their eyes are fixed to observe and receive his commands; and towards Christ, the true propitiatory, which mystery they desire to look into, 1 Pet. 1. 12. not envying mankind their near and happy relation to him, but taking pleasure in the contemplation of it.

Marginal references: 1 King. 8. 7. 1 Chro. 28. 18. Heb. 9. 5.

21 And thou shalt put the mercy-seat above upon the ark, and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee.

Or, After thou shalt have put in the Ark: For the Ark was not to be opened after the covering was put upon it. The Hebrew particle Vau oft signifies after that, as Ier. 43. 13. and 51. 60.

22 And there I will meet with thee , and I will commune with thee, from above the mercy-seat from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the Testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.

There I will be in a special and gracious manner present with thee.

Which spreading forth their wings formed a kind of seat, which the Divine Majesty was pleased to possess.

Marginal references: chap. 29. 42. and 30. 36. Lev. 16. 2. Num. 7. 89.

24 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, and make thereto a Crown of gold round about.

A square-border at the top of it, as ver. 11. partly for Ornament, and principally to keep what was put upon it from falling off.

25 And thou shalt make unto it a border of an hand-breadth round about, and thou shalt make a golden crown to the border thereof round about.

Which encompassed and kept together the feet of the Table, and seems to have been towards the bottom of it.

Not the same mentioned before, ver. 24. but another for further Ornament to the Table.

27 Over against the border shall the rings be for places of the staves to bear the table.

As much below the top, as the border was above the bottom, of the feet of the Table, which was a convenient place for the carriage. Others, near the border, in that part of the feet which is next to it.

29 And thou shalt make the dishes thereof, and spoons thereof, and covers thereof, and bowls thereof, to cover withal : of pure gold shalt thou make them.

In which the bread and Frankincense upon it were put, Levit. 24. 7. Of this sort there were twelve one for every loaf.

In which incense was put, as appears from Numb. 7. 14. and by which incense was either put into the dishes, or taken out of them, as occasion required.

So the Hebrew word is used Exod. 37. 16. Numb. 4. 7. Herewith either the Bread or Incense or both.

To cover the same things. So this and the former were two several sorts of covers, the one deeper than the other, one to cover the bread, another, the incense. Or, Bowls thereof, to pour out withall, to wit, liquid things, as Wine and Oyl, when they were offered. See Gen. 35. 14. Or these last words may relate not onely to the bowls, but the other things, here mentioned, and may be thus rendred, wherewith it, to wit, the Table, shall be covered, as indeed it was in a manner quite covered with these vessels.

Marginal references: Or, to pour out withal.

30 And thou shalt set upon the table shewbread before me alway.

Heb. Bread of faces, or of the presence, so called because it was constantly placed in Gods presence. This bread was divided into twelve loaves, one for every Tribe, and they were in their name presented to God in the nature of an offering, as the Frankincense shews, as a publick acknowledgment, that they received all their bread or food both corporal and spiritual from Gods hand, and were to use it as in Gods presence.

Marginal references: Lev. 24. 5.

31 And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft , and his branches, his bowls, his knops , and his flowers shall be of the same .

Either by thy self, or by some other person whom thou shalt cause to make it.

The trunk or main body of it.

Or, Apples, made in form of a Pemegranate.

To wit, beaten out of the same piece by the hammer. Compare ver. 36.

Marginal references: chap. 37. 17. 1 King. 7. 49. Zech. 4. 2. Rev. 1. 12. and 4. 5.

32 And six branches shall come out of the sides of it : three branches of the candlestick out of the one side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side.

In every one of which was a Lamp, and there was a seventh Lamp in the chief stem of it, as appears from ver. 37. And all these together represent the seven Spirits of God, Revel. 1. 4. and 4. 5. and 5. 6. Or the spirit of God, the great enlightner of the Church, with his sevenfold or various gifts and operations.

34 And in the candlestick shall be four bowls , made like unto almonds, with their knops and their flowers.

(i. e.) In the shaft or trunk of the Candlestick, which is here distinguished from its branches.

Whereas there were but three in each of the branches.

35 And there shall be a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, according to the six branches that proceed out of the candlestick.

And, to compleat the number of four mentioned in the foregoing verse, we must understand, that there was another knop and bowl and flower in the upper part of the shaft, above all the branches, as the rules of proportion and common use in making such things will easily evince.

37 And thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof: and they shall light the lamps thereof, that they may give light over against it .

Whom I shall appoint for that work.

(i. e.) Either 1. The table of Shew-bread. Or rather 2. The Candlestick, as it is expressed, Numb. 8. 2. where by the Candlestick you are to understand, as here verse 33. 34. the stem or main body of it, and the sense is, that the lamps shall be so placed, that they and their light may look towards that stem: unless you will suppose that the seven lamps were distinct and separated from the candlestick and fastned to the sides of the Tabernacle, in several places, and all giving light to or over against the great candlestick which was in the midst, as the candlestick did over against them, which is also now usual among us.

Marginal references: chap. 27. 20. and 3[illegible: 1+ letters]. 8. Lev. 24. 3, 4.; Or, cause to ascend.; Heb. the face of it.

39 Of a talent of pure gold shall he make it, with all these vessels.

Which contains three thousand shekels, Exod. 33. 25. or 125 pound.