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Exodus Chapter 38

Altar of Burnt Offering, Basin, Courtyard Completed; Costs Totaled The altar of burnt offering

38 1 Exo 27:1; Heb 13:10; Heb 9:14; Eze 44:11; Isa 61:8 A1And he made the altar of burnt offering of shittim wood: five cubits was the length thereof, and five cubits the breadth thereof; it was foursquare; and three cubits the height thereof.

2And he made the horns thereof on the four corners of it; the horns thereof were of the same: and he overlaid it with brass.

3 1 Kin 7:45 3And he made all the vessels of the altar, the pots, and the shovels, and the basons, and the fleshhooks, and the firepans: all the vessels thereof made he of brass.

4And he made for the altar a brasen grate of network under the compass thereof beneath unto the midst of it.

5And he cast four rings for the four ends of the grate of brass, to be places for the staves.

6And he made the staves of shittim wood, and overlaid them with brass.

7And he put the staves into the rings on the sides of the altar, to bear it withal; he made the altar hollow with boards. The laver of brass

8 1 Sam 2:22; 1 Joh 5:6; Heb 10:22; 2 Cor 7:1; Zec 13:1 8And he made the laver of brass, and the foot of it of brass, of the lookingglasses of the women assembling, which assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. The court, and its hangings

9 Psa 92:13; Psa 84:10; Psa 84:2; Exo 27:9 9¶And he made the court: on the south side southward the hangings of the court were of fine twined linen, an hundred cubits:

10Their pillars were twenty, and their brasen sockets twenty; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver.

11And for the north side the hangings were an hundred cubits, their pillars were twenty, and their sockets of brass twenty; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver.

12And for the west side were hangings of fifty cubits, their pillars ten, and their sockets ten; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver.

13And for the east side eastward fifty cubits.

14The hangings of the one side of the gate were fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three.

15And for the other side of the court gate, on this hand and that hand, were hangings of fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three.

16All the hangings of the court round about were of fine twined linen.

17And the sockets for the pillars were of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver; and the overlaying of their chapiters of silver; and all the pillars of the court were filleted with silver.

18 2 Chr 3:14 18And the hanging for the gate of the court was needlework, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen: and twenty cubits was the length, and the height in the breadth was five cubits, answerable to the hangings of the court.

19And their pillars were four, and their sockets of brass four; their hooks of silver, and the overlaying of their chapiters and their fillets of silver.

20 Eph 2:21-22; Isa 22:23; Ezr 9:8 20And all the pins of the tabernacle, and of the court round about, were of brass. The sum of what the people offered, and the use to which it was applied

21 Num 4:33; Num 4:28; Act 7:44; 2 Chr 24:6; Num 9:15 21¶This is the sum of the tabernacle, even of the tabernacle of testimony, as it was counted, according to the commandment of Moses, for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar, son to Aaron the priest.

22 Exo 31:2; Exo 31:6 22And Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the Lord commanded Moses.

23And with him was Aholiab, son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, and a cunning workman, and an embroiderer in blue, and in purple, and in scarlet, and fine linen.

24 Num 18:16; Num 3:47; Lev 27:25; Lev 27:3; Lev 5:15 24All the gold that was occupied for the work in all the work of the holy place, even the gold of the offering, was twenty and nine talents, and seven hundred and thirty shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary.

25And the silver of them that were numbered of the congregation was an hundred talents, and a thousand seven hundred and threescore and fifteen shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary:

26 Exo 30:13,15; Num 1:46 26A bekah for every man, that is, half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for every one that went to be numbered, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty men.

27 Exo 26:32; Exo 26:25; Exo 26:19,21 27And of the hundred talents of silver were cast the sockets of the sanctuary, and the sockets of the vail; an hundred sockets of the hundred talents, a talent for a socket.

28And of the thousand seven hundred seventy and five shekels he made hooks for the pillars, and overlaid their chapiters, and filleted them.

29And the brass of the offering was seventy talents, and two thousand and four hundred shekels.

30And therewith he made the sockets to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the brasen altar, and the brasen grate for it, and all the vessels of the altar,

31 Exo 27:19; 2 Chr 3:9; Ezr 9:8; Isa 22:23 31And the sockets of the court round about, and the sockets of the court gate, and all the pins of the tabernacle, and all the pins of the court round about.

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Introduction to Exodus
by John MacArthur

Title

The Greek Septuagint (LXX)¹ and the Latin Vulgate versions of the OT assigned the title “Exodus” to this second book of Moses, because the departure of Israel from Egypt is the dominant historical fact in the book (Exo 19:1). In the Hebrew Bible, the opening words, “And (or Now) these are the names,” served as the title of the book. The opening “And” or “Now” in the Hebrew title suggests that this book was to be accepted as the obvious sequel to Genesis, the first book of Moses. Hebrews 11:22 commends the faith of Joseph who, while on his deathbed (ca. 1804 B.C.), spoke of the “departure” or the “exiting” of the sons of Israel, looking ahead over 350 years to the Exodus (ca. 1445 B.C.).

Author and Date

Mosaic authorship of Exodus is unhesitatingly affirmed. Moses followed God’s instructions and “wrote all the words of the LORD” (Exo 24:4), which included at the least the record of the battle with Amalek (Exo 17:14), the Ten Commandments (Exo 34:4, 27-29), and the Book of the Covenant (Exo 20:22-23:33). Similar assertions of Mosaic writing occur elsewhere in the Pentateuch: Moses is identified as the one who recorded the “starting points of their journeys” (Num 33:2) and who “wrote this law” (Deut 31:9).

The OT corroborates Mosaic authorship of the portions mentioned above (see Josh 1:7, 8; 8:31, 32; 1 Kin. 2:3; 2 Kin 14:6; Neh 13:1; Dan 9:11-13; and Mal 4:4). The NT concurs by citing Ex 3:6 as part of “the book of Moses” (Mark 12:26), by assigning Ex 13:2 to “the law of Moses,” which is also referred to as “the law of the Lord” (Luke 2:22, 23), by ascribing Ex 20:12 and 21:17 to Moses (Mark 7:10), by attributing the law to Moses (John 7:19; Rom 10:5), and by Jesus’ specifically declaring that Moses had written of Him (John 5:46, 47).

At some time during his 40 year tenure as Israel’s leader, beginning at 80 years of age and ending at 120 (Exo 7:7; Deut 34:7), Moses wrote down this second of his 5 books. More specifically, it would have been after the Exodus and obviously before his death on Mt. Nebo in the plains of Moab. The date of the Exodus (ca. 1445 B.C.) dictates the date of the writing in the 15th century B.C.

Scripture dates Solomon’s fourth year of reign, when he began to build the temple (ca 966/65 B.C.), as being 480 years after the Exodus (1 Kin 6:1), establishing the early date of 1445 B.C. Jephthah noted that, by his day, Israel had possessed Heshbon for 300 years (Judg 11:26). Calculating backward and forward from Jephthah, and taking into account different periods of foreign oppression, judgeships and kingships, the wilderness wanderings, and the initial entry and conquest of Canaan under Joshua, this early date is confirmed and amounts to 480 years.

Scripture also dates the entry of Jacob and his extended family into Egypt (ca. 1875B.C.) as being 430 years before the Exodus (Exo 12:40), thus placing Joseph in what archeologists have designated as the 12th Dynasty, the Middle Kingdom period of Egyptian history, and placing Moses and Israel’s final years of residence and slavery in what archeologists have designated as the 18th Dynasty, or New Kingdom period. Further, Joseph’s stint as vizier over all of Egypt (Gen 45:8) precludes his having served under the Hyksos (ca. 1730-1570 B.C.), the foreign invaders who ruled during a period of confusion in Egypt and who never controlled all of the country. They were a mixed Semitic race who introduced the horse and chariot as well as the composite bow. These implements of war made possible their expulsion from Egypt.

Background and Setting

Eighteenth Dynasty Egypt, the setting for Israel’s dramatic departure, was not a politically or economically weak and obscure period of Egyptian history. Thutmose III, for example, the Pharaoh of the Oppression has been called the “Napoleon of Ancient Egypt,” the sovereign who expanded the boundaries of Egyptian influence far beyond natural borders. This was the dynasty which over a century before, under the leadership of Amose I, had expelled the Hyksos kings from the country and redirected the country’s economic, military, and diplomatic growth. At the time of the Exodus, Egypt was strong, not weak.

Moses, born in 1525 B.C. (80 years old in 1445 B.C.), became “learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians” (Acts 7:22) while growing up in the courts of Pharaohs Thutmose I and II and Queen Hatshepsut for his first 40 years (Acts 7:23). He was in self-imposed, Midianite exile during the reign of Thutmose III for another 40 years (Acts 7:30), and returned at God’s direction to be Israel’s leader early in the reign of Amenhotep II, the pharaoh of the Exodus. God used both the educational system of Egypt and his exile in Midian to prepare Moses to represent his people before a powerful pharaoh and to guide his people through the wilderness of the Sinai peninsula during his final 40 years (Acts 7:36). Moses died on Mt. Nebo when he was 120 years old (Deut 34:1-6), as God’s judgment was on him for his anger and disrespect (Num 20:1-3). While he looked on from afar, Moses never entered the Promised Land. Centuries later he appeared to the disciples on the Mt. of Transfiguration (Matt 17:3).

Historical and Theological Themes

In God’s timing, the Exodus marked the end of a period of oppression for Abraham’s descendants (Gen 15:13), and constituted the beginning of the fulfillment of the covenant promise to Abraham that his descendants would not only reside in the Promised Land, but would also multiply and become a great nation (Gen 12:1-3, 7). The purpose of the book may be expressed like this: To trace the rapid growth of Jacob’s descendants from Egypt to the establishment of the theocratic nation in their Promised Land.

At appropriate times, on Mt. Sinai and in the plains of Moab, God also gave the Israelites that body of legislation, the law, which they needed for living properly in Israel as the theocratic people of God. By this, they were distinct from all other nations (Deut 4:7, 8; Rom 9:4, 5).

By God’s self-revelation, the Israelites were instructed in the sovereignty and majesty, the goodness and holiness, and the grace and mercy of their Lord, the one and only God of heaven and earth (see especially Ex 3, 6, 33, 34). The account of the Exodus and the events that followed are also the subject of other major biblical revelation (cf. Pss 105:25-45; 106:6-27; Acts 7:17-44; 1 Cor. 10:1-13; Heb 9:1-6; 11:23-29).

Interpretive Challenges

The absence of any Egyptian record of the devastation of Egypt by the 10 plagues and the major defeat of Pharaoh’s elite army at the Red Sea should not give rise to speculation on whether the account is historically authentic. Egyptian historiography did not permit records of their pharaohs’ embarrassments and ignominious defeats to be published. In recording the Conquest under Joshua, Scripture specifically notes the three cities which Israel destroyed and burned (Josh 6:24; 8:28; 11:11-13). The Conquest, after all, was one of takeover and inhabitation of property virtually intact, not a war designed to destroy. The date of Israel’s march into Canaan will not be confirmed, therefore, by examining extensive burn levels at city-sites of a later period.

Despite the absence of any extrabiblical, ancient Near Eastern records of the Hebrew bondage, the plagues, the Exodus, and the Conquest, archeological evidence corroborates the early date. All the pharaohs, for example, of the 15th century left evidence of interest in building enterprises in Lower Egypt. These projects were obviously accessible to Moses in the Delta region near Goshen.

The typological significance of the tabernacle has occasioned much reflection. Ingenuity in linking every item of furniture and every piece of building material to Christ may appear most intriguing, but if NT statements and allusions do not support such linkage and typology then hermeneutical caution must rule. The tabernacle’s structure and ornamentation for efficiency and beauty are one thing, but finding hidden meaning and symbolism is unfounded. How the sacrificial and worship system of the tabernacle and its parts meaningfully typify the redeeming work of the coming Messiah must be left to those NT passages which treat the subject.

1. LXX Septuagint—an ancient translation of the Old Testament into Greek

Outline of Exodus
by John MacArthur

I. Israel in Egypt (Exo 1:1-12:36)

A. The Population Explosion (Exo 1:1-7)
B. The Oppression Under the Pharaohs (Exo 1:8-22)
C. The Maturation of a Deliverer (Exo 2:1-4:31)
D. The Confrontation with Pharaoh (Exo 5:1-11:10)
E. The Preparation for Departure (Exo 12:1-36)

II. Israel on the Road to Sinai (Exo 12:37-18:27)

A. Exiting Egypt and Panicking (Exo 12:37-14:14)
B. Crossing the Red Sea and Rejoicing (Exo 14:15-15:21)
C. Traveling to Sinai and Grumbling (Exo 15:22-17:16)
D. Meeting with Jethro and Learning (Exo 18:1-27)

III. Israel Encamped at Sinai (Exo 19:1-40:38)

A. The Law of God Prescribed (Exo 19:1-24:18)
B. The Tabernacle of God Described (Exo 25:1-31:18)
C. The Worship of God Defiled (Exo 32:1-35)
D. The Presence of God Confirmed (Exo 33:1-34:35)
E. The Tabernacle of God Constructed (Exo 35:1-40:38)

Introduction to Exodus
by John MacArthur

Title

Author and Date

Background and Setting

Historical and Theological Themes

Interpretive Challenges

Outline of Exodus
by John MacArthur

I. Israel in Egypt (Exo 1:1-12:36)

II. Israel on the Road to Sinai (Exo 12:37-18:27)

III. Israel Encamped at Sinai (Exo 19:1-40:38)

The 1440 Agenda

Remembering Marcy

Study Bible

Introduction to Exodusby John MacArthur

Title

Author and Date

Background and Setting

Historical and Theological Themes

Interpretive Challenges

Outline of Exodusby John MacArthur

I. Israel in Egypt (Exo 1:1-12:36)

II. Israel on the Road to Sinai (Exo 12:37-18:27)

III. Israel Encamped at Sinai (Exo 19:1-40:38)

Books of the Bible

Chapters in Exodus

The 1440 Agenda

Introduction to Exodus
by John MacArthur

Outline of Exodus
by John MacArthur