Exodus 37

Ex 37:1-29.

FURNITURE OF THE

TABERNACLE.

1. Bezaleel made the ark--The description here given of the

things within the sacred edifice is almost word for word the same as

that contained in

Ex 25:1-40.

It is not on that account to be regarded as a useless repetition of

minute particulars; for by the enumeration of these details, it can be

seen how exactly everything was fashioned according to the "pattern

shown on the mount"

[Ex 25:40];

and the knowledge of this exact correspondence between the prescription

and the execution was essential to the purposes of the fabric.

6-10. made the mercy seat of pure gold--To construct a figure,

whether the body of a beast or a man, with two extended wings,

measuring from two to three feet from tip to tip, with the hammer, out

of a solid piece of gold, was what few, if any, artisans of the present

day could accomplish.

17-22. he made the candlestick of pure gold--Practical readers

will be apt to say, "Why do such works with the hammer, when they could

have been cast so much easier--a process they were well acquainted

with?" The only answer that can be given is, that it was done according

to order. We have no doubt but there were reasons for so distinctive

an order, something significant, which has not been revealed to us

[NAPIER]. The whole of that sacred building was

arranged with a view to inculcate through every part of its apparatus

the great fundamental principles of revelation. 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. How far this

spiritual instruction was received by every successive generation of

the Israelites, it may not be easy to determine. But the tabernacle,

like the law of which it was a part, was a schoolmaster to Christ

[Ga 3:24, 25].

Just as the walls of schools are seen studded with pictorial figures,

to arrest their volatile minds, are kept in constant and familiar

remembrance of the lessons of piety and virtue, so the tabernacle was

intended by its furniture and all its arrangements to serve as a

"shadow of good things to come"

[Heb 10:1].

In this view, the minute description given in this chapter respecting

the ark and mercy seat, the table of showbread, the candlestick, the

altar of incense, and the holy oil, were of the greatest utility and

importance; and though there are a few things that are merely

ornamental appendages, such as the knops and the flowers, yet, in

introducing these into the tabernacle, God displayed the same wisdom

and goodness as He has done by introducing real flowers into the

kingdom of nature to engage and gratify the eye of man.