Exodus
Exodus 40
1Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2“On the first day of the first month you shall raise up the tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting. 3You shall put the ark of the covenant in it, and you shall screen the ark with the veil. 4You shall bring in the table, and set in order the things that are on it. You shall bring in the lamp stand, and light its lamps. 5You shall set the golden altar for incense before the ark of the covenant, and put the screen of the door to the tabernacle.
6“You shall set the altar of burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting. 7You shall set the basin between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and shall put water therein. 8You shall set up the court around it, and hang up the screen of the gate of the court.
9“You shall take the anointing oil, and anoint the tabernacle and all that is in it, and shall make it holy, and all its furniture, and it will be holy. 10You shall anoint the altar of burnt offering, with all its vessels, and sanctify the altar, and the altar will be most holy. 11You shall anoint the basin and its base, and sanctify it.
12“You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the Tent of Meeting, and shall wash them with water. 13You shall put on Aaron the holy garments; and you shall anoint him, and sanctify him, that he may minister to me in the priest’s office. 14You shall bring his sons, and put tunics on them. 15You shall anoint them, as you anointed their father, that they may minister to me in the priest’s office. Their anointing shall be to them for an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations.” 16Moses did so. According to all that Yahweh commanded him, so he did.
17In the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, the tabernacle was raised up. 18Moses raised up the tabernacle, and laid its sockets, and set up its boards, and put in its bars, and raised up its pillars. 19He spread the covering over the tent, and put the roof of the tabernacle above on it, as Yahweh commanded Moses. 20He took and put the covenant into the ark, and set the poles on the ark, and put the mercy seat above on the ark. 21He brought the ark into the tabernacle, and set up the veil of the screen, and screened the ark of the covenant, as Yahweh commanded Moses. 22He put the table in the Tent of Meeting, on the north side of the tabernacle, outside of the veil. 23He set the bread in order on it before Yahweh, as Yahweh commanded Moses. 24He put the lamp stand in the Tent of Meeting, opposite the table, on the south side of the tabernacle. 25He lit the lamps before Yahweh, as Yahweh commanded Moses. 26He put the golden altar in the Tent of Meeting before the veil; 27and he burned incense of sweet spices on it, as Yahweh commanded Moses. 28He put up the screen of the door to the tabernacle. 29He set the altar of burnt offering at the door of the tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting, and offered on it the burnt offering and the meal offering, as Yahweh commanded Moses. 30He set the basin between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and put water therein, with which to wash. 31Moses, Aaron, and his sons washed their hands and their feet there. 32When they went into the Tent of Meeting, and when they came near to the altar, they washed, as Yahweh commanded Moses. 33He raised up the court around the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the screen of the gate of the court. So Moses finished the work.
34Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and Yahweh’s glory filled the tabernacle. 35Moses wasn’t able to enter into the Tent of Meeting, because the cloud stayed on it, and Yahweh’s glory filled the tabernacle. 36When the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward, throughout all their journeys; 37but if the cloud wasn’t taken up, then they didn’t travel until the day that it was taken up. 38For the cloud of Yahweh was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.
Commentary
No commentary on this chapter yet.
What others are saying
4 commentators · 52 notes on this chapter
Matthew Henry3
Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.
Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.
The materials and furniture of the tabernacle had been viewed severally and approved, and now they must be put together. 1. God here directs Moses to set up the tabernacle and the utensils of it in their places. Though the work of the tabernacle was finished…
When the tabernacle and the furniture of it were prepared, they did not put off the rearing of it till they came to Canaan, though they now hoped to be there very shortly; but, in obedience to the will of God, they set it up in the midst of their camp, while…
As when, in the creation, God had finished this earth, which he designed for man's habitation, he made man, and put him in possession of it, so when Moses had finished the tabernacle, which was designed for God's dwelling-place among men, God came and took…
John Gill34
The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.
Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.
And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... When the tabernacle, and the work of it, were finished, and he had taken a survey of it, and everything belonging to it, which appeared to be done as was ordered: saying; as follows.
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…
And thou shall put therein the ark of the testimony,.... The ark or chest where the law was, a testimony of the divine will, and which was to be put into the most holy place of the tabernacle: and cover the ark with the vail; not with the propitiatory or…
Adam Clarke8
The linguist of this set. Expect Hebrew and Greek word study, oriental custom, and geography — and an Arminian reading of grace and free will where Gill or Henry would read election. Note one real divergence: Clarke denied the eternal sonship of Christ, a position most of the tradition rejects, so read him closely on the person of Christ.
Why this voice is here: Where you want to know what a word actually says, Clarke is the one who will tell you — with the caveat above on Christ’s sonship.
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…
Thou shalt bring in the table, and set in order the things, etc. - That is, Thou shalt place the twelve loaves upon the table in the order before mentioned. See Clarke's note on Exo 25:30.
For their anointing shall surely be an everlasting priesthood - By this anointing a right was given to Aaron and his family to be high priests among the Jews for ever; so that all who should be born of this family should have a right to the priesthood without…
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown7
The concise option. Three authors split the canon, so the voice shifts between sections. Expect brief, sober, conservative notes that resolve difficulties rather than dwelling on them — useful for orientation, thinner than Gill or Clarke where a passage is genuinely contested.
Why this voice is here: The quickest way to see what the mainstream Reformed reading of a passage is. Start here, then go to Gill or Clarke when it matters.
anoint them, as thou didst anoint their fathers--The sacred oil was used, but it does not appear that the ceremony was performed exactly in the same manner; for although the anointing oil was sprinkled over the garments both of Aaron and his sons (Exo 29:21…
Thus did Moses: according to all that the Lord commanded him--On his part, the same scrupulous fidelity was shown in conforming to the "pattern" in the disposition of the furniture, as had been displayed by the workmen in the erection of the edifice.
So Moses finished the work--Though it is not expressly recorded in this passage, yet, from what took place on all similar occasions, there is reason to believe that on the inauguration day the people were summoned from their tents--were all drawn up as a vast…
World English Bible — Public domain