Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 39:1-9

1 And of the blue, and purple, and scarlet, they made cloths of service, to do service in the holy place, and made the holy garments for Aaron; as the Lord commanded Moses.

2 And he made the ephod of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen.

3 And they did beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it into wires, to work it in the blue, and in the purple, and in the scarlet, and in the fine linen, with cunning work.

4 They made shoulderpieces for it, to couple it together: by the two edges was it coupled together.

5 And the curious girdle of his ephod, that was upon it, was of the same, according to the work thereof; of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen; as the Lord commanded Moses.

6 And they wrought onyx stones inclosed in ouches of gold, graven, as signets are graven, with the names of the children of Israel.

7 And he put them on the shoulders of the ephod, that they should be stones for a memorial to the children of Israel; as the Lord commanded Moses.

8 And he made the breastplate of cunning work, like the work of the ephod; of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen.

9 It was foursquare; they made the breastplate double: a span was the length thereof, and a span the breadth thereof, being doubled.

We turn now to the creation of the priestly garments. Today covers the ephod and the breastplate on the chest, as well as the shoulder-pieces.

A new detail that we learn in these verses is how gold was worked into the fabric of the ephod and breastplate. In the original instructions we were simply told that they were to be made “of gold, of blue, and of purple, of scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cunning work.” From that description one might have assumed that the “gold” simply meant linen dyed the color of gold, or just gold clasps around the edges, but today we learn that fine wires of gold were actually woven as strands throughout the fabric. Certainly, a more arduous task, but far more impressive. Also, far more symbolic, for the gold seems to represent God interwoven among the strands of our own lives.

Moving on to the breastplate, one detail I did not touch on the first time around is that thing is said to be “doubled.” This seems to suggest that it was actually one span by two spans, then folded over to make a square. This explains how it could function as a pocket to hold the Urim and Thummim.

Posted on by Abe Austin

God is the Author and the Ink

Scriptures tell us that God is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. He is spoken of as being above us, but also within us:

Acts 7:49- Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?

John 17:23- I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

His work is simultaneously large and impressive, and quiet and invisible:

Exodus 19:18- 18 And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.

1 Kings 19:11-12- And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

God is beyond and outside of mortality but also woven all throughout it. We find Him in the stars and galaxies and universe that we reside within, but also in the molecules and atoms and photons that reside within us.

Many have referred to God as the author of our existence. This is certainly true, but it only speaks to half of who He is to us. I would add that He is also the ink upon the page. He takes the empty void and provides the disparity that gives meaning. He forms each letter, each word, and each idea. He is woven through every character and every plot point in the ultimate tale of victory.

God is the author and God is the ink. We are not only written by Him from above, but of Him from below. He makes the story, and He is the story. And we, being characters in that story, are both a part of Him and Him a part of us.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Being on the Right Side

I always thought that there were just two sides, one of right, and one of wrong. I thought all the world was black-and-white.

My perception on that has shifted, but not to the cliché that it’s all just shades of gray. Rather, I now see it as black, and white, and black again. It isn’t just one side good and one side bad, it’s bad on this side and bad on that side, with one narrow strip of good down the middle.

This means you can’t just run full speed from the ledge on one side, because there’s soon a ledge on the other side as well. It truly is a “strait and narrow way,” with a steep slope on either side, and once you start down those slopes, gravity will make it very easy to roll all the way to the bottom.

Being aligned with good and with God is therefore a very careful and deliberate work. No one walks His line by accident. We have to constantly check ourselves and reevaluate our positions against revealed truth as we make our way forward.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 38:29-31

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

30 And 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 And 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.

Yesterday we heard the full contribution of gold and silver to the construction of the tabernacle, and now we finish this chapter by mentioning the brass that was donated as well. Using the same conversion rates as before, the 70 talents and 2,400 shekels of brass would be approximately 5,310 pounds (2,408 kg) in total.

Here is a summary of all the metal:

  • 7,544 pounds / 3,422 kg silver
  • 5,310 pounds / 2,408 kg brass
  • 2,193 pounds / 995 kg gold

Yesterday we calculated the modern-day value of the gold and silver. That is less useful with brass, as it has far less relative value today than it had in ancient times. Today the full weight of brass for the tabernacle would be just a bit over $10,000, but in the time of the tabernacle it would have been much more, though still not as much as the silver or gold.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 38:24-28

24 All 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.

25 And 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 A 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 And of the hundred talents of silver were cast the sockets of the sanctuary, and the sockets of the veil; an hundred sockets of the hundred talents, a talent for a socket.

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

The full weight of gold used in the tabernacle was 29 talents and 730 shekels; and the silver was 100 talents and 1,775 shekels. Talents and shekels were ancient metrics of weight, not value. The conversion to today’s metrics is estimated to be about 75-100 pounds (34-45kg) for a talent, and 0.4 ounces (11 grams) for a shekel.

Thus, a shekel was much smaller than a talent, about 1/3000th of the size. If we break the 29 talents of gold and 100 talents of silver into shekels, then we get a combined total of approximately 389,505 shekels of precious metal donated for the construction of the temple. A bekah was half of a shekel, so that comes to approximately 779,010 bekahs of metal. From that number we can understand how verse 26 is saying that it was about one bekah for each of the 603,550 men in the Israelite community.

I do not think that every man did give one bekah, though. The Israelites were not required to give their possessions to the creation of the temple if they did not want to, they varied in their individual wealth, and we were already told that some of the contributions were turned away because the measure had already been filled. It seems likely that some contributed more, and others less, and some not at all, but in aggregate it was as if every man had contributed one bekah.

Converting these metrics into today’s standards, we have approximately 2,193 pounds (995 kg) of gold and 7,544 pounds (3,422 kg) of silver. The value of these will obviously change constantly over the years, but in any time, it is a princely sum. As of today, March 19, 2025, gold is about $3,000 per ounce and silver is about $34. That brings the value of the gold over $100,000,000 USD, and the silver over $4,000,000.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 38:21-23

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 And Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the Lord commanded Moses.

23 And 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.

This chapter ends by giving a summary of the creation of the tabernacle. We hear, once again, that Bezaleel was the chief architect, and alongside him was Aholiab. It sounds like Aholiab specialized in the engravings and the embroidering, and that Bezaleel led in everything else.

We also hear that Ithamar, one of the sons of Aaron, is the scribe that has been recounting all of the work of the tabernacle to us. Aaron had four sons, and Ithamar was the youngest of them all. This is the first time we have heard of his work, in which he was chosen to witness and prove to the world the obedience of the Israelites in following the mandate of the Lord. We will hear of him a few more times in the other books of Moses.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 38:9-20

9 And he made the court: on the south side southward the hangings of the court were of fine twined linen, an hundred cubits:

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

11 And 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.

12 And 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.

13 And for the east side eastward fifty cubits.

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

15 And 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.

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

17 And 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 And 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.

19 And 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 And all the pins of the tabernacle, and of the court round about, were of brass.

Today finishes the creation of the tabernacle. We still have yet to review the creation of the garments for the priests, but at least the edifice and its accompanying instruments and furniture are covered.

I do wonder how much of this creation was erected prior to the completion of it all. Did the workers verify their work by installing the pillars and stretching the curtains between them, laying out the entire courtyard and construct the tabernacle in the middle? Or did they simply trust the measurements and wait for Moses’s word to construct everything at once? There is a verse in the next chapter which suggest that when they presented their work to Moses, it was in a disassembled form, so at the very least it seems that there was an official assembly from individual parts when the tabernacle was deemed ready.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 38:1-8

1 And 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.

2 And 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 And he made all the vessels of the altar, the pots, and the shovels, and the basins, and the fleshhooks, and the firepans: all the vessels thereof made he of brass.

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

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

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

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

8 And 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.

Today covers the creation of the altar for burnt offering and the washing basin. In the last verse we get an interesting detail, which tells us that the washing basin was made from the looking glasses—or mirrors—of the Israelites gathered at the entrance to the tabernacle.

One might wonder how mirrors would be used to create a brass washing basin. The explanation is that the mirrors of ancient times were quite different from the ones of today. These were not silver-backed glass mirrors, they were brass, extremely polished so that they could reflect an image back to the holder. Thus, these were brass mirrors, presumably melted down and reformed, that became the washing basin.

This is an important reminder that the Israelites were not bringing to the tabernacle random hunks of metal that were just lying about their house. Much of the material that was donated was already being used in personal heirlooms and household items. They weren’t just sacrificing the material, they were sacrificing things that they were actually using, things that already served a purpose, so that they could serve a higher purpose for the Lord.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 37:25-29

25 And he made the incense altar of shittim wood: the length of it was a cubit, and the breadth of it a cubit; it was foursquare; and two cubits was the height of it; the horns thereof were of the same.

26 And he overlaid it with pure gold, both the top of it, and the sides thereof round about, and the horns of it: also he made unto it a crown of gold round about.

27 And he made two rings of gold for it under the crown thereof, by the two corners of it, upon the two sides thereof, to be places for the staves to bear it withal.

28 And he made the staves of shittim wood, and overlaid them with gold.

29 And he made the holy anointing oil, and the pure incense of sweet spices, according to the work of the apothecary.

We hear of the construction of the incense altar, which completes all of the furniture of the tabernacle, and then we move on to the formulating of the anointing oil and the spices, which would be used for certain rituals within the tabernacle. Thus, we finish the chapter by concluding the house of the Lord, and next chapter we will go into the elements that were in the courtyard.

Reading these verses, it occurred to me that the holy anointing oil and the sweet spices were two things that the priests would run out of and have to have replaced. I wonder if there was any specific instruction as to how and where new batches could be created and who could do it. If so, we do not have those records.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 37:17-24

17 And he made the candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work made he the candlestick; his shaft, and his branch, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, were of the same:

18 And six branches going out of the sides thereof; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side thereof, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side thereof:

19 Three bowls made after the fashion of almonds in one branch, a knop and a flower; and three bowls made like almonds in another branch, a knop and a flower: so throughout the six branches going out of the candlestick.

20 And in the candlestick were four bowls made like almonds, his knops, and his flowers:

21 And 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 going out of it.

22 Their knops and their branches were of the same: all of it was one beaten work of pure gold.

23 And he made his seven lamps, and his snuffers, and his snuffdishes, of pure gold.

24 Of a talent of pure gold made he it, and all the vessels thereof.

I am no expert, but it seems to me that the crafting of the golden candlestick may have been the most impressive work done in the creation of the temple. Note that it says it was a “beaten work.” This means that the candlestick was hammered into shape, not cast from a mold.

Casting from a mold would have greatly simplified the creation of the candlestick, as it would have allowed the mold to be designed from softer materials, and each mold could be used to cast multiple branches. But casting would have required a very powerful forge to melt the metals down to liquid form, something the Israelites were unlikely to have in their nomadic lifestyle. Thus, hammering was likely the only viable option.

The process of hammering gold is to heat the material until it becomes soft, and then beating it with a hammer, slowly stretching, dividing, and forming it into the shape of the candlestick. Every branch would have to be shaped individually. Every minute detail of almonds and flowers meticulously hammered with tiny strikes. Every symmetry verified by eye and measurement.

Clearly it would take a great master to create something of beauty and symmetry. It would require the patience, passion, and attention to detail that every disciple ought to strive for in his service of the Lord.