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 31:18

18 And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.

It might be easy to forget, all of the last seven chapters has been Moses receiving instructions from the Lord back up in Mount Sinai. He had already gone up once to retrieve the law, brought it back down to the Israelites, and was then called back up. Because the Israelites had accepted the first set of instructions, they were to be rewarded with the second. This was not a quick visit to the mountain either. We were told previously that Moses was in mount for 40 days and 40 nights.

From what we’ve already read it is clear that the Lord showed Moses the appearance of the tabernacle and all of its parts in a vision. It also seems that He verbally gave the dimensions and description of it all. Not only this, but in today’s verses we hear that God wrote the same information on two tables of stone with His very finger. Thus, Moses had received the information in triplicate, to ensure that everything would be done correctly.

Unfortunately, even while Moses was receiving the instructions that would allow God to dwell in harmony amongst the Israelites, they were rapidly diverging from the Lord down at the base of the mountain. We will hear about this in detail in the next chapter’s opening verses. This moment seems to be an allegory for all the world, where people are divided between those up at the summit seeking the spiritual and those down in the earth seeking the carnal. Let us keep that dichotomy in mind when we read what transpires when the two are reunited.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 3:16-22

16 Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt:

17 And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey.

18 And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The Lord God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.

19 And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand.

20 And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go.

21 And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians: and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty:

22 But every woman shall borrow of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians.

God expanded dramatically on His instructions to Moses. He reiterated that Moses must go to the elders of Israel and deliver a message from the Lord. Moses was to explain to them God’s awareness of the people’s suffering, and to promise them that they would soon be freed. Moses was to tell the people that God would bring them to the land of Canaan, fulfilling a promise that had been made many years ago to Abraham. God also reassured to Moses that the people would believe him: “they shall hearken to thy voice.”

God then informed Moses of the next step, which was to approach the Pharaoh and lay down the Lord’s demands. God even forewarned Moses that Pharaoh would not agree to this, but God would work wonders until eventually Pharaoh would relent. Then, God assured Moses, all the Israelites would leave, and they would go with treasure and spoil taken from the Egyptians.

In short, God related everything to Moses exactly as it would occur before it even happened. Many times God only illuminates the very next step of our personal journeys, but here he laid down the entire dance. Every setback and every surmounting was detailed so that Moses would know that he followed a predetermined path which God had already seen, and nothing would catch them by surprise. This is an incredibly reassuring gift of knowledge from the Lord, but as we will see in the next chapter, even after all this Moses still had his doubts.