This chapter contains the order for setting up the tabernacle, and placing the furniture of it where it was the will of God it should be put, Exo 40:1 and for the anointing it, and all its vessels, and also Aaron and his sons, Exo 40:9 all which were accordingly done, the tabernacle was reared up, and everything was put in its proper place, Exo 40:16 upon which a cloud covered the tent, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle, so that Moses could not enter; which cloud afterwards was a direction in their journeys, by night and by day, Exo 40:34.
saying; as follows.
shalt thou set up the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation; the tabernacle, which had a tent or covering over it, to which the people were gathered at times for religious service.
and cover the ark with the vail; not with the propitiatory or mercy seat, as the Targum of Jonathan; for though that was a covering or lid to the ark, yet not a vail; this was the vail that divided between the holy place and the most holy, and so covered or hid the ark from the sight even of the priests that went into the holy place.
and set in order the things that are to be set in order upon it; besides the dishes, spoons, covers, and bowls, there were the twelve loaves of shewbread to be set in two rows:
and thou shall bring in the candlestick, and light the lamps thereof; which was to be brought and set in the same holy place with the shewbread table; and though the lamps were to be lighted by Aaron, the priest of the Lord, he being not yet consecrated, the office was performed by Moses.
and put the hanging of the door of the tabernacle; the door of entrance into the holy place, where there were to be no other things set but those now mentioned, the shewbread table, the candlestick, and the altar of incense; and these being brought in, the hanging was to be put up, which hid the sight of the above things, and forbid the entrance of the people there.
before the door of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation; just a little before the entrance into the holy place.
that they may minister unto me in the priest's office; which they might not do before their anointing, though separated for it, and called unto it:
for their anointing shall surely be an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations; that is, this ceremony of anointing was to be used in all ages at the investiture of the high priest with his office, until the Messiah should come, who would put an end to the Aaronic priesthood; for not common priests, only the successors of the high priest, were anointed in later times; this present unction serving for all the priests that should follow in successive generations, so long as the priesthood continued.
according to all that the Lord commanded him, so did he; by which he approved himself to be a faithful servant in the house of God.
on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was reared up; so that this was in the spring of the year, about the vernal equinox, on a new year's day, that this was done, which was beginning the year well: it was within a fortnight of a year after their coming out of Egypt, and when they had been about five months and a half in building the tabernacle; for such a time it seems they were in doing that, and which, considering the many things to be done, and in the winter season, it shows great dispatch. Where was the place, in which the tabernacle was reared up, is not said: it is (d) observed, that near the southwest corner of that part of Mount Sinai, which is called Mount Episteme, there is a little hill called Araone by the Arabs, and by the Greeks the tabernacle of the testimony, where they say Aaron was consecrated, and first performed the offices of the priesthood: probably, says a learned man (e), on this hill was placed the tabernacle of the congregation, which Moses was ordered to place without the camp afar off; but he seems to mistake the tent of Moses, or however the little tabernacle erected before the grand one was made, for this tabernacle in Exo 33:7 which he seems to refer to; it is more probable that it was now reared up in the midst of the camp of Israel, see Num 2:2.
(d) Pocock's Travels, p. 147. (e) Clayton's Chronology of the Hebrew Bible, p. 350.
and fastened the sockets, and set up the boards thereof; fixed the silver sockets all around, which were the foundation of the building, and placed and established the shittim boards in them:
and put in the bars thereof; to keep the boards close and tight:
and reared up his pillars; the pillars that supported the vail between the holy and holy of holies, and those on which the hanging for the door of the tabernacle was put, as well as the several pillars all around the court of the tabernacle for the hangings of that.
and put the covering of the tent above upon it; which was of rams' skins died red, and over that another covering of badgers' skins:
as the Lord commanded Moses; Exo 26:7.
and set the staves on the ark; that it might be ready to be carried whenever a remove was necessary:
and put the mercy seat above upon the ark; together with the cherubim.
and set up the vail of the covering, and covered the ark of the testimony; the vail which divided between the and most holy place, and so kept out of sight the ark of the testimony within, from being seen by any, even by the priests in the holy place:
as the Lord commanded Moses; Exo 26:33.
upon the side of the tabernacle northward, without the vail; on the north side of the tabernacle, at a little distance from the walls, which were the curtains and boards, even in the holy place on the outside of the vail, which divided from the most holy place.
as the Lord had commanded Moses: Exo 25:30.
on the side of the tabernacle southward: directly opposite to the table.
as the Lord commanded Moses, Exo 25:37.
in the tent of the congregation, before the vail; in the same place, the holy place, where the shewbread table and candlestick were, and these were all the furniture of it; and this was put, not within the vail, but before it, over against the ark, as that stood within it, Exo 40:5.
as the Lord commanded Moses; he commanded Moses indeed to order and direct Aaron to do this, but he being not yet consecrated, Moses, being the Lord's priest, did it.
and offered upon it the burnt offering and the meat offering; either the burnt offering the meat offering of the daily sacrifice, as Jarchi interprets it, see Exo 28:38 or it may be rather the burnt offering and meat offering of the consecration of Aaron and his sons, Exo 29:1.
as the Lord commanded Moses; in the places referred to.
and put water there to wash withal; for the priests to wash their hands and feet with; a type of that laver or fountain opened for the house of David and inhabitants of Jerusalem to wash in, Zac 13:1.
and when they came near unto the altar, they washed; to the altar of burnt offering to offer sacrifice; and also to the altar of incense, and burn incense on that; for before whatever service they performed in the tabernacle they washed:
as the Lord commanded Moses; Exo 30:20 this phrase is near twenty times expressed in this and the preceding chapter, to show that everything was done by the workmen, and everything put in its proper place by Moses, exactly according to the will of God; no one pursuing his own fancy and private judgment, but all consulting the mind of God, and acting according to that.
and set up the hanging of the court gate; which was at the east end of it; and the hanging was of twenty cubits, hung upon four pillars, Exo 27:16.
so Moses finished the work; of the tabernacle, in making it by workmen, and in rearing it up by the help of others; and as the former was the work of some months, so the latter, it is highly probable, was the work of some days, at least, in doing all that is said to be done in this chapter relative to it; for though it is said to be reared up on the first day of the first month, yet not then fully set up, or everything done requisite to the use and service of it; see Num 7:1.
and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle; the inside of it, not the most holy place only, but the holy place also: this was an uncommon brightness, lustre, and splendour, a glorious stream of light, which the eye of man could not well bear to behold; such a glory filled the temple of Solomon at the dedication of that, Kg1 8:11 and was an emblem of Christ, the brightness of his Father's glory, dwelling in and filling the tabernacle of the human nature, where the Godhead, the Shechinah, the divine Majesty, dwells bodily, Heb 1:3 Col 2:9.
because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle; there was something, no doubt, very venerable in the spreading cloud, as well as very striking in the refulgent glory, which commanded distance, even to a person that had been used to converse with God; Moses, that went into the midst of the cloud where the Lord was, now could not or durst not go into the tabernacle it covered; and he who then was not deterred by the sight of the glory of God, which was like devouring fire, Exo 24:16 now could not, or at least thought it not proper and advisable to enter into the holy place erected for the service and worship of God; the chief reason of which may be, because, as yet, he had not a call to enter, as he then had, and as we find was afterwards given him, Lev 1:1 and perhaps another reason may be, because he was now no longer a priest; Aaron and his sons being invested with the priestly office, whose business it was to draw nigh to God; and indeed the call he afterwards had was not to come into the tabernacle, but was a call unto him out of it.
the children of Israel went onward in all their journeys; the motion of the cloud was a direction to set forward and continue their journey as long as it lasted; but when it rested and abode upon the tabernacle, then they stopped and rested also, as is suggested in the following verse Exo 40:37, see Num 9:17 thus the saints are to be followers of God as dear children, and to follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes or directs, and walk after the Spirit, the dictates and directions thereof; so the wheels in Ezekiel's vision went and stood, as did the living creatures, and the spirit in them, Eze 1:19.
till the day that it was taken up: or, "of its ascent" (f), being "lifted up", or going upwards, higher in the air, right over the tabernacle, or perhaps more to the front of it; the word used before in this and the preceding verse has the signification of ascending upwards.
(f) "sustolli ejus", Montanus.
and fire was on it by night; the same phenomenon which had the appearance of a cloud in the day time shone like fire in the night time: or "fire was in it" (h); that is, in the cloud; so it appeared in the night, and was, as the Targum of Jonathan here calls it, a pillar of fire; the same with the pillar of cloud and fire, which departed not from the people all the while they were in the wilderness, Exo 13:21 and this was
in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys; whether by night or by day; for in hot countries they travel much by night; and as the cloud was both a shelter from the heat of the sun in the daytime, and a direction of their way; so the fire by night was of the same use for direction, and might be also terrifying to wild beasts in the wilderness, who are afraid of fire, and so be a security to the Israelites from them; all which is an emblem of the guidance and protection, light, joy, and comfort, the church of God has from his gracious presence, while in the wilderness of this world; see Isa 4:5.
(g) "supra tabernaculum", Drusius. (h) "in ea"; Fagius, Junius & Tremellius; Drusius.