Exodus 38:24

All the gold that was occupied for the work, in all the work of the [place],.... That was expended in making the mercy seat and cherubim, and the candlestick, which were all of pure gold; besides

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.

Every talent contained three thousand shekels. See . It is not said that all this gold and following silver were used about the building of the tabernacle, for the people brought much more than enough, . And these remains, it is probable, were put into the sacred treasury, to be used as occasion should require.

(24) All the gold that was occupied for the Work.—Rather, that was made use of for the work.The gold of the offering, was twenty and nine talents.—The gold talent is estimated by Poole as = 10,000 shekels, and the gold shekel as worth about £1 2s. of our money. In this case the gold employed in the Tabernacle would have been worth nearly £320,000. Some, however, reduce the estimate to £175,000 (Cook), and others to £132,000 (Thenius). In any case the amount was remarkable, and indicated at once the liberal spirit which animated the people and the general feeling that a lavish expenditure was required by the occasion. There is no difficulty in supposing that the Israelites possessed at the time gold to the (highest) value estimated, since they had carried with them out of Egypt, besides their ancestral wealth, a vast amount of gold and silver ornaments, freely given to them by the Egyptians (Exodus 3:22; Exodus 12:35-36).

Verse 24. All the gold that was occupied for the work, c.] To be able to ascertain the quantum and value of the gold, silver, and brass, which were employed in the tabernacle, and its different utensils, altars, c., it will be necessary to enter into the subject in considerable detail. In the course of my notes on this and the preceding book, I have had frequent occasion to speak of the shekel in use among the ancient Hebrews, which, following Dean Prideaux, I have always computed at 3s. English. As some value it at 2s. 6d., and others at 2s. 4d., I think it necessary to lay before the reader the learned dean's mode of computation as a proper introduction to the calculations which immediately follow. "Among the ancients, the way of reckoning their money was by talents. So the Hebrews, so the Babylonians, and so the Romans did reckon. And of these talents they had subdivisions which were usually in minas and drachms i.e., of their talents into minas, and their minas into drachms. The Hebrews had, besides these, their shekels and half-shekels, or bekas and the Romans their denarii, which last were very nearly of the same value with the drachms of the Greeks. What was the value of a Hebrew talent appears from Exodus 38:25-26, for there 603,550 persons being taxed at half a shekel a head, they must have paid in the whole 301,775 shekels; and that sum is there said to amount to one hundred talents, and 1775 shekels over: if therefore we deduct the 1775 shekels from the number 301,775, and divide the remaining sum, i.e., 300,000, by a hundred, this will prove each of those talents to contain three thousand shekels. Each of these shekels weighed about three shillings of our money; and sixty of them, Ezekiel tells us, Ezekiel 45:12, made a mina; and therefore fifty of those minas made a talent. And as to their drachms, it appears by the Gospel of St. Matthew that it was the fourth part of a shekel, that is, nine-pence of our money. For there (Matthew 17:24) the tribute money annually paid to the temple, by every Jew, (Talmud in shekalim,) which was half a shekel, is called διδραχμον (i.e., the two drachm piece;) and therefore, if half a shekel contained two drachms, a drachm must have been the quarter part of a shekel, and every shekel must have contained four of them: and so Josephus tells us it did; for he says, Antiq., lib. iii., c. 9, that a shekel contained four Attic drachms, which is not exactly to be understood according to the weight, but according to the valuation in the currency of common payments.

24. The gold. This amounted to 29 talents, and 730 shekels, or (as the talent contained Exodus 3000 shekels) 87,730 shekels, i.e. if the ‘sacred’ shekel (p. 333) weighed 224 grs., c. 40,940 oz. troy,—which, even at the present value of gold, would be worth nearly £ 160,000. the offering] properly, the wave-offering; see on Exodus 35:22. So v. 29. the sacred shekel] See on Exodus 30:13; and cf. DB. iv. 906a.

Of the holy place - Rather, of the sanctuary. The gold was employed not only in the holy place, but in the most holy place and in the entrance to the tent Exodus 36:38. The gold of the offering - The gold of the wave offering.

THE ALTAR OF BURNT , Exodus 38:1-7. See notes on Exodus 27:1-7. THE LAVER, Exodus 38:8. See notes on Exodus 30:17-21. THE COURT OF THE , Exodus 38:9-20. See notes on Exodus 27:9-19.