Exodus 38

Notes on the verses

Chap. XXXVII. Ver. 1. Burnt-offering.—(This altar consisted of four boards of shittim (acacia) wood, covered with brass, and hollow in the middle; but it is supposed to have been filled up with earth when used, for it is expressly said (ch. xx. 24.) that the altar is to be of earth. As it was five cubits long and five cubits broad, and three cubits high, if the cubit be reckoned at twenty-one inches, it must have been eight feet nine inches square, and about five feet three inches in height.)—Bagster. Ver. 2. Horns.—{Horns were much used in all ancient altars among the heathens, and some were entirely constructed of the horns of the beasts that had been offered in sacrifice; but such altars appear to have been erected rather as trophies in honour of their gods.

Thus Nonnus says, that Agave, at the command of Cadmus, went up on a high mountain, and offered a sheep upon an altar adorned with horns. Fragments of stone altars, adorned with horns, were still seen at the beginning of the seventeenth century among the ruins of Rome, as we are assured by Scacchi. Similar altars are found on the reverses of ancient Roman coins. }—Bagster. Ver. 8. The looking glasses.—“Brazen mirrors.” {The word maroth, from raah, to see, denotes reflectors, or mirrors, of any kind. That these could not have been LOOKING GLASSES, as in our translation, is sufficiently evident, not only from GLASS not being then in use, but also from the impossibility of making the BRAZEN mirror of such materials.

The first mirrors known among men were the clear fountain and unruffled lake. The first artificial ones were made of polished brass, afterwards of steel, and when luxury increased, of silver; but at a very early period, they were made of a mixed metal, particularly of tin and copper, the best of which, as Pliny informs us, were formerly manufactured at Brundusium. When the Egyptians went to their temples, according to Cyril, they always carried their mirrors with them. The Israelitish women probably did the same; and Dr. Shaw says, that looking glasses are still part of the dress of Moorish women, who carry them constantly hung at their breasts. |—Bagster.—Of the women assembling at the door of the tabernacle.—| Heb.

assembling by troops. It is supposed that these women kept watch during the night.—Among the ancients, women were generally employed as door-keepers. (See (1 Samuel 2:22). (Matthew 26:69). (John 18:17).) Aristophanes assigns them the same office, and calls them sakis, which seems a common name for a maid-servant. Homer mentions Actoris, Penelope’s maid, whose office was to keep her chamber door. Sir J. Chardin observes, that women are employed to keep the gate of the palace of the Persian kings. }—Bagster. Ver. 24. The gold that was occupied.—If we follow the estimation of the learned Dean Prideaux, the value of the twenty-nine talents, and 730 shekels of gold, will be $880,663 45. The value of the silver contributed by 603,550 Israelites, at half a shekel per man, will amount to $200,982 24.

The value of the 70 talents, 2100 shekels of brass, will be $2281 48. The gold weighed 4245 pounds; the silver, 14,603 pounds; and the brass, 10,277 pounds, troy weight. The total value of all the gold, silver, and brass, will consequently amount to $1,083,927 17., and the total weight of these three metals will amount to 29,124 pounds troy, which, reduced to avoirdupois weight, is equal to FOURTEEN perhaps, seem difficult to imagine how the Israel-

ITES should be possessed of so much wealth in the desert; but it should be remembered, that their ancestors were opulent men before they came into Egypt; that they were farther enriched by the spoils of the Egyptians and Amalekites; and that it is probable, they traded with the neighbouring nations who bordered on the wilderness.—There appear to be three reasons why so much riches should have been employed in the

construction of the tabernacle, &c. 1. To bespeak the people’s minds with the glory and dignity of the Divine Majesty, and the importance of his service. 2. To take out of their hands the occasion of covetousness. 3. To prevent pride and vain glory, by leading them to give up to the divine service even the ornaments of their persons.]—Bagster.