Exodus 27:21

27:21 the Tabernacle (literally the Tent of Meeting): The expression Tent of Meeting sometimes refers to the Tabernacle tent; in these cases the expression is essentially synonymous with Tabernacle, and the NLT consistently renders it Tabernacle. In addition, a temporary tent also called the “Tent of Meeting” is mentioned in 33:7-11. See study note on 40:2.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

shall order it from evening to morning--The tabernacle having no windows, the lamps required to be lighted during the day. JOSEPHUS says that in his time only three were lighted; but his were degenerate times, and there is no Scripture authority for this limitation. But although the priests were obliged from necessity to light them by day, they might have let them go out at night had it not been for this express ordinance.

Next: Exodus Chapter 28

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 21. The tabernacle of the congregation] The place where all the assembly of the people were to worship, where the God of that assembly was pleased to reside, and to which, as the habitation of their king and protector, they were ever to turn their faces in all their adorations.

Before the testimony] That is, the ark where the tables of the covenant were deposited. See Ex 25:16.

Aaron and his sons] These and their descendants being the only legitimate priests, God having established the priesthood in this family.

Shall order it from evening to morning] Josephus says the whole of the seven lamps burned all the night; in the morning four were extinguished, and three kept burning through the whole day. Others assert that the whole seven were kept lighted both day and night continually; but it appears sufficiently evident, from 1Sa 3:3, that these lamps were extinguished in the morning: And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep, c. See also Ex 30:8: And when Aaron LIGHTETH THE LAMPS AT EVEN. It appears therefore that the business of the priests was to light the lamps in the evening and either to extinguish them in the morning, or permit them to burn out, having put in the night before as much oil as was necessary to last till daylight.

A statute for ever] This ordering of the lamps night and morning, and attendance on the service of the tabernacle, was a statute that was to be in full force while the tabernacle and temple stood, and should have its spiritual accomplishment in the Christian Church to the end of time. Reader, the tabernacle and temple are both destroyed; the Church of Christ is established in their place. The seven golden candlesticks were typical of this Church and the glorious light it possesses, Re 1:12-20; and Jesus Christ, the Fountain and Dispenser of this true light, walks in the midst of them. Reader, hast thou that celestial flame to enlighten and animate thy heart in all those acts of devotion which thou professest to pay to him as thy Maker, Redeemer, and Preserver? What is thy profession, and what thy religious acts and services, without this? A sounding brass, a tinkling cymbal.

TERTULLIAN asserts that all the ancient heathens borrowed their best notions from the sacred writings: "Which," says he, "of your poets, which of your sophists, have not drunk from the fountain of the prophets? It is from those sacred springs that your philosophers have refreshed their thirsty spirits; and if they found any thing in the Holy Scriptures which hit their fancy, or which served their hypothesis, they took and turned it to a compliance with their own curiosity, not considering those writings to be sacred and unalterable, nor understanding their true sense, every one altering them according to his own fancy." - Apologet.

The reader's attention has already been called to this point several times in the preceding parts of this work, and the subject will frequently recur. At the conclusion of Ex 25:31 (See Clarke on Ex 25:31) we had occasion to observe that the heathens had imitated many things in that Divine worship prescribed by Moses; but in application to their own corrupt system every thing was in a certain measure falsified and distorted, yet not so far as to prevent the grand outlines of primitive truth from being discerned. One of the most complete imitations of the tabernacle and its whole service is found in the very ancient temple of Hercules, founded probably by the Phoenicians, at Gades, now Cadiz, in Spain, so minutely described by Silius Italicus from actual observation. He observes that though the temple was at that time very ancient, yet the beams were the same that had been placed there by the founders, and that they were generally supposed to be incorruptible; a quality ascribed to the shittim wood, termed ξυλον ασηπτον, incorruptible wood, by the Septuagint. That women were not permitted to enter this temple, and that no swine were ever suffered to come near it. That the priests did not wear party-coloured vestments, but were always clothed in fine linen, and their bonnets made of the same. That they offered incense to their god, their clothes being ungirded; for the same reason doubtless given Ex 20:26, that in going up to the altar nothing unseemly might appear, and therefore they permitted their long robes to fall down to their feet. He adds, that by the laws of their forefathers they bore on their sacerdotal vestments the latus clavus, which was a round knob or stud of purple with which the robes of the Roman knights and senators were adorned, which these priests seem to have copied from the breastplate of judgment made of cunning work, embroidered with purple, blue, c. See Ex 28:15. They also ministered barefooted, their hair was trimmed or cut off, and they observed the strictest continency, and kept a perpetual fire burning on their altars. And he farther adds that there was no image or similitude of the gods to be seen in that sacred place. This is the substance of his description but as some of my readers may wish to see the original, I shall here subjoin it.

Vulgatum (nec cassa fides) ab origine fani

Impositas durare trabes, solasque per aevum

Condentum novisse manus: hic credere gaudent

Consedisse Deum, seniumque repellere templis.

Tum, queis fas et honos adyti penetralia nosse,

Foemineos prohibent gressus, ac limine curant

Setigeros arcere sues: nec discolor ulli

Ante aras cultus: velantur corpora lino,

Et Pelusiaco praefulget stamine vertex.

Discinctis mos thura dare, atque, e lege parenturn

Sacrificam LATO vestem distinguere CLAVO.

Pes nudus, tousaeque comae, castumque cubile,

Irrestincta focis servant altaria flammae.

Sed nulla effigies, simulacrave nota Deorum

Majestate locum, et sacro implevere timore.

Punicor., lib. iii., ver. 17-31.

This is such a remarkable case that I think myself justified in quoting it at length, as an extraordinary monument, though corrupted, of the tabernacle and its service. It is probable that the original founders had consecrated this temple to the true God, under the name of אל EL, the strong God, or אל גבור EL GIBBOR, the strong, prevailing, and victorious God, Isa 9:6, out of whom the Greeks and Romans made their Hercules, or god of strength; and, to make it agree with this appropriation, the labours of Hercules were sculptured on the doors of this temple at Gades.

In foribus labor Alcidae Lernaea recisis

Anguibus Hydra jacet, &c., &c.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(21) In the tabernacle of the congregation.—Heb., in the tent of meeting—i.e., the place where God met the earthly ruler of His people. (See Exo_25:22.)

Before the testimony—i.e., in front of the Ark which contained “the Testimony,” or “Two Tables.” (See Note on Exo_16:34.)

Aaron and his sons.—The priestly character of Aaron and his descendants, laid down in the next chapter, is here anticipated.

From evening to morning.—See the second Note on Exo_27:20.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

21. the tent of meeting] Heb. ’ôhel mô‘çd, i.e. the tent of appointed meeting (cf. Job_30:23 ‘the house of appointed meeting for all living,’ of Sheol), the tent appointed by Jehovah as the place where He will ‘meet’ Moses (see in P Exo_25:22, Exo_30:6; Exo_30:36) and Israel (Exo_29:42-43, Num_17:4), and communicate His will to them, or (OTJC.2[205] 246) the ‘tent of tryst’ (i.e. of appointment to meet). It is the oldest name of what we now commonly know as the ‘Tabernacle’ (see on Exo_25:9), being first found in E (Exo_33:7 : see the note), where it denotes the tent which Moses used to pitch outside the camp, to which everyone resorted who sought Jehovah, and whither Moses also used to repair in order that Jehovah might speak with him. It is mentioned besides in JE in Num_11:16; Num_12:4, Deu_31:14. The Tent of meeting, as described by P, is a much more elaborate structure than that can have been (see p. 257 f.). He mentions it some 130 times.

[205] W. R. Smith, Old Testament in the Jewish Church, ed. 2, 1892.

The rendering of AV. ‘tabernacle (i.e. tent: see on Exo_25:9) of the congregation’ is based on a mistaken interpretation of mô‘çd, as though this word were a synonym of ‘çdâh, ‘congregation’ (Exo_12:3 &c.). The LXX. render the expression by ἡ σκηνὴ τοῦ μαρτυρίου, ‘the tent of the testimony’ (whence Vulg. tabernaculum testimonii), treating ’ôhel mô‘çd incorrectly as a synonym of ’ôhel hâ‘çdûth (Num_9:15; Num_17:7-8, 2Ch_24:6†), which does mean ‘the tent of the testimony’ (see on Exo_25:16): cf. Act_7:44, Rev_15:5.

outside the veil, &c.] cf. Exo_26:35; and on Exo_25:21.

order] an archaism for set in order, arrange; so often in EVV., as Lev_24:4, Jdg_6:26, 1Ki_20:14, Jer_46:3 : cf. in the Communion Service, ‘when the priest hath so ordered the bread and wine,’ &c.; and in PBV. of Psa_37:23; Psa_40:2; Psa_40:6 (cf. Job_13:18), Psa_50:23. The meaning is, arrange the lamps on the stand.

from evening to morning] the lamps were to be removed every morning to be trimmed (Exo_30:7), and to be lighted and replaced every evening to burn during the night (Exo_30:8, 2Ch_13:11). (The later usage was, however, different; see DB. iv. 664a, and Schürer, as cited.)

a due for ever from] ḥuḳḳâh may mean either a prescribed rule (i.e. a statute), or a prescribed portion (i.e. a due): so ḥôḳ, Exo_29:28, Lev_7:34 b, Lev_7:36, Exo_24:8 (AVm.); cf. Pro_30:8; Pro_31:15 (RVm.).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In the tabernacle of the congregation,.... The reasons usually given for this name of the tabernacle are, either because the children of Israel gathered and met together here at certain times, or because here the Lord met with Moses, and his successors, as he had promised, Exo 25:22, but neither of them will hold good; not the first, because the place where the candlestick was, and which Aaron and his sons are here said to order, was in the holy place, into which only the priests entered, and therefore could not be called the tabernacle of the congregation, from the people of Israel being gathered and assembling there; not the latter, because it was in the most holy place, where the Lord promised to meet with Moses, and commune with him, even from between the cherubim over the mercy seat there: indeed, at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation the children of Israel assembled, and there the Lord met them, and so the whole might be called from thence, and there seems to be no other reason for it, Exo 29:42 and this place was

without the vail, which is before the testimony; that is, without the vail which divided between the holy and the most holy place, and which vail was before the ark, where the law or the testimony was put; for the candlestick was in that part of the tabernacle which was without the vail, or in the holy place: and here

Aaron and his sons shall order it from evening to morning before the Lord; that is, they were to take care that the lamps which went out might be lighted; and that they be kept clear and burning, they were to trim and snuff them, for which they had proper instruments provided for them, Exo 25:37. This points at the word of God, which shines as a light in a dark place, and is a lamp to the feet, and a light to the path, and to the constant application of Gospel ministers in preaching it, in order to enlighten men in all ages unto the end of the world:

it shall be a statute for ever unto their generations, on the behalf of the children of Israel; on whom it was incumbent to provide oil for the lamps, as long as the tabernacle and temple service lasted; and figured out either the maintenance of Gospel ministers by the churches, or the grace and gifts of the Spirit, with which they are furnished by the head of the church, often signified by oil in Scripture.

Next: Exodus Chapter 28

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The tabernacle of the congregation - More literally, the tent of meeting. This is the first occurrence of this designation of the tabernacle, and the idea connected with it is that of Yahweh meeting with either Moses, or the priests, or (in a few cases) with the people gathered into a congregation at the entrance of the tent.

Without the rail, which is before the testimony - i. e. the holy place (see Exo 25:16).

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Aaron. Here God declares that the sons of Aaron are chosen by him to perform this office. They were not anointed priests till chap. xxix. (Haydock) --- Light. Thus God admonishes us to let our good works always shine before men. (Ven. Bede, Taber. iii. 1.)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The tabernacle of the congregation was so called, because there the people used to meet not only one with another, but with God also. See Exo 25:22; Num 17:4. Others render it, in the tabernacle of witness, because there God declared his mind and will, and man’s duty. Without the veil, to wit, the second veil, in the holy place.

Before the testimony; a short speech for before the ark of the testimony, as it is elsewhere more largely called: compare Exo 25:16.

Shall order it, to wit, the lamp, or the lights, taking care that there be a constant supply of them, and that they burn well.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

21. Without the vail — Outside and in front of the vail described Exo_26:31-33.

Before the testimony — In front of the most holy place, in which the ark of the testimony was set. The mention of Aaron and his sons, in connexion with this service, leads naturally to an account of the institution of the Aaronic priesthood, which follows in the next chapter.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The tabernacle of the congregation. Rather, "the tent of meeting the tent where God would meet the earthly ruler of the people (Exo_25:22) and give him commands and directions not the place of meeting for the people themselves, who might in no case go beyond the entrance to the structure. The testimony i,e., the ark which contained the "testimony," or two tables of stone written with the finger of God. Aaron and his sons. Compare Exo_24:1. The intention to confer the priesthood on the descendants of Aaron, first openly revealed in the next chapter (vers. 1-43), is tacitly assumed from time to time in the earlier narrative. Shall order it from evening to morning. See the comment on ver. 20. It is difficult to assign these words any distinct meaning unless we accept the view, that the lamp burnt during the night only. It shall be a statute for ever. This expression is not at all common. In Exodus it occurs only here and in four other places. In Leviticus it is met with some six or seven times. The portions of the law thus characterised must be regarded as of special importance. (See the homiletics on this verse.)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

מערב עד בקר FROM EVENING TO MORNING — Give it its due measure of oil so that it may burn from evening to morning. Our Rabbis estimated half a log of oil as sufficient for the nights of Tebeth which are long, and they ordained a similar quantity for every night of the year, and if any were left over on the shorter nights it did not matter (Menachot 89a).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.