Exodus 27, The Altar and Courtyard

Instructions for the building of the Tabernacle continue.

Exodus 27: 1-8, Altar

"Build an altar of acacia wood, three cubits high; it is to be square, five cubits long and five cubits wide. Make a horn at each of the four corners, so that the horns and the altar are of one piece, and overlay the altar with bronze.    

    

Make all its utensils of bronze--its pots to remove the ashes, and its shovels, sprinkling bowls, meat forks and firepans.

    

Make a grating for it, a bronze network, and make a bronze ring at each of the four corners of the network. Put it under the ledge of the altar so that it is halfway up the altar.

    

Make poles of acacia wood for the altar and overlay them with bronze. The poles are to be inserted into the rings so they will be on two sides of the altar when it is carried.

    

Make the altar hollow, out of boards. 

    

It is to be made just as you were shown on the mountain.

In verse 1, since a cubit is estimated to be about 1.5 feet then the height of the altar is about 4.5 feet (a little over a meter) and its width is about 7.5 feet, just over 2 meters.

There is an interesting phrase at the end of this paragraph, in a reference to designs shown to Moses up on the mountain. The author of the New Testament letter to the Hebrews will use this to suggest (Hebrews 8: 5) that there is a real tabernacle of which the earthly one is merely a copy. 

Exodus 27: 9-11, Courtyard

"Make a courtyard for the tabernacle. The south side shall be a hundred cubits long and is to have curtains of finely twisted linen, with twenty posts and twenty bronze bases and with silver hooks and bands on the posts. 

    

"The north side shall also be a hundred cubits long and is to have curtains, with twenty posts and twenty bronze bases and with silver hooks and bands on the posts.  The west end of the courtyard shall be fifty cubits wide and have curtains, with ten posts and ten bases. On the east end, toward the sunrise, the courtyard shall also be fifty cubits wide."

The courtyard is about 150 feet by 75 feet, larger than a basketball court but slightly smaller than half a football field.

           

Exodus 27: 14-15, Curtains

Curtains fifteen cubits long are to be on one side of the entrance, with three posts and three bases, and curtains fifteen cubits long are to be on the other side, with three posts and three bases.

The curtains are over 20 feet long.

Exodus 27: 16-19, Entrance to the courtyard

"For the entrance to the courtyard, provide a curtain twenty cubits long, of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen--the work of an embroiderer--with four posts and four bases. All the posts around the courtyard are to have silver bands and hooks, and bronze bases.

    

The courtyard shall be a hundred cubits long and fifty cubits wide, with curtains of finely twisted linen five cubits high, and with bronze bases.  All the other articles used in the service of the tabernacle, whatever their function, including all the tent pegs for it and those for the courtyard, are to be of bronze.

Intricate details of the beauty of the courtyard are described here.

Exodus 27: 20-21, Keep the lamps burning

"Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may be kept burning. In the Tent of Meeting, outside the curtain that is in front of the Testimony, Aaron and his sons are to keep the lamps burning before the LORD from evening till morning. 

    

"This is to be a lasting ordinance among the Israelites for the generations to come."

The lamps of the Tent of Meeting are to burn perpetually.  One might notice that there are lots of times in the future where the Tent of Meeting seems to be in disrepair or abandoned, much less the lamps!

Exodus 26, The Tabernacle

God continues to give Moses precise instructions on constructing the tabernacle.  Artists' rendition of this tabernacle are at this Wikipedia site.

Exodus 26:1-6, Ten curtains

"Make the tabernacle with ten curtains of finely twisted linen and blue, purple and scarlet yarn, with cherubim worked into them by a skilled craftsman. All the curtains are to be the same size--twenty-eight cubits long and four cubits wide. 

    

"Join five of the curtains together, and do the same with the other five. Make loops of blue material along the edge of the end curtain in one set, and do the same with the end curtain in the other set. Make fifty loops on one curtain and fifty loops on the end curtain of the other set, with the loops opposite each other.  Then make fifty gold clasps and use them to fasten the curtains together so that the tabernacle is a unit."

Presumably these curtains form walls for the tabernacle.  In verse 2,  the curtains are about 42 feet long and 6 feet wide.

Exodus 26:7-13, And an eleventh curtain

"Make curtains of goat hair for the tent over the tabernacle--eleven altogether. All eleven curtains are to be the same size--thirty cubits long and four cubits wide. Join five of the curtains together into one set and the other six into another set. Fold the sixth curtain double at the front of the tent. Make fifty loops along the edge of the end curtain in one set and also along the edge of the end curtain in the other set. Then make fifty bronze clasps and put them in the loops to fasten the tent together as a unit.

     

"As for the additional length of the tent curtains, the half curtain that is left over is to hang down at the rear of the tabernacle. The tent curtains will be a cubit longer on both sides; what is left will hang over the sides of the tabernacle so as to cover it."

In verse 8,  these curtains are about about 45 feet long and 6 feet wide. (A "cubit" is probably about 1 1/2 feet.)

Exodus 26:14-25, Tent covering

Make for the tent a covering of ram skins dyed red, and over that a covering of hides of sea cows.

    

"Make upright frames of acacia wood for the tabernacle. Each frame is to be ten cubits long and a cubit and a half wide, with two projections set parallel to each other. Make all the frames of the tabernacle in this way.    

    

"Make twenty frames for the south side of the tabernacle and make forty silver bases to go under them--two bases for each frame, one under each projection. For the other side, the north side of the tabernacle, make twenty frames and forty silver bases--two under each frame. Make six frames for the far end, that is, the west end of the tabernacle, and make two frames for the corners at the far end. At these two corners they must be double from the bottom all the way to the top, and fitted into a single ring; both shall be like that. So there will be eight frames and sixteen silver bases--two under each frame."

The frames are about 15 feet long and 2 1/4 feet wide.

Exodus 26:26-30, Crossbars

"Also make crossbars of acacia wood: five for the frames on one side of the tabernacle, five for those on the other side, and five for the frames on the west, at the far end of the tabernacle. The center crossbar is to extend from end to end at the middle of the frames.

    

"Overlay the frames with gold and make gold rings to hold the crossbars. Also overlay the crossbars with gold."

Everything is rich and elegant, with gold.

Exodus 26:30, Reminder

 "Set up the tabernacle according to the plan shown you on the mountain.

The instructions for this traveling worship center are intricate and precise.  We see, again, an emphasis of "get the pattern right!"

Exodus 26:31-33, The curtain that separates the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place

"Make a curtain of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen, with cherubim worked into it by a skilled craftsman. Hang it with gold hooks on four posts of acacia wood overlaid with gold and standing on four silver bases. Hang the curtain from the clasps and place the ark of the Testimony behind the curtain. The curtain will separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place.

Beautiful curtains separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place (the Holy of Holies.) In the ancient Near East, colorful yarn would have been expensive.

Exodus 26:34-37, The Holy of Holies

"Put the atonement cover on the ark of the Testimony in the Most Holy Place. Place the table outside the curtain on the north side of the tabernacle and put the lampstand opposite it on the south side.

    

"For the entrance to the tent make a curtain of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen--the work of an embroiderer. Make gold hooks for this curtain and five posts of acacia wood overlaid with gold. And cast five bronze bases for them."

Here we read additional emphasis on separating the Most Holy Place from the Holy Place.

Some Hebrew vocabulary

Our Hebrew word for the day is  

yam https://biblehub.com/hebrew/3220.htm

sea, west.

Also qadim https://biblehub.com/hebrew/6921.htm and 

east, front, fore

Some Random Thoughts

The

.

First published March 30, 2023; updated March 30, 2026

Exodus 25, A Sanctuary for YHWH

Moses spends forty days with YHWH on Mount Sinai.  There are then seven conversations with Moses. Here is the first.

Exodus 25: 1-7, Offerings for the Tabernacle

The LORD said to Moses, "Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for me from each man whose heart prompts him to give.    

    

"These are the offerings you are to receive from them: gold, silver and bronze; blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen; goat hair; ram skins dyed red and hides of sea cows; acacia wood; olive oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; and onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece.

Are these instruction given while Moses is within the cloud?

Gold, silver, bronze and other valuable materials will be used to create a sanctuary, a "tabernacle" that will represent a place that YHWH resides.  

NIV footnotes say that "sea cows" could be translated "dugongs". A dugong is a large sea animal similar to the manatee.  But Robert Alter argues that the Hebrew word tehashim is close to an Arkadian term for a yellow or orange dye. If this is a loan word from Arkadian, this term fits with the colors and dyes described earlier in the sentence.

  

Exodus 25: 8-9, Follow the pattern given!

"Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.

There is an emphasis on following these instructions completely. Presumably this structure will be with the people of Israel for centuries.

As we read further in the text, it helps to have an image of the tabernacle before us.  A Wikipedia page on the tabernacle includes this sketch.

The main items in the outer courtyard were an altar of burnt offering and a washbasin (here "lavar".) Inside the Holy Place, where only priests could enter, was the altar of incense, the lampstand (here "golden candlestick") and the table of shewbread.  In the Holy of Holy, only, was the Ark of the Covenant.

Exodus 25: 10-15, A chest

"Have them make a chest of acacia wood--two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. Overlay it with pure gold, both inside and out, and make a gold molding around it. Cast four gold rings for it and fasten them to its four feet, with two rings on one side and two rings on the other. Then make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. Insert the poles into the rings on the sides of the chest to carry it. The poles are to remain in the rings of this ark; they are not to be removed.

(NIV footnotes translate the measurements in verse 10 as a chest "about 3 3/4 feet long and 2 1/4 feet wide and high.")

It is strange to me to imagine an ancient Hebrew text which is (here) a construction manual!

The poles are to be a permanent part of the ark, so that the ark can be transported. YHWH will not stay on Mt. Sinai but travel with His people.

Exodus 25: 16-22, The ark and cherubim

"Then put in the ark the Testimony, which I will give you."

     

"Make an atonement cover of pure gold--two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. And make two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover. Make one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other; make the cherubim of one piece with the cover, at the two ends. The cherubim are to have their wings spread upward, overshadowing the cover with them. The cherubim are to face each other, looking toward the cover.

    

"Place the cover on top of the ark and put in the ark the Testimony, which I will give you. There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites.

This is the most significant part of the tabernacle.  This is to be a place where YHWH physically appears to communicate to the Israelites.  

What is a cherubim?  It is described here briefly: a creature with wings, but that does not give a lot of detail.  We are to think back to Genesis 3:24. (Much of these instructions will have echoes of Creation.)

(NIV footnotes: In verse 17, an atonement cover is traditionally called "a mercy seat".)

Exodus 25: 23-30, A table

"Make a table of acacia wood--two cubits long, a cubit wide and a cubit and a half high.  Overlay it with pure gold and make a gold molding around it.  Also make around it a rim a handbreadth wide and put a gold molding on the rim. Make four gold rings for the table and fasten them to the four corners, where the four legs are. The rings are to be close to the rim to hold the poles used in carrying the table.  Make the poles of acacia wood, overlay them with gold and carry the table with them. And make its plates and dishes of pure gold, as well as its pitchers and bowls for the pouring out of offerings.

    

"Put the bread of the Presence on this table to be before me at all times.

On this beautiful table sits bread (near the lampstand.) The bread of the Presence has traditionally been called the "shewbread".

(NIV footnotes: A "handbreath", verse 25, is about 3 inches.)

Exodus 25: 31-40, The lampstand

"Make a lampstand of pure gold and hammer it out, base and shaft; its flowerlike cups, buds and blossoms shall be of one piece with it. Six branches are to extend from the sides of the lampstand--three on one side and three on the other. Three cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms are to be on one branch, three on the next branch, and the same for all six branches extending from the lampstand.    

"And on the lampstand there are to be four cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms. One bud shall be under the first pair of branches extending from the lampstand, a second bud under the second pair, and a third bud under the third pair--six branches in all.  The buds and branches shall all be of one piece with the lampstand, hammered out of pure gold.

"Then make its seven lamps and set them up on it so that they light the space in front of it.  Its wick trimmers and trays are to be of pure gold. A talent of pure gold is to be used for the lampstand and all these accessories.

    

"See that you make them according to the pattern shown you on the mountain."

This is an elegant lampstand, with crafted branches and buds.  (Does this remind us of Day 3 of Creation? See Genesis 1:9-12.) The seven lamps light the space in front of them, possibly lighting the shewbread.

In the New Testament, in Hebrews 8:5, this last verse will be quoted to emphasize the importance of the ancient tabernacle, now replaced by the actions of the Messiah.

(NIV footnotes: in verse 39, a talent is apparently about 75 pounds.)

Exodus 24, Confirming the Covenant

The people of Israel are ready to march on towards Palestine.

Exodus 24: 1-4a, Moses alone

Then he said to Moses, "Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. You are to worship at a distance, but Moses alone is to approach the LORD; the others must not come near. And the people may not come up with him."

    

When Moses went and told the people all the LORD's words and laws, they responded with one voice, "Everything the LORD has said we will do."

Moses then wrote down everything the LORD had said. 

Only Moses is allowed to approach YHWH.  The others must worship from a distance.  Throughout the Torah, closeness to YHWH is a terrible, frightening experience.

Moses writes down everything that YHWH said.  This is probably the material that makes up chapters 20-23 of Exodus.

Exodus 24: 4b-8, A sacrifice

He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the LORD.

    

Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he sprinkled on the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. 

    

They responded, "We will do everything the LORD has said; we will obey."

    

Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, "This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words."

The blood of this sacrifice stands for God's covenant with Israel. The people of Israel are committed to this covenant. The Book of the Covenant is a written record of the previous instructions from YHWH, probably what was written down in verse 4.  

Note the sprinkling of blood on people! (Yuk!)  In some way the blood represents a priestly ordination, representing the initiation of the people of Israel (symbolized by the twelve stone pillars) into this covenant.

A "fellowship offering" is a "peace offering", an offering made to engage in reconciliation.

 

Exodus 24: 9-11, Seeing God

Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself. But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.

Note a recurrence of the special number 70.

A brief vision of YHWH's throne room is given here, with a pavement clear "as the sky itself". I am reminded of the "sea of glass, clear as crystal", in Revelation 4: 6.  A somewhat similar description of the throne occurs in Ezekiel 1:26. (NIV footnotes: The word translated "sapphire" in verse 10 could be "lapis lazuli".)

For some reason, unexplained here, these 74 leaders are allowed to see YHWH and live!

Exodus 24: 12-14, Aaron and Hur left in charge

The LORD said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and commands I have written for their instruction."

    

Then Moses set out with Joshua his aide, and Moses went up on the mountain of God. He said to the elders, "Wait here for us until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you, and anyone involved in a dispute can go to them."

Moses is to go up the mountain and Aaron and Hur are to oversee the nation during this time.

Exodus 24: 15-18, Moses in the cloud

When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the LORD called to Moses from within the cloud.

    

To the Israelites the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain.

    

Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

Moses has returned to the mountain while the others wait.  Moses stays for six days (echoing the Days of Creation) then goes into the cloud for another forty.

Exodus 23, Instructions Regarding Truth, Falsehood, Holy Living

We continue to elaborate on the Ten Commandments, giving a number of amplifications and corollaries to the Ten.

Exodus 23: 1-3, Do not bear false witness

"Do not spread false reports. Do not help a wicked man by being a malicious witness.

    

"Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd, and do not show favoritism to a poor man in his lawsuit."

These are follow-up examples of what it means to bear false witness. These examples are certainly applicable today.

Exodus 23: 4-5, Caring for the neighbor's property

"If you come across your enemy's ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to take it back to him. If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help him with it."

Even though it is not your donkey, you are to care for it because it is your neighbor's. (Regardless of your feelings for him!)

Exodus 23: 6-7, Reject falsehood

"Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits. Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty."

Justice is important.  Do not let the innocent be falsely punished.  This instruction will be repeated in various ways throughout the Old Testament, especially by the prophets.

Exodus 23: 8, Bribes

"Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the righteous."

False testimony might be paid for....

Exodus 23: 9, Aliens

"Do not oppress an alien; you yourselves know how it feels to be aliens, because you were aliens in Egypt."

This message of support for the alien -- and the reason for it -- is repeated.

Exodus 23: 10-11, Sabbatical for crops

"For six years you are to sow your fields and harvest the crops, but during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.

The concept of a sabbath, of a seventh, also applies to years of harvest.

Exodus 23: 12, Sabbatical for animals

"Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest and the slave born in your household, and the alien as well, may be refreshed.

The Sabbath of the week is re-emphasized.

Exodus 23: 13, Do not name other gods

"Be careful to do everything I have said to you. Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard on your lips.

Don't even use the names of other gods!  (Presumably this is a form of blasphemy or profanity -- in context one assumes this prohibits using the names of other gods in an oath or interjection.  Presumably one could say things like "Don't worship Baal!" but not make an oath in the name of Baal.)

Exodus 23: 14-16, Three festivals

"Three times a year you are to celebrate a festival to me.

    

"Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in that month you came out of Egypt. 

    

"No one is to appear before me empty-handed.

   

"Celebrate the Feast of Harvest with the firstfruits of the crops you sow in your field. 

    

"Celebrate the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field.

There are three festivals mandated as part of the religious calendar.  The Feast of Harvest was also called the Festival of Weeks since it occurred seven weeks after the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  The Festival of Weeks is called Pentecost in the New Testament.

The remark, "No one is to appear before me empty-handed", is presumably an instruction for all the festivals.

Exodus 23: 17-19, Sons of Israel

"Three times a year all the men are to appear before the Sovereign LORD.

    

"Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast. 

    

"The fat of my festival offerings must not be kept until morning.

    

"Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. 

    

"Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk.

Here appear five random instructions.  Some have suggested that cooking a young goat in its mother's milk is related to an ancient fertility rite but apparently the evidence for that is thin. I find it horrific that the baby goat that nursed at its mothers teats might later be cooked in the same milk and I suspect that is the obscenity forbidden here.

Exodus 23: 20-23, My angel

"See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him. If you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you. My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out.

The Messenger of God will lead the Israelites in the desert, giving them success.  The promise in verse 23 is that the inhabitants will be "wiped out".  But shortly there will be instructions on living among the previous inhabitants of the land.  Ime's argues that Plan A was to drive the inhabitants out.  Otherwise the people are to be assimilated.  And when they aren't, the Israelites are warned against falling for their pagan worship.

Exodus 23: 24-26, Destroy idols and receive blessing

"Do not bow down before their gods or worship them or follow their practices. You must demolish them and break their sacred stones to pieces. Worship the LORD your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.

This is a strong promise of health for this traveling tribe -- if they avoid the pagan idolatry of their neighbors.  If the people of Israel keep to the covenant, their lives will be closer to that of Eden.

Exodus 23: 27-33, The Angel will give you the land

"I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run. I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you.  Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.

    

I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the River. I will hand over to you the people who live in the land and you will drive them out before you. Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods. Do not let them live in your land, or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare to you."

These paragraphs are about entering the Promised Land.  The "terror" will make their enemies run.  

The instructions against idolatry are repeated.

In verse 29, we see a basic predator-prey model: if we destroy the human predators in that land, the wild animals (prey) will flourish.  So this conquest will go slowly.  These instructions come with warnings about allowing the previous residents the ensnare the Israelites into their worship.

In verse 31 the "Red Sea" is literally the Sea of Reeds, the "Sea of the Philistines" is the Mediterranean Sea and "the River" is the Euphrates. This is a large region!

Some Random Thoughts

Christianity Today has an article by Carmen Imes confronting Paula White's interpretation of Exodus 23.

First published Match 27, 2023; updated April 1, 2025