Exodus 25:5 Komentář

At this chapter begins an account of the orders and instructions God gave to Moses upon the mount for the erecting and furnishing of a tabernacle to the honour of God. We have here. I. Orders given for a collection to be made among the people for this purpose (Exo 25:1-9). II. Particular instructions, 1. Concerning the ark of the covenant (Exo 25:10-22). 2. The table of showbread (Exo 25:23-30). 3. The golden candlestick (Exo 25:31, etc.).

INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 25 In this chapter an order is given for a freewill offering towards various things for the worship and service of God, and the materials to be offered, which would be useful and acceptable, are mentioned particularly, Exo 25:1, as also another order to build a sanctuary for God, after a model that he would give, Exo 25:8, and, an ark to put in the law on tables of stone, the fashion of which, and the various things belonging to it, are described, Exo 25:10, and a mercy seat with cherubim on it to be set over the ark, where the Lord promises to meet Moses and commune with him, Exo 25:17 and a table with various appurtenances to it to place the shewbread on, Exo 25:23 and a candlestick of gold, whose parts are described, and all the instruments relative to it, Exo 25:31.

And rams' skins died red,.... Of these were made a covering for the tent or tabernacle: and badgers' skins, which were for the same use: the Septuagint version calls them hyacinth or blue skins; according to which, they seem to be the rams' skins died blue; and so Josephus (b) seems to have understood it; and it is much questionable whether the same creature is meant we call the badger, since that with the Israelites was an unclean creature; nor is its skin made use of for shoes, or well could be, as the skin of this creature is said to be, Eze 16:10. Jarchi says it was a kind of beast only at that time; and Aben Ezra says, it was known in those days but not now: and shittim wood; supposed by the Jewish writers, as Kimchi (c), and Ben Melech from him, to be the best and most excellent kind of cedar: Aben Ezra conjectures, and he delivers it but as a conjecture, that there might be near Mount Sinai a forest of "shittim" trees; and while the Israelites were there they cut them down for booths, which they might carry with them when they removed from thence; for, he says, Moses did not speak of the tabernacle till after the day of atonement: and since Acacia is by much the largest and the most common tree of the deserts of Arabia, as Dr. Shaw (d) observes, he thinks there some reason to conjecture, that the "shittim wood", whereof the several utensils of the tabernacle, &c. were made, was the wood of Acacia: and long ago it was the opinion of Cordus (e) that the "shittim wood" was the Acacia of Dioscorides; and it is the same with the Senton or Santon of the Arabians, which is the Egyptian thorn that grows in the wilderness, of which Herodotus (f) says, they cut wood of two cubits out of and make ships of burden of it: this is said to grow in the parts of Egypt at a distance from the sea; in the mountains of Sinai, at the Red sea, about Suez, in the barren wilderness; which circumstances seem to determine it to be the "shittim wood" (g): some places where it might grow in plenty seem to have had their names from it, see Num 25:1. (b) Ut supra. (Antiq. l. 3. c. 6. sect. 1.) (c) Sepher Shorash. rad. (d) Travels, p. 144. Ed. 2. (e) Apud Drus. Heb. Adag. Decur. 3. Adag. 4. (f) Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 96. (g) Vid. Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacr. vol. 2. p. 204.

The Lord addresses Moses out of the Divine glory, and commands him to speak unto the Israelites, that they may give him free-will offerings, Exo 25:1, Exo 25:2. The different kinds of offerings, gold, silver, and brass, Exo 25:3. Purple, scarlet, fine linen, and goats' hair, Exo 25:4. Rams' skins, badgers' skins, (rather violet-coloured skins), and shittim wood, Exo 25:5. Oil and spices, Exo 25:6. Onyx stones, and stones for the ephod and breastplate, Exo 25:7. A sanctuary is to be made after the pattern of the tabernacle, Exo 25:8, Exo 25:9. The ark and its dimensions, Exo 25:10. Its crown of gold, Exo 25:11. Its rings, Exo 25:12. Its staves, and their use, Exo 25:13-15. The testimony to be laid up in the ark, Exo 25:16. The mercy-seat and its dimensions, Exo 25:17. The cherubim, how made and placed, Exo 25:18-20. The mercy-seat to be placed on the ark, and the testimony to be put within it, Exo 25:21. The Lord promises to commune with the people from the mercy-seat, Exo 25:22. The table of shew-bread, and its dimensions, Exo 25:23. Its crown and border of gold, Exo 25:24, Exo 25:25. Its rings, Exo 25:26, Exo 25:27. Staves, Exo 25:28. Dishes, spoons, and bowls, Exo 25:29. Its use, Exo 25:30. The golden candlestick; its branches, bowls, knops, and flowers, Exo 25:31-36. Its seven lamps, Exo 25:37. Tongs and snuffers, Exo 25:38. The weight of the candlestick and its utensils, one talent of gold, Exo 25:39. All to be made according to the pattern showed to Moses on the mount, Exo 25:40.

Rams' skins dyed red - ערת אילם מאדמים oroth eylim meoddamim, literally, the skins of red rams. It is a fact attested by many respectable travelers, that in the Levant sheep are often to be met with that have red or violet-coloured fleeces. And almost all ancient writers speak of the same thing. Homer describes the rams of Polyphemus as having a violet-coloured fleece. Αρσενες οΐες ησαν εΰτρεφεες, δασυμαλλοι, Καλοι τε, μεγαλοι τε, ιοδνεφες ειρος εχοντες. Odyss., lib. ix., ver. 425. "Strong were the rams, with native purple fair, Well fed, and largest of the fleecy care." Pope. Pliny, Aristotle, and others mention the same. And from facts of this kind it is very probable that the fable of the golden fleece had its origin. In the Zetland Isles I have seen sheep with variously coloured fleeces, some white, some black, some black and white, some of a very fine chocolate color. Beholding those animals brought to my recollection those words of Virgil: - Ipse sed in pratis Aries jam suave rubenti Murice, jam croceo mutabit vellera luto. Eclog. iv., ver. 43. "No wool shall in dissembled colors shine; But the luxurious father of the fold, With native purple or unborrow'd gold, Beneath his pompous fleece shall proudly sweat, And under Tyrian robes the lamb shall bleat." Dryden. Badgers' skins - ערת תחשים oroth techashim. Few terms have afforded greater perplexity to critics and commentators than this. Bochart has exhausted the subject, and seems to have proved that no kind of animal is here intended, but a color. None of the ancient versions acknowledge an animal of any kind except the Chaldee, which seems to think the badger is intended, and from it we have borrowed our translation of the word. The Septuagint and Vulgate have skins dyed a violet color; the Syriac, azure; the Arabic, black; the Coptic, violet; the modern Persic, ram-skins, etc. The color contended for by Bochart is the hysginus, which is a very deep blue. So Pliny, Coccoque tinctum Tyrio tingere, ut fieret hysginum. "They dip crimson in purple to make the color called hysginus." - Hist. Nat., lib. ix., c. 65, edit. Bipont. Shittim wood - By some supposed to be the finest species of the cedar; by others, the acacia Nilotica, a species of thorn, solid, light, and very beautiful. This acacia is known to have been plentiful in Egypt, and it abounds in Arabia Deserta, the very place in which Moses was when he built the tabernacle; and hence it is reasonable to suppose that he built it of that wood, which was every way proper for his purpose.

CONCERNING AN OFFERING. (Exo. 25:1-40) the Lord spake unto Moses, &c.--The business that chiefly occupied Moses on the mount, whatever other disclosures were made to him there, was in receiving directions about the tabernacle, and they are here recorded as given to him.

badgers' skins--The badger was an unclean animal, and is not a native of the East--rather some kind of fish, of the leather of which sandals are made in the East. [See on Exo 39:34 and Eze 16:10.] shittim wood--or Shittah (Isa 41:19), the acacia, a shrub which grows plentifully in the deserts of Arabia, yielding a light, strong, and beautiful wood, in long planks.