January
30th Exodus 24 The Covenant of Jehovah with Israel
1: And he said unto Moses, Come up
unto the LORD, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel;
and worship ye afar off. 2: And
Moses alone shall come near the LORD: but they shall not come nigh; neither
shall the people go up with him. 3:
And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the
judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words
which the LORD hath said will we do. 4:
And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning,
and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the
twelve tribes of Israel.
5: And he sent young men of the
children of Israel,
which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the
LORD. 6: And Moses took half of
the blood, and put it in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the
altar. 7: And he took the book
of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All
that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient. 8: And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and
said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you
concerning all these words. 9:
Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of
Israel: 10: And they saw the
God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a
sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. 11: And upon the nobles of the
children of Israel
he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink.
The
tablets of stone
12: And the LORD said unto Moses, Come
up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone,
and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them. 13: And Moses rose up, and his
minister Joshua: and Moses went up into the mount of God. 14: And he said unto the elders,
Tarry ye here for us, until we come again unto you: and, behold, Aaron and Hur
are with you: if any man have any matters to do, let him come unto them. 15: And Moses went up into the mount,
and a cloud covered the mount. 16:
And the glory of the LORD abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six
days: and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud. 17: And the sight of the glory of the
LORD was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the
children of Israel.
18: And Moses went into the
midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount
forty days and forty nights.
Exodus
25 E. The Tabernacle Offerings of goods
1: And the LORD spake unto Moses,
saying, 2: Speak unto the
children of Israel,
that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his
heart ye shall take my offering. 3:
And this is the offering which ye shall take of them; gold, and silver, and
brass, 4: And blue, and purple,
and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair, 5: And rams' skins dyed red, and badgers' skins, and shittim
wood, 6: Oil for the light,
spices for anointing oil, and for sweet incense, 7: Onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod, and in the
breastplate. 8: And let them
make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. 9: According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the
tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye
make it.
The
Ark of the Covenant
10: And they shall make an ark of
shittim wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit
and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. 11: And thou shalt overlay it with
pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a
crown of gold round about. 12:
And thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in the four corners
thereof; and two rings shall be in the one side of it, and two rings in the
other side of it. 13: And thou
shalt make staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold. 14: And thou shalt put the staves
into the rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be borne with them. 15: The staves shall be in the rings
of the ark: they shall not be taken from it. 16: And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall
give thee. 17: And thou shalt
make a mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be the length
thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof. 18: And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work
shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat. 19: And make one cherub on the one
end, and the other cherub on the other end: even of the mercy seat shall ye
make the cherubims on the two ends thereof. 20: And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high,
covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to
another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be. 21: And thou shalt put the mercy seat
above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall
give thee. 22: And there I will
meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from
between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all
things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.
The
Table of the Shewbread
23: Thou shalt also make a table of
shittim wood: two cubits shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth
thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. 24: And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, and make thereto a
crown of gold round about. 25:
And thou shalt make unto it a border of an hand breadth round about, and thou
shalt make a golden crown to the border thereof round about. 26: And thou shalt make for it four
rings of gold, and put the rings in the four corners that are on the four feet
thereof. 27: Over against the
border shall the rings be for places of the staves to bear the table. 28: And thou shalt make the staves of
shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be borne with
them. 29: And thou shalt make
the dishes thereof, and spoons thereof, and covers thereof, and bowls thereof,
to cover withal: of pure gold shalt thou make them. 30: And thou shalt set upon the table shewbread before me
always.
The
Lampstand
31: And thou shalt make a candlestick
of pure gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft, and his
branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same. 32: And six branches shall come out
of the sides of it; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side, and
three branches of the candlestick out of the other side: 33: Three bowls made like unto
almonds, with a knop and a flower in one branch; and three bowls made like
almonds in the other branch, with a knop and a flower: so in the six branches
that come out of the candlestick. 34:
And in the candlestick shall be four bowls made like unto almonds, with their
knops and their flowers. 35:
And there shall be a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two
branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, according to
the six branches that proceed out of the candlestick. 36: Their knops and their branches shall be of the same: all it
shall be one beaten work of pure gold. 37:
And thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof: and they shall light the lamps
thereof, that they may give light over against it. 38: And the tongs thereof, and the snuffdishes thereof, shall be
of pure gold. 39: Of a talent
of pure gold shall he make it, with all these vessels. 40: And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was
shewed thee in the mount.
In today’s reading we have the Lord entering into covenant
with Israel
as a nation. We have the giving of the Mosaic law and we have the beginning of
the instructions to the children of Israel regarding the construction
of the Tabernacle of meeting. Starting with the furniture which was in the most
holy place the ark of the covenant the table of showbread and the lampstand.
First the LORD entered into Covenant with his people the children of Israel. The
Lord called Moses Aaron, His sons the priests and seventy elders (The judges)
of Israel
and they stood afar off but Moses drew near to the Lord. When Moses recounted
all the laws of the Lord and his judgments the people answered with one voice.
They promised to keep the words of the Lord in doing them. Then Moses built an
altar and set up twelve pillars – one for each tribe and the priests offered
burnt offerings and peace offerings to the Lord. Moses took the blood and
sprinkled half of it on the altar and half of it on the people. Then Moses took
the book of the covenant and read it to all the people and again they promised
to keep the whole law. Then all the leaders of the people drew near and saw the
Lord. Then the Lord called on Moses and Joshua his servant to come up the
mountain and there the Lord gave him stone tablets on which were written with
the finger of god the Commandments. Moses was in the mountain for 40 days and
nights. Then the Lord instructed Moses to tell the people to bring a freewill
offering to the Lord. And these offerings became the basis of the materials for
the constructing of the tabernacle. They brought gold, silver, brass. Cloth
that was blue, purple scarlet and fine white linen. They brought goat hair
cloth, rams skins dyed red, badgers skins and shittim wood. They brought oil
for light spices for making the anointing oil and for incense. They brought
precious stones. Then the Lord gave careful detailed instructions regarding the
making of the Ark of the Covenant. Its interesting that the Lord begins with
the Ark and then goes progressively outward to
the people and then finally describes how Israel is able to draw near to the
Lord. The ark or box was 2½ cubits
long, 1 cubit deep and 1 ½ cubits high. It was made of wood and overlaid
with gold. There were four rings to carry it and staves in the rings to lift
it. On top of the ark was a lid called the mercy seat. It was a little longer
and deeper than the ark itself. On the mercy seat there wee two models of
cherubim facing each other from each end. This was the place where the LORD met
with his people. The next item of furniture was a table on which was placed
loaves of bread. The table was 2 cubits long, 1 cubit deep and 1½ cubits high.
It had a rim going around it to prevent the bread from falling off the top. It
was made of shittim wood overlaid with gold. It also had rings and staves for
lifting it. There were also dishes, spoons covers and bowels made of pure gold.
The third item of furniture in the holy place was the lampstand. This was made
of pure gold beaten together (not cast) No height is given but it had seven
branches altogether, three on either side. The whole thing was covered in
significant ornament. Included in this item were instruments for tending it.
All of these items speak of Christ. The mercy seat was the place where God met
men. We know that Christ himself is the meeting place between God and men. It
was made of that which grew on earth and contained the Law of God, yet it was
covered by gold speaking of his deity and protected by angelic beings. The
table spoke of Christ in that he is the one who feeds the souls of men and the lampstand
speaks of Christ who brings light to all.
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