Exodus 38:1-20--Making the Altar of Burnt Offering, the Bronze Basin, and the Court

Making the Altar of Burnt Offering
38 He made the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood. Five cubits was its length, and five cubits its breadth. It was square, and three cubits was its height. 2 He made horns for it on its four corners. Its horns were of one piece with it, and he overlaid it with bronze. 3 And he made all the utensils of the altar, the pots, the shovels, the basins, the forks, and the fire pans. He made all its utensils of bronze. 4 And he made for the altar a grating, a network of bronze, under its ledge, extending halfway down. 5 He cast four rings on the four corners of the bronze grating as holders for the poles. 6 He made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with bronze. 7 And he put the poles through the rings on the sides of the altar to carry it with them. He made it hollow, with boards.

Making the Bronze Basin
8 He made the basin of bronze and its stand of bronze, from the mirrors of the ministering women who ministered in the entrance of the tent of meeting.

Making the Court
9 And he made the court. For the south side the hangings of the court were of fine twined linen, a hundred cubits; 10 their twenty pillars and their twenty bases were of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver. 11 And for the north side there were hangings of a hundred cubits; their twenty pillars and their twenty bases were of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver. 12 And for the west side were hangings of fifty cubits, their ten pillars, and their ten bases; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver. 13 And for the front to the east, fifty cubits. 14 The hangings for one side of the gate were fifteen cubits, with their three pillars and three bases. 15 And so for the other side. On both sides of the gate of the court were hangings of fifteen cubits, with their three pillars and their three bases. 16 All the hangings around the court were of fine twined linen. 17 And the bases for the pillars were of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver. The overlaying of their capitals was also of silver, and all the pillars of the court were filleted with silver. 18 And the screen for the gate of the court was embroidered with needlework in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. It was twenty cubits long and five cubits high in its breadth, corresponding to the hangings of the court. 19 And their pillars were four in number. Their four bases were of bronze, their hooks of silver, and the overlaying of their capitals and their fillets of silver. 20 And all the pegs for the tabernacle and for the court all around were of bronze.

---

Again, a very simple blog today as we see that Bezalel ("he" references all the way back to chapter 37, verse 1) also made all the courtyard and everything that went inside of it and all the clasps and pegs and rings and fittings as instructed.  Everything was made just as the LORD had instructed Moses along with all of the pans, tongs, and other utensils that were needed for the sacrifices.  We see that Bezalel paid attention to all the fine details, and it was all done through God's gifting and by the power of the Holy Spirit who was at work to build the Tabernacle then and is at work to build the Church today.

We covered the significance of most of these objects at the time God instructed them to be built, so, I don't think we need to cover them again, but remember that in all of this, we are seeing the gospel of that time, the gospel of the coming of Christ, the gospel of the Church age that we currently live in, and the gospel of the New Creation when we will "dwell in the house of the LORD forever"--a statement made at the end of Psalm 23 that many people miss.  (See Psalm 23:6).  Yes, we are promised that we will live in the heavenly temple of the LORD forever when it comes to earth and the New Heavens and the New Earth are made and heaven and earth are one   Let's look at verse 3 of "This is My Father's World" (I'll post the hymn to my Facebook page after posting this blog):

3 This is my Father's world,
O let me ne'er forget
that though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the Ruler yet.
This is my Father's world:
the battle is not done;
Jesus who died shall be satisfied,
and earth and heav'n be one.

Notice the last line?  The ultimate goal is everything to return to how it was "in the beginning" when God said it was "very good."  The Garden of Eden was really the first temple of sorts as Adam served as priest and king and walked and talked with God.  It was Adam's job to represent God to creation (as king) and represent creation to God (as priest).  It was even his job to be a prophet and to tell others (Eve) the words which God had spoken which she did not hear for herself (the prophet's message is one of "Thus saith the Lord.").  So, we have seen in Adam that there was a federal head who was prophet, priest and king--Jesus would be the Second (and Last) Adam that would come to succeed where Adam failed.  Until Jesus came though the Tabernacle and Temple were there to remind God's people that it was always God's plan to dwell among His people, but that sin had ruined that plan and that substitutionary atonement was needed not just to cover their sin, but to take their sins away and reconciliation was needed so that God and man could once again be united and have fellowship.  This is the gospel!  It is something that helps us look back into eternity past to see the plan God has always had before "the beginning, to help us look back in history to everything that God has done for us and our forefathers, something that helps us see what God is doing in our lives, and something that helps us look ahead to what God will do and something that helps us look far ahead into eternity for things that are yet to come in eternity future.