Êxodo 25

Êxodo 25

Clarke - This acacia is known to have been plentiful in Egypt, and it abounds in Arabia Desert, 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.” (Clarke) Porpoise - (Wikipedia) - Porpoises are common in the Red Sea; their skins are used for clothing by the bedouin. (NET) Porpoise - 14x in 14v - Exod. 25:5; Exod. 26:14; Exod. 35:7; Exod. 35:23; Exod. 36:19; Exod. 39:34; Num. 4:6; Num. 4:8; Num. 4:10; Num. 4:11; Num. 4:12; Num. 4:14; Num. 4:25; Ezek. 16:10 Acacia - 28x in 28v - Exod. 25:5; Exod. 25:10; Exod. 25:13; Exod. 25:23; Exod. 25:28; Exod. 26:15; Exod. 26:26; Exod. 26:32; Exod. 26:37; Exod. 27:1; Exod. 27:6; Exod. 30:1; Exod. 30:5; Exod. 35:7; Exod. 35:24; Exod. 36:20; Exod. 36:31; Exod. 36:36; Exod. 37:1; Exod. 37:4; Exod. 37:10; Exod. 37:15; Exod. 37:25; Exod. 37:28; Exod. 38:1; Exod. 38:6; Deut. 10:3; Isa. 41:19 George Bush - Rams’ skins dyed red. Heb. ערת אלם מאדְים oroth ëlim meoddamim, skins of red rams. That is, either those which were naturally of this color, for such are found in the Levant, or those which were made so by dyeing, and thus converted to a kind of red morocco. (Notes Critical and Practical on the Book of Exodus Volume 2) Badgers’ skins (porpoise skins). Heb. ערת תחשים oroth tehashin. It is very uncertain what is intended by the original word תחש tahash here rendered ‘badger.’ The ancient versions for the most part evidently consider it as designating some kind of color, either purple or violet. But as it appears from Ezek. 16:10, that it denotes a substance from which shoes were made, it is probably safer to consider it as the appellation of some of the animal tribes whose skins would serve for a rough exterior covering of the Tabernacle to protect the more delicate work of the inner curtains from injury by the weather. Yet that it could not have been the animal now called ‘badger,’ there is the strongest reason to believe. The badger is an inhabitant of cold countries, nor can any evidence be adduced that it ever existed in Palestine, Arabia, or Egypt. Whence then could the Israelites have procured its skin to cover the Tabernacle, especially in such quantities as would be requisite? It is by no means a prolific animal, and in the countries in which it breeds, as in England, it is comparatively rare. Moreover, as it is pronounced unclean by the Mosaic law, it would scarcely have been employed for such a sacred purpose. But if it were an animal at all, of what species was it? Aben Ezra thinks, from the force of the term, that it was some animal which was thick and fat, and ‘in this sense the word appears to be the same as the Arabic dasash, fat, oily. The conjecture, then, of those who refer the tahash to the seal, is every way credible; as in our own island the seal is famous for its fat or oil, which, in default of whale oil, is used for similar purposes. Moreover, seal-skins, on account of their durability, are used to cover trunks and boxes, to defend them from the weather; and as the skin of the tahash was used for making shoes, (Ezek. 16:10), so the skin of the seal may be, and is, tanned into as good leather as calf-skin itself. It remains then, to be proved that an animal, fit for the purpose, was readily procurable by the Israelites in the wilderness; for this we quote Thevenot (p. 166.), who, being at Tor, a port on the Red Sea, says, ‘But they could not furnish me with any thing of a certain fish, which they call a sea-man. However, I got the hand of one since. This fish is taken in the Red Sea, about little isles, that are close by Tor. It is a great, strong fish, and hath nothing extraordinary but two hands, which are indeed like the hands of a man, saving that the fingers are joined together with a skin like the foot of a goose; but the skin of the fish is like the skin of a wild goat, or chamois. When they spy that fish, they strike him on the back with harping irons, as they do whales, and so kill him. They use the skin of it for making bucklers, which are musket proof.’ Whether this be a species of seal must be left undetermined; as nothing is said of its coming ashore, or being amphibious; nevertheless, it may be the tahash of the Hebrews. Niebuhr says (p. 157, Fr. edit.), ‘A merchant of Abushahr called dahash that fish which the captains of English vessels called porpoise, and the Germans sea-hog, or dolphin. In my voyage from Maskat to Abushahr, I saw a prodigious quantity together, near Ras Mussendom, who all were going the same way, and seemed to swim with great vehemence.’ Gesenius adopts the same opinion, on account of the similarity of the Arabic name dahash, which means, properly, the dolphin, but is also applied to the seal genus. On many of the small islands of the Red Sea, around the peninsula of Sinai, are found seals; (hence insula phocarum, Strab. 16. p. 766.) likewise, a species of sea-cow, called also sea-man or sea-camel, the skin of which is an inch thick, and is used by the Arabs of the present day for shoe-leather. Burckhardt remarks that he ‘saw parts of the skin of a large fish, killed on the coast, which was an inch in thickness, and is employed by the Arabs instead of leather for sandals.’ Robinson’s Calmet. Shittim-wood. (acacia wood) Heb. עצי שטים atzë shittim, wood of the shittah tree, mentioned Is. 41:19. It is rendered by the Gr. ξυλαασηπτα, incorruptible wood. Though not certainly known, it is supposed, with great probability, to be the acacia, or species of thorn that still grows in great abundance in the deserts of Arabia; the wood of which, according to Jerome, is extremely light, solid, strong, and smooth; qualities rarely found together in any one wood. The tree is of the size of a large mulberry-tree, large enough, says the father above mentioned, to furnish very long planks. ‘The Acacia-tree,’ says Dr. Shaw, ‘being by much the largest and most common tree in these deserts (Arabia Petrea), we have some reason to conjecture that the shittim-wood was the acacia.’ Exodus 25:6 oil for lighting, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, Oil for: Ex 25:37 27:20 40:24,25 spices: Ex 30:23-38 Exodus 25 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries oil for lighting - "For the lamp that was to burn continually in the sanctuary. This it appears, from Ex. 27:20, was to be ‘pure olive oil beaten.’" (Bush) Spurgeon on oil for lighting - Not every kind of oil could be used in the Lord’s service. Neither the petroleum that exudes so plentifully from the earth, nor the produce of fish, nor that extracted from nuts would be accepted; only one oil was selected, and that was the best olive oil. Pretended grace from natural goodness, fancied grace from priestly hands, or imaginary grace from outward ceremonies will never serve the true child of God; he knows the Lord would not be pleased with rivers of such oil. He goes to the olive press of Gethsemane and draws his supplies from him who was crushed there. The oil of gospel grace is pure and free from sediment and dregs, and so the light that is fed by it is clear and bright. Our churches are the Savior’s golden candelabra, and if they are to be lights in this dark world, they must have plenty of holy oil. Let us pray for ourselves, our ministers, and our churches that they may never lack oil for the light. Truth, holiness, joy, knowledge, love—these are all beams of the sacred light; but we cannot send them out into the darkness unless in private we receive oil from God the Holy Spirit. spices - Heb. בשמים besamim. Gr. θυμιαματα, incenses. The term includes all the odoriferous ingredients which were employed in the composition of the ‘anointing oil’ or the ointment by which the altar of incense and all the vessels of the ark were hallowed, and lastly, in the incense which was burnt upon the altar. (Bush) NIV Study Bible. Those used in the anointing oil are identified in Ex 30:23-24 as myrrh (balsam sap), cinnamon (bark of the cinnamon tree, a species of laurel), cane (pith from the root of a reed plant) and cassia (made from dried flowers of the cinnamon tree). Those used in the fragrant incense are identified in Ex 30:34 as gum resin (a powder taken from the middle of hardened drops of myrrh—rare and very valuable), onycha (made from mollusk shells) and galbanum (a rubbery resin taken from the roots of a flowering plant that thrives in Syria and Persia). (Balsam spices were a mixture of three ingredients in Ex 30:34 that were added to pure frankincense and salt to create a special formula used only on the golden altar of incense.) for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense - "Heb. לקטרת הסמים liktoreth hassammim, for the burning of sweet odors; i. e. upon the golden altar that stood in the holy place. Comp Ex. 30:22–28." (Bush)