Daily Devotional Sunday 18th July 2021

by William Moody

Exodus 27

The Bronze Altar

27:1 “You shall make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits1 long and five cubits broad. The altar shall be square, and its height shall be three cubits. And you shall make horns for it on its four corners; its horns shall be of one piece with it, and you shall overlay it with bronze. You shall make pots for it to receive its ashes, and shovels and basins and forks and fire pans. You shall make all its utensils of bronze. You shall also make for it a grating, a network of bronze, and on the net you shall make four bronze rings at its four corners. And you shall set it under the ledge of the altar so that the net extends halfway down the altar. And you shall make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with bronze. And the poles shall be put through the rings, so that the poles are on the two sides of the altar when it is carried. You shall make it hollow, with boards. As it has been shown you on the mountain, so shall it be made.

The Court of the Tabernacle

“You shall make the court of the tabernacle. On the south side the court shall have hangings of fine twined linen a hundred cubits long for one side. 10 Its twenty pillars and their twenty bases shall be of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver. 11 And likewise for its length on the north side there shall be hangings a hundred cubits long, its pillars twenty and their bases twenty, of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver. 12 And for the breadth of the court on the west side there shall be hangings for fifty cubits, with ten pillars and ten bases. 13 The breadth of the court on the front to the east shall be fifty cubits. 14 The hangings for the one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits, with their three pillars and three bases. 15 On the other side the hangings shall be fifteen cubits, with their three pillars and three bases. 16 For the gate of the court there shall be a screen twenty cubits long, of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, embroidered with needlework. It shall have four pillars and with them four bases. 17 All the pillars around the court shall be filleted with silver. Their hooks shall be of silver, and their bases of bronze. 18 The length of the court shall be a hundred cubits, the breadth fifty, and the height five cubits, with hangings of fine twined linen and bases of bronze. 19 All the utensils of the tabernacle for every use, and all its pegs and all the pegs of the court, shall be of bronze.

Oil for the Lamp

20 “You shall command the people of Israel that they bring to you pure beaten olive oil for the light, that a lamp may regularly be set up to burn. 21 In the tent of meeting, outside the veil that is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall tend it from evening to morning before the LORD. It shall be a statute forever to be observed throughout their generations by the people of Israel.

Footnotes

[1] 27:1 A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters

(ESV)

The court of the tabernacle is now described and again in great detail (v1-19). Again the three colours of blue (heaven), scarlet (royalty) and scarlet (sacrifice) would dominate (v16). The metals of bronze and silver would dominate. Even that the pegs of the tabernacle would be bronze was specified (v19). God cares about this place down to the finest detail.

This reminds us that all we do for the Lord needs to be done to the very best of our ability down to the finest detail.

The outer court would not actually be very big (100 cubits by 50 cubits or 150 feet by 75 feet). This of course was a portable place of worship and needed to be able to be taken down and put up easily.

The oil for the lamp had to be pure oil (v20) which speaks of the Holy Spirit who is perfectly pure who brings light into our darkness. Aaron and the priests had to keep the lamp burning all night.

Through the Holy Spirit we need to keep the light of God’s worship burning in our lives for others to see and be drawn to Christ. Pray about this.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®),
copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.