The Lord speaking to Moses opens a further part of the sanctuary instruction given on Mount Sinai during the forty days after the covenant was ratified, before the tabernacle was built and set up. It belongs to the minute description of the tabernacle and its furnishings which Moses was to make exactly according to the pattern shown him in the mount. It introduces the half-shekel ransom required of every Israelite man over twenty when numbered, rich and poor alike, as a sacred contribution for the service of the congregation and the expenses of the tabernacle. The sanctuary thus appointed, with its structure, sacrifices and services, was a divinely directed type and object-lesson of the great temple in heaven and of Christ's saving and priestly work.
Words and Historical Setting
The Lord's speaking to Moses marks the beginning of His instructions concerning the sanctuary, given while Moses was on the mountain on Sinai for forty days and nights after Israel's covenant had been ratified. It was during that forty days' stay that God gave him the tables of stone together with the detailed instructions for the construction of the tabernacle and its furniture. In chronological order it stands within Exodus 19 to Exodus 32, before the building and setting up of the sanctuary recorded in Exodus 33 to Exodus 40. The instructions show how particular God was about His worship, identifying Exodus 25-31 as the detailed account of the tabernacle's construction and furnishings, including its two apartments and the place where God manifested His presence. Within those instructions God established the sanctuary and its services and the priesthood.
It belongs to the very minute description of the tabernacle and its construction and furnishings given in Exodus 25 to 30, also stated as Exodus 25 to 31, and extended as Exodus 25 to 40. Moses was to make it exactly according to the pattern shown him in the mount, as His dwelling place among Israel and the center of their worship. While Exodus 25-30 principally contains the directions, Exodus 35-40 records their execution. Careful study of these instructions offers practical lessons and spiritual nourishment.
The sanctuary commanded in the wilderness was the inner tabernacle building told in Exodus 25 to 40, God's dwelling place among Israel. It was erected after Israel's deliverance from Egyptian bondage, following God's instruction to ask free-will offerings of the children of Israel so they would make Him a sanctuary that He might dwell among them. It was built by workmen God specially endowed according to the divine pattern given to Moses in the mount, as a great multiple object-lesson by various forms and rites teaching the great plan of salvation. It became the center of God's worship on earth, later replaced by Solomon's temple as that center, where all worship and service revolved around the holy of holies where the law of God rested beneath the mercy-seat.
It belongs to the laws God gave through Moses, which include moral laws, statutes and judgments, and laws about offerings, sacrifices, and types. Unlike the Ten Commandments spoken directly to the people and written on stone, these further instructions were given through Moses after the people asked him to receive instruction on their behalf. In the record Moses sets out both the moral law and the law of ordinances in full, with the moral law given first, followed by the ordinances. The additional instruction recorded in Exodus 25-30 dealt with ceremonial matters, including offerings with reference to flesh that could not themselves take away sin but pointed to the sacrifice of Christ. Those ceremonial requirements were burdensome and imposed until the time of reformation, and are to be remembered so the realities of the new dispensation can be traced through the shadows of the old.
Sanctuary Service and Meaning
The verse opens the directions for the regular daily ministration in the first apartment, or holy place, of the earthly sanctuary. That ministration centered on the burning of sweet incense on the golden altar of incense every morning when the lamps were dressed and every evening when they were lighted. With it belonged the morning and evening burnt-offering and the appointed work for Sabbaths, annual sabbaths, new moons and feasts.
It introduces the half-shekel ransom required of each Israelite man over twenty when counted, rich and poor alike. The sum was a sacred contribution for the service of the congregation and for the expenses of the tabernacle and later the temple. It was a temple contribution for religion, not a civil tax, distinct from the nation's tithes and regarded as a voluntary offering.
Collected when the people were numbered to fund the tabernacle, the payment had since the Babylonian captivity been required yearly as a sacred duty. At Passover it was connected with the temple's worship, and its proceeds supported the temple and its services. Jews wherever dispersed continued it until after Vespasian ordered it paid into the Roman treasury.
It belongs to the instructions establishing the priesthood for Aaron and his sons, after which others were not to perform priestly rites unless the Lord specially directed them. The sanctuary thus built, with its dimensions, materials, furnishings, sacrifices and services given by God to Moses as a dwelling place for God among Israel, was a divinely directed type of the heavenly sanctuary and of Christ's saving work. Through the instructions for building the sanctuary and preparing its services God set forth His plan for salvation from sin, revealing God's way and teaching about Christ's priestly work in the heavenly sanctuary.
That sacrificial service of ministry involving sacrifices and offerings passed away when Christ came and died once for all. The sanctuary typified the great temple in heaven, where Jesus now ministers. Silver means redemptive value, so the boards resting in sockets of silver declare that salvation rests on Christ's merit because of the redeeming value He secured. The foundation for the building was nothing artificial but one the Lord Himself provided, so the church of Christ rests on Him as the only foundation laid.
The due was not a civil tax to the Roman government but a sacred offering for God's service. Christ's custom of paying all common taxes and tributes shows that the children of God are subject to all civil laws where they live and should pay the taxes levied by public authority. Even when a tax is unjust they do not rebel, because their work is to reform the morals of the world and not the politics of nations.
The Lord speaking to Moses opens a further part of the sanctuary instruction given on Mount Sinai during the forty days after the covenant was ratified, before the tabernacle was built and set up. It belongs to the minute description of the tabernacle and its furnishings which Moses was to make exactly according to the pattern shown him in the mount. It introduces the half-shekel ransom required of every Israelite man over twenty when numbered, rich and poor alike, as a sacred contribution for the service of the congregation and the expenses of the tabernacle. The sanctuary thus appointed, with its structure, sacrifices and services, was a divinely directed type and object-lesson of the great temple in heaven and of Christ's saving and priestly work.
Words and Historical Setting
The Lord's speaking to Moses marks the beginning of His instructions concerning the sanctuary, given while Moses was on the mountain on Sinai for forty days and nights after Israel's covenant had been ratified. It was during that forty days' stay that God gave him the tables of stone together with the detailed instructions for the construction of the tabernacle and its furniture. In chronological order it stands within Exodus 19 to Exodus 32, before the building and setting up of the sanctuary recorded in Exodus 33 to Exodus 40. The instructions show how particular God was about His worship, identifying Exodus 25-31 as the detailed account of the tabernacle's construction and furnishings, including its two apartments and the place where God manifested His presence. Within those instructions God established the sanctuary and its services and the priesthood.
It belongs to the very minute description of the tabernacle and its construction and furnishings given in Exodus 25 to 30, also stated as Exodus 25 to 31, and extended as Exodus 25 to 40. Moses was to make it exactly according to the pattern shown him in the mount, as His dwelling place among Israel and the center of their worship. While Exodus 25-30 principally contains the directions, Exodus 35-40 records their execution. Careful study of these instructions offers practical lessons and spiritual nourishment.
The sanctuary commanded in the wilderness was the inner tabernacle building told in Exodus 25 to 40, God's dwelling place among Israel. It was erected after Israel's deliverance from Egyptian bondage, following God's instruction to ask free-will offerings of the children of Israel so they would make Him a sanctuary that He might dwell among them. It was built by workmen God specially endowed according to the divine pattern given to Moses in the mount, as a great multiple object-lesson by various forms and rites teaching the great plan of salvation. It became the center of God's worship on earth, later replaced by Solomon's temple as that center, where all worship and service revolved around the holy of holies where the law of God rested beneath the mercy-seat.
It belongs to the laws God gave through Moses, which include moral laws, statutes and judgments, and laws about offerings, sacrifices, and types. Unlike the Ten Commandments spoken directly to the people and written on stone, these further instructions were given through Moses after the people asked him to receive instruction on their behalf. In the record Moses sets out both the moral law and the law of ordinances in full, with the moral law given first, followed by the ordinances. The additional instruction recorded in Exodus 25-30 dealt with ceremonial matters, including offerings with reference to flesh that could not themselves take away sin but pointed to the sacrifice of Christ. Those ceremonial requirements were burdensome and imposed until the time of reformation, and are to be remembered so the realities of the new dispensation can be traced through the shadows of the old.
Sanctuary Service and Meaning
The verse opens the directions for the regular daily ministration in the first apartment, or holy place, of the earthly sanctuary. That ministration centered on the burning of sweet incense on the golden altar of incense every morning when the lamps were dressed and every evening when they were lighted. With it belonged the morning and evening burnt-offering and the appointed work for Sabbaths, annual sabbaths, new moons and feasts.
It introduces the half-shekel ransom required of each Israelite man over twenty when counted, rich and poor alike. The sum was a sacred contribution for the service of the congregation and for the expenses of the tabernacle and later the temple. It was a temple contribution for religion, not a civil tax, distinct from the nation's tithes and regarded as a voluntary offering.
Collected when the people were numbered to fund the tabernacle, the payment had since the Babylonian captivity been required yearly as a sacred duty. At Passover it was connected with the temple's worship, and its proceeds supported the temple and its services. Jews wherever dispersed continued it until after Vespasian ordered it paid into the Roman treasury.
It belongs to the instructions establishing the priesthood for Aaron and his sons, after which others were not to perform priestly rites unless the Lord specially directed them. The sanctuary thus built, with its dimensions, materials, furnishings, sacrifices and services given by God to Moses as a dwelling place for God among Israel, was a divinely directed type of the heavenly sanctuary and of Christ's saving work. Through the instructions for building the sanctuary and preparing its services God set forth His plan for salvation from sin, revealing God's way and teaching about Christ's priestly work in the heavenly sanctuary.
That sacrificial service of ministry involving sacrifices and offerings passed away when Christ came and died once for all. The sanctuary typified the great temple in heaven, where Jesus now ministers. Silver means redemptive value, so the boards resting in sockets of silver declare that salvation rests on Christ's merit because of the redeeming value He secured. The foundation for the building was nothing artificial but one the Lord Himself provided, so the church of Christ rests on Him as the only foundation laid.
The due was not a civil tax to the Roman government but a sacred offering for God's service. Christ's custom of paying all common taxes and tributes shows that the children of God are subject to all civil laws where they live and should pay the taxes levied by public authority. Even when a tax is unjust they do not rebel, because their work is to reform the morals of the world and not the politics of nations.