Exodus 38:27, commentary and pictures

Of the hundred talents of silver given for the tabernacle, a hundred foundation sockets were cast, one talent for every socket, for the walls of the sanctuary and for the pillars of the vail. The sockets were set in the ground to receive the tenons of the gold-covered boards of the sides and rear and to support the pillars that held the vail between the holy place and the most holy place. The whole was built from the willing gifts of Israel after their deliverance from Egypt, exactly after the pattern God showed to Moses by workmen He specially endowed. It was erected so that God might dwell among His people, as the center of their worship gathered about His law resting beneath the mercy seat. In its beauty and its materials it formed part of a great object-lesson of the plan of salvation, a figure of the heavenly sanctuary whose services pointed to Christ and His power to forgive sin.

Construction and Setting

The verse belongs to the account of the tabernacle's preparation and fitting, which concludes with its being set up on the first day of the first month of the second year after the Exodus. The building and setting up of the sanctuary followed the instructions God gave Moses on the mountain in Exodus 25-31. It was made according to the divine pattern shown to Moses, by workmen specially endowed by God for the work. The tabernacle was made from the free-will offerings of the children of Israel after their deliverance from Egyptian bondage, and the total amounts of gold, silver, and brass show the great value of their willing gifts.

One hundred talents of silver were cast into one hundred sockets for the sanctuary and the vail, one talent of silver for each socket. Each of the silver sockets or bases thus weighed a talent. The building was thirty cubits, forty-five feet, long, ten cubits, fifteen feet, wide, and ten cubits high. Its upright walls were of acacia wood overlaid with gold set in the silver sockets so that it looked like a building of gold, covered by a ceiling curtain of fine-twined linen wrought with needlework and figures of angels and by a tent roof of goat's hair, red ram-skins, and seal or porpoise skins.

The silver sockets were foundations set in the ground. The tenons on the lower ends of the boards forming the sides and rear fitted into them while bars through rings held the tops. Sockets also supported the pillars holding the vail between the two apartments, the holy place and the most holy place, so the sockets belonged both to the outer sanctuary structure and to the vail because the building was divided into two parts. The wilderness tabernacle is called the sanctuary, the earthly sanctuary built at God's command. It was built to be taken down, carried by the Levites, and set up wherever God directed the camp as Israel journeyed.

The verse falls within the laws given through Moses, which include more than the Ten Commandments. Those laws also include statutes and judgments, ceremonial laws, and laws concerning offerings and sacrifices.

Purpose and Meaning

The sanctuary described in this verse was built according to the pattern God showed to Moses, so that God might dwell among Israel. Its marvelously beautiful structure forms part of a great, multiple object-lesson taught by various forms and rites, setting forth the great plan of salvation. The tabernacle was the center of Israel's worship, and that worship revolved around the holy of holies, where God's law rested beneath the mercy seat.

The verse falls within the laws given through Moses, which contain more than the Ten Commandments, including also statutes and judgments, ceremonial laws, and laws concerning offerings and sacrifices. These laws reveal the types by which the substance of the new dispensation is traced from the shadows of the old. The earthly sanctuary with its materials and furnishings was a figure of the heavenly sanctuary, and its rites and services pointed to Christ and His power to forgive sin. Its typical service ended with Christ's death.