
Text -- Exodus 38:8 (NET)




Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics



collapse allCommentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)
Wesley: Exo 38:8 - -- This laver signified the provision that is made in the gospel for cleansing our souls from the pollution of sin by the merit of Christ, that we may be...
This laver signified the provision that is made in the gospel for cleansing our souls from the pollution of sin by the merit of Christ, that we may be fit to serve the holy God in holy duties.

Wesley: Exo 38:8 - -- glasses of the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle. It should seem these women were eminent for devotion, attending more constantly at ...
glasses of the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle. It should seem these women were eminent for devotion, attending more constantly at the place of public worship than others, and notice is here taken of it to their honour.

Wesley: Exo 38:8 - -- glasses were of the finest brass, burnished for that purpose. In the laver, either they were artfully joined together, or else molten down and cast an...
glasses were of the finest brass, burnished for that purpose. In the laver, either they were artfully joined together, or else molten down and cast anew; but it is probable the laver was so brightly burnished that the sides of it still served for looking - glasses, that the priests when they came to wash might there see their faces, and so discover the spots to wash them clean.
JFB: Exo 38:8 - -- The word mirrors should have been used, as those implements, usually round, inserted into a handle of wood, stone, or metal, were made of brass, silve...
The word mirrors should have been used, as those implements, usually round, inserted into a handle of wood, stone, or metal, were made of brass, silver, or bronze, highly polished [WILKINSON]. It was customary for the Egyptian women to carry mirrors with them to the temples; and whether by taking the looking glasses of the Hebrew women Moses designed to put it out of their power to follow a similar practice at the tabernacle, or whether the supply of brass from other sources in the camp was exhausted, it is interesting to learn how zealously and to a vast extent they surrendered those valued accompaniments of the female toilet.

JFB: Exo 38:8 - -- Not priestesses but women of pious character and influence, who frequented the courts of the sacred building (Luk 2:37), and whose parting with their ...
Not priestesses but women of pious character and influence, who frequented the courts of the sacred building (Luk 2:37), and whose parting with their mirrors, like the cutting the hair of the Nazarites, was their renouncing the world for a season [HENGSTENBERG].
He made the laver - See Clarke’ s note on Exo 30:18, etc

Clarke: Exo 38:8 - -- The looking-glasses - The word מראת maroth , from ראה raah , he saw, signifies reflectors or mirrors of any kind. Here metal, highly polish...
The looking-glasses - The word

Clarke: Exo 38:8 - -- Of the women - which assembled at the door - What the employment of these women was at the door of the tabernacle, is not easily known. Some think t...
Of the women - which assembled at the door - What the employment of these women was at the door of the tabernacle, is not easily known. Some think they assembled there for purposes of devotion. Others, that they kept watch there during the night; and this is the most probable opinion, for they appear to have been in the same employment as those who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation in the days of Samuel, who were abused by the sons of the high priest Eli, 1Sa 2:22. Among the ancients women were generally employed in the office of porters or doorkeepers. Such were employed about the house of the high priest in our Lord’ s time; for a woman is actually represented as keeping the door of the palace of the high priest, Joh 18:17 : Then saith the Damsel that Kept The Door unto Peter; see also Mat 26:69. In 2Sa 4:6, both the Septuagint and Vulgate make a woman porter or doorkeeper to Ishbosheth. Aristophanes mentions them in the same office, and calls them
Homer, Odyss.,
And Euripides, in Troad., ver. 197, brings in Hecuba, complaining that she who was wont to sit upon a throne is now reduced to the miserable necessity of becoming a doorkeeper or a nurse, in order to get a morsel of bread
- - -
Sir John Chardin observes, that women are employed to keep the gate of the palace of the Persian kings. Plautus, Curcul., act 1, scene 1, mentions an old woman, who was keeper of the gate
Anus hic solet cubitare, custos janitrix
Many other examples might be produced. It is therefore very likely that the persons mentioned here, and in 1Sa 2:22, were the women who guarded the tabernacle; and that they regularly relieved each other, a troop or company regularly keeping watch: and indeed this seems to be implied in the original,
TSK -> Exo 38:8
TSK: Exo 38:8 - -- the laver : Exo 30:18-21, Exo 40:7, Exo 40:30-32; 1Ki 7:23-26, 1Ki 7:38; Psa 26:6; Zec 13:1; Joh 13:10; Tit 3:5, Tit 3:6; Heb 9:10; 1Jo 3:7; Rev 1:5, ...
the laver : Exo 30:18-21, Exo 40:7, Exo 40:30-32; 1Ki 7:23-26, 1Ki 7:38; Psa 26:6; Zec 13:1; Joh 13:10; Tit 3:5, Tit 3:6; Heb 9:10; 1Jo 3:7; Rev 1:5, looking glasses, or, brazen glasses, The word
assembling : Heb. assembling by troops, It is supposed that these women kept watch during the night. Among the ancients, women were generally employed as door-keepers. See note on 1Sa 2:22. Pro 8:34; Mat 26:69; Luk 2:37; Joh 18:16; 1Ti 5:5

collapse allCommentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)
Barnes -> Exo 38:8
Barnes: Exo 38:8 - -- See the marginal reference. The women who assembled at the entrance of the tent of meeting were most probably devout women who loved the public serv...
See the marginal reference. The women who assembled at the entrance of the tent of meeting were most probably devout women who loved the public service of religion. The giving up of their mirrors for the use of the sanctuary was a fit sacrifice for such women to make (compare Exo 35:22 note).
Poole -> Exo 38:8
Poole: Exo 38:8 - -- Looking-glasses , as now they are sometimes made of polished steel, so anciently were made of polished brass, as appears both from sacred and from pro...
Looking-glasses , as now they are sometimes made of polished steel, so anciently were made of polished brass, as appears both from sacred and from profane writers. See Job 37:18 Phi 3:9 , &c. The words following seem to note a company of religious women, who in a more peculiar manner devoted themselves to the service of God in or about his tabernacle, by fasting, prayer, &c. See 1Sa 2:22 Luk 2:37 . And whereas some object that the tabernacle was not yet built, it may be replied, either that this is to be understood of the tabernacle spoken of Exo 33:7 , which might serve for that purpose till this was built; or that here is a prolepsis or anticipation, and that he speaks not of what the women now did, but of what they did after the tabernacle was built, which was before Moses writ these words.
Haydock -> Exo 38:8
Haydock: Exo 38:8 - -- Mirrors. Formerly all sorts of metal, silver, copper, tin, &c., were used for mirrors, till the Europeans began to make them of glass. The best wer...
Mirrors. Formerly all sorts of metal, silver, copper, tin, &c., were used for mirrors, till the Europeans began to make them of glass. The best were made of a mixture of copper and tin. (Pliny, [Natural History?] xxxiii. 9.) ---
Watched. Hebrew, served like soldiers: fasting and praying, according to the Septuagint and Chaldean. These devout women came thither with great alacrity, to shew their affection towards God, and to consecrate to his service what had hitherto served to nourish vanity. Such were the virgins, mentioned 2 Machabees iii. 19, and those who were abused by the sons of Heli, 1 Kings ii. 22. Ann, the prophetess, and our blessed Lady, were thus also employed in the temple, Luke ii. 37. Women kept watch, singing and dancing before the palace of the Persian kings. (Calmet) ---
When the tabernacle was fixed at Silo, small apartments were probably built for the convenience of these pious women. (Tirinus)
Gill -> Exo 38:8
Gill: Exo 38:8 - -- And he made the laver of brass, and the foot of it of brass,.... Not of the brass of the offering, for of that were made the brazen altar, its grate a...
And he made the laver of brass, and the foot of it of brass,.... Not of the brass of the offering, for of that were made the brazen altar, its grate and vessels, the sockets of the court and court gate, and the pins of the tabernacle, Exo 38:29 but no mention is made there of the laver; for that was made, as here said:
of the looking glasses of the women assembling, which assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation; though these are called looking glasses, it is not to be supposed that they were made of glass as ours are; for of what use could such be in the making of a brazen laver? Some indeed choose to read the words "with the looking glasses" d, and take the sense to be, that there were looking glasses about the laver, affixed to it, that when the priests came to wash, they might see their spots, and the better know how to cleanse themselves from them: but it should be observed, that the priests did not come hither to wash their faces, but their hands and feet, Exo 30:19 and so stood in no need of looking glasses for that purpose. The particle

expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes -> Exo 38:8
NET Notes: Exo 38:8 The word for “serve” is not the ordinary one. It means “to serve in a host,” especially in a war. It appears that women were o...
Geneva Bible -> Exo 38:8
Geneva Bible: Exo 38:8 And he made the laver [of] brass, and the foot of it [of] brass, of the ( b ) lookingglasses of [the women] assembling, which assembled [at] the door ...

expand allCommentary -- Verse Range Notes
TSK Synopsis -> Exo 38:1-31
TSK Synopsis: Exo 38:1-31 - --1 The altar of burnt offering.8 The laver of brass.9 The court, and its hangings.21 The sum of what the people offered, and the use to which it was ap...
MHCC -> Exo 38:1-8
MHCC: Exo 38:1-8 - --In all ages of the church there have been some persons more devoted to God, more constant in their attendance upon his ordinances, and more willing to...
Matthew Henry -> Exo 38:1-8
Matthew Henry: Exo 38:1-8 - -- Bezaleel having finished the gold-work, which, though the richest, yet was ordered to lie most out of sight, in the tabernacle itself, here goes on ...
Constable: Exo 15:22--Lev 1:1 - --II. THE ADOPTION OF ISRAEL 15:22--40:38
The second major section of Exodus records the events associated with Go...

Constable: Exo 35:1--40:38 - --E. The construction and dedication of the objects used in Israel's worship chs. 35-40
The renewal of the...

Constable: Exo 36:8--40:1 - --2. Execution of the work 36:8-39:43
Moses described the directions for constructing the tabernac...
