Exodus 19:11

19:11 and be ready for the third day, for on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.

Exodus 25:20

25:20 The cherubim are to be spreading their wings upward, overshadowing ¹  the atonement lid with their wings, and the cherubim are to face each other, ²  looking ³  toward the atonement lid.

Exodus 26:25

26:25 So there are to be eight frames and their silver bases, sixteen bases, two bases under the first frame, and two bases under the next frame.

Exodus 36:29-30

36:29 At the two corners ⁴  they were doubled at the lower end and ⁵  finished together at the top in one ring. So he did for both. 36:30 So there were eight frames and their silver bases, sixteen bases, two bases under each frame.

¹ tn The verb means “overshadowing, screening” in the sense of guarding (see 1 Kgs 8:7; 1 Chr 28:18; see also the account in Gen 3:24). The cherubim then signify two things here: by their outstretched wings they form the throne of God who sits above the ark (with the Law under his feet), and by their overshadowing and guarding they signify this as the place of atonement where people must find propitiation to commune with God. Until then they are barred from his presence. See U. Cassuto, Exodus, 330-35.

² tn Heb “their faces a man to his brother.”

³ tn Heb “the faces of the cherubim will be” (“the cherubim” was moved to the preceding clause for smoother English).

¹ tn This is the last phrase of the verse, moved forward for clarity.

² tn This difficult verse uses the perfect tense at the beginning, and the second clause parallels it with יִהְיוּ (yihyu), which has to be taken here as a preterite without the consecutive vav (ו). The predicate “finished” or “completed” is the word תָּמִּים (tammim); it normally means “complete, sound, whole,” and related words describe the sacrifices as without blemish.