Exodus 25:40

25:40 Now be sure to make ¹  them according to the pattern you were shown ²  on the mountain. ³ 

Exodus 26:30

26:30 You are to set up the tabernacle according to the plan ⁴  that you were shown on the mountain.

Exodus 26:1

The Tabernacle

26:1 ⁵ “The tabernacle itself ⁶  you are to make with ⁷  ten curtains of fine twisted linen and blue and purple and scarlet; ⁸  you are to make them with ⁹  cherubim that are the work of an artistic designer.

Exodus 28:11

28:11 You are to engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel with the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a seal; ¹⁰  you are to have them set ¹¹  in gold filigree ¹²  settings.

Exodus 28:19

28:19 and the third row, a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst;

Hebrews 8:2

8:2 a minister in the sanctuary and the true tabernacle that the Lord, not man, set up.

Hebrews 8:5

8:5 The place where they serve is ¹³  a sketch ¹⁴  and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary, just as Moses was warned by God as he was about to complete the tabernacle. For he says, “See that you make everything according to the design ¹⁵  shown to you on the mountain.” ¹⁶ 

[25:40]  ¹ tn The text uses two imperatives: “see and make.” This can be interpreted as a verbal hendiadys, calling for Moses and Israel to see to it that they make these things correctly.

[25:40]  ² tn The participle is passive, “caused to see,” or, “shown.”

[25:40]  ³ sn The message of this section surely concerns access to God. To expound this correctly, though, since it is an instruction section for building the lampstand, the message would be: God requires that his people ensure that light will guide the way of access to God. The breakdown for exposition could be the instructions for preparation for light (one lamp, several branches), then instructions for the purpose and maintenance of the lamps, and then the last verse telling the divine source for the instructions. Naturally, the metaphorical value of light will come up in the study, especially from the NT. So in the NT there is the warning that if churches are unfaithful God will remove their lampstand, their ministry (Rev 2-3).

[26:30]  ⁴ tn The noun is מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat), often translated “judgment” or “decision” in other contexts. In those settings it may reflect its basic idea of custom, which here would be reflected with a rendering of “prescribed norm” or “plan.”

[26:1]  ⁵ sn This chapter is given over to the details of the structure itself, the curtains, coverings, boards and walls and veil. The passage can be studied on one level for its function both practically and symbolically for Israel’s worship. On another level it can be studied for its typology, for the tabernacle and many of its parts speak of Christ. For this one should see the commentaries.

[26:1]  ⁶ tn The word order in Hebrew thrusts the direct object to the front for particular emphasis. After the first couple of pieces of furniture are treated (chap. 25), attention turns to the tabernacle itself.

[26:1]  ⁷ tn This is for the adverbial accusative explaining how the dwelling place is to be made.

[26:1]  ⁸ sn S. R. Driver suggests that the curtains were made with threads dyed with these colors (Exodus, 280). Perhaps the colored threads were used for embroidering the cherubim in the curtains.

[26:1]  ⁹ tn The construction is difficult in this line because of the word order. “Cherubim” is an adverbial accusative explaining how they were to make the curtains. And מַעֲשֵׂה חֹשֵׁב (ma’aseh khoshev) means literally “work of a designer”; it is in apposition to “cherubim.” The Hebrew participle means “designer” or “deviser” so that one could render this “of artistic designs in weaving” (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 280-81). B. Jacob says that it refers to “artistic weavers” (Exodus, 789).

[28:11]  ¹⁰ sn Expert stone or gem engravers were used to engrave designs and names in identification seals of various sizes. It was work that skilled artisans did.

[28:11]  ¹¹ tn Or “you will mount them” (NRSV similar).

[28:11]  ¹² tn Or “rosettes,” shield-like frames for the stones. The Hebrew word means “to plait, checker.”

[8:5]  ¹³ tn Grk “who serve in,” referring to the Levitical priests, but focusing on the provisional and typological nature of the tabernacle in which they served.

[8:5]  ¹⁴ tn Or “prototype,” “outline.” The Greek word ὑπόδειγμα (Jupodeigma) does not mean “copy,” as it is often translated; it means “something to be copied,” a basis for imitation. BDAG 1037 s.v. 2 lists both Heb 8:5 and 9:23 under the second category of usage, “an indication of someth. that appears at a subsequent time,” emphasizing the temporal progression between the earthly and heavenly sanctuaries.

[8:5]  ¹⁵ tn The word τύπος (tupos) here has the meaning “an archetype serving as a model, type, pattern, model” (BDAG 1020 s.v. 6.a). This is in keeping with the horizontal imagery accepted for this verse (see sn on “sketch” earlier in the verse). Here Moses was shown the future heavenly sanctuary which, though it did not yet exist, became the outline for the earthly sanctuary.

[8:5]  ¹⁶ sn A quotation from Exod 25:40.