Exodus 27:20-21

Offering the Oil

27:20 “You are to command the Israelites that they bring ¹  to you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, so that the lamps ²  will burn ³  regularly. ⁴  27:21 In the tent of meeting ⁵  outside the curtain that is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons are to arrange it from evening ⁶  to morning before the Lord. This is to be a lasting ordinance among the Israelites for generations to come. ⁷ 

Exodus 30:7-8

30:7 Aaron is to burn sweet incense ⁸  on it morning by morning; when he attends ⁹  to the lamps he is to burn incense. ¹⁰  30:8 When Aaron sets up the lamps around sundown he is to burn incense on it; it is to be a regular incense offering before the Lord throughout your generations.

Leviticus 24:2-4

24:2 “Command the Israelites to bring ¹¹  to you pure oil of beaten olives for the light, to make a lamp burn continually. ¹²  24:3 Outside the veil-canopy ¹³  of the congregation in the Meeting Tent Aaron ¹⁴  must arrange it from evening until morning before the Lord continually. This is a perpetual statute throughout your generations. ¹⁵  24:4 On the ceremonially pure lampstand ¹⁶  he must arrange the lamps before the Lord continually.

Leviticus 24:2

24:2 “Command the Israelites to bring ¹⁷  to you pure oil of beaten olives for the light, to make a lamp burn continually. ¹⁸ 

Leviticus 13:11

13:11 it is a chronic ¹⁹  disease on the skin of his body, ²⁰  so the priest is to pronounce him unclean. ²¹  The priest ²²  must not merely quarantine him, for he is unclean. ²³ 

[27:20]  ¹ tn The form is the imperfect tense with the vav showing a sequence with the first verb: “you will command…that they take.” The verb “take, receive” is used here as before for receiving an offering and bringing it to the sanctuary.

[27:20]  ² tn Heb “lamp,” which must be a collective singular here.

[27:20]  ³ tn The verb is unusual; it is the Hiphil infinitive construct of עָלָה (’alah), with the sense here of “to set up” to burn, or “to fix on” as in Exod 25:37, or “to kindle” (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 370).

[27:20]  ⁴ sn The word can mean “continually,” but in this context, as well as in the passages on the sacrifices, “regularly” is better, since each morning things were cleaned and restored.

[27:21]  ⁵ tn The LXX has mistakenly rendered this name “the tent of the testimony.”

[27:21]  ⁶ sn The lamps were to be removed in the morning so that the wicks could be trimmed and the oil replenished (30:7) and then lit every evening to burn through the night.

[27:21]  ⁷ sn This is the first of several sections of priestly duties. The point is a simple one here: those who lead the worship use the offerings of the people to ensure that access to God is illumined regularly. The NT will make much of the symbolism of light.

[30:7]  ⁸ tn The text uses a cognate accusative (“incense”) with the verb “to burn” or “to make into incense/sweet smoke.” Then, the noun “sweet spices” is added in apposition to clarify the incense as sweet.

[30:7]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew is בְּהֵיטִיבוֹ (bÿhetivo), a Hiphil infinitive construct serving in a temporal clause. The Hebrew verb means “to make good” and so in this context “to fix” or “to dress.” This refers to cleansing and trimming the lamps.

[30:7]  ¹⁰ sn The point of the little golden altar of incense is normally for intercessory prayer, and then at the Day of Atonement for blood applied atonement. The instructions for making it show that God wanted his people to make a place for prayer. The instructions for its use show that God expects that the requests of his people will be pleasing to him.

[24:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and let them take.” The simple vav (ו) on the imperfect/jussive form of the verb לָקַח (laqakh, “to take”) following the imperative (“Command”) indicates a purpose clause (“to bring…”).

[24:2]  ¹² tn Heb “to cause to ascend a lamp continually.”

[24:3]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew term פָּרֹכֶת (parokhet) is usually translated “veil” or “curtain,” but it seems to have stretched not only in front of but also over the top of the ark of the covenant which stood behind and under it inside the most holy place (see R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 3:687-89).

[24:3]  ¹⁴ tc Several medieval Hebrew mss, Smr, and the LXX add “and his sons.”

[24:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “for your generations.”

[24:4]  ¹⁶ tn Alternatively, “pure [gold] lampstand,” based on Exod 25:31, etc., where the term for “gold” actually appears (see NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT, and the remarks in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 395, etc.). However, in Lev 24:4 the adjective “pure” is feminine, corresponding to “lampstand,” not an assumed noun “gold” (contrast Exod 25:31), and the “table” in v. 6 was overlaid with gold, but was not made of pure gold. Therefore, it is probably better to translate “[ceremonially] pure lampstand” (v. 4) and “[ceremonially] pure table” (v. 6); see NEB; cf. KJV, ASV; B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 164-65; and G. J. Wenham, Leviticus [NICOT], 307.

[24:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and let them take.” The simple vav (ו) on the imperfect/jussive form of the verb לָקַח (laqakh, “to take”) following the imperative (“Command”) indicates a purpose clause (“to bring…”).

[24:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “to cause to ascend a lamp continually.”

[13:11]  ¹⁹ tn The term rendered here “chronic” is a Niphal participle meaning “grown old” (HALOT 448 s.v. II ישׁן nif.2). The idea is that this is an old enduring skin disease that keeps on developing or recurring.

[13:11]  ²⁰ tn Heb “in the skin of his flesh” as opposed to the head or the beard (v. 29; cf. v. 2 above).

[13:11]  ²¹ tn This is the declarative Piel of the verb טָמֵא (tame’, cf. the note on v. 3 above).

[13:11]  ²² tn Heb “he”; the referent (the priest) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:11]  ²³ sn Instead of just the normal quarantine isolation, this condition calls for the more drastic and enduring response stated in Lev 13:45-46. Raw flesh, of course, sometimes oozes blood to one degree or another, and blood flows are by nature impure (see, e.g., Lev 12 and 15; cf. J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 191).