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 39:37

39:37 the pure ⁸  lampstand, its lamps, with the lamps set in order, and all its accessories, and oil for the light;

Exodus 40:24

40:24 And he put the lampstand in the tent of meeting opposite the table, on the south side of the tabernacle.

Numbers 8:2-4

8:2 “Speak to Aaron and tell him, ‘When you set up ⁹  the lamps, the seven lamps are to give light ¹⁰  in front of the lampstand.’”

8:3 And Aaron did so; he set up the lamps to face toward the front of the lampstand, as the Lord commanded Moses. 8:4 This is how the lampstand was made: ¹¹  It was beaten work in gold; ¹²  from its shaft to its flowers it was beaten work. According to the pattern which the Lord had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand.

Numbers 8:1

Lighting the Lamps

8:1 ¹³ The Lord spoke to Moses:

Numbers 3:3-4

3:3 These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the anointed ¹⁴  priests, whom he consecrated ¹⁵  to minister as priests. ¹⁶ 

3:4 Nadab and Abihu died ¹⁷  before the Lord ¹⁸  when they offered ¹⁹  strange ²⁰  fire ²¹  before the Lord in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children. ²²  So Eleazar and Ithamar ministered as priests ²³  in the presence of ²⁴  Aaron their father.

[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.

[39:37]  ⁸ tn Possibly meaning “pure gold lampstand.”

[8:2]  ⁹ tn The verb is עָלָה (’alah). The Hiphil infinitive construct functions in a temporal clause. The idea of arranging the lamps on the lampstand certainly involved raising the lamps and placing them on the tops of each shaft and branch. Some have taken the idea to mean cause the flame to go up, or light the lamps.

[8:2]  ¹⁰ tn The imperfect tense forms part of the instruction, and so the translation has to indicate that. The instruction would seem obvious, but the light was to shine in the area immediately in front of the lampstand, so that it would illumine the way and illumine the table that was across the room (hence, “in front of”).

[8:4]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew text literally has “and this is the work of the lampstand,” but that rendering does not convey the sense that it is describing how it was made.

[8:4]  ¹² sn The idea is that it was all hammered from a single plate of gold.

[8:1]  ¹³ sn This chapter has three main sections to it: the lighting of the lamps (vv. 1-4), the separation of the Levites (vv. 5-22), and the work of the Levites (vv. 23-26). Many modern scholars assume that the chapter belongs to P and was added late. But the chapter reiterates some of the Mosaic material concerning the work of the Levites in the new sanctuary. For the chapter to make sense the historical setting must be accepted; if the historical setting is accepted, the chapter is necessary as part of that early legislation. For more reading, see M. Haran, “The Nature of the’ohel mo‘edh in the Pentateuchal Sources,” JSS 5 (1960): 50-65, and “The Priestly Image of the Tabernacle,” HUCA 36 (1965): 191-226; and C. L. Meyers, The Tabernacle Menorah.

[3:3]  ¹⁴ tn The verb מָשַׁח (mashakh) means “to anoint”; here the form modifies the “priests.” The service of consecration was carried out with anointing oil (Exod 30:30). The verb is used for the anointing of kings as well as priests in the OT, and so out of that derived the technical title “Messiah” for the coming ideal king – the “Anointed One.”

[3:3]  ¹⁵ tn In this verse the expression is in a relative clause: “who he filled their hand” means “whose hands he filled,” or “whom he consecrated.” The idiomatic expression used here is from Lev 8; it literally is “he filled their hand” (מִלֵּא יָדָם, mille’ yadam). In the ordination service Moses placed some of the meat from the sacrifice in the hand of the ordinand, and this signified what he was going to be about – having his hand full, or being consecrated to the priesthood. There is some evidence that this practice or expression was also known in Mesopotamia. In modern ordination services a NT or a Bible may be placed in the ordinand’s hand – it is what the ministry will be about.

[3:3]  ¹⁶ tn The form is an infinitival construction for the word for the priest, showing the purpose for the filling of the hands.

[3:4]  ¹⁷ tn The verb form is the preterite with vav (ו) consecutive, literally “and Nadab died.” Some commentators wish to make the verb a past perfect, rendering it “and Nadab had died,” but this is not necessary. In tracing through the line from Aaron it simply reports that the first two sons died. The reference is to the event recorded in Lev 10 where the sons brought “strange” or foreign” fire to the sanctuary.

[3:4]  ¹⁸ tc This initial clause is omitted in one Hebrew ms, Smr, and the Vulgate.

[3:4]  ¹⁹ tn The form בְּהַקְרִבָם (bÿhaqrivam) is the Hiphil infinitive construct functioning as a temporal clause: “when they brought near,” meaning, “when they offered.” The verb קָרַב (qarav) is familiar to students of the NT because of “corban” in Mark 7:11.

[3:4]  ²⁰ tn Or “prohibited.” See HALOT 279 s.v. זָר 3.

[3:4]  ²¹ tn The expression אֵשׁ זָרָה (’esh zarah, “strange fire”) seems imprecise and has been interpreted numerous ways (see the helpful summary in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC 4], 132-33). The infraction may have involved any of the following or a combination thereof: (1) using coals from some place other than the burnt offering altar (i.e., “unauthorized coals” according to J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:598; cf. Lev 16:12 and cf. “unauthorized person” [אִישׁ זָר, ’ish zar] in Num 16:40 [17:5 HT], NASB “layman”), (2) using the wrong kind of incense (cf. the Exod 30:9 regulation against “strange incense” [קְטֹרֶת זָרָה, qÿtoret zarah] on the incense altar and the possible connection to Exod 30:34-38), (3) performing an incense offering at an unprescribed time (B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 59), or (4) entering the Holy of Holies at an inappropriate time (Lev 16:1-2).

[3:4]  ²² sn The two young priests had been cut down before they had children; the ranks of the family of Aaron were thereby cut in half in one judgment from God. The significance of the act of judgment was to show that the priests had to sanctify the Lord before the people – they were to be examples that the sanctuary and its contents were distinct.

[3:4]  ²³ tn The verb is the Piel preterite from the root כָּהַן (kahan): “to function as a priest” or “to minister.”

[3:4]  ²⁴ tn The expression “in the presence of” can also mean “during the lifetime of” (see Gen 11:28; see also BDB 818 s.v. פָּנֶה II.7.a; cf. NASB, NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV).