Exodus 25:10

The Ark of the Covenant

25:10 ¹ “They are to make an ark ²  of acacia wood – its length is to be three feet nine inches, its width two feet three inches, and its height two feet three inches. ³ 

Exodus 37:1

The Making of the Ark

37:1 Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood; its length was three feet nine inches, its width two feet three inches, and its height two feet three inches.

Exodus 24:6

24:6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and half of the blood he splashed on the altar. ⁴ 

Exodus 25:17

25:17 “You are to make an atonement lid ⁵  of pure gold; ⁶  its length is to be three feet nine inches, and its width is to be two feet three inches.

Exodus 37:6

37:6 He made ⁷  an atonement lid of pure gold; its length was three feet nine inches, and its width was two feet three inches.

Exodus 25:23

The Table for the Bread of the Presence

25:23 ⁸ “You are to make a table of acacia wood; its length is to be three feet, its width one foot six inches, and its height two feet three inches.

Exodus 26:12

26:12 Now the part that remains of the curtains of the tent – the half curtain that remains will hang over at the back of the tabernacle. ⁹ 

Exodus 26:16

26:16 Each ¹⁰  frame is to be fifteen feet long, and each frame is to be two feet three inches wide,

Exodus 27:5

27:5 You are to put it under the ledge of the altar below, so that the network will come ¹¹  halfway up the altar. ¹² 

Exodus 36:21

36:21 The length of each ¹³  frame was fifteen feet, the width of each ¹⁴  frame was two and a quarter feet,

Exodus 37:10

The Making of the Table

37:10 He made the table of acacia wood; its length was three feet, its width one foot six inches, and its height two feet three inches.

Exodus 38:4

38:4 He made a grating for the altar, a network of bronze under its ledge, halfway up from the bottom.

Exodus 12:29

The Deliverance from Egypt

12:29 ¹⁵ It happened ¹⁶  at midnight – the Lord attacked all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the prison, and all the firstborn of the cattle.

[25:10]  ¹ sn This section begins with the ark, the most sacred and important object of Israel’s worship. Verses 10-15 provide the instructions for it, v. 16 has the placement of the Law in it, vv. 17-21 cover the mercy lid, and v. 22 the meeting above it. The point of this item in the tabernacle is to underscore the focus: the covenant people must always have God’s holy standard before them as they draw near to worship. A study of this would focus on God’s nature (he is a God of order, precision, and perfection), on the usefulness of this item for worship, and on the typology intended.

[25:10]  ² tn The word “ark” has long been used by English translations to render אָרוֹן (’aron), the word used for the wooden “box,” or “chest,” made by Noah in which to escape the flood and by the Israelites to furnish the tabernacle.

[25:10]  ³ tn The size is two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. The size in feet and inches is estimated on the assumption that the cubit is 18 inches (see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 267).

[24:6]  ⁴ sn The people and Yahweh through this will be united by blood, for half was spattered on the altar and the other half spattered on/toward the people (v. 8).

[25:17]  ⁷ tn The noun is כַּפֹּרֶת (kapporet), translated “atonement lid” or “atonement plate.” The traditional translation “mercy-seat” (so KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV) came from Tyndale in 1530 and was also used by Luther in 1523. The noun is formed from the word “to make atonement.” The item that the Israelites should make would be more than just a lid for the ark. It would be the place where atonement was signified. The translation of “covering” is probably incorrect, for it derives from a rare use of the verb, if the same verb at all (the evidence shows “cover” is from another root with the same letters as this). The value of this place was that Yahweh sat enthroned above it, and so the ark essentially was the “footstool.” Blood was applied to the lid of the box, for that was the place of atonement (see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 269-270).

[25:17]  ⁸ tn After verbs of making or producing, the accusative (like “gold” here) may be used to express the material from which something is made (see GKC 371 §117.hh).

[37:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and he made.”

[25:23]  ¹³ sn The Table of the Bread of the Presence (Tyndale’s translation, “Shewbread,” was used in KJV and influenced ASV, NAB) was to be a standing acknowledgment that Yahweh was the giver of daily bread. It was called the “presence-bread” because it was set out in his presence. The theology of this is that God provides, and the practice of this is that the people must provide for constant thanks. So if the ark speaks of communion through atonement, the table speaks of dedicatory gratitude.

[26:12]  ¹⁶ sn U. Cassuto (Exodus, 353) cites b. Shabbat 98b which says, “What did the tabernacle resemble? A woman walking on the street with her train trailing behind her.” In the expression “the half of the curtain that remains,” the verb agrees in gender with the genitive near it.

[26:16]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the frame.”

[27:5]  ²² tn The verb is the verb “to be,” here the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive. It is “and it will be” or “that it may be,” or here “that it may come” halfway up.

[27:5]  ²³ tn Heb “to the half of the altar.”

[36:21]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the frame.”

[36:21]  ²⁶ tn Heb “the one.”

[12:29]  ²⁸ sn The next section records the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, and so becomes the turning point of the book. Verses 28 and 29 could be included in the exposition of the previous section as the culmination of that part. The message might highlight God’s requirement for deliverance from bondage through the application of the blood of the sacrifice, God’s instruction for the memorial of deliverance through the purging of corruption, and the compliance of those who believed the message. But these verses also form the beginning of this next section (and so could be used transitionally). This unit includes the judgment on Egypt (29-30), the exodus from Egypt (31-39) and the historical summation and report (40-42).

[12:29]  ²⁹ tn The verse begins with the temporal indicator וַיְהִי (vayÿhi), often translated “and it came to pass.” Here it could be left untranslated: “In the middle of the night Yahweh attacked.” The word order of the next and main clause furthers the emphasis by means of the vav disjunctive on the divine name preceding the verb. The combination of these initial and disjunctive elements helps to convey the suddenness of the attack, while its thoroughness is stressed by the repetition of “firstborn” in the rest of the verse, the merism (“from the firstborn of Pharaoh…to the firstborn of the captive”), and the mention of cattle.