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 27:1

The Altar

27:1 “You are to make the ⁸  altar of acacia wood, seven feet six inches long, ⁹  and seven feet six inches wide; the altar is to be square, ¹⁰  and its height is to be ¹¹  four feet six inches.

Exodus 2:1

The Birth of the Deliverer

2:1 ¹² A man from the household ¹³  of Levi married ¹⁴  a woman who was a descendant of Levi. ¹⁵ 

Exodus 3:3

3:3 So Moses thought, ¹⁶  “I will turn aside to see ¹⁷  this amazing ¹⁸  sight. Why does the bush not burn up?” ¹⁹ 

Exodus 3:1

3:1 Now Moses ²⁰  was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert ²¹  and came to the mountain of God, to Horeb. ²² 

Exodus 23:13

23:13 “Pay attention to do ²³  everything I have told you, and do not even mention ²⁴  the names of other gods – do not let them be heard on your lips. ²⁵ 

Luke 1:9

1:9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, ²⁶  to enter ²⁷  the holy place ²⁸  of the Lord and burn incense.

Acts 6:4

6:4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

[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.

[27:1]  ⁸ tn The article on this word identifies this as the altar, meaning the main high altar on which the sacrifices would be made.

[27:1]  ⁹ tn The dimensions are five cubits by five cubits by three cubits high.

[27:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “four”; this refers to four sides. S. R. Driver says this is an archaism that means there were four equal sides (Exodus, 291).

[27:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and three cubits its height.”

[2:1]  ¹² sn The chapter records the exceptional survival of Moses under the decree of death by Pharaoh (vv. 1-10), the flight of Moses from Pharaoh after killing the Egyptian (vv. 11-15), the marriage of Moses (vv. 16-22), and finally a note about the Lord’s hearing the sighing of the people in bondage (vv. 23-25). The first part is the birth. The Bible has several stories about miraculous or special births and deliverances of those destined to lead Israel. Their impact is essentially to authenticate the individual’s ministry. If the person’s beginning was providentially provided and protected by the Lord, then the mission must be of divine origin too. In this chapter the plot works around the decree for the death of the children – a decree undone by the women. The second part of the chapter records Moses’ flight and marriage. Having introduced the deliverer Moses in such an auspicious way, the chapter then records how this deliverer acted presumptuously and had to flee for his life. Any deliverance God desired had to be supernatural, as the chapter’s final note about answering prayer shows.

[2:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “house.” In other words, the tribe of Levi.

[2:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “went and took”; NASB “went and married.”

[2:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “a daughter of Levi.” The word “daughter” is used in the sense of “descendant” and connects the new account with Pharaoh’s command in 1:22. The words “a woman who was” are added for clarity in English.

[3:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “And Moses said.” The implication is that Moses said this to himself.

[3:3]  ¹⁷ tn The construction uses the cohortative אָסֻרָה־נָּא (’asura-nna’) followed by an imperfect with vav (וְאֶרְאֶה, vÿ’er’eh) to express the purpose or result (logical sequence): “I will turn aside in order that I may see.”

[3:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “great.” The word means something extraordinary here. In using this term Moses revealed his reaction to the strange sight and his anticipation that something special was about to happen. So he turned away from the flock to investigate.

[3:3]  ¹⁹ tn The verb is an imperfect. Here it has the progressive nuance – the bush is not burning up.

[3:1]  ²⁰ sn The vav (ו) disjunctive with the name “Moses” introduces a new and important starting point. The Lord’s dealing with Moses will fill the next two chapters.

[3:1]  ²¹ tn Or “west of the desert,” taking אַחַר (’akhar, “behind”) as the opposite of עַל־פְּנֵי (’al-pÿne, “on the face of, east of”; cf. Gen 16:12; 25:18).

[3:1]  ²² sn “Horeb” is another name for Mount Sinai. There is a good deal of foreshadowing in this verse, for later Moses would shepherd the people of Israel and lead them to Mount Sinai to receive the Law. See D. Skinner, “Some Major Themes of Exodus,” Mid-America Theological Journal 1 (1977): 31-42.

[23:13]  ²³ tn The phrase “to do” is added; in Hebrew word order the line says, “In all that I have said to you you will watch yourselves.” The verb for paying attention is a Niphal imperfect with an imperatival force.

[23:13]  ²⁴ tn Or “honor,” Hiphil of זָכַר (zakhar). See also Exod 20:25; Josh 23:7; Isa 26:13.

[23:13]  ²⁵ tn Heb “mouth.”

[1:9]  ²⁶ tn Grk “according to the custom of the priesthood it fell to him by lot.” The order of the clauses has been rearranged in the translation to make it clear that the prepositional phrase κατὰ τὸ ἔθος τῆς ἱερατείας (kata to eqo" th" Jierateia", “according to the custom of the priesthood”) modifies the phrase “it fell to him by lot” rather than the preceding clause.

[1:9]  ²⁷ tn This is an aorist participle and is temporally related to the offering of incense, not to when the lot fell.

[1:9]  ²⁸ tn Or “temple.” Such sacrifices, which included the burning of incense, would have occurred in the holy place according to the Mishnah (m. Tamid 1.2; 3.1; 5-7). A priest would have given this sacrifice, which was offered for the nation, once in one’s career. It would be offered either at 9 a.m. or 3 p.m., since it was made twice a day.