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英文原文
Here is an account, I. Of the making of the brazen altar (Ex 38:1-7), and the laver, Ex 38:8. II. The preparing of the hangings for the enclosing of the court in which the tabernacle was to stand, Ex 38:9-20. III. A summary of the gold, silver, and brass, that was contributed to, and used in, the preparing of the tabernacle, Ex 38:21-31, etc.
1-31
The Tabernacle and Its Furniture (1491 BC)
會幕與其中的器具（主前1491年）
¹ 他用皂莢木做燔祭壇，長五肘，寬五肘，是四方的，高三肘。
² 壇的四角在四角上，與壇接連一塊，用銅把壇包裹。
³ 他做壇的一切器具，就是盆、鏟子、盤子、肉鍤子、火鼎；這一切器具都是用銅做的。
⁴ 他為壇做一個銅網，在壇四面圍邊以下，直到壇的半腰。
⁵ 為銅網的四角鑄四個環子，作為穿杠的用處。
⁶ 用皂莢木做杠，用銅包裹。
⁷ 把杠穿在壇兩旁的環子內，用以抬壇；他用板做壇，壇是空的。
⁸ 他用銅做洗濯盆和盆座，是用會幕門前伺候之婦人的鏡子做的。
比撒列既已完成金工——雖然最豐富，卻被安排在會幕本身中最不顯眼之處——如今繼續預備那敞開在眾人眼前的院子。院子陳設兩樣東西，都是銅做的：
I. 一座燔祭壇（出三十八1-7）。他們的一切祭物都獻在其上；這壇既因這目的而被神的任命分別為聖，也就使那憑信心獻在其上的禮物成聖。基督自己就是他自己贖罪祭的壇，也是我們一切感恩祭的壇。我們獻祭時當仰望他，正如神悅納時也是因他而悅納。
II. 一個洗濯盆，用以盛水供祭司進去事奉時洗滌（出三十八8）。這象徵基督的福音為我們靈魂從罪之道德污染中得潔淨所作的預備——藉著基督的功勞和恩典，使我們配以聖潔的本分事奉聖潔的神。經上說這是用那些在會幕門前聚集之婦人的鏡子（或稱銅鏡）做的。
1. 看來這些婦女在敬虔上卓越而堪為榜樣，比別人更頻繁、更認真地出席公共敬拜之處；經上在此記下這事，以示尊榮。亞拿就是許久之後這樣的一個人，她不離開聖殿，禁食祈求，晝夜事奉神（路二37）。看來在教會的每一個時代，都有一些人以認真熱心的敬虔而如此卓然出眾，她們也因此被分別出來；因為敬虔的婦女實在是尊貴的婦女（徒十三50），不會因為末世譏誚者稱之為無知的婦女而有損其尊貴。也許這些婦女在這場合顯出熱心，協助如今正在進行的會幕事奉之工。她們是成群結隊地聚集——原文如此；看見這麼多人，又如此熱心、如此同心地投入這善工，實在是一幅令人蒙福的景象。
2. 這些婦女捨棄了她們的鏡子（是用最好的銅磨光而成的）供會幕使用。那些自戀自己的美貌、迷戀自己的影子、以華麗衣著為主要裝飾並藉以自誇自薦的婦女，捨不得放棄自己的鏡子；然而這些婦女把它們獻給神——或是（1）作為悔改從前濫用鏡子、助長驕傲虛榮的記號；她們如今既被自己的愚昧所折服、又獻身在會幕門前事奉神，就這樣拋棄那雖本身合法有用、卻曾成為她們犯罪緣由之物。照樣，那曾是罪人的抹大拉的馬利亞，悔改後用頭髮擦基督的腳。或是（2）作為她們對會幕之工極度熱心的記號；寧可讓工匠不缺銅、或用最好的銅，她們也肯捨棄自己的鏡子——即使不能沒有它們。神的事奉和榮耀當常被我們置於自己的任何滿足和便利之上。我們為尊榮神而捨棄的東西，永不要抱怨它的失去。
3. 這些鏡子被用來製造洗濯盆。或被巧妙地拼接在一起，或被熔化重新鑄造；但很可能洗濯盆被打磨得如此光亮，其側面仍可作鏡子之用，使祭司來洗滌時可以照見自己的臉，從而發現污點，洗得乾淨。注意，在悔改的洗滌中，需要自省的鏡子。神的話是一面鏡子，我們可以在其中看見自己的臉（參見雅一23）；我們當用自己的心和生活與之比較，找出我們的瑕疵，好帶着特別的憂傷、並將基督的血應用於我們的靈魂而洗滌。通常我們在認罪上越具體，在赦免之感中就越得安慰。
⁹ 他做帳幕的院子，在南面，向南，院子的帷子是用撚的細麻做的，一百肘。
¹⁰ 帷子的柱子二十根，帶卯的銅座二十個；柱子上的鉤子和杆子都是銀的。
¹¹ 北面也有一百肘。帷子的柱子二十根，帶卯的銅座二十個；柱子上的鉤子和杆子都是銀的。
¹² 西面有帷子，寬五十肘。帷子的柱子十根，帶卯的座十個；柱子上的鉤子和杆子都是銀的。
¹³ 東面，向日出，寬五十肘。
*¹⁴ 門這邊的帷子十五肘；帷子的柱子三根，帶卯的座三個。
¹⁵ 門那邊的帷子也是十五肘；帷子的柱子三根，帶卯的座三個。
¹⁶ 院子四圍的帷子都是用撚的細麻做的。
¹⁷ 帶卯的座是銅的；柱子上的鉤子和杆子是銀的；柱頂包銀；院子一切的柱子都是用銀杆連絡的。
¹⁸ 院子的門簾是以繡花的手工，用藍色、紫色、朱紅色線，和撚的細麻織的，寬二十肘，高五肘，與院子的帷子相配。
¹⁹ 帷子的柱子四根，帶卯的銅座四個；柱子上的鉤子是銀的，柱頂和杆子用銀子包裹。
²⁰ 帳幕一切的橛子和院子四圍帶卯的座都是銅的。
院子的圍牆，或稱教堂院子，與其餘部分一樣是帷子或帷幔，照著出二十七9-19等的指定而做。這代表舊約教會的狀態：它是一座封閉的園；那時敬拜者被局限在一個小小的範圍內。但圍牆只是帷子，暗示教會被局限於一個民族之內不是永久的。那安排本身就是帳幕式的——可移動、可改變的，到了時候要被拆下折疊起來，那時帳棚之地要擴大、繩索要加長，為外邦世界騰出空間，如以賽亞所預言的（賽五十四2-3）。教會在此地上不過是神殿的院子，踏入院子並在其中茂盛的人有福了；但我們經過這些院子，要進入上面的聖所。住在耶和華殿中的人有福了：他們要不斷地讚美他。在會幕前面圍一個院子，教導我們漸漸地親近神。事奉的祭司必須經過聖潔的院子，才能進入聖所。照樣，在莊嚴的聖禮之前，當有分別出來、圍起來的莊嚴預備之院子，在其中我們當洗手，如此以真實的心就近。
²¹ 這是法櫃的帳幕中利未人所用物件的總數，是照摩西的吩咐，經祭司亞倫的兒子以他瑪的手數點的。
²² 猶大支派、戶珥的孫子、烏利的兒子比撒列，做了耶和華所吩咐摩西的一切。
²³ 與他同工的有但支派亞希撒抹的兒子亞何利亞伯；他是雕刻匠，又是巧匠，又能用藍色、紫色、朱紅色線，和細麻繡花。
²⁴ 為聖所一切使用金子所做的工，就是人所奉獻的金子，按聖所的平，共二十九他連得又七百三十舍客勒。
²⁵ 會中被數的人所出的銀子，按聖所的平，有一百他連得並一千七百七十五舍客勒。
²⁶ 凡過去歸那些被數之人的，從二十歲以外，有六十萬零三千五百五十人，按聖所的平，每人出銀半舍客勒，就是一比加。
²⁷ 用那一百他連得銀子，鑄造聖所帶卯的座和幔子帶卯的座；一百他連得鑄一百個帶卯的座，每帶卯的座用一他連得。
²⁸ 用那一千七百七十五舍客勒銀子，做柱子上的鉤子，包裹柱頂，並柱子上的杆子。
²⁹ 所奉獻的銅有七十他連得並二千四百舍客勒。
³⁰ 用這銅做會幕門口帶卯的座和銅壇，並壇的銅網和壇的一切器具，
³¹ 並院子四圍帶卯的座和院門帶卯的座，與帳幕一切的橛子，並院子四圍所有的橛子。
此處我們有一份賬目摘要，是利未人照摩西的安排對為會幕用途所收入金、銀、銅及其用途所做的記錄。亞倫的兒子以他瑪被任命編製這賬目，如此藉較小的服事受訓練、預備承擔更大的事（出三十八21）。比撒列和亞何利亞伯要呈報賬目（出三十八22-23），以他瑪要審核並呈交摩西。情況如下：1. 所有的金子都是甘心祭；各人盡其所能和意願而獻，共計二十九他連得又七百三十舍客勒，有人計算約值十五萬鎊的金子。所有金製的器具和器皿都是用這金子做的。2. 銀子是按稅的方式徵收的；每人被估定半舍客勒——一種人頭稅——共計一百他連得又一千七百七十五舍客勒（出三十八25-26）。他們用這銀子做了安插會幕豎板並承托其重量的帶卯座；所以這些座如同會幕的根基（出三十八27）。銀子按我們的貨幣計算約值三萬四千鎊。金子藉自願奉獻收取，銀子藉進貢方式收取，表明兩種方式都可用於支付公共開支，只要不偏待人即可。3. 銅雖價值較低，卻不僅用於銅壇，也用於院子的帶卯座——大概別的帳棚中這些座是用木頭的；但有應許說（賽六十17）：我必以銅代替木頭。 請看百姓何等慷慨、工匠何等忠心——這兩方面他們的好榜樣都當被效法。
英文原文
The Tabernacle and Its Furniture (1491 BC)
¹ And he made the altar of burnt offering of shittim wood: five cubits was the length thereof, and five cubits the breadth thereof; it was foursquare; and three cubits the height thereof.
² And he made the horns thereof on the four corners of it; the horns thereof were of the same: and he overlaid it with brass.
³ And he made all the vessels of the altar, the pots, and the shovels, and the basons, and the fleshhooks, and the firepans: all the vessels thereof made he of brass.
⁴ And he made for the altar a brazen grate of network under the compass thereof beneath unto the midst of it.
⁵ And he cast four rings for the four ends of the grate of brass, to be places for the staves.
⁶ And he made the staves of shittim wood, and overlaid them with brass.
⁷ And he put the staves into the rings on the sides of the altar, to bear it withal; he made the altar hollow with boards.
⁸ And he made the laver of brass, and the foot of it of brass, of the looking-glasses of the women assembling, which assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
Bezaleel having finished the gold-work, which, though the richest, yet was ordered to lie most out of sight, in the tabernacle itself, here goes on to prepare the court, which lay open to the view of all. Two things the court was furnished with, and both made of brass:—
I. An altar of burnt-offering, Ex 38:1-7. On this all their sacrifices were offered, and it was this which, being sanctified itself for this purpose by the divine appointment, sanctified the gift that was in faith offered on it. Christ was himself the altar to his own sacrifice of atonement, and so he is to all our sacrifices of acknowledgment. We must have an eye to him in offering them, as God has in accepting them.
II. A laver, to hold water for the priests to wash in when they went in to minister, Ex 38:8. This signified the provision that is made in the gospel of Christ for the cleansing of our souls from the moral pollution of sin by the merit and grace of Christ, that we may be fit to serve the holy God in holy duties. This is here said to be made of the looking-glasses (or mirrors) of the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle.
1. It should seem these women were eminent and exemplary for devotion, attending more frequently and seriously at the place of public worship than others did; and notice is here taken of it to their honour. Anna was such a one long afterwards, who departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day, Lu 2:37. It seems in every age of the church there have been some who have thus distinguished themselves by their serious zealous piety, and they have thereby distinguished themselves; for devout women are really honourable women (Ac 13:50), and not the less so for their being called, by the scoffers of the latter days, silly women. Probably these women were such as showed their zeal upon this occasion, by assisting in the work that was now going on for the service of the tabernacle. They assembled by troops, so the word is; a blessed sight, to see so many, and those so zealous and so unanimous, in this good work.
2. These women parted with their mirrors (which were of the finest brass, burnished for that purpose) for the use of the tabernacle. Those women that admire their own beauty, are in love with their own shadow, and make the putting on of apparel their chief adorning by which they value and recommend themselves, can but ill spare their looking-glasses; yet these women offered them to God, either, (1.) In token of their repentance for the former abuse of them, to the support of their pride and vanity; now that they were convinced of their folly, and had devoted themselves to the service of God at the door of the tabernacle, they thus threw away that which, though lawful and useful in itself, yet had been an occasion of sin to them. Thus Mary Magdalene, who had been a sinner, when she became a penitent wiped Christ's feet with her hair. Or, (2.) In token of their great zeal for the work of the tabernacle; rather than the workmen should want brass, or not have of the best, they would part with their mirrors, though they could not do well without them. God's service and glory must always be preferred by us before any satisfactions or accommodations of our own. Let us never complain of the want of that which we may honour God by parting with.
3. These mirrors were used for the making of the laver. Either they were artfully joined together, or else molten down and cast anew; but it is probable that the laver was so brightly burnished that the sides of it still served for mirrors, that the priests, when they came to wash, might there see their faces, and so discover the spots, to wash them clean. Note, In the washing of repentance, there is need of the looking-glass of self-examination. The word of God is a glass, in which we may see our own faces (see Jam 1:23); and with it we must compare our own hearts and lives, that, finding out our blemishes, we may wash with particular sorrow, and application of the blood of Christ to our souls. Usually the more particular we are in the confession of sin the more comfort we have in the sense of the pardon.
⁹ And he made the court: on the south side southward the hangings of the court were of fine twined linen, an hundred cubits:
¹⁰ Their pillars were twenty, and their brazen sockets twenty; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver.
¹¹ And for the north side the hangings were an hundred cubits, their pillars were twenty, and their sockets of brass twenty; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver.
¹² And for the west side were hangings of fifty cubits, their pillars ten, and their sockets ten; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver.
¹³ And for the east side eastward fifty cubits.
¹⁴ The hangings of the one side of the gate were fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three.
¹⁵ And for the other side of the court gate, on this hand and that hand, were hangings of fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three.
¹⁶ All the hangings of the court round about were of fine twined linen.
¹⁷ And the sockets for the pillars were of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver; and the overlaying of their chapiters of silver; and all the pillars of the court were filleted with silver.
¹⁸ And the hanging for the gate of the court was needlework, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen: and twenty cubits was the length, and the height in the breadth was five cubits, answerable to the hangings of the court.
¹⁹ And their pillars were four, and their sockets of brass four; their hooks of silver, and the overlaying of their chapiters and their fillets of silver.
²⁰ And all the pins of the tabernacle, and of the court round about, were of brass.
The walls of the court, or church-yard, were like the rest curtains or hangings, made according to the appointment, Ex 27:9-19, etc. This represented the state of the Old-Testament church: it was a garden enclosed; the worshippers were then confined to a little compass. But the enclosure being of curtains only intimated that the confinement of the church in one particular nation was not to be perpetual. The dispensation itself was a tabernacle-dispensation, movable and mutable, and in due time to be taken down and folded up, when the place of the tent should be enlarged and its cords lengthened, to make room for the Gentile world, as is foretold, Isa 54:2,3. The church here on earth is but the court of God's house, and happy they that tread these courts and flourish in them; but through these courts we are passing to the holy place above. Blessed are those that dwell in that house of God: they well be still praising him. The enclosing of a court before the tabernacle teaches us a gradual approach to God. The priests that ministered must pass through the holy court, before they entered the holy house. Thus before solemn ordinances there ought to be the separated and enclosed court of a solemn preparation, in which we must wash our hands, and so draw near with a true heart.
²¹ This is the sum of the tabernacle, even of the tabernacle of testimony, as it was counted, according to the commandment of Moses, for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar, son to Aaron the priest.
²² And Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the LORD commanded Moses.
²³ And with him was Aholiab, son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, and a cunning workman, and an embroiderer in blue, and in purple, and in scarlet, and fine linen.
²⁴ All the gold that was occupied for the work in all the work of the holy place, even the gold of the offering, was twenty and nine talents, and seven hundred and thirty shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary.
²⁵ And the silver of them that were numbered of the congregation was an hundred talents, and a thousand seven hundred and threescore and fifteen shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary:
²⁶ A bekah for every man, that is, half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for every one that went to be numbered, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty men.
²⁷ And of the hundred talents of silver were cast the sockets of the sanctuary, and the sockets of the vail; an hundred sockets of the hundred talents, a talent for a socket.
²⁸ And of the thousand seven hundred seventy and five shekels he made hooks for the pillars, and overlaid their chapiters, and filleted them.
²⁹ And the brass of the offering was seventy talents, and two thousand and four hundred shekels.
³⁰ And therewith he made the sockets to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the brazen altar, and the brazen grate for it, and all the vessels of the altar,
³¹ And the sockets of the court round about, and the sockets of the court gate, and all the pins of the tabernacle, and all the pins of the court round about.
Here we have a breviat of the account which, by Moses's appointment, the Levites took and kept of the gold, silver, and brass, that was brought in for the tabernacle's use, and how it was employed. Ithamar the son of Aaron was appointed to draw up this account, and was thus by less services trained up and fitted for greater, Ex 38:21. Bezaleel and Aholiab must bring in the account (Ex 38:22,23), and Ithamar must audit it, and give it in to Moses. And it was thus:—1. All the gold was a free-will offering; every man brought as he could and would, and it amounted to twenty-nine talents, and 730 shekels over, which some compute to be about 150,000l. worth of gold, according to the present value of it. Of this were made all the golden furniture and vessels. 2. The silver was levied by way of tax; every man was assessed half a shekel, a kind of poll-money, which amounted in the whole to 100 talents, and 1775 shekels over, Ex 38:25,26. Of this they made the sockets into which the boards of the tabernacle were let, and on which they rested; so that they were as the foundation of the tabernacle, Ex 38:27. The silver amounted to about 34,000l. of our money. The raising of the gold by voluntary contribution, and of the silver by way of tribute, shows that either way may be taken for the defraying of public expenses, provided that nothing be done with partiality. 3. The brass, though less valuable, was of use not only for the brazen altar, but for the sockets of the court, which probably in other tents were of wood: but it is promised (Isa 60:17), For wood I will bring brass. See how liberal the people were and how faithful the workmen were, in both which respects their good example ought to be followed.
此處記述：一、銅祭壇的製造（出 38:1-7），以及洗濯盆，出 38:8。二、預備帷子，用以圍出安放會幕的院子，出 38:9-20。三、在預備會幕時所奉獻並使用的金、銀、銅的數量總結，出 38:21-31 等。