Exodus 27

The altar (vs. 1-8)—In these verses, Moses is given instructions regarding the building the altar of sacrifices. It was about 8 feet long and wide and 4 feet high (v. 1, again, depending on the measurement of a cubit). It had horns on each corner (v. 2), and there were various pans, shovels, basins, and forks for maintenance (v. 3). And, like the ark, it was to be borne by two poles, made of acacia wood (v. 6), slipped through “four bronze rings at its four corners” (v. 4). In this case, everything was to be overlaid with bronze (brass), not gold. “Bronze” is probably a better word than the KJV’s “brass,” being an alloy of copper and tin widely in use at the time.

The court (vs. 9-19)—The entire tabernacle structure lay north and south. It was about 50 yards long, 25 yards wide, and 7 ½ feet high. The curtains for the court were to be of “fine woven linen” (v. 9), with twenty pillars and twenty sockets of bronze (v. 10). “The hooks of the pillars and their bands shall be silver” (v. 10). It must have been lovely. It was certainly expensive! But again, only the best for the Lord. The opening (“gate”) of the court had a screen about 30 feed in width, “woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen, made by a weaver. It shall have four pillars and four sockets. All the pillars around the court shall have bands of silver; their hooks shall be of silver and their sockets of bronze” (vs. 16-17). All the utensils for the service of the tabernacle (unless otherwise noted) were to be of bronze (v. 19).

The oil for the lamp (vs. 20-21)—The golden candlestick, as explained earlier, was to be in the “Holy Place,” outside the “Most Holy Place”. The oil to light the lamps on the candlestick were to be of “pure oil of pressed olives…to cause the lamp to burn continually” (v. 20). The priests were to attend to the lamps all night to keep them burning. Josephus says that four of the lamps were extinguished in the morning, while three were kept burning all the time. But Exodus 30:8 and I Samuel 3:3 seem to indicate that the lamps did not burn during the day.