SCRIPTURE: EXODUS 38
THE ALTAR OF BURNT OFFERING (vs. 1-8)
The altar of burnt offering was made of acacia wood, three cubits high, five cubits long and five cubits wide. There is a horn at each of the four corners, so that the horns and the altar were of one piece overlaid with bronze. The utensils – pots, shovels, sprinkling bowls, meat forks and firepans – were made of bronze. They cast bronze rings to hold the poles for the four corners. The poles of acacia wood were overlaid with bronze.
BASIN FOR WASHING (v. 8)
They made the bronze basin and its bronze stand from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
THE COURTYARD (vs. 9-20)
South and North Side – a hundred cubits long with finely twisted linen and twenty post and twenty bronze bases , and with silver hooks and bands on the post.
West End – fifty cubits wide with curtains of ten post and ten bases and silver hooks and bands on the post
East End – fifty cubits wide with curtains fifteen cubits long with three post and three bases on each side. All curtains around the courtyard were of finely twisted linen. The bases for the post were bronze. The hooks and bands on the posts were silver. The curtain for the entrance to the courtyard was of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen. It was twenty cubits long, five cubits high with four post and four bronze bases. The hooks and bands were silver. All the tent pegs of the tabernacle and of the surrounding courtyard were bronze.
THE MATERIALS USED (vs. 21-31)
The total amount of gold from the wave offering used for all the work on the sanctuary was 29 talents and 730 shekels, according to the sanctuary shekel. The silver obtained from those of the community who were counted in the census was 100 talents and 1,775 shekels totalling 603.550 men twenty years old or more. The 100 talents of silver were used to cast the bases for the sanctuary and for the curtain – 100 bases from the 100 talents , one talent for each base. They used the 1,775 shekels to make the hooks for the post, to overlay the tops of the posts and to make their bands.
The bronze from the wave offering was 70 talents and 2,400 shekels. They used it to make the bases for the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, the bronze altar with its bronze grating and all its utensils, the bases for the surrounding courtyard and those for its entrance and all the tent pegs for the tabernacle and those for the surrounding courtyard.
THOUGHTS:
God instructed Moses to lay out the steps in building The Altar of Burnt Offering, Basin for Washing, The Courtyard, and the materials used. God has gifted us different talents. Seek every opportunity to use your gift God’s glory.