Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Exodus · About this commentary
The Furniture Made
Exodus 37:1-29
1 Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood. Its length was two and a half cubits, and its width a cubit and a half, and a cubit and a half its height. · WEB
The ark, the table, the lampstand and the incense altar are executed exactly as described, and the account names the man who made them.
Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood. Its length was two and a half cubits, and its width a cubit and a half, and a cubit and a half its height Exodus 37:1.
The chapter reproduces the specifications of chapter twenty-five in the past tense, item by item and dimension by dimension: ark, mercy seat and cherubim, the table with its dishes, the lampstand hammered from one talent of gold, and the altar of incense with its anointing oil and its spices.
One difference from the instructions is worth noticing. Chapter twenty-five is addressed to a nation — they shall make an ark Exodus 25:10. Here a single name carries the work.
What the chapter demonstrates by its tedium is exactness. Every measurement given on the mountain reappears unchanged, and nothing is added. The gold molding, the four rings, the poles that stay in place, the almond blossoms with their buds and flowers — all present, all as shown. The instruction repeated most often on the mountain was that it be made after the pattern Exodus 25:40, and this chapter is the evidence.
settled What this mark means