Exodus 27 King James Version (KJV)
27 And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof shall be three cubits.
2 And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof: his horns shall be of the same: and thou shalt overlay it with brass.
3 And thou shalt make his pans to receive his ashes, and his shovels, and his basons, and his fleshhooks, and his firepans: all the vessels thereof thou shalt make of brass.
4 And thou shalt make for it a grate of network of brass; and upon the net shalt thou make four brasen rings in the four corners thereof.
5 And thou shalt put it under the compass of the altar beneath, that the net may be even to the midst of the altar.
6 And thou shalt make staves for the altar, staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with brass.
7 And the staves shall be put into the rings, and the staves shall be upon the two sides of the altar, to bear it.
8 Hollow with boards shalt thou make it: as it was shewed thee in the mount, so shall they make it.
9 And thou shalt make the court of the tabernacle: for the south side southward there shall be hangings for the court of fine twined linen of an hundred cubits long for one side:
10 And the twenty pillars thereof and their twenty sockets shall be of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver.
11 And likewise for the north side in length there shall be hangings of an hundred cubits long, and his twenty pillars and their twenty sockets of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver.
12 And for the breadth of the court on the west side shall be hangings of fifty cubits: their pillars ten, and their sockets ten.
13 And the breadth of the court on the east side eastward shall be fifty cubits.
14 The hangings of one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits: their pillars three, and their sockets three.
15 And on the other side shall be hangings fifteen cubits: their pillars three, and their sockets three.
16 And for the gate of the court shall be an hanging of twenty cubits, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework: and their pillars shall be four, and their sockets four.
17 All the pillars round about the court shall be filleted with silver; their hooks shall be of silver, and their sockets of brass.
18 The length of the court shall be an hundred cubits, and the breadth fifty every where, and the height five cubits of fine twined linen, and their sockets of brass.
19 All the vessels of the tabernacle in all the service thereof, and all the pins thereof, and all the pins of the court, shall be of brass.
20 And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always.
21 In the tabernacle of the congregation without the vail, which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall order it from evening to morning before the Lord: it shall be a statute for ever unto their generations on the behalf of the children of Israel.
Commentary
Altar of burnt offering (27:1-8)
All animal sacrifices were offered on what has become known as the brazen altar (though the metal referred to in older English versions as brass was probably bronze or, less likely, copper). The altar was made of timber overlaid with bronze and was hollow inside. Its utensils also were made of bronze (27:1- 3).
The instructions do not tell us how sacrifices were burnt on this altar. Either the altar was filled with earth to form a mound on which the sacrifices were burnt, or it had an internal grid for the same purpose. Halfway up the altar on the outside was a horizontal ledge supported by a grating. The priest may have stood on this ledge while offering the sacrifices, to avoid treading in the blood of the sacrificial animals that was poured out at the base (4-8).
Tabernacle court; oil for the lamp (27:9-21)
Around the perimeter of the tabernacle courtyard (GNB: enclosure) was a fence, which separated the tabernacle sufficiently from the camp to create a feeling of reverence towards the symbolic dwelling place of God. This fence gave protection against desert winds and was high enough to prevent people outside from watching the rituals out of idle curiosity.
The fence was made of cloth attached to posts, which were fitted into metal bases in the ground and held firm by ropes tied to ground pegs (see 35:17-18). A silver band at the tops of the posts may have been a decoration, or it may have been a means of connecting the tops of all the posts to give the fence added stability. As with the tabernacle-tent, the court faced east and had a curtain entrance in its eastern side (9-19).
Light from the seven-headed lamp was the only light in the tabernacle. The ordinary people supplied the oil for the lamp, and the priests tended the lamp morning and evening to keep it burning continually (20-21).
The priesthood
Having outlined his plans for the tabernacle as the central place of worship for his people, God now provided further for that worship by establishing a priesthood. The priests were responsible for the proper functioning of all matters connected with the tabernacle and its services.
Until now Moses had been not only the leader of the people but also the go-between, or mediator, between the people and God. In the ordered religious life of the nation that was now being established, this function of people’s representative in religious affairs was given to Aaron (who was appointed high priest) and his sons (who were the ordinary priests that assisted him). In future only direct male descendants of Aaron could be priests. It was further revealed (see notes on 32:25-29 below) that only those of the same tribe as Aaron, the tribe of Levi, could assist in the practical affairs of the tabernacle such as its erection, maintenance and transport (cf. 6:16-25; 29:9; Num 3:9-10).
Priests were required to offer sacrifices on behalf of those who brought them (Heb 8:3). They therefore served as mediators between the people and God. They also carried out daily functions connected with the overall tabernacle rituals, such as ensuring that a sacrifice was burning on the altar
continually (29:38-42; Lev 6:12), keeping the lamp burning in the Holy Place (27:20-21) and offering incense on the golden altar (30:7-8). They were also to teach the law of God to the people and serve as moral guides to the nation (Deut 31:9-13; 33:10; Mal 2:7).
Only priests could enter the Holy Place and only the high priest the Most Holy Place. Even then he could do so only once a year, on the Day of Atonement (Lev 16:1-19,29-31; Heb 9:6-7).