1491 B.C.
1-11. Furniture: Altar of Incense.
Exodus 30:1 And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon; of shittim wood shalt thou make it.
2 A cubit shall be the length thereof and a cubit the breadth thereof. Foursquare shall it be, and two cubits shall be the height thereof. The horns thereof shall be part of the same.
3 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof and the sides thereof round about, and the horns thereof; and thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about.
4 And two golden rings shalt thou make for it under the crown of it, by the two corners thereof; upon the two sides of it shalt thou make it; and they shall be for places for the staves to bear it.
5 And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood and overlay them with gold.
6 And thou shalt put it before the veil that is by the ark of the Testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the Testimony, where I will meet with thee.
7 And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning.
(With fire taken from the brazen altar of atonement, implying that there could be no acceptable worship except on the ground of atonement made. All other fire was "strange fire", and all other worship strange worship, and therefore unacceptable. Today God set the only way to Him is through His Son Jesus Christ. The way is by faith in the redemptive work that was finished at the cross in the shed blood of Christ. That is is the only way to salvation, and all other ways and traditions set by man is strange worship, heathen and unacceptable to our Heavenly Father. In Moses day God set the form and way to approach Him, and in our way, that way is set also, through repentance in Jesus name, and through the cross of Christ.)
When he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it.
8 And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at evening, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations.
9 Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon,
(Incense different from and other than that which God had prescribed. See Lev.10:1.)
nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering; neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon.
10 And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonements. Once in the year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations. It is most holy unto the LORD."
(That day is called the "day of Atonement" and even in these end times we celebrate this day of atonement with our Communion, the cup and the bread of the communion table. Our Lord set the standard and taught us how to take communion as it is laid out in I Corinthians 11:23-34.
I Corinthians 5:7,8 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened, For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Christ sacrifice was one time only, but it was given to cover man's sins for all times for those that by faith would accept it in repentance in Jesus name.)
11 And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying,
12-16. Worshipers.
12 When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel according to their number, then shall they give every man a ransom
(= covering, Heb. kâpher, hence atonement, see 29:33) for his soul unto the LORD when thou numberest them, that there be no plague among them when thou numberest them.
(This is talking about the soul of the individual.
I Peter 3:18-20 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison, Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
When Jesus went into the tomb He went to that place of holding and preached to those lost souls, and many of them received and were saved, and came out of that place of holding with Him. Father is a fair and just God and He loves His children, all of them. All souls will have the same opportunity as you and I to hear the Word and receive Him, and be saved by Christ, just as you and I are.)
13 This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary
(Approx. $26 of our money, a lot back then.)
(a shekel is twenty gerahs); a half shekel shall be the offering to the LORD.
14 Every one who passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the LORD.
15 The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the LORD to make an atonement for your souls.
("There is no difference" in the matter of atonement, Acts 10:34. Rom. 3:22,23. 10:12. Then, all Israel without exception: but now "all" without distinction. All mankind in their flesh body has sinned and stands as sinners before Almighty God. Romans 3:22,23 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Just as it was equal for all then, it is also equal for all today, after the death and resurrection of our Lord.
Romans 3:24,25 Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
Jesus had not been born yet at the time of Moses, yet all mankind was sinners then just as flesh man is in any period of time. Yet after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, all mankind has the same opportunity to be justified by God's grace, and have redemption through Jesus Christ. God is no respecter of persons, all have sinned, and those that seek grace by the Father must come by the way that the Father has set forth.)
16 And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation, that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls."
17-38. Furniture.
17 And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying,
18 Thou shalt also make a laver of brass,
(Or copper, bronze, no brass back then. The Laver comes after the Altar; the altar is for sinners; the laver is for the priests = cleansing for worship. Not included in Ex. 25-28, but added here after atonement. John 13:10 is the Divine anti-type.) with his foot also of brass, for washing; and thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein.
19 For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat.
20 When they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water, that they die not. Or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn offering made by fire unto the LORD,
21 so they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die not. And it shall be a statute for ever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations."
22 Moreover the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying,
23 Take thou also unto thee principal spices: of pure myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half as much (even two hundred and fifty shekels), and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty shekels,
24 And of cassia five hundred shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and of olive oil a hin.
25 And thou shalt make from it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound according to the art of the perfumer; it shall be a holy anointing oil.
26 And thou shalt anoint the tabernacle of the congregation therewith, and the ark of the Testimony,
27 And the table and all his vessels, and the candlestick and his vessels, and the altar of incense,
28 And the altar of burnt offering with all his vessels, and the laver and his foot;
29and thou shalt sanctify them, that they may be most holy. Whatsoever toucheth them shall be holy.
30 And thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them, that they may minister unto Me in the priest's office.
31 And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, `This shall be a holy anointing oil unto Me throughout your generations.
32 Upon man's flesh shall it not be poured,
(The oil is the type of the Holy Spirit. His work not to act on the flesh, but to give holy spirit [hagion pneuma]. John 3:6: That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Flesh comes from flesh and is flesh, and so also with the spirit. John 3:7,8 "Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born from above. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.")
neither shall ye make any other like it, according to the composition of it. It is holy, and it shall be holy unto you.
33 Whosoever compoundeth any like it, or whosoever putteth any of it upon a stranger, shall even be cut off from his people.'"
34 And the LORD said unto Moses, "Take unto thee sweet spices: stacte and onycha and galbanum; these sweet spices with pure frankincense, of each shall there be a like weight.
(Typical of the perfect proportion of all the excellencies of Christ. (5 spices here in number, #5 = grace)
35 And thou shalt make it a perfume, a confection according to the art of the perfumer, tempered together, pure and holy.
36 And thou shalt beat some of it very small, and put it before the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation where I will meet with thee; it shall be unto you most holy.
(Perfection its parts: perfect in its whole. Typical of the holiness and unimaginable purity of Christ.)
37 And as for the perfume which thou shalt make, ye shall not make it for yourselves according to the composition thereof; it shall be unto thee holy for the LORD.
38 Whosoever shall make like unto that, to smell thereto, shall even be cut off from his people."
(This perfume for the incense was to be in exact measurements, and part of the worship when God would meet with the High priest. It was to be made in the same manner that a druggist would put your prescription together down at the local drug store, and treated and safe guarded. These five sweet spices then represent the perfect proportion of all the excellencies of our Lord Jesus Christ.
John 6:32 Then Jesus said unto them, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
John 6:33 For the bread of God is He Which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world."
The things of the law were our schoolmaster and shadows for things to come. When Jesus came into the world, He was that true bread or manna that was represented within the ark of the covenant, that gave life to those that would partake of it. Jesus came into this world age of flesh man to do the will of the Father, that through Jesus flesh man could be could be drawn back to the Father.
John 6:38 "For I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him That sent Me.
John 6:39 And this is the Father's will Which hath sent Me, that of all which He hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
John 6:40 And this is the will of Him That sent Me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day."
To "raise him up at the last day", is the same things that Paul talked about in I Corinthians 15:50 - 52, for that last day, the day of the Lord we are all raised or changed from these earthly corruptible bodies of flesh and blood into our new incorruptible bodies as the angels have. That "day of the Lord" is at the seventh and last trump, and these things of this flesh age are over and done with as we move into the Millennium age of Christ's kingdom here on earth.)