BIBLE CHAPTER STUDY
Exodus 38 — Building the Altar, Laver, and Court
A construction account of the altar of burnt offering, the bronze laver, the courtyard hangings and gate, and the metal inventory for the tabernacle.
Scripture
1And he made the altar of burnt-offering of acacia wood: five cubits was the length thereof, and five cubits the breadth thereof, foursquare; and three cubits the height thereof.
2And he made the horns thereof upon the four corners of it; the horns thereof were of one piece with it: and he overlaid it with brass.
3And he made all the vessels of the altar, the pots, and the shovels, and the basins, the flesh-hooks, and the firepans: all the vessels thereof made he of brass.
4And he made for the altar a grating of network of brass, under the ledge round it beneath, reaching halfway up.
5And he cast four rings for the four ends of the grating of brass, to be places for the staves.
6And he made the staves of acacia wood, and overlaid them with brass.
7And he put the staves into the rings on the sides of the altar, wherewith to bear it; he made it hollow with planks.
8And he made the laver of brass, and the base thereof of brass, of the mirrors of the ministering women that ministered at the door of the tent of meeting.
9And he made the court: for the south side southward the hangings of the court were of fine twined linen, a hundred cubits;
10their pillars were twenty, and their sockets twenty, of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver.
11And for the north side a hundred cubits, their pillars twenty, and their sockets twenty, of brass; the hooks of the pillars, and their fillets, of silver.
12And for the west side were hangings of fifty cubits, their pillars ten, and their sockets ten; the hooks of the pillars, and their fillets, of silver.
13And for the east side eastward fifty cubits.
14The hangings for the one side of the gate were fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three;
15and so for the other side: on this hand and that hand by the gate of the court were hangings of fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three.
16All the hangings of the court round about were of fine twined linen.
17And the sockets for the pillars were of brass; the hooks of the pillars, and their fillets, of silver; and the overlaying of their capitals, of silver; and all the pillars of the court were filleted with silver.
18And the screen for the gate of the court was the work of the embroiderer, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen: and twenty cubits was the length, and the height in the breadth was five cubits, answerable to the hangings of the court.
19And their pillars were four, and their sockets four, of brass; their hooks of silver, and the overlaying of their capitals, and their fillets, of silver.
20And all the pins of the tabernacle, and of the court round about, were of brass.
21This is the sum of the things for the tabernacle, even the tabernacle of the testimony, as they were counted, according to the commandment of Moses, for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest.
22And Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that Jehovah commanded Moses.
23And with him was Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, and a skilful workman, and an embroiderer in blue, and in purple, and in scarlet, and in fine linen.
24All the gold that was used for the work in all the work of the sanctuary, even the gold of the offering, was twenty and nine talents, and seven hundred and thirty shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary.
25And the silver of them that were numbered of the congregation was a hundred talents, and a thousand seven hundred and threescore and fifteen shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary:
26a beka a head, that is, half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for every one that passed over to them that were numbered, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty men.
27And the hundred talents of silver were for casting the sockets of the sanctuary, and the sockets of the veil; a hundred sockets for the hundred talents, a talent for a socket.
28And of the thousand seven hundred seventy and five shekels he made hooks for the pillars, and overlaid their capitals, and made fillets for them.
29And the brass of the offering was seventy talents, and two thousand and four hundred shekels.
30And therewith he made the sockets to the door of the tent of meeting, and the brazen altar, and the brazen grating for it, and all the vessels of the altar,
31and the sockets of the court round about, and the sockets of the gate of the court, and all the pins of the tabernacle, and all the pins of the court round about.
What this passage means
Verses 1–8 describe the altar of burnt offering. The chapter repeats specifications earlier given in Exodus 27:1–8 with greater detail, listing the altar's dimensions (five cubits square and three cubits high), its four horns made of one piece with the structure, its bronze overlay, its utensils, and a bronze grating network halfway up the sides. The altar is built of acacia wood, overlaid with bronze, hollow inside, and carried by poles passed through rings — exactly the pattern Moses received on the mountain.
Verses 8–20 turn to the tabernacle's outer furniture and enclosure. The bronze laver and its base are made from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting. The courtyard is a rectangular enclosure roughly one hundred by fifty cubits, hung with fine twined linen on silver hooks set in bronze sockets, while the eastern gate is a twenty-cubit embroidered screen of blue, purple, and scarlet. Every pin used to anchor the structure is bronze.
Verses 21–31 give a financial accounting overseen by Ithamar, Aaron's son. The metals tally 29 talents and 730 shekels of gold, 100 talents and 1,775 shekels of silver (raised by a half-shekel poll tax on every man twenty years and older, numbering 603,550), and 70 talents and 2,400 shekels of bronze. The silver funds the tabernacle's bases and pillar hooks, while the bronze funds the altar, its grating, the courtyard bases, and the tent pins.
Context
The chapter divides into two halves. The first (vv. 1–20) carries out the specifications received on Mount Sinai for the altar of burnt offering, the laver, and the courtyard. These specifications were originally laid out in Exodus 25–27 and have been partially executed in chapters 36–37. Chapter 38 records the final realization of the courtyard complex so that the tabernacle can be assembled as a functioning worship space.
The second half (vv. 21–31) is a treasurer's account. It credits Bezalel (of Judah) and Oholiab (of Dan) as the chief artisans (cross-referenced in Exodus 35:34), notes that Ithamar audited the materials, and totals the metals contributed. The 603,550 figure matches the census figure in Numbers 1:46, and the half-shekel offering matches the instruction of Exodus 30:13. The note categorizes this passage as backfilled material outside the P0/P1 priority range.
Key words in the original
- H4196 מִזְבֵּחַ (mizbaḥ), 'altar' — appears in verse 1 for the altar of burnt offering. The same word is used throughout the chapter for both the place of sacrifice and the courtyard's construction elements.
- H5930 עֹלָה (ʿōlāh), 'burnt offering' — in verse 1 it designates the altar's specific liturgical function: sacrifices that are wholly ascending (going up in smoke) to God.
- H7848 שִׁטָּה (šiṭṭîm), 'acacia' — the desert wood used for the altar's frame in verse 1. Its dense, durable character fits portable sanctuary construction.
Related verses
- Exodus 27:1 The altar's dimensions and materials in Exodus 38:1–2 fulfill the instructions originally given at Sinai in Exodus 27:1.
- Numbers 1:46 The 603,550 men counted for the half-shekel offering in Exodus 38:26 matches the census total in Numbers 1:46.
- Acts 7:44 Acts 7:44 looks back on this tabernacle as 'the tabernacle of the testimony' built 'according to the figure' Moses saw, naming the same inventory term used in Exodus 38:21.
Common questions
Why does Exodus 38 repeat the altar specifications already given in chapter 27?
Chapters 25–31 record the instructions received on Mount Sinai; chapters 36–39 record their execution. Repeating the dimensions, materials, and horn construction in chapter 38 is the fulfillment account that shows the command was carried out exactly as spoken.
Who were the women whose mirrors made the laver?
Exodus 38:8 calls them 'the women that ministered at the door of the tent of meeting.' They are not named further in the chapter; 1 Samuel 2:22 refers later to women serving at the same entrance.
How was the silver for the tabernacle raised?
According to verse 26, each man twenty years and older gave a beka (half a shekel) of the sanctuary, producing 100 talents and 1,775 shekels from 603,550 contributors. This matches the instruction of Exodus 30:13.