Commentaria in Exodum
17. ALL THE PILLARS OF THE COURT ROUND ABOUT SHALL BE CLOTHED WITH PLATES OF SILVER.—Not as if the pillars were wholly covered with these plates, as the ark, table and boards of the tabernacle were wholly covered with plates of gold; but that these pillars were encircled in a spiral with thin plates of silver, like threads, the space between the turns being left empty, which is as it were open work, and is called an engraving, as our Interpreter commonly names it here: for this the Hebrew chashuk signifies, a name which Moses did not use for the plates of the ark, the table and the boards: there he used the word sippa, which signifies to cover or overlay. So Abulensis.
18. AND IT SHALL HAVE BASES OF BRASS.—Josephus, book 3, chap. 5, says that these bases of brass were pointed, like the head of a spear, and so by their sharp point were fixed in the ground.
19. AND THE CEREMONIES.—In Hebrew, all the worship, or ceremonial ministry, for the worship of God. So our version takes the word ceremony, chap. 37, verse 21; elsewhere this word ceremony commonly signifies ceremonial precepts, which prescribe the rite of worshipping God according to the good pleasure of God Himself.
BOTH ITS PINS AND THOSE OF THE COURT THOU SHALT MAKE OF BRASS.—The pins, that is, nails, were made both in the court and in the tabernacle for this purpose, that fixed in the tops of the pillars they might stand out, and, the cords of the veils or curtains being laid upon them, might so suspend these, lifting them from the ground. Josephus adds that rings also were made, to which cords were fastened, which, fixed in the ground by golden nails a cubit long, steadied the pillars and protected the tabernacle against the force of the winds.
20. THAT THEY BRING THEE OIL OF THE OLIVE TREES, THE PUREST, AND BEATEN WITH A PESTLE.—Note “beaten”: that is, not ground, which is full of the dregs and lees, but either flowing of itself, or at least pressed by pounding with a pestle from the flesh or pulp of the olive alone.
20 and 21. THAT A LAMP MAY BURN ALWAYS IN THE TABERNACLE OF THE TESTIMONY.—For “of the testimony” the Hebrew is moed, which first signifies testimony, as eid, from which it is derived, signifies to testify. Secondly, moed properly and genuinely signifies an assembly, a congregation, a gathering, a church, from the root taad, that is, to come together. The tabernacle, then, is called moed, that is, of meeting, because there God met Moses and spoke with him, as is plain chap. 25, verse 22, and chap. 29, verse 42. Our Interpreter, however, renders moed testimony, and calls it the tabernacle of the testimony, because the tabernacle contained the law, which was the testimony of the divine will and covenant.
21. WITHOUT THE VEIL WHICH IS HUNG BEFORE THE TESTIMONY.—“The testimony,” that is, the ark containing the testimony, that is, the law, or the tables of the law. Hence Oecumenius on chap. 9 to the Hebrews, and Elias of Crete, in oration 3 On the Theology of Gregory Nazianzen after the beginning, count three tabernacles: the first, outermost, namely the court, which was closed by curtains at the sides, but open above, of which Moses treats in this chapter, which they think is called by the Apostle, Heb. 9:1, the worldly Sanctuary, or as the Greek has it, kosmikon, that is, mundane, because it was common to all, says Chrysostom: in this was the brazen altar of holocausts under the open sky. The second tabernacle was the Holy Place, which was as it were the temple of the Priests, which the Apostle calls the first tabernacle: this was closed on every side, and joined to the Holy of Holies: in it were the candlestick, the altar of incense and the table of the loaves of proposition. The third tabernacle was the Holy of Holies, open to the high priest alone: in it was the ark with the propitiatory and the Cherubim; also the urn with the manna and the rod of Aaron. But of this UNTIL MORNING BEFORE THE LORD.—Hence it is plain that the lamps in the candlestick did not burn by day, though Cajetan and Lipomanus think so, but only by night; wherefore what he said a little before: “That a lamp may burn always,” he here explains, so that “always” is the same as every night; in the evening, therefore, the priests lit the lamps that they might burn all night; in the morning they put them out, cleaned them, set them in order, and poured in oil. That it was so is plain from this place, as well as from Levit. chap. 24:3, and 2 Paralip. 13:11, and 1 Kings 3:3. So Abulensis, Oleaster and others.
Josephus, however, book 3 of the Antiquities, chap. 9, asserts that the priest in the morning put out four lamps and let the remaining three burn; and in the evening lit again the four that he had put out in the morning, so that all seven shone through the night. This opinion seems to be favoured by the fact that the tabernacle, by day as well as by night, was veiled on every side and had no window by which to admit light; it seems therefore to have needed some lamp burning even by day.
But this is not so certain: for Josephus did not see this tabernacle, but the temple; and Scripture, in the three or four places already cited, makes no mention of any lamp shining by day, but simply and constantly asserts that the lamp was lit in the evening and shone until morning; whereby it sufficiently intimates that it was put out in the morning, and by the lamp it understands not one but all seven, as it seems, which were on the candlestick. For I have already said that the tabernacle admitted light through the front veil, turned back and somewhat raised: for this veil was in the tabernacle in place of a door.
You will say: Josephus, book 8 of the Antiquities, chap. 2, says that Solomon made one candlestick which should burn by day.
I answer, the Greek for “by day” is kath’ hemeran, which literally signifies “through the day,” that is, daily, which is true, because daily through the night the lamp had to burn: otherwise Josephus would be wholly contrary to Scripture, when he says that this had to be done by the prescription of the law: for Scripture nowhere commands that a lamp be lit by day; nay, here and elsewhere it commands it to be lit only by night.
In the Holy Place, therefore, the lamps burned only by night, and all this was for a mystery, namely to signify that living lamps, that is, doctors and priests, enlighten the ruder sort only in the night of this world, that is, in this Church (hence Plato said, “Good men have need not of a long life, but of a bright and illustrious one”); for in the day of eternity, when we shall be in the Holy of Holies, there will be no lamp, no sun, no moon; but the lamp thereof is the Lamb, Apoc. chap. 21, verse 23. For which reason the candlestick was not placed in the Holy of Holies either; but all things there were dark, to veil God speaking there, and to signify that we contemplate the future glory in heaven here only through darkness and in riddles. So Bede, book 3 On the Tabernacle, chap. 1, and Radulphus, book 17 on Levit., chap. 4.
IT SHALL BE A PERPETUAL WORSHIP.—This rite of lighting the lamps in the evening shall be perpetual; understand, in your law and religion, because it will last through all the time of the law and of Judaism; whence it is added, “throughout their successions,” namely of the Aaronic priests, who shall continually receive from the children of Israel oil for lighting the lamps daily.
Mystically, the people offer oil, that is, a pure, fruitful and devout conscience, that the priests may kindle it with the fire of charity and heavenly light. So Bede.
The vestments of the high priest are described, and, verse 40, those of the lesser priests, namely, first, the ephod, verse 6. Secondly, the rational with twelve gems, verse 15, in which were doctrine and truth, verse 30. Thirdly, the blue tunic, on which were pomegranates and bells, verse 34. Fourthly, the tiara with the golden plate, on which was inscribed: Holy to the Lord, verse 36. Fifthly, the linen tunic with the girdle, verse 39. Sixthly, the breeches, verse 42.