Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 38:8
And he made the laver [of] brass, and the foot of it [of] brass, of the looking glasses of [the women] assembling, which assembled [at] the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
8. The Bronze Laver (Exo 30:18-21). V. 8a as Exo 30:18 a; v. 8b is new. Exo 30:18 b 21 is not repeated here (see Exo 40:30-32).
8b. the serving women which served ] The expression is peculiar, the word used ( ) being (both times) not the ordinary Heb. for ‘serve,’ but the word which means properly and regularly to serve in a host, to war or fight. The same word is used by P of the service of the Levites in (particularly) the transport of the Tabernacle and its appurtenances (Num 4:1-33), Num 4:23 (RVm.) ‘Heb. to war the warfare ’; cf. the cognate subst. warfare (EVV. ‘service’), vv. 3 (see RVm.), 35, 39, 43, Exo 8:24-25 (see RVm.). Either, it seems, the Levites in Nu., and the women here, are pictured as performing their duties in organized bands, like soldiers in an army (cf. Ges. Thes., Di.), or (Gray, Numbers, pp. 32, 36) the word is one of those which in postexilic times, when the nation had become a church, acquired a religious connotation. The women were no doubt thought of as washing, cleaning, repairing, &c. Women ‘doing “warfare” at the entrance to the tent of meeting’ are also mentioned in 1Sa 2:22 b: but the passage is not expressed in the LXX., besides differing in representation from the context (the sanctuary a ‘tent,’ not a hkl, or ‘temple’); and is beyond question a late gloss. LXX. render , ‘fasting,’ either paraphrasing, or misreading as (‘fasting’). Onk. has who prayed. For other haggadic interpretations, see reff. in DI. The clause (8 b ) must (Di. al.) be a later addition to the original narrative; for it obviously presupposes the erection of the Tent of Meeting, which is not narrated till ch. 40.
The metal mirrors are to be thought of as the t e rmh, or ‘contribution,’ of the women; and the laver and its base, cast from them, as a ‘memorial’ of the gift. Comp. the explanation of the metal casing of the altar in Num 16:37-40.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
See the marginal reference. The women who assembled at the entrance of the tent of meeting were most probably devout women who loved the public service of religion. The giving up of their mirrors for the use of the sanctuary was a fit sacrifice for such women to make (compare Exo 35:22 note).
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Exo 38:8
The looking-glasses of the women.
The looking-glass and the laver
Unlike our looking-glasses made of silvered glass, which did not come into use till the thirteenth century, these primitive looking-glasses were made chiefly of an alloy of copper, tin, and lead, wrought with such admirable skill that it was capable of receiving the highest and most enduring polish. The mirror itself was a round or pear-shaped plate, often encircled with a wreath of leaves, or adorned with figures engraved upon the rim; and it was attached to a handle often carved with some elegant form of life. Numerous specehi of this kind have been found in Etruscan tombs, retaining their polish so brightly as sometimes to fit them for their original purpose; and having on their disks scenes of Etruscan life and manners, and representations or symbols of the national faith, illustrated by inscriptions in the native character, they have been well called by Bunsen a figurative dictionary, eminently useful to the archseologist for the light they throw upon the creed and history of this ancient and most mysterious race. In Japan certain metal mirrors have acquired a magic fame, and are brought to this country as curiosities, on account of the figures which shine through them when seen in a certain light, while directly viewed they reflect only on their polished surface the face that looks into them. The specula of the Hebrew women were brought with them from Egypt, and doubtless formed part of the spoil which the Israelites took from the Egyptians at the time of the Exodus. In that country they were used not only in domestic economy, but also in the idolatrous worship of the temples; and probably the Hebrew women who assembled at the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation had adopted this custom, and worshipped the God of Israel as the Egyptian women worshipped Isis or Anubis, dressed in linen garments, holding a sistrum in their right hand and a mirror in their left. It is not without deep significance that this holy vessel, typical of spiritual cleansing, should have been formed of such materials. The whole transaction is a most beautiful and expressive symbol of the vast difference between the beauty which man sees in himself, and the beauty which God induces in him by the means of grace. In fact, the whole gospel scheme might be represented to the eye pictorially by these two emblematical objects–the looking-glass and the laver; for it shows us to ourselves, and it cleanses us from our impurity.
1. Let us look, in the first place, at the gospel as a mirror showing us to ourselves. Contemplating the features of our character in our own natural looking-glass, we are satisfied with the image that is reflected there. Comparing ourselves with ourselves we have no sense of contrast; we come up to our own ideal; we realize our own standard of goodness. Comparing ourselves with others we are raised in our own estimation; we see many guilty of meannesses and follies which we should scorn. We feel like the self-righteous Pharisee in the temple, and thank God that we are not as other men, or as the publican beside us. But the gospel is the true mirror in which we see our true image reflected. The holiness of God, as it is revealed to us in the face of His Son Jesus Christ, is the best mirror in which to see reflected our own sinful image. That holiness is the part of the Divine image which we have completely lost in our fallen state. When the pure searching light of His law shines into our hearts, how defiled and unworthy do many things appear which before were regarded as clean and good! What secret unsuspected sins are made manifest like the myriad motes which float in the sunbeams that enter a dark room! How true it is, that those who are ignorant of God are ignorant of them-selves! The mirror must lead to the laver. Having learned what our true condition is, we must cease to look at ourselves, and have recourse to the cleansing bath which God has provided in the gospel for the sinner conscious of his sin. The fact that the laver was made of the looking-glasses teaches this practical lesson to us. We see our impurity in order that we may apply for cleansing. Our uncomeliness is revealed to us for the very purpose of causing us to seek for the beauty of holiness.
2. The laver made of the looking-glasses of the women stood in the court of the Tabernacle between the altar of burnt-offering and the door of the holy place. As the altar removed the legal obstacle that lay in the way of a sinners access to God, so the laver removed the moral. The one by the atonement which it presented opened up the way to God; the other by the purification which it effected qualified the believer for coming into Gods presence. And viewed in this light, what an expressive symbol is it of the spiritual fountain opened in the house of David for sin and uncleanness! The laver in which we are washed becomes the mirror in which we see our own reflection; and the mirror of self-complacency, in which hitherto we sought to see visions of our own comeliness whereof to glory in the flesh, is converted into the fountain of life in which the discovery of our own vileness is overborne by the discovery of the surpassing, all-compensating loveliness of Him in whom God sees no iniquity in Jacob, and no perverseness in Israel. (H. Macmillan, D. D.)
The laver and looking-glasses
I shall take that laver of looking-glasses, spoken of in the text, as all-suggestive of the gospel, which first shows us our sins as in a mirror, and then washes them away by Divine ablution.
1. Now, I have to say that this is the only looking-glass in which a man can see himself as he is. There are some mirrors that flatter the features, and make you look better than you are. Then there are other mirrors that distort your features, and make you look worse than you are; but I want to tell you that this looking-glass of the gospel shows a man just as he is. When the priests entered the ancient Tabernacle, one glance at the burnished side of this laver showed them their need of cleansing. So this gospel shows the soul its need of Divine washing. All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. That is one showing. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. That is another showing. In Hampton Court I saw a room where the four walls were covered with looking-glasses, and it made no difference which way you looked, you saw yourself. And so it is in this gospel of Christ. If you once step within its full precincts you will find your whole character reflected–every feature of moral deformity–every spot of moral taint.
2. I want you to notice that this laver in which the priests washed was filled with fresh water every morning. So it is with the gospel of Jesus Christ; it has a fresh salvation every day. Come this morning and take the glittering robe of Christs righteousness from the Saviours hand. You were plunged in the fountain of the Saviours mercy a quarter of a century ago. That is nothing to me; I tell you to wash now in this laver of looking-glasses, and have your soul made clean.
3. I notice, also, in regard to this laver of looking-glasses spoken of in the text, that the priests always washed both hands and feet. The water came down in spouts, so that without leaving any filth in the basin, the priests washed both hands and feet. So the gospel of Jesus Christ must touch the very extremities of our moral nature.
4. I remark, further, that the laver of looking-glasses spoken of in the text, was a very large laver. I always thought from the fact that so many washed there, and also from the fact that Solomon afterwards, when he copied that laver in the temple, built it on a very large scale, that it was large, and so suggestive of the gospel of Jesus Christ and salvation by Him–vast in its provisions. The whole world may come and wash in this laver and be clean.
5. But I notice, also, in regard to this laver of looking-glasses spoken of in the text, that the washing in it was imperative and not optional. When the priests came into the Tabernacle (you will find this in the 30th chapter of Exodus), God tells them they must wash in that laver or die. The priests might have said: Cant I wash elsewhere? I washed in the laver at home, and now you want me to wash here. God says, No matter whether you have washed before. Wash in this laver or die. But, says the priest, there is water just as clean as this, why wont that do? . . . Wash here, says God, or die. So it is with the gospel of Christ–it is imperative. There is only this alternative: keep our sins and perish, or wash them away and live. (Dr. Talmage.)
Old things turned to new uses
In many ancient religions women took a leading part in some of the ceremonies. This was so in Egypt. Each woman had a looking-glass made of polished brass, and that mirror was used in some way in connection with idolatrous practices. When the Tabernacle was being built the women gave up their mirrors and so contributed to the formation of the laver, which was made of brass, and the foot of it of brass. Thus we have old things turned to new uses, and it is for us to say whether we shall regard this incident as a piece of ancient history, or whether we shall enter into the spirit of it and realize the action in our own day and on a broader scale. How came the women to give up their looking-glasses to assist in constructing the laver? Because a superior spirit had taken possession of them. That is the philosophy and that the explanation of the case. What then is the spirit that is to enter into us? None other than the spirit of Christ. We might use many words in describing the spirit, but all the words would focalize themselves at last in this sublime expression–For Christs sake. The highest personality is Christ. We follow Him, and in proportion as we follow Him all things we possess are His. There is room in the sanctuary for everything. This is the point we have so often missed in our Christian teaching. No punishment is burning enough for the men who would belittle Gods house. What have you? You have nothing that cannot be used in the building of Gods house and kingdom. Have you nothing but the little looking-glass? It can be used. Is yours, on the other hand, but one small flower which a child could pluck? It was Gods flower before it was yours, and He will never consent to lose a flower; it cost Him thought and care and love; He dressed the flower as Solomon never could dress himself. Blessed will be the day when the breweries of the country are turned into mechanics institutes, great sanitary establishments for the washing and cleansing of the people. Blessed will be the day when the rich mans saloons shall be thrown open to the poorest neighbours he has who will come to look at his articles of vertu,–who will turn over his curiosities and examine them with honest fingers, and so admire them as to be touched into desire for broader life. Blessed–bright will be the day when in that sense we shall have all things common; when the strong mans strength shall be the weak mans refuge; when the homeless shall have a large home in the charity and love of his richer brother; when the one object of every heart will be to extend the happiness of mankind–the one question in the morning being, What good can be done to-day? and the one question at eventide, What good has been accomplished? My persuasion is that if ever that time is to be brought about, it can only be by the extension of the spirit of Jesus Christ. Taking the Christian view, all becomes larger still and brighter, and the hope is given that one day everybody will be in the kingdom, and every man, woman, and child, wilt be doing their very best to make that kingdom what God means it to be. The great men, by heroic strength, by dauntless valour, will carry on their sublime occupation; the patient women–gentle souls, having the genius of sympathy and the faculty of interpreting by suffering–will contribute their important, their ineffably valuable share; and little children will make up the sum total of the consecration. (J. Parker, D. D.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 8. He made the laver] See Clarke on Ex 30:18, c.
The looking-glasses] The word maroth, from raah, he saw, signifies reflectors or mirrors of any kind. Here metal, highly polished, must certainly be meant, as glass was not yet in use and had it even been in use, we are sure that looking-GLASSES could not make a BRAZEN laver. The word therefore should be rendered mirrors, not looking-glasses, which in the above verse is perfectly absurd, because from those maroth the brazen laver was made. The first mirrors known among men were the clear, still, fountain, and unruffled lake; and probably the mineral called mica, which is a very general substance through all parts of the earth. Plates of it have been found of three feet square, and it is so extremely divisible into laminae, that it has been divided into plates so thin as to be only the three hundred thousandth part of an inch. A plate of this forms an excellent mirror when any thing black is attached to the opposite side. A plate of this mineral, nine inches by eight, now lies before me; a piece of black cloth, or any other black substance, at the back, converts it into a good mirror; or it would serve as it is for a square of glass, as every object is clearly perceivable through it. It is used in Russian ships of war, instead of glass, for windows. The first artificial mirrors were apparently made of brass, afterwards of polished steel, and when luxury increased they were made of silver; but they were made at a very early period of mixed metal, particularly of tin and copper, the best of which, as Pliny tells us, were formerly manufactured at Brundusium: Optima apud majores fuerant Brundisina, stanno et aere mixtis. – Hist. Nat. lib. xxxiii., cap. 9. But, according to him, the most esteemed were those made of tin; and he says that silver mirrors became so common that even the servant girls used them: Specula (ex stanno) laudatissima Brundisii temperabantur; donec argenteis uti caepere et ancillae; lib. xxxiv., cap. 17. When the Egyptian women went to the temples, they always carried their mirrors with them. The Israelitish women probably did the same, and Dr. Shaw states that the Arabian women carry them constantly hung at their breasts. It is worthy of remark, that at first these women freely gave up their ornaments for this important service, and now give their very mirrors, probably as being of little farther service, seeing they had already given up the principal decorations of their persons. Woman has been invidiously defined by Aristotle, an animal fond of dress, (though this belongs to the whole human race, and not exclusively to woman.) Had this been true of the Israelitish women, in the present case we must say they nobly sacrificed their incentives to pride to the service of their God. Woman, go thou and do likewise.
Of the women – which assembled at the door] What the employment of these women was at the door of the tabernacle, is not easily known. Some think they assembled there for purposes of devotion. Others, that they kept watch there during the night; and this is the most probable opinion, for they appear to have been in the same employment as those who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation in the days of Samuel, who were abused by the sons of the high priest Eli, 1Sa 2:22. Among the ancients women were generally employed in the office of porters or doorkeepers. Such were employed about the house of the high priest in our Lord’s time; for a woman is actually represented as keeping the door of the palace of the high priest, Joh 18:17: Then saith the DAMSEL that KEPT THE DOOR unto Peter; see also Mt 26:69. In 2Sa 4:6, both the Septuagint and Vulgate make a woman porter or doorkeeper to Ishbosheth. Aristophanes mentions them in the same office, and calls them , Sekis, which seems to signify a common maid-servant. Aristoph, in Vespis, ver. 768: –
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Homer, Odyss., , ver. 225-229, mentions Actoris, Penelope’s maid, whose office it was to keep the door of her chamber: –
– – –
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And Euripides, in Troad., ver. 197, brings in Hecuba, complaining that she who was wont to sit upon a throne is now reduced to the miserable necessity of becoming a doorkeeper or a nurse, in order to get a morsel of bread.
– – –
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Sir John Chardin observes, that women are employed to keep the gate of the palace of the Persian kings. Plautus, Curcul., act 1., scene 1, mentions an old woman, who was keeper of the gate.
Anus hic solet cubitare, custos janitrix.
Many other examples might be produced. It is therefore very likely that the persons mentioned here, and in 1Sa 2:22, were the women who guarded the tabernacle; and that they regularly relieved each other, a troop or company regularly keeping watch: and indeed this seems to be implied in the original, tsabeu, they came by troops; and these troops successively consecrated their mirrors to the service of the tabernacle. See Calmet on Joh 18:16.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Looking-glasses, as now they are sometimes made of polished steel, so anciently were made of polished brass, as appears both from sacred and from profane writers. See Job 37:18; Phi 3:9, &c. The words following seem to note a company of religious women, who in a more peculiar manner devoted themselves to the service of God in or about his tabernacle, by fasting, prayer, &c. See 1Sa 2:22; Luk 2:37. And whereas some object that the tabernacle was not yet built, it may be replied, either that this is to be understood of the tabernacle spoken of Exo 33:7, which might serve for that purpose till this was built; or that here is a prolepsis or anticipation, and that he speaks not of what the women now did, but of what they did after the tabernacle was built, which was before Moses writ these words.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. laver of brass . . . of thelooking glasses of the womenThe word mirrors shouldhave been used, as those implements, usually round, inserted into ahandle of wood, stone, or metal, were made of brass, silver, orbronze, highly polished [WILKINSON].It was customary for the Egyptian women to carry mirrors with them tothe temples; and whether by taking the looking glasses of the Hebrewwomen Moses designed to put it out of their power to follow a similarpractice at the tabernacle, or whether the supply of brass from othersources in the camp was exhausted, it is interesting to learn howzealously and to a vast extent they surrendered those valuedaccompaniments of the female toilet.
of the women assembling . . .at the doornot priestesses but women of pious character andinfluence, who frequented the courts of the sacred building (Lu2:37), and whose parting with their mirrors, like the cutting thehair of the Nazarites, was their renouncing the world for a season[HENGSTENBERG].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And he made the laver of brass, and the foot of it of brass,…. Not of the brass of the offering, for of that were made the brazen altar, its grate and vessels, the sockets of the court and court gate, and the pins of the tabernacle, Ex 38:29 but no mention is made there of the laver; for that was made, as here said,
of the looking glasses of [the women] assembling, which assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation; though these are called looking glasses, it is not to be supposed that they were made of glass as ours are; for of what use could such be in the making of a brazen laver? Some indeed choose to read the words “with the looking glasses” d, and take the sense to be, that there were looking glasses about the laver, affixed to it, that when the priests came to wash, they might see their spots, and the better know how to cleanse themselves from them: but it should be observed, that the priests did not come hither to wash their faces, but their hands and feet,
Ex 30:19 and so stood in no need of looking glasses for that purpose. The particle is here, as Aben Ezra observes, instead of
, and denotes the matter of which the laver was made, and therefore these instruments to behold the face in, or those mirrors, were of brass, as both he and Philo the Jew e affirm; and, indeed, what else could they be, for a laver of brass to be made of? mirrors in former times were made of various sorts of metal polished, some of gold, some of silver, some of brass, and some of brass and tin f; and the Indians to this day have mirrors made of brass, well polished, and exactly represent the complexion g. Pliny says h, that those of Brundusium, which were made of brass and tin mixed, were with the ancient Romans reckoned the best. Aristotle i speaks of mirrors of brass, and of their receiving and showing the least touch, because the brass is smooth and polished; and so in our times, there are such as are made of polished steel, and even of burnished brass too: De la Hay k says that he had one in his study, which was given him, made of brass of Damascus, and was so finely polished that no crystal one could give a truer sight of the face than that; however, it is certain the ancients used such kind of mirrors; see Job 37:18 these the good women of Israel, in their great zeal, brought for the service of the sanctuary, though they were of daily use, and peculiarly serviceable to them in their dressing; for though the word “women” is not in the text, it is rightly supplied, as it is in all the three Targums, the word being feminine, and as may be justified by a parallel passage, 1Sa 2:22 indeed Varenius l proposes another, rendering the words thus,
“of the looking glasses in great number gathered together, which they had heaped together at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation;”
but the word used is active and not passive, and is used of persons gathering together, and not of things gathered, as appears from the above quoted place, and others; and these women gathered together, not for devotion and religion, to pray, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan paraphrase it, or to pray, and hear the words of the law, as Aben Ezra, much less to bear any part in the ministry and service of the sanctuary, which as yet was not built; for this tabernacle of the congregation was no other than the tent of Moses, or, however, some little tabernacle erected while the other was preparing, see
Ex 33:7 hither the women crowded with their mirrors of brass for the service of the sanctuary; for the word signifies an assembling in troops like an army; and they came in great numbers and beset the door of the tent where Moses was, that he might take their offerings at their hands; not but that it will be allowed that devout women sometimes did assemble at the tabernacle and temple, to perform acts of religion and devotion; but this seems not to be the case here, nor this a time and place for it; see 1Sa 2:22.
d “cum speculis”, Oleaster. e De Vita Mosis, l. 3. p. 673. f Vid. Doughtei Analecta Sacr. excurs. 44. p. 124. g Agreement of Customs between the East Indians and Jews, art. 15. p. 65. h Nat. Hist. l. 33. c. 9. & l. 34. c. 17. i De Insomniis, c. 2. k Apud Habikhorst. de mulier. Zobheoth in Thesaur. Theolog. Philolog. vol. 1. p. 321. l Apud ib. p. 318.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Verse 8:
Instructions for the design and use of the laver are found in Ex 30:17-21. This was a large vessel used to hold water, used for ceremonial cleansing. It was made from the looking-glasses of highly polished brass (copper or bronze), donated by certain women of Israel.
“Assembling,” tsaba “to be in the host, or to serve it.” The term denotes more than merely to gather together (asaph). It includes the idea of gathering for the purpose of serving. Some believe there was an order of women who ministered regularly before the Lord at the tabernacle. This text appears to confirm this belief. (See Lu 2:36-38.)
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(8) He made the laver of brass.Comp. Exo. 30:18-21, where the laver is commanded, and the uses whereto it was to be applied are laid down. By brass we must understand bronze in this place, as in others.
Of the lookingglasses.Rather, mirrors. The mirrors used in ancient times were not of glass, but of burnished metal. Bronze was the metal ordinarily employed for the purpose, and was in common use in Egypt, where mirrors were bronze plates, round or oval, with a handle, like our fire-screens. The Etruscan women employed similar articles in their toilets, and had them often delicately chased with engravings.
Of the women assembling.It would seem that these womenthe women wont to frequent the tent of meeting which Moses had recently set up (Exo. 33:7), and to flock thither in troopsoffered voluntarily for the service of God the mirrors, which were among the most highly prized of their possessions. Moses, to mark his approval of their devotion, formed their offerings into the most honourable of all the brazen vessels, and recorded the fact to the womens credit.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
The Making of The Laver ( Exo 38:8 ).
Exo 38:8
‘And he made the laver of bronze, and its base of bronze, of the mirrors of the ministering women who gathered at the door of the Tent of Meeting.’
The laver was made of bronze and was made from the mirrors of the women who would gather at the entrance to the Tent Of Meeting. This would suggest that pious women used to gather at the entrance to the old Tent of Meeting in order to worship and pray. It was clearly their wish that their mirrors be used for something special. For the laver see Exo 30:18-21. This touching note confirms the genuineness of the narrative. It is a note of authenticity. For the use of the mirrors in this way would not be known at the time of the instructions concerning the laver, but it was known once the work was completed.
Mirrors in the Old Testament period were usually round or oval and made of metal, cast and highly polished. Their use in Egypt, and the Egyptian expertise in polishing the metal from which they were made, is well known and examples can be found in the British Museum. Furthermore several bronze examples from the Middle Bronze Age onwards have been found in Palestine, of a form common throughout the Near East. The Hebrew word for ‘mirror’ (maroth) appears to be taken directly from the Egyptian ‘maa’.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Exo 38:8. Of the looking-glass of the women assembling Looking-glasses or mirrors were anciently, as appears from hence, made of brass. Callimachus, in his hymn to Pallas, observes, (Exo 38:19 that she never looked into , a mirror made of mountain-brass, nor into water; which were heretofore the only looking-glasses: luxury brought in silver ones afterwards. Le Clerc, from Cyril, tells us, that it was the custom of the Egyptian women to carry a looking glass along with them, when they went to the temples and places of public worship; and perhaps many of the Israelitish women had the same custom, borrowed from the Egyptians. Dr. Shaw informs us, that “the Arabian women still carry their looking-glasses constantly with them, hanging at their breasts,” Travels, p. 241. The strong expressions here used [see the margin of our Bibles] seem to refer to that readiness, wherewith the women came in troops to offer even these instruments of their pride (if they were such) to the service of the tabernacle: anxious to shew their zeal, they assembled in vast multitudes, as with their jewels, so with their looking-glasses, at the door of that tabernacle of the congregation, which was pitched without the camp, and of which we have spoken in the note on ch. Exo 33:7. Some, however, have thought, that these were devout women, who daily attended the sanctuary, and were perhaps employed in some sacred offices. The learned Grotius is of this opinion; and observes upon Luk 2:37. (where Anna’s attention to the service of the temple is mentioned,) that not only the Levites, but other Israelites, both men and women, were wont to assemble both by day and night, in order to employ themselves in prayer and praise; which companies were called by the military term tzaba, hosts or troops; which is the Hebrew word here used: so that, as assembling in a troop, and relieving each other by turns, like soldiers appointed to keep guard, they might be called with propriety the sacred watch; see Psa 92:2; Psa 119:147; Psalms 134; Psalms 135. To this custom, he thinks, the passage before us refers, as having taken place in the earlier times of the Jewish commonwealth, even before the sacred tabernacle was erected, and when this, here spoken of, supplied its place. Hence the LXX render it, the women who fasted; and the Chaldee, the women who prayed. Whether this opinion of Grotius be admitted or not, we may, with great propriety, understand the present passage, of the women who zealously and in multitudes assembled with their free-gifts.
See commentary on Exo 38:1
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Exo 30:18 . Was not the glass, or brazen mirror, of which the laver was made, intended to represent the glass of the gospel? See Jas 1:23 with Jas 1:25 . May we not, without violence to the expression suppose it intended the looking unto Jesus? Zec 12:10 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 38:8 And he made the laver [of] brass, and the foot of it [of] brass, of the lookingglasses of [the women] assembling, which assembled [at] the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
Ver. 8. Looking glasses. ] Or, Brazen-glasses. These devout women that used to assemble by troops at the door of the tabernacle to pray and serve God, – see Luk 2:37 1Ti 5:5 , – frankly gave the instruments whereby they dressed their bodies, to make the instrument whereby, through faith, they might sanctify their souls. Let those who view themselves oft in their looking glasses take his counsel who said, “Art thou fair? be not like an Egyptian temple, varnish without and vermin within. Art thou foul? let thy soul be like a rich pearl in a rude shell.” Some such advice as this Pythagoras gave his scholars. St James would have men “look” often “into the perfect law of liberty,” that crystal glass, “and continue therein.” Jam 1:25 David did so, and got much good by it. Psa 119:59 I considered my ways: Heb., I viewed my ways on both sides. The curious works of the sanctuary were wrought on both sides, therefore called works with two faces. Common works are wrought only on one side, on the other full of ends and shreds. The prophet here strives to walk curiously, precisely, accurately, to turn his feet to God’s testimonies: and hence he is so exact in his self-searching.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
lookingglasses = mirrors of polished metal. Compare 2Co 3:18.
assembling = doing service, or worshipping according to Egyptian practice. By using these for the laver this practice was abolished. Compare Num 4:23 (same word), and see Luk 2:3 Luk 2:7.
door = entrance.
tabernacle = tent. Hebrew. ‘ohel. See App-40.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the laver: Exo 30:18-21, Exo 40:7, Exo 40:30-32, 1Ki 7:23-26, 1Ki 7:38, Psa 26:6, Zec 13:1, Joh 13:10, Tit 3:5, Tit 3:6, Heb 9:10, 1Jo 3:7, Rev 1:5, looking glasses, or, brazen glasses, The word maroth, from raah, to see, denotes reflectors, or mirrors, of any kind. That these could not have been looking glasses, as in our translation, is sufficiently evident, not only from the glass not being then in use, but also from the impossibility of making the brazen laver of such materials. The first mirrors known among men, were the clear fountain and unruffled lake. The first artificial ones were made of polished brass, afterwards of steel, and when luxury increased, of silver; but at a very early period, they were made of a mixed metal, particularly of tin and copper, the best of which, as Pliny informs us, were formerly manufactured at Brundusium. When the Egyptians went to their temples, according to St. Cyril, they always carried their mirrors with them. The Israelitish women probably did the same; and Dr. Shaw says, that looking-glasses are still part of the dress of Moorish women, who carry them constantly hung at their breasts.
assembling: Heb. assembling by troops, It is supposed that these women kept watch during the night. Among the ancients, women were generally employed as door-keepers. See note on 1Sa 2:22. Pro 8:34, Mat 26:69, Luk 2:37, Joh 18:16, 1Ti 5:5
Reciprocal: Exo 31:9 – the laver Exo 35:16 – the laver Job 37:18 – as Isa 3:23 – glasses 1Pe 3:3 – that Rev 4:6 – a sea
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Exo 38:8. He made the laver of brass The brass font for the priests to wash in before service, Exo 30:18. This laver signified the provision that is made in the gospel for cleansing our souls from the pollution of sin by the atoning blood of Christ and the regenerating Spirit of God, that we may be fit to serve God in holy duties. That is here said to be made of the looking-glasses, (or mirrors rather, for they were not glasses,) of the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle Mirrors, before the invention of glass, were made of polished brass. Pliny says those of brass and tin mixed together were esteemed the best, before those of silver came to be in use. These here mentioned, no doubt, were of the finest kind of brass, and the women who gave them seem to have been eminent for devotion, attending more constantly than others at the place of public worship, which, is here taken notice of to their honour. In the laver these mirrors were either artfully joined together, or else molten down and cast anew; but it is probable the laver was so brightly burnished that the sides of it still served for mirrors, that the priests, when they came to wash, might there see their faces, and so discover the spots to wash them clean.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
38:8 And he made the laver [of] brass, and the foot of it [of] brass, of the {b} lookingglasses of [the women] assembling, which assembled [at] the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
(b) R. Kimbi says that the women brought their looking glasses, which were of brass or fine metal, and offered them freely for the use of the tabernacle: which was a bright thing and of great majesty.