Exodus 25:1

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

25:1-9 God chose the people of Israel to be a peculiar people to himself, above all people, and he himself would be their King. He ordered a royal palace to be set up among them for himself, called a sanctuary, or holy place, or habitation. There he showed his presence among them. And because in the wilderness they dwelt in tents, this royal palace was ordered to be a tabernacle, that it might move with them. The people were to furnish Moses with the materials, by their own free will. The best use we can make of our worldly wealth, is to honour God with it in works of piety and charity. We should ask, not only, What must we do? but, What may we do for God? Whatever they gave, they must give it cheerfully, not grudgingly, for God loves a cheerful giver, 2Co 9:7. What is laid out in the service of God, we must reckon well bestowed; and whatsoever is done in God's service, must be done by his direction.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Yahweh had redeemed the Israelites from bondage. He had made a covenant with them and had given them laws. He had promised, on condition of their obedience, to accept them as His own "peculiar treasure," as "a kingdom of priests and an holy nation" Exodus 19:5-6. And now He was ready visibly to testify that He made his abode with them. He claimed to have a dwelling for Himself, which was to be in external form a tent of goats' hair Exodus 19:4, to take its place among their own tents, and formed out of the same material (see Exodus 26:7 note). The special mark of His presence within the tent was to be the ark or chest containing the Ten Commandments on two tables of stone Exodus 31:18, symbolizing the divine law of holiness, and covered by the mercy-seat, the type of reconciliation. Moses was divinely taught regarding the construction and arrangement of every part of the sanctuary. The directions which were given him are comprised in Exodus 25:1-31:11. The account of the performance of the work, expressed generally in the same terms, is given Exodus 35:21-40:33.

Moses is commanded to invite the people to bring their gifts for the construction and service of the sanctuary and for the dresses of the priests.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 25

Ex 25:1-40. Concerning an Offering.

1. the Lord spake unto Moses, &c.—The business that chiefly occupied Moses on the mount, whatever other disclosures were made to him there, was in receiving directions about the tabernacle, and they are here recorded as given to him.Moses is commanded to take a free-will offering to set up the tabernacle, and of what, Exodus 25:1-7. God commands him to make a sanctuary, Exodus 25:8; chargeth him how and whereof to make a tabernacle, Exodus 25:9. The form of the ark, Exodus 25:10-16. The mercy-seat, Exodus 25:17-22. The table for the shew-bread, with other utensils, Exodus 25:23-30. Of the candlestick, with its employment, and other furnitures for the tabernacle, Exodus 25:31-39. Moses is commanded to make it answerable to the pattern which he saw in the mount, Exodus 25:40.

Having delivered the moral and judicial laws, he now comes to the ceremonial law, wherein he sets down all things very minutely and particularly, whereas in the other laws he was content to lay down general rules, and leaveth many other things to be by analogy deduced from them. The reason of the difference seems to be this, that the light of reason implanted in all men, gives him greater help in the discovery of moral and judicial things than in ceremonial matters, or in the external way and manner of God’s worship; which is a thing depending wholly upon God’s institution, and not left to man’s invention, which is a very incompetent judge of those things, as appears from hence, because the wittiest men, destitute of God’s revelation, have been guilty of most foolery in their devices of God’s worship.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... When on the mount, and in the midst of the cloud with him:

saying; as follows.

Geneva Study Bible

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

1–9. Contribution of materials for a sanctuary (cf. Exodus 35:20-29). All liberally-minded Israelites are invited to contribute the materials necessary for the construction and equipment of a sanctuary—its fabric, its sacred vessels, and (ch. 28) the vestments of its priests. The materials are to include metals, textile fabrics, skins, wood, oil, spices, and precious stones. The sanctuary, when completed, is to form an abode in which Jehovah may dwell in the midst of His people (v. 8).

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 1-7. - THE TABERNACLE AND THE GIFTS FOR IT. The great principles of the moral law had been given in the Ten Commandments uttered by God amid the thunders of Sinai. The "Book of the Covenant," or short summary of the main laws, civil, political, and social, had been communicated to Moses, and by him reduced to a written form (Exodus 24:4). A solemn league and covenant had been entered into between God and his people, the people undertaking to keep all the words of the Lord, and God to be their Protector, Guide, and King. But no form of worship had been set up. Abstract monotheism had been inculcated; and worship had been so far touched upon that an "altar" had been mentioned, and certain directions, chiefly negative, had been given with respect to it (Exodus 20:24-26). It remained that the abstract monotheism should be enshrined in forms, obtain a local habitation, and be set forth before the eyes, and so fixed in the heart and affections of the people. God was now about to declare to Moses what the character of the habitation should be, its size, form, and materials. But before doing this, as a first and fitting, if not necessary, preliminary, he required of the people to bring of the best of their possessions for the service which he was about to institute, enumerating the substances which he would condescend to receive at their hands, and especially enjoining upon them that all should be offered willingly and from the heart (ver. 2). Exodus 25:1

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

(cf. Exodus 35:1-9). The Israelites were to bring to the Lord a heave-offering (תּרוּמה from רוּם, a gift lifted, or heaved by a man from his own property to present to the Lord; see at Leviticus 2:9), "on the part of every one whom his heart drove," i.e., whose heart was willing (cf. לבּו נדיב Exodus 35:5, Exodus 35:22): viz., gold, silver, brass, etc.