Exodus 25:6

Oil for the light, spices for anointing oil, and for sweet incense,

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(6) Oil for the light.—It is assumed that the “sanctuary,” which is to be built (Exodus 25:8), will need to be lighted. Oil therefore is to be provided for the lighting. Later on (Exodus 27:20) it is laid down that the oil must be “pure olive oil beaten.”

Spices for anointing oil.—Rather, for the anointing oil. Here, again, there is an assumption that anointing oil will be needed, and that spices will be a necessary ingredient in such oil. We find afterwards that the Tabernacle itself, all its vessels, and the priests appointed to serve in it, had to be consecrated by anointing (Exodus 29:7; Exodus 29:36; Exodus 30:26-30). The particular spices to be mixed with the “anointing oil” are enumerated in Exodus 30:23-24.

And for sweet incense.—Rather, for the sweet incense—the incense, i.e., which would have to be burnt. (See Exodus 30:1-8; and for the composition of the incense, Exodus 30:34.)

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

See the notes to Exodus 27; 28; 30,

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

5. badgers' skins—The badger was an unclean animal, and is not a native of the East—rather some kind of fish, of the leather of which sandals are made in the East. [See on [23]Ex 39:34 and [24]Eze 16:10.]

shittim wood—or Shittah (Isa 41:19), the acacia, a shrub which grows plentifully in the deserts of Arabia, yielding a light, strong, and beautiful wood, in long planks.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Oil for the light; for the lamps or candlesticks, Exodus 25:37.

Anointing oil, wherewith the priests, and the tabernacle, and the utensils thereof, were to be anointed. Sweet

incense; Heb. incense of spices, or sweet odours; so called to distinguish it from the incense of the fat of sacrifices, which was burnt upon the altar.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Oil for the light,.... For the light of the lamps in the candlestick: this was oil olive, as the Targum of Jonathan, and so Jarchi, see Exodus 27:20,

spices for anointing oil; for the anointing of Aaron and his sons, and the tabernacle and its vessels, such as pure myrrh, sweet cinnamon, sweet calamus, and cassia:

and for sweet incense; as stacte, onycha, and galbanum; from whence they had this oil and these spices, it is not easy to say, unless they brought them out of Egypt with them; which is likely, since the deserts of Arabia could not furnish them with them.

Geneva Study Bible

Oil for the light, spices for {d} anointing oil, and for sweet incense,

(d) Ordained for the priest.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

6. Oil and spices. For the reason of the verse being assigned to P3[199], see pp. 296, 328: cf. pp. 378 f., and xi f.

[199] Secondary strata of P (see p. xii top; pp. 328f., 378).

oil for the light] See on Exodus 27:20.

spices for the anointing oil] Exodus 30:22 ff.

and for the incense of fragrant powders] Exodus 30:34 ff.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 6. - Oil for the light. That the sanctuary to be erected would require to be artificially lighted is assumed. Later, a "candlestick" is ordered (vers. 31-37). The people were to provide the oil which was to be burnt in the "candlestick." In Exodus 27:20, we are told that the oil was to be "pure oil olive beaten." Spices for anointing oil. Anointing oil would be needed for the sanctification of the Tabernacle, the ark, and all the holy vessels, as also for the consecration of Aaron and his sons to the priesthood. The spices required are enumerated in Exodus 30:23, 24. They consisted of pure myrrh, sweet cinnamon, sweet calamus, and cassia. And for sweet incense. The spices needed for the incense were, according to our translators, stacte, onycha, galbanum and frankincense (ib, 34). Exodus 25:6

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Oil for the candlestick (see at Exodus 27:20). בּשׂמים perfumes, spices for the anointing oil (see at Exodus 30:22.), and for the incense (הסּמּים, lit., the scents, because the materials of which it was composed were not all of them fragrant; see at Exodus 30:34.).