Éxodo 38

VBL · Chapter 38/40

1Bezalelpresentó la ofrenda quemada en el altar hecho con madera de acacia. Era cuadrado y medía cinco codos de largo por cinco de ancho por tres de alto.

2Hizo cuernos para cada una de sus esquinas, todos de una sola pieza con el altar, y cubrió todo el altar con bronce.

3Elaboró todos sus utensilios: cubos para quitar las cenizas, palas, tazones para rociar, tenedores para la carne y cacerolas. Todos sus utensilios los hizo de bronce.

4Fabricóuna rejilla de malla de bronce para el altar y la colocó bajo el saliente del altar, de modo que la malla llegara hasta la mitad del altar.

5Fundió cuatro anillos de bronce para las cuatro esquinas de la rejilla como soportes para los postes.

6Elaboró postes de madera de acacia para el altar y los cubrió con bronce.

7Puso las varas a través de los anillos a cada lado del altar para que pudiera ser transportado. Hizo el altar hueco, usando tablas.

8Hizo la palangana de bronce con su soporte con bronce de los espejos de las mujeres que servían en la entrada del Tabernáculo de reunión.

9Luego construyó un patio. Para el lado sur del patio hizo cortinas de lino finamente hilado, de cien codos de largo por un lado,

10con veinte postes y veinte soportes de bronce, con ganchos y bandas de plata en los postes.

11De manera similar hizo cortinas colocadas en el lado norte en una disposición idéntica.

12Confeccionó cortinas para el lado oeste del patio de cincuenta codos de ancho, con diez postes y diez soportes.

13El lado este del patio que da al amanecer tenía cincuenta codos de ancho.

14Diseñó las cortinas de un lado de quince codos de largo, con tres postes y tres soportes,

15y las cortinas del otro lado de la misma manera.

16Todas las cortinas que rodeaban el patio eran de lino finamente tejido.

17Las gradas de los postes eran de bronce, los ganchos y las bandas eran de plata, y la parte superior de los postes estaba cubierta de plata. Todos los postes alrededor del patio tenían bandas de plata.

18La cortina de la entrada al patio estaba bordada con hilos azules, púrpura y carmesí, y con lino finamente hilado. Tenía 20 codos de largo por 5 codos de alto, la misma altura que las cortinas del patio.

19Estaba sostenido por cuatro postes y cuatro soportes. Los postes tenían ganchos, tapas y bandas de plata.

20Todas las estacas de la tienda para el Tabernáculo y para el patio circundante eran de bronce.

21Lo siguiente es lo que se usó para el Tabernáculo del Testimonio, registrado bajo la dirección de Moisés por los levitas bajo la supervisión de Itamar, hijo del sacerdote Aarón.

22Bezaleel, hijo de Uri, hijo de Hur, de la tribu de Judá, hizo todo lo que el Señor había ordenado a Moisés.

23Fue asistido por Aholiab, hijo de Ahisamac, de la tribu de Dan, un grabador, diseñador y bordador que usaba hilos azules, púrpura y carmesí y lino finamente tejido.

24La cantidad total de oro de la ofrenda que se utilizó para el trabajo en el santuario fue de 29 talentos y 730 siclos, (usando el estándar de siclos del santuario).

25La cantidad total de plata de los que habían sido contados en el censo era de 100 talentos y 1.775 siclos (usando el estándar del siclo del santuario).

26Esto representa un beka por persona, o medio siclo, (usando el estándar del siclo del santuario) de cada persona de veinte años o más que había sido censada, un total de 603.550 hombres.

27Los cien talentos de plata se usaron para fundir los soportes del santuario y los soportes de las cortinas, 100 bases de los 100 talentos, o un talento por base.

28Bezalel usó los 1.775 siclos de plata para hacer los ganchos de los postes, cubrir sus tapas y hacer bandas para ellos.

29La cantidad total de bronce de la ofrenda fue de 70 talentos y 2.400 siclos.

30Bezalel lo usó para hacer las gradas para la entrada a el Tabernáculo de Reunión, el altar de bronce y su rejilla de bronce, todos los utensilios para el altar,

31las gradas para el patio y su entrada, y todas las estacas de la tienda para el Tabernáculo y el patio.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

The bronze altar for burnt offerings is built, along with the bronze basin made from the women's mirrors, and the courtyard of the tabernacle with its curtains and pillars; the chapter ends with a detailed record of all the gold, silver, and bronze used in the work.

Explanation

This chapter concludes the construction of the outer elements of the tabernacle, with a touching detail standing out: the bronze basin, used for the priests' ritual washings, was made 'of the looking glasses of the women assembling, which assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation' (v. 8) — an extraordinary act of giving, in which personal objects of vanity or identity were willingly surrendered and transformed into something used for sacred purification. The careful and transparent record of all the precious metal used in the construction, including the exact amounts of gold, silver, and bronze, demonstrates an important principle of responsibility and public accountability regarding resources donated for a sacred work, avoiding any suspicion of misappropriation or mismanagement on the part of the leaders involved. This kind of financial transparency, explicitly documented in Scripture, serves as a timeless model of integrity in the administration of resources dedicated to religious or communal purposes.

Fun facts

  • The specific mention of the 'women's mirrors' (v. 8) being transformed into a sacred basin is one of the earliest biblical examples of the symbolic repurposing of personal objects — from instruments of outward vanity into instruments of spiritual purification — a powerful metaphor for the transformation of purpose.
  • The detailed record of the amounts of precious metals (more than 29 talents of gold, equivalent to hundreds of kilograms) shows that building the tabernacle represented an extraordinary material investment for a people newly freed from slavery, making the voluntary generosity described in the previous chapters all the more remarkable.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Éxodo 38:1The outer sacrifice altar is built of acacia wood, with the square structure about seven and a half feet on each side from chapter 27.
  2. Éxodo 38:2The altar’s horns are made from the same wooden structure, and the whole piece is overlaid with copper, not gold like the inner pieces.
  3. Éxodo 38:3All the altar’s auxiliary utensils—ash containers, shovels, basins, forks, and firepans—are made of copper.
  4. Éxodo 38:4The copper grate, shaped like a net, is made and placed inside the altar’s structure, creating the interior space for the coals.
  5. Éxodo 38:5Four metal rings are cast at the corners of the grate, ready to hold the altar’s carrying poles.
  6. Éxodo 38:6The altar’s poles are made of acacia wood overlaid with copper, keeping the material pattern for this particular piece.
  7. Éxodo 38:7The poles are fitted into the altar’s side rings, allowing it to be carried whenever the camp moves.
  8. Éxodo 38:8The copper basin where the priests washed their hands and feet was made by melting down polished metal mirrors belonging to women of the people, voluntarily donated to the work. Metal mirrors—not glass, which didn’t yet exist that way—were valuable personal possessions at the time, which makes this donation a remarkable act of generosity.
  9. Éxodo 38:9The outer courtyard is set up with fine linen curtains along the south side, measuring a hundred cubits long, as specified before.
  10. Éxodo 38:10The twenty pillars supporting these south-side curtains are made of copper, with silver finishing details.
  11. Éxodo 38:11The north side of the courtyard receives exactly the same treatment, with its own twenty copper pillars and silver finishing.
  12. Éxodo 38:12The narrower west side is closed off with fifty cubits of curtain supported by ten pillars.
  13. Éxodo 38:13The east side, facing the main entrance, also receives fifty cubits of curtain, divided between the gate and the sides.
  14. Éxodo 38:14On one side of the entrance, fifteen cubits of curtain complete part of the courtyard’s east-side width.
  15. Éxodo 38:15The other side of the entrance receives the same measurement, symmetrically closing off the courtyard’s front.
  16. Éxodo 38:16All the curtains around the courtyard, without exception, are made of finely twisted linen, keeping to a single material standard.
  17. Éxodo 38:17The sockets of all the courtyard pillars are made of copper, while the finishings—hooks and bands—are silver throughout.
  18. Éxodo 38:18The courtyard’s entrance curtain receives a more elaborate embroidered finish, with the same colored fabrics used on other visible pieces of the set.
  19. Éxodo 38:19The four pillars of this specific entrance are made of copper, but their finishing details follow the same silver pattern as the courtyard’s other pillars.
  20. Éxodo 38:20All the pegs used to secure both the tabernacle and the courtyard to the ground are made of copper.
  21. Éxodo 38:21This passage begins a kind of accounting: an official inventory of all the gold, silver, and copper used in building the tabernacle, recorded under the responsibility of Ithamar, one of Aaron’s sons. It’s a way of ensuring transparency about where the people’s donations went.
  22. Éxodo 38:22It confirms that Bezalel personally carried out everything God had commanded Moses, fully fulfilling his part in leading the work.
  23. Éxodo 38:23Oholiab works alongside Bezalel, contributing specifically his embroidery skills on the colored fabrics used in several pieces of the set.
  24. Éxodo 38:24The final report accounts for all the gold used in the work, a total of twenty-nine talents and seven hundred thirty shekels, measured by the official sanctuary standard.
  25. Éxodo 38:25The silver used, coming specifically from the census of the people, totaled a hundred talents and one thousand seven hundred seventy-five shekels.
  26. Éxodo 38:26This huge number of men counted, more than 600,000, corresponds to the total number of adult Israelites who paid that half-shekel census tax mentioned in chapter 30, used precisely to cast the tabernacle’s silver sockets. It’s essentially the math behind the large amount of silver used in the work.
  27. Éxodo 38:27A good portion of that silver, a full hundred talents, was used exclusively for the hundred metal sockets that supported the tabernacle’s boards and veil.
  28. Éxodo 38:28The rest of the silver, just under two thousand shekels, was used for the hooks and decorative finishings of the pillars.
  29. Éxodo 38:29The copper donated totaled seventy talents and two thousand four hundred shekels, a generous amount used in several parts of the structure.
  30. Éxodo 38:30This copper went toward the sockets at the tabernacle’s entrance, the sacrifice altar, its grate, and all the related utensils.
  31. Éxodo 38:31The use of copper was completed with the sockets of the outer courtyard, the courtyard entrance, and all the pegs used to secure the entire structure to the ground.

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