The Law · Chapter 27 of 40

Exodus 27

God gives instructions for the courtyard and its furnishings. The brazen altar of acacia wood overlaid with brass, five cubits square, is where burnt offerings are made, with brass utensils and a grating. The surrounding court is enclosed by linen hangings on brass pillars with silver hooks. Finally Israel supplies pure beaten olive oil so Aaron and his sons keep the lamp burning before the LORD from evening to morning.

What happens in Exodus 27

Moses is told to build the great altar of burnt offering, a hollow square of acacia wood five cubits each way and three high, overlaid with brass, with a horn at each corner. Its pans, shovels, basins, fleshhooks, and firepans are all brass, and a brass grating with rings and staves lets it be carried. Then comes the court: on the south and north sides, linen hangings a hundred cubits long on twenty brass pillars with silver hooks and bands; on the west, fifty cubits of hangings; on the east, a gated entrance with a colorful twenty-cubit screen of blue, purple, and scarlet.

The whole enclosure is a hundred cubits by fifty, five cubits high, its pins and vessels of brass. Lastly, the people must bring pure beaten olive oil so that Aaron and his sons tend the lamp continually, from evening to morning, before the LORD, a perpetual statute for their generations.

Exodus 27 in context

This chapter completes the outer picture of the tabernacle within the instructions of chapters 25 to 31. Having described the sacred tent and its furniture, God now turns outward to the courtyard the worshiper first entered.

The bronze altar stood just inside the gate, so that anyone approaching God met sacrifice first. The single gate and the continual lamp frame Israel's worship: one appointed way in, and light kept burning in God's house.

Main themes of Exodus 27

Sacrifice at the entranceThe first thing a worshiper met inside the court was the altar of burnt offering. No one approached God's dwelling without passing the place of sacrifice. Access to the holy God begins with atonement, teaching that sinners come near only through a life offered in their place.

One gate into the courtThe court had a single entrance, a twenty-cubit gate on the east. Amid a hundred cubits of wall there was one appointed way in. God provides real access, but on his terms and through his door, not through any opening people might choose for themselves.

The lamp kept burningIsrael supplies pure beaten oil so the light never goes out in God's house, tended from evening to morning. The continual flame speaks of unbroken worship and God's steady presence, a light maintained in the dark by a people who bring what is needed.

This is part of the Law, the foundation of the whole story: creation, covenant, and a God who binds Himself to a people. As you read, watch for God's character and His promises, which all lead toward Christ.

Exodus 27 (KJV)

1And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof shall be three cubits. 2And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof: his horns shall be of the same: and thou shalt overlay it with brass. 3And thou shalt make his pans to receive his ashes, and his shovels, and his basons, and his fleshhooks, and his firepans: all the vessels thereof thou shalt make of brass. 4And thou shalt make for it a grate of network of brass; and upon the net shalt thou make four brasen rings in the four corners thereof. 5And thou shalt put it under the compass of the altar beneath, that the net may be even to the midst of the altar. 6And thou shalt make staves for the altar, staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with brass. 7And the staves shall be put into the rings, and the staves shall be upon the two sides of the altar, to bear it. 8Hollow with boards shalt thou make it: as it was shewed thee in the mount, so shall they make it. 9And thou shalt make the court of the tabernacle: for the south side southward there shall be hangings for the court of fine twined linen of an hundred cubits long for one side: 10And the twenty pillars thereof and their twenty sockets shall be of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver. 11And likewise for the north side in length there shall be hangings of an hundred cubits long, and his twenty pillars and their twenty sockets of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver. 12And for the breadth of the court on the west side shall be hangings of fifty cubits: their pillars ten, and their sockets ten. 13And the breadth of the court on the east side eastward shall be fifty cubits. 14The hangings of one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits: their pillars three, and their sockets three. 15And on the other side shall be hangings fifteen cubits: their pillars three, and their sockets three. 16And for the gate of the court shall be an hanging of twenty cubits, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework: and their pillars shall be four, and their sockets four. 17All the pillars round about the court shall be filleted with silver; their hooks shall be of silver, and their sockets of brass. 18The length of the court shall be an hundred cubits, and the breadth fifty every where, and the height five cubits of fine twined linen, and their sockets of brass. 19All the vessels of the tabernacle in all the service thereof, and all the pins thereof, and all the pins of the court, shall be of brass. 20And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always. 21In the tabernacle of the congregation without the vail, which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall order it from evening to morning before the LORD: it shall be a statute for ever unto their generations on the behalf of the children of Israel.

Verses to carry from Exodus 27

“And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof shall be three cubits.”Exodus 27:1

“And for the gate of the court shall be an hanging of twenty cubits, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework: and their pillars shall be four, and their sockets four.”Exodus 27:16

“And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always.”Exodus 27:20

Christian typology

How Exodus 27 points to Jesus

Every worshiper entering the court met the altar first, for no one comes to God except through sacrifice. The bronze altar where lambs and bullocks died points to the cross, where the true offering was made once for all. Its horns, gripped by those seeking refuge, picture the mercy found at Christ's atonement. The single gate into the court anticipates Jesus saying I am the door; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.

There is real access to God, but one appointed way. And the lamp burning continually before the LORD foreshadows the One who is the light of the world, whose light the darkness has never put out. The court preaches the gospel in bronze and flame.

Questions about Exodus 27

Why was the altar of sacrifice placed at the entrance to the court?

So that no one could approach God's dwelling without first passing the place of atonement. The arrangement preaches a truth: sinners come near to the holy God only through a substitute's death. Worship, fellowship, and prayer all lie beyond the altar. It taught Israel, and teaches us, that the way to God is opened by sacrifice, fulfilled finally at the cross of Christ.

What is the meaning of the continually burning lamp?

The lamp, fed by oil the people brought and tended from evening to morning, kept God's house lit through every night. It signified worship that never ceases and a presence that never departs. Light maintained in darkness became a sign of hope, pointing to Christ, the light no darkness overcomes, and to a people who keep faith burning until morning comes.

Reflection

You do not get to design your own way to God. He has set one gate and one altar, and both lead to the cross. That is not a narrowing to resent but a mercy to receive, for the door truly opens. Come the way he has provided, and find the light still burning for you.

A prayer from Exodus 27

Lord, thank you that you provided a way in, one gate, one altar, one Savior. I stop trying to reach you on my own terms. Bring me through the door that is Christ, and keep your light burning in me until the morning. Amen.

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