Глава 27

1–8. Construction of the altar of burnt offering. 9–19. Courtyard of the Tabernacle. 20–21. Offering oil for the lamp. Ex.27:1. And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, the length of five cubits, and the breadth of five cubits, so that it may be square, and the height of three cubits. Since the altar made of earth (Ex. 20:24–25) was not always convenient for sacrifices, the legislation requires the construction of a more stable altar. As can be seen from the description, it was a frame made from planks of shittim wood, empty inside (Ex. 27:8), having neither bottom nor top cover, five cubits in length and width, and three cubits in height. In view of the comparative height of the altar, one had to “ascend” to it (Lev.9:22). And since steps convenient for climbing were prohibited (Ex. 20:26), one can think that a sloping embankment was made on one side. Ex.27:2. And make horns on the four corners of it, so that the horns come out of it; and overlay it with brass. At the four corners of the altar, curls protruded from its walls in the shape of the horns of an ox, as the main sacrificial animal, and therefore were called the horns of the altar. They were not only nailed to the corners of the altar as decoration, but were one with it - they were made of the same wood and covered not with special copper sheets, but with the same lining that covered the walls. Since the ritual of sacrifice was associated with the horns of the altar, which consisted of sprinkling them with the blood of a sacrificial animal, one can think that they had great sacred significance and constituted an important accessory of the altar. Those who sought the salvation of life grabbed hold of his horns (1 Kings 1:50, 2:28); the name of the horns replaces the name of the altar (Ps. 117:27), and breaking them is tantamount to destroying the altar (Judith. 9:8, Am. 3:14). The walls of the altar were lined with copper both to counteract the fire that was constantly burning on it, and to give them strength and appearance. Exodus 27:3. Make pots for it to pour ashes into, and spatulas, and bowls, and forks, and coal-burners; make all accessories from copper. Copper pots, cauldrons, were required both for collecting ashes from victims and for boiling sacrificial meat (Lev.6:28); shovels - to cleanse the altar from ashes; bowls - for expressing the blood of sacrificial animals; forks, probably with three prongs (1 Samuel 2:13), - for turning the burned parts and for removing meat from the pots in which it was cooked and, finally, coals. Ex.27:4. Make a lattice for it, a kind of mesh, of copper, and make on the mesh, at its four corners, four copper rings; Exodus 27:5. and place it along the edge of the altar below, so that the net reaches halfway up the altar. The grid surrounded the altar on all sides: “make four rings on its four corners.” According to the exact translation from the Hebrew text, it should be placed under “the frame of the altar from below, so that it reaches half of the altar.” Due to the fact that the expression “karkov”, except for this place, does not appear in the Bible, its explanations differ in different languages. Some exegetes mean by it a bench that went around the altar in a circle in its middle, which was used by the priests when performing sacrificial operations. But the bench would represent steps prohibited by the law (Ex. 20:26) and would increase the size of the altar. Likewise, the position and structure of the lattice are presented differently. Some see it as a lattice, or a grated hearth, on the upper platform of the altar, and place it either between the horns of the altar, or with a larger or smaller recess in the altar box. But the existence of an artificial hearth on the altar is unnecessary, because the actual place for burning the victims should be the earth (Ex. 20:24–25). The following explanation of these parts of the altar is much more likely and plausible. The name “karkov” is used in the altar for that which is designated in the accessories of the sanctuary – the incense altar and the offering table – by the word “zer” – crown. It was a simple cornice or a simple strip that ran along the upper edge of the walls of the altar, giving them greater strength and at the same time serving as a decoration for the altar, bringing it closer to the sacred vessels. At the same time, this cornice served as a connection for the horns of the altar, connecting them into one whole. Directly under this strip, or cornice, along the outer side of the altar and in its upper half, there ran a mesh copper grate, covering the upper half of the walls of the altar. Exodus 27:6. And thou shalt make staves for the altar, staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with brass; Ex.27:7. and put its poles into rings, so that the poles will be on both sides of the altar when you carry it. Whether special rings were made for inserting the poles, or whether they were lattice rings (Ex. 27:4), the text does not say. But if we assume that the lattice rings were on its lower sides and corners, then the existence of others seems unnecessary. The poles served to carry the altar, which in case of bad weather was covered during the campaign with a special leather covering, “tahash” (Num. 4:13–14). Exodus 27:8. Make it empty inside, made of planks: as it was shown to you on the mountain, so let them make [it]. The empty interior of the log house made of boards was probably filled with earth or stones. Exodus 27:9. Make the courtyard of the tabernacle: on the south side the curtains for the courtyard shall be of fine woven linen, one hundred cubits long on one side; Exodus 27:10. their pillars were twenty, and their sockets twenty were of brass; the hooks on the pillars and the ties on them are made of silver. Exodus 27:11. Also along the northern side there are curtains a hundred cubits long; their pillars were twenty, and their sockets twenty were of brass; the hooks of the pillars and the ties on them [and their bases] are of silver. Exodus 27:12. The width of the courtyard on the west side is curtains of fifty cubits; their pillars are ten, and their sockets ten. Exodus 27:13. And the width of the courtyard on the front side towards the east was fifty cubits; [their pillars are ten, and their sockets ten]. The fence surrounding the courtyard of the tabernacle consisted of pillars and curtains of fine woven linen hung on them. On the longitudinal, southern and northern sides, the curtains were one hundred cubits long, and along this length twenty pillars were placed, so that for every five cubits there was one pillar. The curtains of the side, transverse sides extended to 50 cubits, and with them 10 pillars, spaced at the same distance. It goes without saying that when dividing the length and width of the fence into five-cubit intervals, the thickness of the pillars should not be taken into account, because otherwise the result would not be 100 cubits in length and 50 in width, but more, more so, as many cubits as the width of the pillars taken together. The five-cubit distance should therefore be calculated not between the pillars, but between their supposed internal rods, or axes. The placement of the pillars itself obviously took place as follows. If it began on the south side, running from east to west, then the first pillar was placed after the first cubit stage had passed; the second - after the second five-cubit interval, etc., so that the twentieth pillar fell on the extreme point of the hundredth cubit, or on the most southwestern corner. Likewise, the first pillar of the transverse western side is placed after the fifth cubit, and the last or tenth after the fiftieth, on the very northwestern corner. Also, the first pillar of the northern longitudinal side was placed on the fifth cubit, and the last on the hundredth, or northeast corner. From here, precisely from the fifth cubit from the corner, the installation of the pillars on the eastern side began, so that the last tenth pillar fell on the hitherto unoccupied southeastern corner, or on the starting point of the general count. The composition of the pillars differs in the base - the pedestal, the pillar itself, or the trunk, the top, or the capital (Ex. 38:17). The stools were made of copper, had, according to Josephus, a spitz-shaped shape - they resembled those iron covers that the Greeks put on stakes, sticking them into the ground. Others consider them plate-shaped. The material and shape of the pillars are not specified. But the first is implied - this is the shittim tree indicated for the tabernacle itself, the Arabian acacia. As for the shape, some consider the pillars to be quadrangular, since this shape is most often found in the description of the tabernacle, while others, due to the fact that the pillars are called “amudim”, columns, and have capitals, pass them off as round. The shape of the capitals overlaid with silver is also unknown (Ex. 38:17). It is impossible to say whether it was spherical or resembled a flower cup. What is certain is that the capitals had to rise above the curtain, since otherwise they could not be seen, they turned out to be superfluous. To secure the pillars, ties passed through silver hooks served. By ties we mean silver rods that ran from post to post and, therefore, went around the entire fence line. They kept the pillars in a straight direction and prevented them from falling in the plane of the curtain. The falling of the pillars in the other direction, their falling out of the fence line, was prevented with the help of chains that descended from the capitals and were fixed in the ground, according to Josephus, copper chains a cubit long. A curtain was hung on poles connected by rods. With a length of 280 cubits and a height of 5, it could not be one solid strip, but represented a combination of individual parts, like the covers of the tabernacle. In order for light linen material to resist the wind, it must be firmly attached not only at the top of the pillars, but also at the bottom. Exodus 27:14. On one side are hangings fifteen cubits high, with three pillars and three stools; Exodus 27:15. and on the other side are curtains fifteen cubits high, their pillars three, and their sockets three. On the entrance, eastern, side of the courtyard, a space of fifteen cubits on each side was covered with the same curtains as on the other sides. Three pillars were placed in this space, six in total. Ex.27:16. And for the gate of the court there was a curtain twenty cubits high, of blue and purple and scarlet wool and fine woven linen; there are four pillars for it, and four stools for them. In the middle of the eastern side, a space of twenty cubits was left for the entrance. It consisted of four pillars with a curtain of twenty cubits hung on them. In contrast to the curtains of the fence (“kelah”), it was called masach and was made of blue, purple, scarlet fabric and fine woven linen with “rokem” work. In the LXX translation, this term is conveyed by the expression “ποικιλίᾳ τοῦ ῥαφιδευτοῦ”, in Slavic – “variegated sewing”, in Latin – “opus plumarii”. It is known that the name “plumae” - feathers - was used to refer to plates in military armor, arranged like bird feathers or fish scales. Hence “plumaria” was the name given to decorations on clothes, like feathers, planks and flowers, woven or embroidered with a needle. The Talmud and the rabbis, in explaining the term “rokem,” say that it refers to decorations sewn with a needle on a fabric field and, moreover, having one face, i.e. identical on the front and back. In accordance with this, the work “rokem” means such a finishing of fabric in which the white field of fine linen was cut with blue, purple and bright red threads in the form of armor or squares. With its color and workmanship, the curtain of the entrance stood out sharply among the white linen fence of the tabernacle. The highlight was even more prominent if it really had the dimensions that the LXX translation speaks of: instead of 5 cubits in height, it had twenty. Intended to cover the entrance, the curtain was, of course, not attached at the bottom and could, depending on need, be raised to a certain height. Exodus 27:17. All the pillars around the courtyard must be connected with ties of silver; their hooks are of silver, and their sockets are of brass. The indication of Art. 10 in the sense that it talks about the connections between the pillars around the entire fence. Exodus 27:18. The length of the courtyard is one hundred cubits, and the width throughout its entire length is fifty, and the height is five cubits; the hangings were of fine woven linen, and the sockets of the pillars were of brass. For accuracy, the measurements of the entire courtyard were repeated, and it was quite clearly noted that both longitudinal sides should have one hundred cubits, the short ones fifty, and the height everywhere should be five cubits. Exodus 27:19. All the furnishings of the tabernacle for every use therein, and all the stakes thereof, and all the stakes of the court, were of brass. The mention of the stakes of the tabernacle and the courtyard makes it clear that to attach the upper coverings of the tabernacle to the ground and to strengthen the pillars of the courtyard, stakes were required, and ropes for them (Numbers 3:37, 4:26, 32, Exodus 35:18). Exodus 27:20. And command the children of Israel to bring you pure oil, beaten from olive trees, for light, so that the lamp may burn at all times; Exodus 27:21. in the tabernacle of meeting, outside the veil, which is before the ark of the testimony, Aaron and his sons will light it from evening until morning, before the Lord. This is an everlasting statute for their generations from the children of Israel. About the offering of oil for the golden seven-branched tree: among the description of the structure of the future tabernacle, oil is spoken of because it should be the same necessary accessory of the sanctuary as its things. The oil brought by all Jews must be prepared from olives: it must be “pure”, i.e. without sludge, without impurity and without litter; must be “knocked out”, i.e. not squeezed out by a press, but drained from crushed olives. The oil burned “at all times,” not only during the day, but also at night, as this is confirmed by the positive law about the constant burning of the lamp (Ex. 30:8, Lev. 24:3–4), about the morning putting in order of the lamps (Ex. 30:7), as well as the fact that, in the absence of windows, it was impossible to do without fire in the sanctuary during the day. The setting of the lamp must be done by Aaron and his sons, i.e. the high priest and priests, not the Levites. You might be interested in: