Exodus 38:1 - Meaning and Application

Bezalel had finished the gold work, which, though it was the richest part, was meant to be seen the least, inside the tabernacle. He now moved on to make the court, which stood open for everyone to see. The court was equipped with two things, and both were made of bronze.

First, there was the altar of burnt offering (Exodus 38:1-7). All their sacrifices were offered on it. Because God appointed it for that use, it set apart the gift offered in faith and made it acceptable. Christ was the altar for his own sacrifice of atonement, that is, the offering that turns away God’s judgment against sin, and he is also the altar for all our gifts of praise and thanks. When we offer them, we must look to him, just as God looks to him when he accepts them.

Second, there was a laver, a basin for holding water for the priests to wash in when they went in to serve (Exodus 38:8). This pointed to the gospel provision in Christ for cleansing our souls from the moral dirt of sin by his merit and grace, so that we may be fit to serve the holy God in holy duties. The text says this laver was made from the mirrors of the women who gathered at the tabernacle entrance.

These women seem to have been especially devout and set an example in worship, coming more often and more earnestly than others. The text honors them for that. Anna was like this later on, when she did not leave the temple, but served God with fasting and prayer night and day (Luke 2:37). In every age of the church, some have stood out for serious and eager devotion, and that devotion has marked them out as well. Devout women are truly honorable women (Acts 13:50), and they are no less honorable because mockers call them foolish.

It is likely these women also showed their zeal by helping with the work then being done for the tabernacle. They gathered in groups, as the wording suggests. It was a beautiful sight to see so many women, all eager and united in a good work. They gave up their mirrors, made of fine bronze and polished for use, for the service of the tabernacle.

Women who take great pride in their beauty, who are in love with their own reflection, and who make clothing and outward appearance their main form of beauty, are not likely to part easily with their mirrors. Yet these women offered them to God. They may have done this as a sign of repentance for earlier misuse of them, since the mirrors had fed pride and vanity. Now that they saw their foolishness and had given themselves to God’s service at the tabernacle, they gave up what, though useful in itself, had become a trap for sin. In that way, they were like Mary Magdalene, who had been a sinner and, when she became penitent, wiped Christ’s feet with her hair.

Or they may have done it as a sign of strong zeal for the tabernacle work. Rather than let the workers lack bronze, or lack the best bronze, they were willing to part with their mirrors, even though they had use for them. God’s service and honor must always come before our own comfort or convenience. We should never complain about missing something if we can honor God by giving it up.

These mirrors were used to make the laver. They may have been joined together skillfully, or melted down and recast. It is also likely that the laver was so brightly polished that its sides still worked like mirrors. In that way, the priests, when they came to wash, could see their faces, notice the spots, and wash them clean.

There is a lesson here for repentance. In the washing of repentance, we need the mirror of self-examination. God’s word is such a mirror, and in it we can see ourselves (James 1:23). We must compare our hearts and lives with it, find our blemishes, and then wash them with deep sorrow and with faith in the blood of Christ for our souls. Usually, the more carefully we confess our sins, the more comfort we find in knowing they are forgiven.