Day 42

V From the Exodus to the Crossing into Canaan - 1462-1422 B.C. ~ cont.

(1462 - 982 480 years of 1 Kings 6:1)

B. Time spent at Sinai (sometimes called Horeb) ~ cont.

8. Tabernacle built ~ cont.

b. Tabernacle items ~ cont.

Court - Exodus 38:9-17

Hangings for Gate of Court - Exodus 38:18-20

Altar of Incense Made of Shittim Wood and Gold - Exodus 37:25-28

Laver of Brass - Exodus 38:8

Incense and Spices - Exodus 37:29

Workmen - Exodus 35:30-35

c. Priesthood items

Garments of the Priests - Exodus 39:1-31

Sabbath Rest - Exodus 35:1-3

d. Summary of the building of the Tabernacle - Exodus 38:21-43

9. Trumpets used to alert congregation - Numbers 10:1-10

10. Tabernacle readied for service - Exodus 40:1-15

{page 183-188}

And he made the lave of brass, and the foot of it of brass, of the lookingglasses of the women assembling, which assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.  (Exodus 38:8)

My first thought in reading this verse, was the women and their looking glasses.  Vanity and the desire to look at ourselves is not an invention of our current culture.

Is my assessment correct, regarding what the lookingglasses are?  E-sword perusal.

lookingglasses - H4759 - Feminine of H4758; a vision; also (causatively) a mirror.

• H4758 - From H7200; a view (the act of seeing); also an appearance (the thing seen), whether (real) a shape (especially if handsome, comeliness; often plural the looks), or (mental) a vision.

Wow...I read Gill's commentary, then checked K&D (nothing, how odd), Wesley's seemed to echo Matthew Henry, which I have included next, then JFB's commentary, which I also found encouraging.

Henry:

II. A laver, to hold water for the priests to wash in when they went in to minister, Exo_38:8. This signified the provision that is made in the gospel of Christ for the cleansing of our souls from the moral pollution of sin by the merit and grace of Christ, that we may be fit to serve the holy God in holy duties. This is here said to be made of the looking-glasses (or mirrors) of the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle.

1. It should seem these women were eminent and exemplary for devotion, attending more frequently and seriously at the place of public worship than others did; and notice is here taken of it to their honour. Anna was such a one long afterwards, who departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day, Luk_2:37. It seems in every age of the church there have been some who have thus distinguished themselves by their serious zealous piety, and they have thereby distinguished themselves; for devout women are really honourable women (Act_13:50), and not the less so for their being called, by the scoffers of the latter days, silly women. Probably these women were such as showed their zeal upon this occasion, by assisting in the work that was now going on for the service of the tabernacle. They assembled by troops, so the word is; a blessed sight, to see so many, and those so zealous and so unanimous, in this good work.

2. These women parted with their mirrors (which were of the finest brass, burnished for that purpose) for the use of the tabernacle. Those women that admire their own beauty, are in love with their own shadow, and make the putting on of apparel their chief adorning by which they value and recommend themselves, can but ill spare their looking-glasses; yet these women offered them to God, either, (1.) In token of their repentance for the former abuse of them, to the support of their pride and vanity; now that they were convinced of their folly, and had devoted themselves to the service of God at the door of the tabernacle, they thus threw away that which, though lawful and useful in itself, yet had been an occasion of sin to them. Thus Mary Magdalene, who had been a sinner, when she became a penitent wiped Christ's feet with her hair. Or, (2.) In token of their great zeal for the work of the tabernacle; rather than the workmen should want brass, or not have of the best, they would part with their mirrors, though they could not do well without them. God's service and glory must always be preferred by us before any satisfactions or accommodations of our own. Let us never complain of the want of that which we may honour God by parting with.

3. These mirrors were used for the making of the laver. Either they were artfully joined together, or else molten down and cast anew; but it is probable that the laver was so brightly burnished that the sides of it still served for mirrors, that the priests, when they came to wash, might there see their faces, and so discover the spots, to wash them clean. Note, In the washing of repentance, there is need of the looking-glass of self-examination. The word of God is a glass, in which we may see our own faces (see Jam_1:23); and with it we must compare our own hearts and lives, that, finding out our blemishes, we may wash with particular sorrow, and application of the blood of Christ to our souls. Usually the more particular we are in the confession of sin the more comfort we have in the sense of the pardon.

JFB:

laver of brass ... of the looking glasses of the women — The word mirrors should have been used, as those implements, usually round, inserted into a handle of wood, stone, or metal, were made of brass, silver, or bronze, highly polished [Wilkinson]. It was customary for the Egyptian women to carry mirrors with them to the temples; and whether by taking the looking glasses of the Hebrew women Moses designed to put it out of their power to follow a similar practice at the tabernacle, or whether the supply of brass from other sources in the camp was exhausted, it is interesting to learn how zealously and to a vast extent they surrendered those valued accompaniments of the female toilet.

of the women assembling ... at the door — not priestesses but women of pious character and influence, who frequented the courts of the sacred building (Luk_2:37), and whose parting with their mirrors, like the cutting the hair of the Nazarites, was their renouncing the world for a season [Hengstenberg].

I liked the reference to Anna:

Luk 2:36  And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity;

Luk 2:37  And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.