Box, Table and Light
Background and printed text: Exodus 25
Exodus 25:1 And Yehovah spoke unto Moshe to say, 2 “Speak unto the children of Israel. And they took an uplifting to me. Ye shall take my uplifting from with every man whose heart will prod him. 3And this is the uplifting that ye shall take from with them: gold and silver and copper 4and shell-fish-cerulean-purple and purple and two earthworms and byssus and goats 5and skins of red rams and skins of seals/badgers and the trees of acacia, 6oil for the light-emanator, spices for the oil of the anointing and for the incense of the sweet-things, 7stones of the onyx and stones of the fillings for the Girding and for the Adornment.
8 “And make-ye a sanctuary to me. And I will abide in your midst. 9According to all that I am showing thee, the building of the abiding-place and the building of all of his utensils, and established, ye shall do.
10 “And ye shall make a trees-of-acacia collection-box. Two forearms and a half is his length and a forearm and a half is his breadth and a forearm and a half is his standing. 11And thou shalt observe him. Ye shall observe pure gold from within and from without.
“And thou shalt make upon him a gold wreathed-work around.
12 “And thou shalt pour out to him four sunk-impressions of gold. And thou shalt give upon four of his impellings, and two sunk-impressions upon his one side and two sunk-impressions upon his second side.
13 “And thou shalt make members of trees of acacia. And thou shalt observe them: gold. 14And thou shalt bring the members via/into the sunk-impressions upon the sides of the collection-box to carry the collection-box via them. 15The members shall be via/into the sunk-impressions of the collection-box! They shall not depart from him!
16 “And thou shalt give the testimonies that I will give unto thee unto the collection-box.
17 “And thou shalt make a pure gold cover: two forearms and a half her length and a forearm and a half her breadth. 18And thou shalt make two Crooveem. Thou shalt make them gold, hard-turned-work from the two edges of the cover. 19And make one Croov from the edge from this and one Croov from the edge from this. Ye shall make the Crooveem from the cover upon two of his edges. 20And the Crooveem shall be spreaders of wings to an ascension interweaving via their wings upon the cover. And their faces are a man unto his brother. Faces of the crooveem shall be unto the cover.
21 “And thou shalt give the cover upon the collection-box from above. And thou shalt give the testimonies that I will give unto thee unto the collection-box. 22And I will make known to thee there. And I will speak with thee all that I will command thee unto the children of Israel from upon the cover from between two of the Crooveem that are upon the collection-box of the testimonies!
23 “And thou shalt make a table the trees of acacia: two forearms his length and a forearm his breadth and a forearm and a half his standing. 24And thou shalt observe him: pure gold. And thou shalt make to him a wreathed-work of gold around. 25And thou shalt make to him a handbreadth enclosure around. And thou shalt make a wreathed-work of gold to his enclosure around.
26 “And thou shalt make to him four sunk-impressions of gold. And thou shalt give the sunk-impressions upon four of the corners that are to four of his feet. 27The sunk-impressions shall be to the communion [union] of the enclosure to houses to the members to carry the table.
28 “And thou shalt make the members trees of acacia. And thou shalt observe them: gold. And he shall carry the table via them.
29 “And thou shalt make his deep-bowls and his palm-of-the-hand-spatulas and his stripped-cups and his innocence-bowls that he will pour via them. Thou shalt make them pure gold.
30 “And thou shalt continually give bread of faces upon the table to my faces!
31 “And thou shalt make a pure gold light-emanator. The light-emanator shall be made hard-turned-work. Her thigh and her acquisition-reed, her pitchers, her hand-guides and her buddings-forth shall be from her!
32 “And six acquisition-reeds are exiting from her sides: three acquisition-reeds of the light-emanator from her one side and three acquisition-reeds of the light-emanator from her second side.
33 “Three watching pitchers are in her one acquisition-reed, a hand-guide and a budding-forth, and three watching pitchers are in her one acquisition-reed, a hand-guide and a budding-forth established to six of the acquisition-reeds exiting from the light emanator.
34 “And four watching pitchers, her hand-guides and her buddings-forth are in the light emanator. 35And a hand-guide is under two of the acquisition-reeds from her, and a hand-guide is under two of the acquisition-reeds from her, and a hand-guide is under two of the acquisition-reeds from her to six of the acquisition reeds exiting from the light emanator. 36Their hand-guides and their acquisition-reeds shall be from her. All of her is one pure gold hard-turned-work.
37 “And thou shalt make her lamps: seven. And he shall make-ascend her lamps. And they shall lighten upon-across her faces.
38 “And her takers and her seizers are of pure gold. 39He shall make her a pure gold orb with all these utensils.
40 “And see and make via their building that thou art seeing in the mountain!”
I. Items for the Uplifting (verses 1-7)
Yehovah spoke unto Moshe so that Moshe would tell these things to the children of Israel. His first directive was, “Speak unto the children of Israel.” He then gave the result of that communication: “And they took an uplifting to me.” (This is like an adult receiving from the hands of a child.)
Yehovah didn’t desire that just everyone would give: “Ye shall take my uplifting from with every man whose heart will prod him.”
He then gave the contents of that uplifting: “And this is the uplifting that ye shall take from with them: gold and silver and copper and shell-fish-cerulean-purple and purple and two earthworms and byssus and goats and skins of red rams and skins of seals/badgers and the trees of acacia, oil for the light-emanator, spices for the oil of the anointing and for the incense of the sweet-things, stones of the onyx and stones of the fillings for the Girding and for the Adornment.”
Questions
1. Why did Yehovah speak unto Moshe so that he would speak unto the children of Israel (instead of speaking straight to them)?
2. What is an uplifting?
3. What does “whose heart will prod him” mean?
4. Every item typifies something, and every material typifies something. What does gold typify?
5. What does silver typify?
6. What does copper typify?
7. What does shell-fish-cerulean-purple typify?
8. What does purple typify?
9. What do two earthworms typify?
10. What is byssus, and what does it typify?
11. What does a goat typify?
12. What do skins of red rams typify?
13. What do seals/badgers typify?
14. What do trees typify?
16. What does oil typify?
17. What is a light emanator?
18. What do spices typify?
19. What does anointing typify, and how is it Biblically done?
20. What is incense?
21. What is an onyx stone?
22. What is a filling?
23. What is a Girding?
24. What is an Adornment?
II. The Sanctuary (verses 8-9)
Yehovah next told the Israelis, “And make-ye a sanctuary to me.” He told them why: “And I will abide in your midst.”
His directions were very specific: “According to all that I am showing thee, the building of the abiding-place and the building of all of his utensils, and established, ye shall do.”
Questions
1. What is a sanctuary in the Bible?
2. What will Yehovah do with this sanctuary?
3. What does abide mean, and how does it differ from dwelling in a place or living in a place?
4. If Yehovah is everywhere, why does He need or want to abide in the midst of the Israelis?
5. What is Yehovah stating when He says, “According to all that I am showing thee, the building of the abiding-place and the building of all of his utensils, and established, ye shall do”?
III. The Collection Box (verses 10-11)
Yehovah told them what next to make: “And ye shall make a trees-of-acacia collection-box.” He gave the dimensions: “Two forearms and a half is his length and a forearm and a half is his breadth and a forearm and a half is his standing.”
He then told him [who?] what to do with it: “And thou shalt observe him.” Then switching to the Israelis, He said, “Ye shall observe pure gold from within and from without.”
Questions
1. What is a collection box?
2. What is the purpose of this collection box?
3. Why does it have to be made of trees of acacia?
4. How long is a forearm?
5. How long is two forearms and a half?
6. How long is a forearm and a half?
7. Why did Yehovah choose these particular dimensions?
8. Why is the word standing used instead of height?
9. The word observe isn’t in any translation anywhere. Why is it in this translation instead of the word overlay, or something like that?
10. Who is thou in, “And thou shalt observe him,” who is him, and what is the benefit of observing him?
11. What does this collection box typify?
12. Does pure gold exist today anywhere on earth?
IV. Gold Wreathed Work (verse 11)
Yehovah next told him, “And thou shalt make upon him a gold wreathed-work around.”
Questions
1. What is wreathed work?
2. What does this wreathed work typify?
V. Sunk Impressions for the Box (verse 12)
Yehovah taught them to form shapes that will teach them about things to come: “And thou shalt pour out to him four sunk-impressions of gold. And thou shalt give upon four of his impellings, and two sunk-impressions upon his one side and two sunk-impressions upon his second side.”
Questions
1. What is a sunk impression?
2. How does a sunk impression look?
3. What does a sunk impression typify?
4. What is an impelling, and what does this typify?
5. Why are there two sunk-impressions on one side, and two on the other?
VI. The Members (verses 13-15)
Yehovah told Moshe, “And thou shalt make members of trees of acacia.” He then told him what to do with those members: “And thou shalt observe them: gold.” (Translations use overlay, referring to the gold; I am giving an alternate rendering.)
Moshe was to now connect these members to the box: “And thou shalt bring the members via/into the sunk-impressions upon the sides of the collection-box to carry the collection-box via them.”
Yehovah explained their vital location: “The members shall be via/into the sunk-impressions of the collection-box! They shall not depart from him!”
Questions
1. What are these members?
2. What do these members typify?
3. If Israel observes them, and sees gold, what does this tell?
4. The wording, “And thou shalt bring the members via/into the sunk-impressions,” permits two different wordings. Why are two different wordings permissible, and what does each wording indicate?
5. What does, “shalt bring the members … upon the sides of the collection-box” mean and indicate?
6. What is the purpose of these members?
7. The text states, “The members shall be via/into the sunk-impressions of the collection-box.” What does this mean?
8. What does “They shall not depart from him” mean?
VII. Placement of the Testimonies (verse 16)
Yehovah told Moshe, “And thou shalt give the testimonies that I will give unto thee unto the collection-box.”
Questions
1. What are these testimonies?
2. Yehovah stated, “And thou shalt give the testimonies that I will give unto thee unto the collection-box.” Why did Yehovah employ the wording, “give unto,” as if the testimonies became the property of the collection box?
VIII. Cover and ‘Crooveem’ (verses 17-20)
“And thou shalt make a pure gold cover.” This was the cover for the box. He gave the dimensions: “two forearms and a half her length and a forearm and a half her breadth.”
Yehovah told Moshe, “And thou shalt make two Crooveem.” Crooveem are cherubs; cherubs are angels with a high rank among angels and with great power.
Of what were they to be made? “Thou shalt make them gold, hard-turned-work from the two edges of the cover.” (See questions for what this describes.)
Yehovah then specified from where to make the crooveem: “And make one Croov [one cherub] from the edge from this and one Croov from the edge from this. Ye shall make the Crooveem from the cover upon two of his edges.”
In what pose were the crooveem? “And the Crooveem shall be spreaders of wings to an ascension interweaving via their wings upon the cover.”
Where were they to be facing? “And the faces of the Crooveem will be their faces, a man unto his brother unto the cover.”
Questions
1. If the cover is pure gold, what does that mean?
2. Why must this cover be two forearms and a half by a forearm and a half?
3. What are crooveem?
4. What do the cover and the two crooveem typify?
5. What is hard-turned-work?
6. Since the crooveem were made from opposite edges of the cover, what does this show?
7. What does “their faces are a man unto his brother” mean?
8. What does “Faces of the crooveem shall be unto the cover” mean?
9. Why is the position of their faces so important?
IX. The Cover, Contents, and Yehovah (verses 21-22)
Yehovah stated, “And thou shalt give the cover upon the collection-box from above.”
He said what to do with the testimonies: “And thou shalt give the testimonies that I will give unto thee unto the collection-box.”
Yehovah promised where and what He would communicate to Moshe: “And I will make known to thee there. And I will speak with thee all that I will command thee unto the children of Israel from upon the cover from between two of the Crooveem that are upon the collection-box of the testimonies!”
Questions
1. Why is Moshe told to “give the cover upon the collection-box from above”?
2. Again, why is “And thou shalt give the testimonies that I will give unto thee unto the collection-box” worded that way?
3. Yehovah stated, “And I will make known to thee there.” What will He make known?
4. Yehovah stated, “And I will speak with thee all that I will command thee unto the children of Israel from upon the cover from between two of the Crooveem that are upon the collection-box of the testimonies!” What does this show?
X. The Table (verses 23-25)
“And thou shalt make a table the trees of acacia.” He again gave dimensions: “two forearms his length and a forearm his breadth and a forearm and a half his standing.” He also again said what to do with the table: “two forearms his length and a forearm his breadth and a forearm and a half his standing.”
This table had a particular design around it: “And thou shalt make to him a wreathed-work of gold around.” It also had another structure around it: “And thou shalt make to him a handbreadth enclosure around.” There was then a third structure: “And thou shalt make a wreathed-work of gold to his enclosure around.”
Questions
1. What does a table typify?
2. What does observing the table to be pure gold indicate?
3. What does wreathed work of gold typify, and what is this?
4. What is this handbreadth enclosure?
5. What is the purpose of this wreathed work of gold that surrounds this enclosure?
XI. The Table’s Sunk Impressions (verses 26-27)
“And thou shalt make to him four sunk-impressions of gold.”
Yehovah told Moshe where to place these: “And thou shalt give the sunk-impressions upon four of the corners that are to four of his feet.”
He told what their purpose was: “The sunk-impressions shall be to the communion [union] of the enclosure to houses to the members to carry the table.”
Questions
1. What are these sunk-impressions, again?
2. What do these sunk impressions typify?
3. Who are these members who carry the table?
XII. The Table’s Members (verse 28)
“And thou shalt make the members trees of acacia.” He told what to do with them: “And thou shalt observe them: gold.” He also told their purposes: “And he shall carry the table via them.”
Questions
1. Who is he who will carry the table via the trees of acacia members?
2. Where else might this table be mentioned?
3. Why would the Messiah use these members who are not necessarily yet born of God to carry the table?
XIII. Bowls, Spatulas, Cups and Bowls (verse 29)
“And thou shalt make his deep-bowls and his depressed-spatulas and his collections-cups and his innocence-bowls that he will pour via them.” He told of what these items must be made: “Thou shalt make them pure gold.”
Questions
1. What is this “deep bowl,” and what does it typify?
2. What is this “palm-of-the-hand spatula,” and what does it typify?
3. What is this “stripped cup,” and what does it typify?
4. What is this “innocence bowl,” and what does it typify?
5. What do these four items have in common?
6. Why must they be made of pure gold?
7. These items are made for use with what structure?
XIV. Bread of Faces (verse 30)
“And thou shalt continually give bread of faces upon the table to my faces!”
Questions
1. What is “bread of faces”?
2. Why is to my faces so important in the statement, “And thou shalt continually give bread of faces upon the table to my faces”?
XV. The Menorah (verse 31)
Yehovah commanded Moshe to build the Menorah: “And thou shalt make a pure gold light-emanator.” He told the process that must be used to make her: “The light-emanator shall be made hard-turned-work.”
She has parts; Yehovah told from where they must originate: “Her thigh and her acquisition-reed, her pitchers, her hand-guides and her buddings-forth shall be from her!”
Questions
1. What is a light emanator?
2. How will this light emanator appear if it is pure gold?
3. If it will “be made hard-turned-work,” what does this indicate?
4. What is the thigh of this light emanator?
5. What is her acquisition reed?
6. What is her pitcher?
7. What is her hand guide?
8. What is her budding forth?
9. What does the Menorah typify, and why is the Menorah described as feminine?
10. Why must all these things specifically “be from her”?
XVI. Acquisition Reeds (verse 32)
“And six acquisition-reeds are exiting from her sides: three acquisition-reeds of the light-emanator from her one side and three acquisition-reeds of the light-emanator from her second side.”
Questions
1. What is the practical benefit of an acquisition reed?
2. Why are there just two sides instead of the reeds being arranged in a complete orb?
XVII. Watching Pitchers, Hand Guides, Budding (verse 33)
The Menorah has six acquisition beams. In each are three watching pitchers, a hand guide and a budding forth. The acquisition beams all exit from the light emanator.
Questions
1. What is a watching pitcher?
2. Why did Yehovah design this with three watching pitchers?
3. What picture is obtained when the acquisition-reed, the hand-guide and the budding-forth are put together?
4. What is the total number of watching pitchers so far?
XVIII. The Main Beam of the Menorah (verses 34-36)
Yehovah explained, “And four watching pitchers, her hand-guides and her buddings-forth are in the light emanator.”
He then explained where the hand guides must be located: “And a hand-guide is under two of the acquisition-beams from her, and a hand-guide is under two of the acquisition-beams from her, and a hand-guide is under two of the acquisition-beams from her to six of the acquisition beams exiting from the light emanator.”
A vital part of the construction of the Menorah is explained: “Their hand-guides and their acquisition-beams from her will be all of her: one pure gold hard-turned-work.”
Questions
1. What are these four watching pitchers (that are shaped like almond fruit), and how are they different from the ones above?
2. What do they typify?
3. Why is there one hand-guide under two acquisition reeds from her?
4. What does “Their hand-guides and their acquisition-reeds shall be from her” mean?
5. What does “All of her is one pure gold hard-turned-work” mean?
6. Why is making the whole thing out of one piece of pure gold so important?
XIX. The Menorah’s Lamps (verse 37)
“And thou shalt make her lamps: seven.” Those lamps must ascend (they must go up): “And he shall make-ascend her lamps.” Yehovah explained why: “And they shall lighten upon-across her faces.”
Questions
1. What are these seven lamps?
2. Why must her lamps ascend?
XX. The Pure Gold Circle (verses 38-39)
This Menorah must have takers and seizers: “And her takers and her seizers are of pure gold.” They will be suspended on a pure gold circle: “He shall make her a pure gold circle with all these utensils.”
Questions
1. What are her takers?
2. What are her seizers?
3. What are all these utensils?
4. What is an orb?
5. What does “He shall make her a pure gold orb with all these utensils” mean?
XXI. Exactly Copy the Pattern! (verse 40)
Yehovah warned, “And see and make via their building that thou art seeing in the mountain!”
Questions
1. What must Moshe see?
2. What does “make via their building” mean?
3. Did Moshe see these items in the heavens, or did he see them in the mountain?
4. Was Moshe able to touch the items that he saw in the mountain?