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Offering the Oil

20 “You are to command the Israelites that they bring[a] to you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, so that the lamps[b] will burn[c] regularly.[d] 21 In the tent of meeting[e] outside the curtain that is before the testimony,[f] Aaron and his sons are to arrange it from evening[g] to morning before the Lord. This is to be a lasting ordinance among the Israelites for generations to come.[h]

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Footnotes

  1. Exodus 27:20 tn The form is the imperfect tense with the vav showing a sequence with the first verb: “you will command…that they take.” The verb “take, receive” is used here as before for receiving an offering and bringing it to the sanctuary.
  2. Exodus 27:20 tn Heb “lamp,” which must be a collective singular here.
  3. Exodus 27:20 tn The verb is unusual; it is the Hiphil infinitive construct of עָלָה (ʿalah), with the sense here of “to set up” to burn, or “to fix on” as in Exod 25:37, or “to kindle” (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 370).
  4. Exodus 27:20 sn The word can mean “continually,” but in this context, as well as in the passages on the sacrifices, “regularly” is better, since each morning things were cleaned and restored.
  5. Exodus 27:21 tn The LXX has mistakenly rendered this name “the tent of the testimony.”
  6. Exodus 27:21 tn Or “covenant,” or “treaty.”
  7. Exodus 27:21 sn The lamps were to be removed in the morning so that the wicks could be trimmed and the oil replenished (30:7) and then lit every evening to burn through the night.
  8. Exodus 27:21 sn This is the first of several sections of priestly duties. The point is a simple one here: those who lead the worship use the offerings of the people to ensure that access to God is illumined regularly. The NT will make much of the symbolism of light.

20 “You shall command the Israelites to provide you with clear oil of beaten olives for the light, to make a lamp burn continually [every night]. 21 In the Tent of Meeting [of God with His people], outside the veil which is in front of the [ark of the] Testimony [and sets it apart], Aaron [the high priest] and his sons shall keep the lamp burning from evening to morning before the Lord. It shall be a perpetual statute [to be observed] throughout their generations on behalf of the Israelites.

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