Ex. 27: More Tabernacle Stuff

The Altar of Burnt Offering

• Acacia Wood, overlaid with bronze (not gold like the lampstand and table)
  
• 3 cubits (4.5 feet) high, and 5 cubits (7.5 feet) square
• Horns on each corner
• All utensils (ash pots, shovels, bowls, meat forks and firepans) made of bronze
• Bronze grating
• Poles and Holes, just like the ark and the table

The Courtyard

• 100 cubits (150 feet) long and 50 cubits (75 feet) wide
• 20 poles with curtains on the long sides, and 10 poles with curtains on the short sides, with a 20 cubit (30 foot) curtain on the west end.

In verse 16, God specifies that this entrance curtain be the work of an embroiderer. Even back then, God blessed people with skills and abilities, and expected them to be used in His service.

Lots of bronze.

Oil for the Lampstand
God wanted the Israelites to bring clear oil made from compressed olives to Aaron for the light in the tabernacle to keep the light burning from evening to morning. This is a lasting ordinance. Perhaps this signified God's willingness to meet with anyone at all hours of the night? Why else would the lamps be kept burning, if there wasn't some sort of an anticipated meeting with God at a moment's notice?