Exodus 30:17-19
Thou shalt also make a laver of brass
It is set between the tent of the congregation and the altar, and water is put in it. No dimensions follow.
Objects of the Bible
The bronze basin
Made out of mirrors, and the only furnishing whose measurements are never given.
Every other item in the tent comes with dimensions to the half cubit. This one does not. What is given instead is what it was made of, and the detail is startling: he made the laver of brass, and the foot of it of brass, of the looking glasses of the women assembling, which assembled at the door of the tabernacle. Polished bronze mirrors, donated, melted down into a bowl for washing.
Scroll down to the storyThe movements, in the order the text gives them.
The story of The bronze basin
- 01
- 02
Exodus 30:20-21
That they die not
The consequence is stated twice in two verses, once for entering the tent and once for approaching the altar.
- 03
Exodus 38:8
Of the lookingglasses of the women
The material has a history. Mirrors given by women who served at the door become the vessel priests have to look into before going in.
- 04
Exodus 40:30-32
Moses and Aaron and his sons washed
When the tent is finally raised the washing starts immediately, and the account records the first people to use it by name.
Why it matters
The rule attached to it is short and absolute. Aaron and his sons wash their hands and their feet there when they go into the tent and when they come near the altar, that they die not. It is between the altar and the door, so nobody passes from the sacrifice to the sanctuary without stopping. Washing is not a preliminary here, it is a condition, and it is repeated: so they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die not.
The music
The music
Every song in the catalogue whose passage falls inside these chapters.
No song in the catalogue reaches these chapters yet.
