Exodus 38:26

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

²¹This is the inventory for the tabernacle, the Tabernacle of the Testimony, as recorded at Moses' command by the Levites under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest. ²²Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made everything that the LORD had commanded Moses. ²³With him was Aholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, designer, and embroiderer in blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine linen. ²⁴All the gold from the wave offering used for the work on the sanctuary totaled 29 talents and 730 shekels, according to the sanctuary shekel. ²⁵The silver from those numbered among the congregation totaled 100 talents and 1,775 shekels, according to the sanctuary shekel- ²⁶a beka per person, that is, half a shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, from everyone twenty years of age or older who had crossed over to be numbered, a total of 603,550 men.²⁷The hundred talents of silver were used to cast the bases of the sanctuary and the bases of the curtain-100 bases from the 100 talents, one talent per base. ²⁸With the 1,775 shekels of silver, he made the hooks for the posts, overlaid their tops, and supplied bands for them. ²⁹The bronze from the wave offering totaled 70 talents and 2,400 shekels. ³⁰He used it to make the bases for the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, the bronze altar and its bronze grating, all the utensils for the altar,

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

bekah: Exodus 30:13, Exodus 30:15, Exodus 30:16

every man: Heb. a poll, Numbers 1:46

six hundred: Exodus 12:37, Numbers 1:46

Reciprocal: Exodus 30:12 - takest Numbers 1:2 - Take ye the sum Numbers 2:32 - General Numbers 11:21 - General Numbers 26:2 - General 2 Chronicles 25:6 - an hundred talents of silver Matthew 17:24 - tribute

Cross-References

Genesis 4:1
And Adam had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. "With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man," she said.

Genesis 37:33
His father recognized it and said, "It is my son's robe! A vicious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!"

Genesis 38:2
There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua, and he took her as a wife and slept with her.

Genesis 38:3
So she conceived and gave birth to a son, and Judah named him Er.

Genesis 38:11
Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, "Live as a widow in your father's house until my son Shelah grows up." For he thought, "He may die too, like his brothers." So Tamar went to live in her father's house.

Genesis 38:12
After a long time Judah's wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had finished mourning, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah.

Genesis 38:14
she removed her widow's garments, covered her face with a veil to disguise herself, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah. For she saw that although Shelah had grown up, she had not been given to him as a wife.

1 Samuel 24:17
and said to David, "You are more righteous than I, for you have rewarded me with good, though I have rewarded you with evil.

2 Samuel 16:22
So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and he slept with his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel.

2 Samuel 20:3
When David returned to his palace in Jerusalem, he took the ten concubines he had left to care for the palace, and he placed them in a house under guard. He provided for them, but he no longer slept with them. They were confined until the day of their death, living as widows.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

A bekah for every man, [that is], half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary,.... A half shekel was called a "bekah", from בקע, "bakah", to divide; because it was a shekel divided into two parts:

for everyone that went to be numbered, from twenty years and upwards; in order to give a ransom, and make an atonement for their souls, as was ordered Exodus 30:12

for six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty [men]; so that from the time of their coming out of Egypt, which was now about six months ago, there was an increase of 3550 of the above age; see Exodus 12:37.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

A bekah - Literally, “a half”: the words “half a shekel,” etc. appear to be inserted only for emphasis, to enforce the accuracy to be observed in the payment. See Exodus 30:13. Respecting the capitation and the numbering of the people, see Exodus 30:12.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Exodus 38:26. A bekah for every man — The Hebrew word בקי beka, from בקי baka, to divide, separate into two, seems to signify, not a particular coin, but a shekel broken or cut in two; so, anciently, our farthing was a penny divided in the midst and then subdivided, so that each division contained the fourth part of the penny; hence its name fourthing or fourthling, since corrupted into farthing.

THERE appear to be three particular reasons why much riches should be employed in the construction of the tabernacle, c.

1. To impress the people's minds with the glory and dignity of the Divine Majesty, and the importance of his service.

2. To take out of their hands the occasion of covetousness for as they brought much spoils out of Egypt, and could have little if any use for gold and silver in the wilderness, where it does not appear that they had much intercourse with any other people, and were miraculously supported, so that they did not need their riches, it was right to employ that in the worship of God which otherwise might have engendered that love which is the root of all evil.

3. To prevent pride and vainglory, by leading them to give up to the Divine service even the ornaments of their persons, which would have had too direct a tendency to divert their minds from better things. Thus God's worship was rendered august and respectable, incitements to sin and low desires removed, and the people instructed to consider nothing valuable, but as far as it might be employed to the glory and in the service of God.