The KJV Holy Bible

 

Exodus Chapter Thirty Eight

 

1 And he made the altar of burnt offering of shittim wood: five cubits was the length thereof, and five cubits the breadth thereof; it was foursquare; and three cubits the height thereof.

2 And he made the horns thereof on the four corners of it; the horns thereof were of the same: and he overlaid it with brass.

3 And he made all the vessels of the altar, the pots, and the shovels, and the basons, and the fleshhooks, and the firepans: all the vessels thereof made he of brass.

4 And he made for the altar a brasen grate of network under the compass thereof beneath unto the midst of it.

5 And he cast four rings for the four ends of the grate of brass, to be places for the staves.

6 And he made the staves of shittim wood, and overlaid them with brass.

7 And he put the staves into the rings on the sides of the altar, to bear it withal; he made the altar hollow with boards.

8 And he made the laver of brass, and the foot of it of brass, of the lookingglasses of the women assembling, which assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

9 And he made the court: on the south side southward the hangings of the court were of fine twined linen, an hundred cubits:

10 Their pillars were twenty, and their brasen sockets twenty; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver.

11 And for the north side the hangings were an hundred cubits, their pillars were twenty, and their sockets of brass twenty; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver.

12 And for the west side were hangings of fifty cubits, their pillars ten, and their sockets ten; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver.

13 And for the east side eastward fifty cubits.

14 The hangings of the one side of the gate were fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three.

15 And for the other side of the court gate, on this hand and that hand, were hangings of fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three.

16 All the hangings of the court round about were of fine twined linen.

17 And the sockets for the pillars were of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver; and the overlaying of their chapiters of silver; and all the pillars of the court were filleted with silver.

18 And the hanging for the gate of the court was needlework, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen: and twenty cubits was the length, and the height in the breadth was five cubits, answerable to the hangings of the court.

19 And their pillars were four, and their sockets of brass four; their hooks of silver, and the overlaying of their chapiters and their fillets of silver.

20 And all the pins of the tabernacle, and of the court round about, were of brass.

21 This is the sum of the tabernacle, even of the tabernacle of testimony, as it was counted, according to the commandment of Moses, for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar, son to Aaron the priest.

22 And Bezaleel the son Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the Lord commanded Moses.

23 And with him was Aholiab, son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, and a cunning workman, and an embroiderer in blue, and in purple, and in scarlet, and fine linen.

24 All the gold that was occupied for the work in all the work of the holy place, even the gold of the offering, was twenty and nine talents, and seven hundred and thirty shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary.

25 And the silver of them that were numbered of the congregation was an hundred talents, and a thousand seven hundred and threescore and fifteen shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary:

26 A bekah for every man, that is, half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for every one that went to be numbered, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty men.

27 And of the hundred talents of silver were cast the sockets of the sanctuary, and the sockets of the vail; an hundred sockets of the hundred talents, a talent for a socket.

28 And of the thousand seven hundred seventy and five shekels he made hooks for the pillars, and overlaid their chapiters, and filleted them.

29 And the brass of the offering was seventy talents, and two thousand and four hundred shekels.

30 And therewith he made the sockets to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the brasen altar, and the brasen grate for it, and all the vessels of the altar,

31 And the sockets of the court round about, and the sockets of the court gate, and all the pins of the tabernacle, and all the pins of the court round about.

 

 

Esoteric Interpretation & Commentary

 

The Hermetic Blueprint of Exodus: The Mirrors of the Mind and the Accounting of the Soul

"Exodus Chapter Thirty-Eight moves the Active Alchemical labor from the delicate, golden Inner sanctuary out into the rugged, brazen Outer Court. This is the realm of physical manifestation, Karmic sacrifice, and daily waking Consciousness. Here, the creative faculties forge the Brazen Altar to burn away the lower animal nature, and they construct the Brazen Laver from the mirrors of the women—a Profound Esoteric Symbol of Psychological Self-Reflection. The chapter concludes with a precise, mathematical accounting of the metals used, emphasizing the Hermetic Law that every ounce of the Soul's Vital Energy must be strictly inventoried, balanced, and purposefully directed toward the completion of the Great Work."

 

 

Verses 1-2 & 4: The Brazen Altar and the Crucible of the Physical - "And he made the altar of burnt offering of shittim wood: five cubits was the length thereof, and five cubits the breadth thereof; it was foursquare; and three cubits the height thereof. And he made the horns thereof on the four corners of it; the horns thereof were of the same: and he overlaid it with brass... And he made for the altar a brasen grate of network under the compass thereof beneath unto the midst of it." 

While the Inner Mind is forged in gold (Spirit), the active physical life is forged in brass (fortified matter). The Foursquare dimensions represent Absolute Stability in the material world. The Brazen Altar is the great crucible of daily, waking Life. The Adept cannot bypass this heavy, physical altar to reach the Inner gold; they must first systematically sacrifice their lower ego, animalistic drives, and mundane attachments upon the brazen grate, allowing the Active Fire of the Spiritual Will to entirely consume and Transmute these dense earthly Energies.

 

 

Verse 8: The Brazen Laver and the Mirrors of Self-Reflection - "And he made the laver of brass, and the foot of it of brass, of the lookingglasses of the women assembling, which assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation." 

This is one of the most striking Esoteric symbols in the entire text. The Brazen Laver, used for the Purification of the priests, is forged entirely from the brass mirrors ("lookingglasses") of the women. In Hermeticism, water and mirrors both represent the astral body, the Emotional matrix, and the capacity for Self-Reflection. By melting down these mirrors to create the vessel of Purification, the Adept transmutes mundane vanity and earthly self-obsession into a tool of Supreme Divine Introspection. Before the Intellect can approach the sanctuary, it must look deeply into the reflective waters of its Own Subconscious, honestly evaluating its flaws and washing away the Psychological dirt of the profane world.

 

 

Verses 9 & 18: The Outer Court and the Boundary of Waking Consciousness - "And he made the court: on the south side southward the hangings of the court were of fine twined linen, an hundred cubits... And the hanging for the gate of the court was needlework, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen: and twenty cubits was the length, and the height in the breadth was five cubits, answerable to the hangings of the court." 

The Outer Court establishes the strict perimeter of the Adept's Conscious, Waking Life. Surrounded by "fine twined linen," the physical life must be enclosed in Absolute Moral and Behavioral Purity, separating the Great Work from the chaotic wilderness of the Unawakened masses. Even at the outer gate, the colors blue, purple, and scarlet appear, signifying that the Adept's interaction with the mundane world must still be strictly filtered through Spiritual Devotion, Sovereign Will, and Purified Vital Energy. The physical boundaries of the Adept's Life must match the exact frequency of their Internal Sanctuary.

 

 

Verses 21 & 24-25: The Sum of the Tabernacle and the Accounting of the Soul - "This is the sum of the tabernacle, even of the tabernacle of testimony, as it was counted, according to the commandment of Moses, for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar, son to Aaron the priest... All the gold that was occupied for the work in all the holy work, even the gold of the offering, was twenty and nine talents, and seven hundred and thirty shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary. And the silver of them that were numbered of the congregation was an hundred talents, and a thousand seven hundred and threescore and fifteen shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary:" 

The rigorous accounting of the metals at the end of this chapter is not mere architectural trivia; it represents the Occult Law of Energetic Conservation and Spiritual Mathematics. Gold (Spirit), Silver (Intuition/Redemption), and Brass (Physicality) are all meticulously weighed, measured, and recorded. The Adept must take a strict, honest inventory of their Internal Forces. Spiritual Evolution is an exact science. Every ounce of Vital Energy, Every Intuitive Realization, and Every Physical Effort must be accounted for and purposefully integrated into the Microcosm. Nothing is wasted, and nothing is left to chance in the Divine Architecture of the Perfected Human Mind.