the verbs עשׂה in Exo 36:8, ויחבּר in Exo 36:10, etc., are in the third person singular with an indefinite subject, corresponding to the German man (the French on).
Chap. 37
verses 1-29
Preparation of the vessels of the dwelling: viz., the ark of the covenant (Exo 37:1-9, as in Exo 25:10-22); the table of shew-bread and its vessels (Exo 37:10-16, as in Exo 25:23-30); the candlestick (Exo 37:17-24, as in Exo 25:31-40); the altar of incense (Exo 37:25-28, as in Exo 30:1-10); the anointing oil and incense (Exo 37:29), directions for the preparation of which are given in Ex 30:22-38; the altar of burnt-offering (Exo 38:1-7, as in Exo 27:1-8); the laver (Exo 37:8, as in Exo 30:17-21); and the court (Exo 37:9-20, as in Exo 27:9-19). The order corresponds on the whole to the list of the separate articles in Exo 35:11-19, and to the construction of the entire sanctuary; but the holy chest (the ark), as being the most holy thing of all, is distinguished above all the rest, by being expressly mentioned as the work of Bezaleel, the chief architect of the whole.
Chap. 38
Verse 1
Estimate of the Amount of Metal Used. - Exo 38:21. “These are the numbered things of the dwelling, of the dwelling of the testimony, that were numbered at the command of Moses, through the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest.” פּקוּדים does not mean the numbering (equivalent to מפקד 2Sa 4:9, or פּקדּה 2Ch 17:14; 2Ch 26:11), as Knobel supposes, but here as elsewhere, even in Num 26:63-64, it signifies “the numbered;” the only difference being, that in most cases it refers to persons, here to things, and that the reckoning consisted not merely in the counting and entering of the different things, but in ascertaining their weight and estimating their worth. Lyra has given the following correct rendering of this heading: “haec est summa numeri ponderis eorum, quae facta sunt in tabernaculo ex auro, argento et aere.” It was apparently superfluous to enumerate the different articles again, as this had been repeatedly done before. The weight of the different metals, therefore, is all that is given. The “dwelling” is still further described as “the dwelling of the testimony,” because the testimony, i.e., the decalogue written with the finger of God upon the tables of stone, was kept in the dwelling, and this testimony formed the base of
