Sermon Notes: Exodus 38:1-31

Most of the remainder of our texts in Exodus are repeated. And we addressed that in our last sermon on Exodus 36:8-37:29. We laid out a road map for our remaining time in Exodus like this:

“This repetition through the end of chapter 39 will serve to highlight Israel’s obedience (which we just studied in 36:8-37), it will show today and next week what repentance looks like after the sin of the golden calf, it will create a tension about the future and the possibility of failure or success based on the Israel’s application of living by faith, and it will result in the Lord’s blessing Israel with his manifest presence.”

Today, there is a notable exception in our text that is not a repetition, and it will help us see a specific example Israel’s repentance.

Let’s read it: Exodus 38:8

The bronze basin was constructed from the bronze mirrors of some of the women. This is not the first instance of Moses highlighting the role of Israel’s women in the construction of the tabernacle.

Exodus 35:22 tells us that men and women of Israel who were of willing heart brought jewelry they dedicated to the Lord as a sacrifice for the construction of the tabernacle.

Exodus 35:26 tells us that women whose hearts stirred them, participated under Bezalel and Oholiab’s direction to construct the fabrics being used in the tabernacle.

Exodus 38:8 is unique though. Here, a particular group of women have contributed their bronze mirrors for the construction of the basin for the priests to wash as they minister to the Lord, and these women who contribute their mirrors are women who are ministering at the tent of meeting in the tabernacle.

We have two questions that are central to understand what Moses tells us.

How does the donation of the bronze mirrors show us repentance?

Who are these women giving their bronze mirrors and how are these women “ministering”?

Let’s get after it.

1. How does the donation of the bronze mirrors show us repentance?

The gift of these bronze mirrors does indeed illustrate repentance and radical obedience post-golden calf (Exodus 32-34).

These mirrors were common in Egypt, and we know that Israel plundered Egypt on their way out of slavery as the Lord said they would do. So, these mirrors were acquired from Egypt.

The good gift of the Lord in plundering Egypt would later be something that would be used by Israel in defiling themselves in the golden-calf rebellion. How like humans! God gives something good, and we in our sin turn it into an instrument to help us defile ourselves.

It’s likely that these mirrors were used in the effort to beautify themselves for the purpose of their “play” that was part of the golden-calf craziness. When I say, “their play”, I mean the men and the women because it takes both to participate in the abomination that Moses and Joshua found as they came down from the mountain. We discussed this in that sermon, and we don’t need to revisit it here.

These bronze mirrors were valuable as the process to make them and polish them to work as a mirror was quite a labor, so this act of sacrifice in giving these valuable mirrors puts on display a repentant heart.

The sacrifice is not only found in the value of the mirrors. To give up a tool that contributes to one’s personal sense of “worth” rooted in how they look in their own eyes as they conform to what is valued by a culture of sensuality shows a turning away from the vanity of a mere external beauty and a turning to the eternal worth of inner beauty in holiness and a desire for that holiness.

The gift of these mirrors would be the bronze used to make the basin for the priests to wash in as God required for their service to the Lord for the people.

These women giving these mirrors should send us to look forward to the New Testament and the work of the gospel to produce inner purity as we are sanctified in Christ.

It’s not out externals that need the most work. We should not neglect to care for and nourish our physical appearance, and we should not vainly worship how we look either in conformity to a sensual culture.

When Jesus saves a person, he puts in us a desire to be a good steward of our whole humanity, to care for the body to maximize its vitality and to care for the internal and unseen parts that affect how we treat the physical part.

We can’t neglect Peter’s instruction: 1 Peter 3:3-4 (ESV) 3 Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— 4 but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.

I have no doubt Peter has this text in mind as he instructs his audience. This is what these women show us in their gift of these mirrors.

NOTE: The Lord chose these women as his ministers at the tent of meeting to model repentance for Israel. His work in these women’s hearts is one of the starkest examples of Israel’s repentance. God will do a similar work of choosing women in the resurrection of Jesus as his first witnesses to the resurrection and are sent to tell the apostles what Jesus showed them.

This is important because in the dark world after Genesis 3 the darkness is taken further into the depths of darkness in Genesis 6:1-4 with the second rebellion. Here women were used and began to be relegated to the value of cattle under that darkness.

The evil of Genesis 6:1-4 is believed by some to be the first instance in human history the trafficking of women, and trafficked by their fathers, in exchange for knowledge to help them advance civil society.

God took Eve from Adam’s side not from his feet so as to be stepped on by him. God did not take Eve from Adam’s head so as to be lifted above him. But God took Eve from his side to be a helper with him.

The rebellion of Genesis 3 and 6 put women under the sons of Adam’s feet, and God, like he does with slaves as we’ve studied in Exodus, begins to lift his image-bearing helpers in the mission back to our side as he stirs these women to be examples of repentance for the nation to see and imitate.

1 Samuel 2:22 is a stark reminder of how the sons of Eli would take advantage of these women who filled this ministerial role at the tabernacle, thus displaying how Israel will take one of many steps backward into sin. Hophni and Phineas would act like the evil sons of God in Genesis 6:1-4 in abusing and taking advantage of women. Thus, God used that occasion of Hophni and Phineas not responding to their father’s rebuke to put them to death for this sin.

It’s a reminder that the forces of darkness will continue to come at Israel and they must continue living by faith and repel the attack.

We should not be surprised that our women are the continued target of attack and may also be our most discerning warriors in spiritual conflict according to God’s gifting to them due to their experience in the fight historically and genetically.

That leads to our last question.

2. Who are these women giving their bronze mirrors and how are these women “ministering”?

Notice that Moses is writing this as he is looking back in preparation for Israel to enter the Promised Land. Moses won’t be going into the Promised Land, so he is writing his five accounts of God’s work for them in preparation before the go over and before he passes.  

These ministering women are nothing new for Israel. This is new for us in the text because we are just getting here. We just have not been introduced to this yet.

The text says, “...from the mirrors of the ministering women who ministered in the entrance of the tent of meeting.”

They were ministering currently because they had already been ministering at the tent of meeting.

The tent of meeting is where Moses would meet with the Lord prior to the construction of the tabernacle (See Exodus 33:7-11).

These women were serving at the tent prior to the construction of the tabernacle, and we know they would continue in this role because we noted how in Eli’s time these “ministering” women were taken advantage of by Eli’s sons in 1 Samual 2:22.

Moses by God’s leadership appointed these women to serve in this role, and it had to be women because God intends to redeem all of humanity and creation, and by choosing women in this role he is redeeming them from how they were used in the rebellion of Genesis 6.

What does Moses mean by “ministering”? They have already been ministering, so what does Moses mean?

Every commentary I looked at was useless in dealing with the actual Hebrew language. They made a bunch of assumptions and landed on them handing out water or washing stuff.

Maybe.

Robert Alter, who is sort of the gold standard in Hebrew translation, hinted at and tip toed around more in his footnotes of why he translates the text the way he does, and does a nice job of at least admitting that there is some sort of sacred role here, but he’s not sure what it is. And that is a fair analysis.

He translates Exodus 38:8 like this: “And he made the laver of bronze and its stand of bronze from the mirrors of the women who flocked to the entrance of the tent of meeting.”

Even Dr. Alter wrestles with the word translated by the ESV as “minister” and the CSB as “serve”.

The Hebrew word means: to go forth, to muster in order to fight, to wage war. So, mustering to go to war.

Now we know because of our study of the census back in chapter 30 that was for fielding the army to kill the giants in the Promised Land that God does not put women into combat. Only men. So, Moses’ language here can’t be an army function at the tent of meeting.

Thus Dr. Alter says “flocked” to the entrance of the tent of meeting but does not deal with the implications of why they are flocking.

NOTE: I should have gone on and gotten my Ph.D. in OT and Hebrew when I had the invitation while at SWBTS. I was tired of school, and I was ready to be done and get after the church plant. These commentators are just about worthless when it comes to the hard texts of the Old Testament.

I can’t find anyone who does any justice to the actual wording of verse 8. They mostly avoid it.

So, since no one I found did anything to set any standard other than Dr. Alter, I’m going to put something out there.

NOTE: My search was not exhaustive in the full canon of Christian literature for 2,000 years, so I’m sure someone at some time has made some observations. But for this sermon, my search of about 14 different commentaries did not turn up anything of note. So, if you go search and find something, share it with me.

Here we go.

What if these women mustered at the entrance of the tent of meeting and the tabernacle to wage spiritual warfare as their ministry?

They of all people understood the implications of what God was doing in the tabernacle as a physical replica of the mountain garden of Eden where God would once again meet with his people. We’ve talked about this part already, so if you have questions, go back to the other sermons.

The tabernacle was the first fruits of God’s gospel work to re-establish Eden in the tabernacle as the place God met with man.

They understood the implications, although they did not yet fully understand what was to come in Jesus as the in-flesh tabernacle of God that the tabernacle was pointing to.

They understood the battle happening over that place. They did not ignore the unseen realities they were dealing with and still would be conspirators with those dark forces at times.

What if these women stood spiritual guard in waging the unseen battle against the onslaught of forces of darkness in the heavenly places?

How might they do this? What did this ministry look like? Exodus 38:8 does not say.

Is there a place where we can get a glimpse at what this ministry of mustering for war was?

I think I have one. What if Anna, who Luke records for us, is an example of this ministry of mustering for war? If it is, Anna is part of a legacy of service that lasted some 1,400 years as she affirms and gives thanks to God for keeping his word in the incarnation of Jesus that God promised all the way back in Genesis 3.

Listen to Luke’s account of Anna as Jesus is presented at the temple by Joseph and Mary as they obey the laws of purification: Luke 2:36-38 (ESV) 36 And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, 37 and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. 38 And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

What if Anna is a legacy of that repentance from the golden calf of godly women who did not first seek their external beauty but first sought the inner beauty of holiness and engaged in spiritual warfare through prayer and fasting as they waited on God to keep his word because the good news and its advance was at stake?

What does that mean for us?

Application

1. Repent and Believe.

Repentance is a change of directions.

Repentance is turning away from sin and sinful self and turning to Jesus and his way.

Repentance is not only turning away, but it is to turn from sin in great joy for the way one is turning to. It’s not just a turning away from bad to something not quite as bad. That’s worldly grief and shame.

Gospel repentance is a transformation that God brings about in the good news that causes a person to turn in joy to Jesus and holiness because Jesus and holiness truly taste good. Holiness is more desirable than defilement.

If you enjoy darkness and rebellion and evil more than Jesus, you have never been transformed by the good news. Here the good news and be saved!

“Salvation and damnation are in no way symmetrical. Damnation is a paycheck, accurately calculated down to the last penny. Salvation is the gift of God. Death and life are certainly not the same thing, but we also need to remember that wages and gifts are not the same thing either. Hell is earned, and Heaven is given. Hell is only earned, and Heaven is only given.

Given to whom? To all who ask for it in the name of Jesus Christ. And the way we are told to ask for it is this: The Bible describes one motion with two different words, which are repent and believe. To be converted is to turn around. Imagine yourself facing the wall of self, a wall with little shelves all over it, and on each shelf is an idol. Behind you is the wall that is Christ. To be converted is to turn away from the wall of self and to turn toward the wall of Christ. That one motion of turning can be described in two different ways. The turning away is called repentance. The turning toward is called faith. So, the message is to repent of your sins and believe the gospel, and this is all one motion. You cannot turn to Christ without turning away from self, denying self, and you cannot turn away from self without seeing Christ.” - Doug Wilson in his open letter to the President’s wondering if he will make it to heaven.

2. If you have believed and are wrestling with sin, repent by confessing your sin, renouncing that sin, and walking in the disciplines of the faith with accountability in fellowship in the local church.

Killing sin is the ongoing work of staying in the good news and building habits of faith and holiness.

If you have believed, continue to believe by practicing 1 John 1:9 which is not getting resaved but building relationship with God by admitting when we fail and grieve the Spirit, receiving his forgiveness, and walking in the relationship with no guilt. 1 John 1:9 is the repair we initiate in response to the rupture we made in grieving the Spirt.

This is the ongoing repentance that belongs to salvation.

3. Women, we need you to fast and pray and speak truth in every conversation to combat the forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Be like Anna. Be dedicated to the worship of the Lord. Learn fasting. Learn prayer. Be saturated in God’s word.

Speak the truth of God’s word in every conversation. Fill the local church with Spirit filled interactions. Don’t feed the “flesh”. Live in the Spirit. Don’t seek an affirmation rooted in the fear of humans.

Engage in the spiritual conflict that rages over your home, your children, and your church. Don’t contribute to the spiritual war that is being waged on any of them, rather make war on the dark forces that are arrayed against you like Anna.

This is not easy because it is unseen until it rears its ugly head but know that war does not take days off.   

If you don’t know how to do this, we are podcasting on spiritual warfare now and have several episodes out. Listen and get caught up and get after it.

4. Men, do your job.

Men, it’s not ok to be behind the curve of knowing what you need to know, acting how you need to act, being able to manage details and excellence without looking foolish and like you can’t organize your way out of a wet paper bag, and being biblically literate.

In Christianity at large, there are women who are on point and operate like a boss and watch floundering men who get to be considered for leadership simply because they are men, and you make men look bad. They are undisciplined and unworthy of leading anything. Stop it.

If you are concerned about being a leader, then lead yourself, manage yourself, get your act together physically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and practically. Don’t be a gaming slob.