Exodus 40:7

Exodus 40:7

And thou shalt set the laver between the tent of the congregation and the altar, and shalt put water therein.

a. NASB 1995: “You shall set the laver between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it.  [New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB1995) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.]

b. NKJV: “And you shall set the laver between the tabernacle of meeting and the altar, and put water in it.   [Scripture quotations marked "NKJV" are taken from the New King James Version®, Copyright© 1982, Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.]

c. Classic Amplified Bible: And you shall set the laver between the Tent of Meeting and the altar and put water in it. [Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC)

Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation]

d. Stone Edition THE CHUMASH, Rabbinic Commentary: You shall place the Laver between the Tent of Meeting  and the Altar, and you shall put water there.  [The Artscroll Series/Stone Edition, THE CHUMASH Copyright 1998, 2000 by MESORAH PUBLICATIONS, Ldt.]

e. ESV: And place the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it.  [Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]

f. Unless otherwise stated, all Greek and Hebrew definitions are from Blue Letter Bible

1. “And thou shalt set the laver between the tent of the congregation and the altar, and shalt put water therein.”

a. [And thou shalt] set [Strong: 5414 נָתַן nâthan, naw-than'; a primitive root; to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etc.):—add, apply, appoint, ascribe, assign, × avenge, × be (healed), bestow, bring (forth, hither), cast, cause, charge, come, commit, consider, count, cry, deliver (up), direct, distribute, do, × doubtless, × without fail, fasten, frame, × get, give (forth, over, up), grant, hang (up), × have, × indeed, lay (unto charge, up), (give) leave, lend, let (out), lie, lift up, make, O that, occupy, offer, ordain, pay, perform, place, pour, print, × pull, put (forth), recompense, render, requite, restore, send (out), set (forth), shew, shoot forth (up), sing, slander, strike, (sub-) mit, suffer, × surely, × take, thrust, trade, turn, utter, weep, willingly, withdraw, would (to) God, yield.]

b. [Strong: 853 'eth ayth apparent contracted from 226 in the demonstrative sense of entity; properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely):--(as such unrepresented in English).]

c. [the] laver [Strong: 3595 כִּיּוֹר kîyôwr, kee-yore'; or כִּיֹּר kîyôr; from the same as H3564; properly, something round (as excavated or bored), i.e. a chafing-dish for coals or a caldron for cooking; hence (from similarity of form) a washbowl; also (for the same reason) a pulpit or platform:—hearth, laver, pan, scaffold.]

d. between [Strong: 996 בֵּין bêyn, bane; (sometimes in the plural masculine or feminine); properly, the constructive form of an otherwise unused noun from H995; a distinction; but used only as a preposition, between (repeated before each noun, often with other particles); also as a conjunction, either...or:—among, asunder, at, between (-twixt...and), + from (the widest), × in, out of, whether (it be...or), within.]

e. [the] tent [Strong: 168 אֹהֶל ʼôhel, o'-hel; from H166; a tent (as clearly conspicuous from a distance):—covering, (dwelling) (place), home, tabernacle, tent.]

f. [of the] congregation [Strong: 4150 מוֹעֵד môwʻêd, mo-ade'; or מֹעֵד môʻêd; or (feminine) מוֹעָדָה môwʻâdâh; (2 Chronicles 8:13), from H3259; properly, an appointment, i.e. a fixed time or season; specifically, a festival; conventionally a year; by implication, an assembly (as convened for a definite purpose); technically the congregation; by extension, the place of meeting; also a signal (as appointed beforehand):—appointed (sign, time), (place of, solemn) assembly, congregation, (set, solemn) feast, (appointed, due) season, solemn(-ity), synogogue, (set) time (appointed).]

g. and [Strong: 996 בֵּין bêyn, bane; (sometimes in the plural masculine or feminine); properly, the constructive form of an otherwise unused noun from H995; a distinction; but used only as a preposition, between (repeated before each noun, often with other particles); also as a conjunction, either...or:—among, asunder, at, between (-twixt...and), + from (the widest), × in, out of, whether (it be...or), within.]

h. [the] altar [Strong: 4196 מִזְבֵּחַ mizbêach, miz-bay'-akh; from H2076; an altar:—altar.]

1). Note on Exodus 40:7 in Classic Amplified: Exodus 40:7 Why was it necessary for one exact position for the laver to be demanded of Moses by God? Those who have published charts of the tabernacle furniture arrangement, with the laver off to one side or the other of the door into the sanctuary, have missed a point here. The laver was to be placed directly “between [the doors of] the Tent of Meeting and the altar [of burnt offering],” thus completing the “cross” made by the arrangement of the furniture, from the ark to the altar. It could have no significance to the Jews of that time, but the One Who planned it had those in mind to whom Christ would one day say, “And these [very Scriptures] testify about Me!” (John 5:39.) How fitting that at the foot of that “cross” there should be the altar, picturing our complete surrender, and then the laver, picturing our cleansing, that we may enter in through Him Who alone is “the Door” to the eternal Holy of Holies (John 10:1-9).

i. [and thou shalt] put [Strong: 5414 נָתַן nâthan, naw-than'; a primitive root; to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etc.):—add, apply, appoint, ascribe, assign, × avenge, × be (healed), bestow, bring (forth, hither), cast, cause, charge, come, commit, consider, count, cry, deliver (up), direct, distribute, do, × doubtless, × without fail, fasten, frame, × get, give (forth, over, up), grant, hang (up), × have, × indeed, lay (unto charge, up), (give) leave, lend, let (out), lie, lift up, make, O that, occupy, offer, ordain, pay, perform, place, pour, print, × pull, put (forth), recompense, render, requite, restore, send (out), set (forth), shew, shoot forth (up), sing, slander, strike, (sub-) mit, suffer, × surely, × take, thrust, trade, turn, utter, weep, willingly, withdraw, would (to) God, yield.]

j. water [Strong: 4325 מַיִם mayim, mah'-yim; dual of a primitive noun (but used in a singular sense); water; figuratively, juice; by euphemism, urine, semen:— piss, wasting, water(-ing, (-course, -flood, -spring)).]

k. therein [Strong: 8033 שָׁם shâm, shawm; a primitive particle (rather from the relative pronoun, H834); there (transferring to time) then; often thither, or thence:—in it, thence, there (-in, of, out), thither, whither.]

1). The washing of the priests before they minister in the Tabernacle is a type and foreshadow of us being obedient to the word of God and being washed by the water of the word.

a). Psalm 119:9 Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy word.

b). John 15:3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

c). Ephesians 5:26, 27 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

5:27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

d). Hebrews 10:22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

2). Just as the washing of the priests before ministry in the tabernacle or at the altar in the laver is a type of our washing of the water of the word, so also is the material from which the laver was constructed, brass mirrors.

a). James 1:22-25 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

1:23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:

1:24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

1:25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.