“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. lookingglasses: or, brasen glasses assembling: Heb. assembling by troops”
Mirrors. Formerly all sorts of metal, silver, copper, tin, &c., were used for mirrors, till the Europeans began to make them of glass. The best were made of a mixture of copper and tin. (Pliny, [Natural History?] xxxiii. 9.) — Watched. Hebrew, served like soldiers: fasting and praying, according to the Septuagint and Chaldean. These devout women came thither with great alacrity, to shew their affection towards God, and to consecrate to his service what had hitherto served to nourish vanity. Such were the virgins, mentioned [in] 2 Machabees iii. 19, and those who were abused by the sons of Heli, 1 Kings ii. 22. Ann, the prophetess, and our blessed Lady[Virgin Mary], were thus also employed in the temple, Luke ii. 37. Women kept watch, singing and dancing before the palace of the Persian kings. (Calmet) — When the tabernacle was fixed at Silo, small apartments were probably built for the convenience of these pious women. (Tirinus)
“Their pillars were twenty, and their brasen sockets twenty; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver.”
Brass. The Hebrew does not say the pillars were of brass, but only the bases. The body was of wood, encircled with silver, ver. 12. See chap. xxvii. 10. (Calmet)
“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.”
The, &c. Some render the Hebrew, “The bases of the pillars were of brass, the hooks of the pillars and circles were of silver, their chaptrels were covered with silver.” Bonfrere supposes that the pillars were of the Ionic order, and that the chaptrels here designate the summit or abacus; while the hooks (vuim) mean the voluta, (Menochius) or bolster, representing the head-dress of virgins in their long hair. (Vitruvius) (Haydock)
“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.”
Ithamar, some time after this, (Numbers i. 50,) was appointed to deliver the necessary vessels to the Levites; part of whose duty it was to take down the tabernacle and set it up again, and to keep an account of all things. (Menochius)
“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.”
Gifts, voluntarily. The following verse mentions what arose from the tax of half a sicle per head, chap xxx. 13.
“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:”
And it, &c. Hebrew is rather more express, “And the silver given by those who were numbered, was a hundred talents, 1775 sicles of the weight of the sanctuary, ver. 26. They gave each half a sicle, paid by all those who were 20 years old and upwards, amounting to 603,550 men.” Hence the talent would weigh exactly 3000 sicles, (Calmet) or 12,000 drachmas. Some say that the common talent weighed 100 pounds, and that of the sanctuary 120, each pound containing 25 sicles. (Du Hamel)
“And the brass of the offering was seventy talents, and two thousand and four hundred shekels.”
Seventy. Hebrew confines the number of talents to 70, and allows “two thousand and four hundred sicles.” The Greek interpreters vary.