Leviticus 24:2

Command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamps to burn continually.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(2) Command the children of Israel.—This is the only other occasion in Leviticus on which God orders Moses to “command,” instead of imparting or communicating His will. (See Leviticus 6:1 in Hebrew, and 6:9 in English.) This command, however, occurs almost literally in Exodus 27:20-21.

Benson Commentary

Leviticus 24:2. To cause the lamps to burn — Hebrew, the lamp: yet, Leviticus 24:4, it is the lamps: the seven lamps made all one lamp. In allusion to which the blessed Spirit is represented (Revelation 4.) by seven lamps of fire before the throne.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

24:1-9 The loaves of bread typify Christ as the Bread of life, and the food of the souls of his people. He is the Light of his church, the Light of the world; in and through his word this light shines. By this light we discern the food prepared for our souls; and we should daily, but especially from sabbath to sabbath, feed thereon in our hearts with thanksgiving. And as the loaves were left in the sanctuary, so should we abide with God till he dismiss us.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The oil for the lamps of the tabernacle and the meal for the showbread were to be offerings from the Congregation, like the meal for the Pentecostal loaves, Leviticus 23:17. It appears that the responsibility of keeping up the lights rested on the high priest, but the actual service might be performed, on ordinary occasions, by the common priests. Compare margin reference.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2. Command the children of Israel—This is the repetition of a law previously given (Ex 27:20, 21).

pure oil olive beaten—or cold-drawn, which is always of great purity.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

That they bring, at their common charge, because it was for their common good and service. This command was given before, Exodus 27:20.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Command the children of Israel,.... Moses was the chief magistrate under God, and being clothed with authority from him, had power to command the children of Israel to do what the Lord required of them:

that they bring unto thee pure oil olive, beaten, for the light; this was to be at the public expense, and it belonged to the community to supply the priests with oil for the light of the candlestick in the temple, Exodus 25:6; and this oil was not to be any sort of oil, as train oil, or oil of nuts, almonds, &c. but oil of olives, and not any sort of that, but the purest, which was the first that was taken from them; it seems there were three sorts, the first of which was pure, and this beaten in a mortar, and not ground in a mill; See Gill on Exodus 27:20,

to cause the lamps to burn continually; the lamps in the golden candlestick, which were seven, Exodus 25:37; or "the lamp", in the singular number, as it is in the original text; the western lamp, which is said to be always kept lighted, from which the rest were lighted when out; though the oil was undoubtedly for the supply of the lamps, that they might burn always, night and day; or from night tonight, as Jarchi; and both on sabbath days and working days, as the Targum of Jonathan.

Geneva Study Bible

{a} Command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamps to burn continually.

(a) Read Ex 27:20.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

2. beaten] i.e. skimmed off the liquid obtained by pounding the olives in a mortar and then straining the pulp.

Leviticus 24:2

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The directions concerning the oil for the holy candlestick (Leviticus 24:1-4) and the preparation of the shew-bread (Leviticus 24:5-9) lose the appearance of an interpolation, when we consider and rightly understand on the one hand the manner in which the two are introduced in Leviticus 24:2, and on the other their significance in relation to the worship of God. The introductory formula, "Command the children of Israel that they fetch (bring)," shows that the command relates to an offering on the part of the congregation, a sacrificial gift, with which Israel was to serve the Lord continually. This service consisted in the fact, that in the oil of the lamps of the seven-branched candlestick, which burned before Jehovah, the nation of Israel manifested itself as a congregation which caused its light to shine in the darkness of this world; and that in the shew-bread it offered the fruits of its labour in the field of the kingdom of God, as a spiritual sacrifice to Jehovah. The offering of oil, therefore, for the preparation of the candlestick, and that of fine flour for making the loaves to be placed before Jehovah, formed part of the service in which Israel sanctified its life and labour to the Lord its God, not only at the appointed festal periods, but every day; and the law is very appropriately appended to the sanctification of the Sabbaths and feast-days, prescribed in ch. 23. The first instructions in Leviticus 24:2-4 are a verbal repetition of Exodus 27:20-21, and have been explained already. Their execution by Aaron is recorded at Numbers 8:1-4; and the candlestick itself was set in order by Moses at the consecration of the tabernacle (Exodus 40:25).