Exodus 38:8: “He made the laver of bronze and its base of bronze, from the bronze mirrors of the serving women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.”

March 15th, 2026 by Pastor Ed in devotional

These serving women gave up their polished brass hand mirrors as an offering to the Lord. Notice it says they were “the serving women who assembled at the door.” The offering of these women was in itself a symbol of self-dedication. One ancient Jewish tradition says these were godly women who came daily to the door of the tent of meeting to seek God in prayer. Their interest was communication with God.

We cannot be sure exactly which tabernacle or tent of meeting is meant here. A straight forward reading would suggest that this is Moses’ tent, which was mentioned in Exodus 33:7. The other possibility is that this refers to the tabernacle not yet built and is mentioned here in anticipation. In that manner, this would mean that they were women who resolved to be praying and later were.

So why is this detail mentioned here? Perhaps because a mirror speaks of self-scrutiny, and this is reminding us that we must guard against a morbid introspection. Such thoughts take our attention off the finished work of Jesus Christ, reducing His vital spiritual life in us into some kind of legal obligation or duty. If all we do is drudge up past, confessed failures and disappointments, we miss the mark. No doubt this passage is meant to point us to a cure for our unhealthy introspection. These women became so interested in serving God that they were weaned from their mirrors. We need to go find some service to do for the Lord. We need balance, living in the healthy center of God and His plans for our lives. Then we will be able to abandon the habit of deadly self-scrutiny.

“LORD, please show us some place or way that we can serve You in some small way this day.”

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Exodus 38 KJV

¹ And he made the altar of burnt offering of shittim wood: five cubits was the length thereof, and five cubits the breadth thereof; it was foursquare; and three cubits the height thereof. ²And he made the horns thereof on the four corners of it; the horns thereof were of the same: and he overlaid it with brass. ³ And he made all the vessels of the altar, the pots, and the shovels, and the basons, and the fleshhooks, and the firepans: all the vessels thereof made he of brass. ⁴ And he made for the altar a brasen grate of network under the compass thereof beneath unto the midst of it. ⁵ And he cast four rings for the four ends of the grate of brass, to be places for the staves. ⁶ And he made the staves of shittim wood, and overlaid them with brass. ⁷ And he put the staves into the rings on the sides of the altar, to bear it withal; he made the altar hollow with boards. ⁸ 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. ⁹ And he made the court: on the south side southward the hangings of the court were offine twined linen, an hundred cubits: ¹⁰ Their pillars were twenty, and their brasen sockets twenty; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver. ¹¹ And for the north side the hangings were an hundred cubits, their pillars were twenty, and their sockets of brass twenty; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver. ¹² And for the west side were hangings of fifty cubits, their pillars ten, and their sockets ten; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver. ¹³ And for the east side eastward fifty cubits. ¹⁴ The hangings of the one side of the gate werefifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three. ¹⁵ And for the other side of the court gate, on this hand and that hand, were hangings of fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three. ¹⁶ All the hangings of the court round about were of fine twined linen. ¹⁷ 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. ¹⁸And the hanging for the gate of the court was needlework, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen: and twenty cubits was the length, and the height in the breadth was five cubits, answerable to the hangings of the court. ¹⁹ And their pillars were four, and their sockets of brass four; their hooks of silver, and the overlaying of their chapiters and their fillets ofsilver. ²⁰ And all the pins of the tabernacle, and of the court round about, were of brass. ²¹ 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. ²² And Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the LORD commanded Moses. ²³ And with him was Aholiab, son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, and a cunning workman, and an embroiderer in blue, and in purple, and in scarlet, and fine linen. ²⁴ 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. ²⁵ 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: ²⁶ A bekah for every man, that is , half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for every one that went to be numbered, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty men .  ²⁷ And of the hundred talents of silver were cast the sockets of the sanctuary, and the sockets of the vail; an hundred sockets of the hundred talents, a talent for a socket. ²⁸ And of the thousand seven hundred seventy and five shekels he made hooks for the pillars, and overlaid their chapiters, and filleted them. ²⁹ And the brass of the offering was seventy talents, and two thousand and four hundred shekels. ³⁰And therewith he made the sockets to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the brasen altar, and the brasen grate for it, and all the vessels of the altar, ³¹ And the sockets of the court round about, and the sockets of the court gate, and all the pins of the tabernacle, and all the pins of the court round about.