Exodus 38:25
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: 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:
The verse records the amount of silver gathered from the numbered congregation as one hundred talents and 1,775 shekels by the sanctuary standard. That silver was cast into the heavy bases that secured the upright gold-covered boards forming the walls of the two-room portable tabernacle, each base weighing a talent and receiving the tenons of the boards to hold them firm below while bars held them above. The building was God's dwelling-place erected in the wilderness of Sinai as the heart and center of Israel's worship under the typical system, made from willing offerings exactly according to the pattern shown to Moses in the mount. When completed it was blessed and filled with God's manifested glory as a manifold object-lesson of the plan of salvation pointing to Christ and His work in the heavenly sanctuary.
Wilderness Sanctuary Construction
Exodus 38:25 belongs to the account of preparing and fitting the Tabernacle, which occupies the final chapters of Exodus. It stands in Exodus 35-40, which records how Israel carried out God's directions for building the sanctuary and making its furniture given in Exodus 25-30. The silver it counts belongs to that building, whose upright boards of acacia wood overlaid with gold were set in sockets of silver, making it look like a building of gold.
It is part of the directions for building and the description of the marvelously beautiful sanctuary structure that God instructed Moses to have Israel build from free-will offerings so God might dwell among them after their deliverance from Egyptian bondage. It was built by workmen God specially endowed, exactly according to the divine pattern God gave Moses in the mount. The chapters around it describe the ark and its furnishings being made as directed, and the completed sanctuary receiving blessing and glory from God.
The building was the portable sanctuary Moses erected in the wilderness, erected in the wilderness of Sinai 1490 years before Christ. It was adapted to Israel's wandering condition so it could be taken down, borne by the consecrated Levites with all its sacred vessels, and erected wherever the Divine Presence in the cloud by day and pillar of fire by night directed the camp to pitch when the camp set forward during the forty years of journeying in the wilderness.
The verse calls that building the Sanctuary, meaning God's dwelling-place where His service was performed, consecrated to the service of the Levites. It was erected at God's command as the heart and center of Israel's religious worship under the typical system. Worship centered in this earthly sanctuary and revolved around the Most Holy Place, where the law of God rested beneath the mercy seat.
The account around the verse describes the completed sanctuary receiving blessing and glory from God. The manifestation of God's glory at the sanctuary showed His acceptance of the people's repentance. It was a great, multiple object-lesson comprehending the great plan of salvation, whose materials and services served as a type of the heavenly sanctuary and pointed to Christ and His work.
Silver Amount and Use
The silver gathered from those numbered among the congregation amounted to one hundred talents and 1,775 shekels reckoned after the shekel of the sanctuary. That sanctuary shekel was the standard measure in Israel by which the collection was weighed and recorded. The sum stands as part of the account of the metals given for the wilderness tabernacle. It is included in the total value of the gifts, estimated at $225,000, all of willingly offered materials showing the generosity of the Israelites when God made a request of them. Its mention shows that the tabernacle and its sacred service were supported by this contribution.
The silver was worked into the sockets or bases that secured the bottom of the upright boards forming the sides and west end of the two-apartment tabernacle. Those boards were of acacia wood overlaid with gold and set in sockets of silver, so that the structure looked like a building of gold. Each socket weighed a talent. The tenons fashioned on the lower ends of the boards fitted into the sockets to hold them securely in position at the bottom, while bars passed through rings attached to the boards held them together at the top.