Exodus 38:25 - Exposition

The silver . The silver seems to have amounted to about four times the weight of the gold; but the value of it was very much less, not exceeding £40,000 of our money (Cook). It may seem surprising that this should have been so; but there are grounds for believing that both in Africa and in Asia gold was more plentiful than silver in the early ages. And it is certainly much more suitable for ornaments. Of them that were numbered . See above, Exodus 30:12-16 . The silver for the sanctuary was collected by a compulsory tax, of the nature of a church-rate. This produced the amount here given, No estimate is made of the weight of the silver freewill offerings ( Exodus 35:24 ), nor is any account given of their application. It has been suggested that they were returned to the donors as superfluous, which is certainly possible,