And he made the laver of bronze, and the base of it of bronze, from the bronze mirrors of the women serving, who served at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.
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George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
Mirrors. Formerly all sorts of metal, silver, copper, tin, 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, 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 show their affection towards God, and to consecrate to his service what had hitherto served to nourish vanity. Such were the virgins, mentioned , 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)
Moses put there a bronze basin in which the priests had to wash themselves and enter the Holy of Holies, because God’s law prescribes that we first wash ourselves by compunction, that in our uncleanness we may not be unworthy to enter the cleanness of the secrets of God.
