על שתי צלעותיו על שני צדיו, “upon the two ribs thereof, on the two sides thereof.” There is some duplication of words here.

ויעש את שמן המשחה, “he made the holy anointing oil;” why was this verse inserted at this juncture? The question is in place as we would have expected the Torah to have written this verse after all the vessels that required anointing had been completed, seeing that the work of the copper altar as well as the washbasin and its stand had not yet been completed as well as other portable utensils which would require to be ritually pure? Rabbi Chavell speculates that seeing that no one answered this question, and we know that many parts of the Tabernacle were ultimately hidden to prevent them falling into enemy hands, the holy anointing oil, which according to tradition never diminished even after use, was also something that was hidden, whereas the copper altar and the washbasin were not considered holy enough to have to be hidden.

The incense spices, though pure, need purification, as it is written in Ecclesiastes 10.1 “Dead flies putrefy the perfumer’s oil.”