Charles Ellicott Commentary Exodus 38:8

"And he made the laver of brass, and the base thereof of brass, of the mirrors of the ministering women that ministered at the door of the tent of meeting." — Exodus 38:8 (ASV)

He made the laver of brass. —Compare Exodus 30:18-21, where the laver is commanded, and the uses to which it was to be applied are laid down. By “brass” we must understand “bronze” in this place, as in others.

Of the lookingglasses. —Rather, mirrors. The mirrors used in ancient times were not of glass, but of burnished metal. Bronze was the metal ordinarily employed for the purpose, and was in common use in Egypt, where mirrors were bronze plates, round or oval, with a handle, like our fire-screens. The Etruscan women employed similar articles in their personal grooming, and often had them delicately chased with engravings.

Of the women assembling. —It would seem that these women—the women accustomed to frequent the “tent of meeting” which Moses had recently set up (Exodus 33:7), and to flock there in troops—voluntarily offered for the service of God the mirrors, which were among the most highly prized of their possessions. Moses, to mark his approval of their devotion, formed their offerings into the most honourable of all the brazen vessels, and recorded the fact to the women’s credit.