The LORD said to Moses, "You shall also make a basin of bronze, with its stand of bronze, for washing. You shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it, with which Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet. When they go into the tent of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn a food offering to the LORD, they shall wash with water, so that they may not die. They shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they may not die. It shall be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his offspring throughout their generations."
Exodus 30:17-21
The laver of brass stood in the outer court between the brazen altar and the entrance into the holy place. It speaks essentially of cleansing, and reminds us that there is more to sin than guilt; sin is also pollution, uncleanness. There is a daily cleansing required by every blood-washed believer. We walk in a sinful world, and it is inevitable that we should become stained and begrimed by contact with that evil world. Thus, again and again, we need cleansing, not from the guilt of sin, for that is once for all and forever settled, but from its defilement and power. It is this aspect of spiritual experience that is illustrated by the laver. Cleansing is spoken of in the New Testament variously, as being by the blood of Christ (1 John 1:7), by the washing of water by the Word (Ephesians 5:26) and by the Holy Spirit (2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2). We should not attempt too anxiously to classify different types of cleansing by these agencies, but rather be content in the recognition that the death of Christ is the fount of all cleansing, and that that cleansing is mediated to us by the Word and Spirit of God. We are told in 38:8 that the laver was made from the polished brass looking-glasses of the women. This has a deeply suggestive symbolism, for is not the Word spoken of as a mirror (2 Corinthians 3:18; James 1:23)? The laver, it might be said, showed men themselves, reflecting what was amiss in their lives, so that they could the more readily seek the cleansing without which they dared not approach a holy God (20, 21, 'that they die not'). Toplady preserves a true insight in his words, 'Wash me, Saviour, or I die'.